Texas Agricultural Experiment Station No. 6
Denton, Denton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
DURING DENTON COUNTY’S EARLY YEARS, FARMING AND RANCHING WERE THE TRADITIONAL PURSUITS. WHEN THE RAILROADS ENTERED THE COUNTY, SUBSISTENCE FARMING GAVE WAY TO FARMING THAT YIELDED MONEY-MAKING CROPS THAT COULD BE SHIPPED TO VARIOUS MARKETS. IN 1887, THE U.S. GOVERNMENT PASSED THE HATCH ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS TO STATES THAT PROMOTED SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTATION REGARDING AGRICULTURE. OVER THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS, EXPERIMENT STATIONS WERE ESTABLISHED THROUGHOUT THE STATE. IN 1910, THE AREA RECEIVED NOTICE THAT A STATION WOULD BE LOCATED IN DENTON, KNOWN AS STATION NO. 6. THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OFFERED A SITE WEST OF DENTON OWNED BY J. N. RAYZOR THAT THE STATION OCCUPIED FOR THE FIRST FEW YEARS. HOWEVER, BECAUSE OF SOIL ISSUES, THE STATE BOUGHT THE J. T. LUPER FARM FIVE MILES NORTHWEST OF DENTON IN 1913 AND MOVED THE STATION THERE. THE STATION SPECIALIZED IN RESEARCH ON WAYS TO IMPROVE GRAINS AND THEIR RESISTANCE TO WEATHER AND DISEASE. THE STATION’S SUCCESS WAS EVIDENT IN THE NEW VARIETIES OF OATS DEVELOPED THAT COULD WITHSTAND NORTH TEXAS’ SOMETIMES SEVERE WINTERS. NORTEX, NEW NORTEX, MUSTANG AND ALAMO WERE A FEW EXAMPLES OF THE NEW VARIETIES OF OATS. THEY DOUBLED YIELDS AND ALSO HELPED OVERCOME THE PROBLEM OF RUST DAMAGE. THE STATION ALSO PRODUCED WHEAT VARIETIES SUCH AS WESTAR, QUANAH AND FRISCO, AND BARLEYS SUCH AS TEXAN AND CORDOVA. THE STATION LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTURAL-RELATED INDUSTRIES THAT BOUGHT AND SOLD SEED, PLANTS, FERTILIZER, MILLS, TOOLS AND OTHER SALES, AND ADDED GROWTH TO THE REGIONAL ECONOMY. MANY FARMERS DEPENDED ON THE STATION FOR ADVICE ON THEIR FARMING OPERATIONS BUT AFTER 62 YEARS, THE STATION WAS CLOSED IN 1972 AND ACTIVITIES WERE MOVED TO A REGIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTER.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After the railroads reached Denton County, subsistence farming gave way to cash crops bound for distant markets, and in 1910 the state placed one of its Hatch Act–funded agricultural experiment stations here as Station No. 6. Relocated to the Luper farm in 1913 after soil trouble, its scientists spent six decades breeding hardier grains — cold-tolerant oats like Nortex and Mustang, wheats such as Quanah and Frisco — that doubled yields and beat back rust. The work seeded a web of seed, mill, and supply businesses across the region before the station closed in 1972.
Why it matters
It shows how federal science policy reached down to the county level, turning North Texas dirt farms into a modern, research-driven agricultural economy.
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Related events
- · Hatch Act of 1887
Themes & tags
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