K. J. T. (Karl John Theodore) Ekblaw

Karl John Theodore Ekblaw was an American writer and engineer whose surviving published work centers on farm buildings and rural construction. Library and digitized book records identify him as the author of Farm Structures, Farm Concrete, and Implement Sheds, along with a 1913 University of Illinois master's thesis on the materials, design, construction, and equipment of farm buildings.

His books were written in a practical, instructional style aimed at farmers, students, and teachers. Rather than treating buildings as abstract designs, he focused on how structures should actually work: how to shelter machinery, use concrete effectively, and plan farm buildings for durability, efficiency, and cost.

That makes Ekblaw an interesting figure for modern readers. His work captures a moment when agriculture was becoming more technical and more systematized, and when good design on the farm was presented as a matter of both economy and everyday common sense.