First County Agricultural Extension Agent
Tyler, Smith County, Texas
Marker Inscription
At a time of low crop production and depressed farm economy, Smith County became the birthplace of the County Agricultural Agent concept. This occurred in an historic meeting Nov. 12, 1906, in an opera house near this site. Present were Dr. Seaman A. Knapp of the United States Department of Agriculture, County Judge S. A. Lindsey, and some 44 local leaders-- many belonging to the Tyler Commercial Club which sought to underwrite farm improvement. Smith County that day appointed Wm. C. Stallings (1842-1916) the first county agent in Texas and the first in the nation to serve only one county. Three years earlier the first cooperative farm demonstration program was begun on the Walter C. Porter property, Kaufman County. That successful application of scientific farming operations and appointment of Stallings (an outstanding farmer of the Dixie community, west of Tyler) were first steps toward establishment of the County Agricultural Agents' system, now known the world over as the Cooperative Extension Service. Today its educational programs further development of agricultural and human resources in both rural and urban areas.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
At a time of failing crops and depressed farm prices, Smith County became the birthplace of the county agricultural agent. In a historic meeting on November 12, 1906, Dr. Seaman A. Knapp of the U.S. Department of Agriculture joined County Judge S. A. Lindsey and dozens of local leaders to appoint William C. Stallings the first county agent in Texas—and the first in the nation to serve a single county. Building on Knapp's earlier farm-demonstration work, this step helped launch what became the worldwide Cooperative Extension Service.
Why it matters
The meeting seeded the Cooperative Extension Service, a landmark in American agricultural education that spread scientific farming to millions of rural families.
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Related people
- · Seaman A. Knapp
- · William C. Stallings
- · S. A. Lindsey
Related events
- · Founding of the county agricultural agent system, 1906
Themes & tags
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