School of Agriculture records

In 1886, the University of Minnesota took the initiative to offer a two-year program for male students to further their education in “practical duties of the farm and work-shop” on the Experimental Farm (1). It was proposed that the School of Agriculture would educate students on “Arithmetic and its applications, bookkeeping, penmanship, and composition, practical mensuration, land surveying and leveling, botany, chemistry, elementary physiology, and veterinary science” (1). The School of Agriculture opened on October 18, 1888, on the University Farm. Under the direction of the Principal, W. W. Pendergast, and Assistant Principal, Henry W. Brewster (2). The School was also administered under the College of Agriculture(3). By the 1890-1891 school year, the two-year program was extended to three years in order to include courses with dedicated time in the green houses, forestry, veterinary clinics and to learn further on civics and farm law (3). Additional training included military drill, and was included in attendees’ schedules as early as 1890 (4). A summer school option was available to women by the late 1890s, but with a successful addition of a women’s dormitory, the School of Agriculture began accepting women into their program to further train in “practical farm life and in domestic economy” (5) by 1897. The number of girls enrolled in that first year was 32 (6). Over the course of the next thirty years, the School of Agriculture continued to grow, both physically on the St. Paul campus, but also in attendance. This included the expansion and opening of 4 additional branches. The Crookston location opened in 1905 (8), the Morris location opened in 1911 (9), the Grand Rapids location opened in 1926 (10) and the Waseca location opened in 1953 (11). By the late 1930s, the School of Agriculture also developed its purpose and promoted itself as a “vocational agricultural school”(7). During the meeting of the Board of Regents on May 12, 1960, members voted to “authorize the beginning of a four-quarter Technical Certificate Program in Agriculture in the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Home Economics in place of the present St. Paul School of Agriculture” (12). This was effective for the academic year of 1960-1961, and at that time, the School of Agriculture ceased.

References:

(1) Calendar, 1886-1887

(2) Biennial Report of the Board of Regents, 1887-1888

(3) Catalogue, 1890-1891

(4) Report of the University of Minnesota, 1888-1890

(5) Catalogue, 1898-1899

(6) Biennial Report of the Board of Regents, 1897-1898

(7) Bulletin, 1938

(8) Bulletin, 1905-1906

(9) Minutes: Board of Regents Meeting and Committee Meetings: October 9, 1911

(10) The First 100 Years, The North Central Experiment Station, 1896-1996

(11) University of Minnesota Board of Regents Minutes: November 1, 1952

(12) University of Minnesota Board of Regents Minutes: May 12, 1960