NorthEast Agricultural Experiment Station. Records

The Minnesota Legislature in 1911 authorized the appropriation of $65,000 for the purchase of a demonstration and experiment farm near Duluth. At the August 10, 1911, University Board of Regents Agricultural Committee meeting, Dean Albert Woods of the University’s Department of Agriculture presented a recommendation for the purchase of a site owned by the Greysolon Farms Company. Two hundred and thirty-five acres was purchased August 1, 1912. The President’s Report for 1911-1912 noted that the “farm will be developed as a combination dairy, poultry, and truck farm, making it so far as possible a demonstration of the kind of farming that should be conducted in northeastern Minnesota.” Mark J. Thompson was named superintendent of the farm.

At their May 6, 1912, meeting, the Regents voted to recommend new official names for all experiment stations under the administrative umbrella of the University’s Department of Agriculture. The farm near Duluth was named the Northeast Demonstration Farm and Experiment Station, Duluth.

The 1912-1913 President’s Report included an update on the Northeast Demonstration Farm and Experiment Station, “Oats, corn, potatoes, millet, and rutabagas were put in this spring and give promise of a good yield, except the millet, which was sown on the very wet land.”

By 1919, work at the Farm and Station began shifting away from the demonstration concept while experimental work was expanding. At their April 1, 1925, meeting, the Regents voted to approve the recommendation of the Dean of the Department of Agriculture to change the name of the Northeast Demonstration Farm and Experiment Station to the Northeast Experiment Station.

Many projects at the Northeast Experiment Station were joint enterprises with the Agricultural Experiment Station adjacent to the St. Paul campus maintaining a focus on agricultural issues and concerns for its region of the state. For example, in the 1930s, research was conducted on the effect of fertilizers and irrigation on raspberry growing in the Duluth region. During the 1950s, varieties of cereals, forages, and vegetables were tested at branch stations including the Northeast Station before recommendations were made to Minnesota farmers.

At their July 14, 1967, meeting, the Regents heard a report from the Vice President for Academic Administration on a proposal to curtail the academic program at the Northeast Experiment Station. The Board of Regents voted to refer the issue to the Executive and Finance Committee for study and recommendation. But at the October 6, 1967, Board of Regents meeting, University President Malcolm Moos advised the Board that “after a thorough review, the officers of the Institute of Agriculture and central administration have concluded that the Northeast Experiment Station, Duluth should not be closed and that the program of adaptive research and extension activity in horticulture…should be continued at this Station.” The Regents voted to approve continuing the program at the Northeast Experiment Station.

At the request of the Dean of the Institute of Agriculture and on the recommendation of the Vice President for Business Administration and the University President, the Board of Regents voted at their May 10, 1968, meeting to change the name of the Northeast Experiment Station to the Horticulture Center, Duluth, which continued adaptive research and extension activity in horticulture under the administrative umbrella of the Department of Horticultural Science until the mid-1970s.

Northeast Experiment Station Superintendents:

1. Mark J. Thompson, 1912-1953 2. Ralph S. Grant, 1953-1968