Buncombe County Cooperative Extension - Beginnings to 1920
(Updated: June 26, 2025, 9:25 a.m.)
Preparing Land for Prize Acre - 1915 University Archives Photograph Collection. Glass negatives and Lantern Slides (UA023.031). Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. Digital collections: Rare and Unique Materials.
2025 marks the 115th year of Cooperative Extension work in Buncombe County. Despite its lengthy history, many factors and independent agencies contributed to the creation of North Carolina Cooperative Extension. Join us this year as each month we look back on the decades of agricultural progress and Cooperative Extension work in Buncombe County from the late 19th century to present day.
Buncombe County Cooperative Extension is a satellite office of NC State University, in partnership with NC A & T University, local county government, state government, and the USDA that supports agriculture in Buncombe County, complete with the 4-H Club, serving everyone from the commercial farmer to the home gardener and community members through various research-based programs, information, and education.
Following is a timeline of notable events showcasing agricultural progress in North Carolina and the development of North Carolina Cooperative Extension in Buncombe County.
1853 -The first North Carolina State Fair is held in Raleigh, exhibiting livestock,produce, and farm equipment in an effort to promote better farmingpractices.
1861-Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated the 16th president of the United States.At the time 45% of North Carolinians are listed as farmers on the 1860US Census.
1862 - The Morrill Land-Grant College Act, signed by Abraham Lincoln,establishes Land Grant universities. Offering a “chance for the childrenof the working man to secure a higher education, (1)” these universities areto offer courses in agriculture and mechanical arts.
1878-The NC Department of Agriculture describes that “Buncombe Countydoes not grow cotton. The acreage of wheat is steadily increasing. The interest in fruit growing is rapidly increasing, especially that of apples. The price of farm land in this county varies, when under cultivation, from$5 to $50 per acre. The very finest tobacco is raised, averaging 600 lbsto the acre…The character of labor remains about the same, men’swages vary from $6 to $10 per month…(2).”
1880-October 3 - The Western North Carolina Railroad reaches Asheville withthe first train arriving from Salisbury. In the years following, train travelbrings an influx of people and activity to Asheville, resulting in anincrease in population and urbanization.
1887-The Hatch Act is signed into law, enabling land-grant universities to organize agricultural experiment research stations.
1889 - The first agricultural classes are held at North Carolina College ofAgriculture and Mechanic Arts. Now known as NC State University, it isthe state’s first Land-Grant institution. Work of the agricultural experimentstations, already underway, is transferred to the university, partnered withthe North Carolina Department of Agriculture.
1890-August 30 - The second Morrill Act is signed into effect by PresidentBenjamin Harrison, creating Land-Grant institutions and educationalopportunities in agriculture for African American citizens.
September 30 - The Asheville Daily Citizen newspaper announces: “Inorder to bring the work of the experiment station more directly before the farmers of various localities of the state…it has been decided to establishsub-stations in about eight or nine representative localities. These pointswill be three in the section east of Raleigh, three in the central section ofRaleigh, and two in the mountainous section. These sub-stations will tryexperiments in agriculture (3).”
Today, two research farms exist in Western North Carolina, the MountainHorticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River,Henderson County, and the Mountain Research Station in Waynesville,Haywood County.
1891 -NC A &T (North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University) is founded to “teach practical agriculture and mechanic arts andsuch branches of learning as relate there to, not excluding academic andclassical instruction (4)” to North Carolina’s African American citizens.
1895-December 24 - George Vanderbilt officially opens the Biltmore House to invited guests. Agricultural endeavors of the Biltmore Estate in itsearly years include a dairy farm, livestock, crops, and forestry.
1907-James A Butler becomes North Carolina’s first county agent. A native ofDavie County, employed by the USDA, he performs farm demonstrationwork in Iredell County.
1909-North Carolina becomes the first state to partner with the USDA whena memorandum of understanding is signed between the two partiesallowing Land-Grant universities to conduct farm demonstration work. Aspart of these efforts, boys’ “Corn Clubs” are organized where youngboys used the latest techniques to grow corn on a one acre plot of land.These clubs were the forerunner to today’s 4-H clubs, the first being inAhoskie, Hertford County, North Carolina.
1910-Interest in forming a Boys’ Corn Growing Club is published in theAsheville Times newspaper.
"Boys' Corn Meeting" The Asheville Times Friday, April 8, 1910. Page 4. Newspapers.com
1910-Ethan Douglas (E.D.) Weaver is selected as the Superintendent ofDemonstration Farm Work by the Buncombe County Board ofCommissioners, becoming the first county farm agent west of theBlue Ridge. Born April 10, 1856 in Buncombe County, he serves asa farm agent from 1910 until 1920.
The Asheville Citizen Times Friday, August 12, 1932. Page 8. Newspapers.com
1911 -The success of the boys’ Corn Clubs leads to Girls’ Tomato CanningClubs, paving the way for today’s Cooperative Extension Family and ConsumerSciences programs.
1914-May 8 - President Woodrow Wilson signs the Smith-Lever Act into effect,formally establishing the Cooperative Extension System in each state.
September 21 - One of the county’s first organized agricultural fairs is held in West Asheville. Organized by Edward Walton (E.W.) Pearson, a prominent citizen of Asheville, and running yearly from 1914 to 1947, the fair provides an opportunity for the region’s African American citizens to showcase their agricultural talents.
Edward W. Pearson Sr West Asheville History Project Buncombe County Special Collections https://westashevillehistory.org/edward-w-pearson-sr/
1915- 1915 brings an influx of activity to Cooperative Extension work in BuncombeCounty. While E.D. Weaver serves as the county farm agent, three women, Mrs.John LeFevre, Miss Hattie Dowd, and Miss Jennie Whitaker, work as HomeDemonstration Agents.
Volume 1, Issue 8 of The Extension Farm News describes Buncombe County ashaving “the second highest number of boys enrolled in the county’s Corn Clubwith 138 compared to Wake county, top in the state, with 150 enrollees."(4)
Boys' Corn Club - Buncombe County - 1915 University Archives Photograph Collection. Glass Negatives and Lantern Slides (UA023.31). Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. NC State University Libraries' Digital Collections: Rare and Unique Materials.
1917-April - America’s involvement in World War I begins when the US Houseof Representatives declares war on Germany. Draft registration beginsJune 5, with over 100% of eligible men in North Carolina registering,indicating that many were dishonest about their actual age in order to take part.
1918-A new, deadly, strain of the flu makes its way through the country with NorthCarolina no exception. Young, healthy adults between the ages of 20 and40 are hardest hit, with many losing their lives just days after the onset ofsymptoms.
As the 1918 flu pandemic rages on, The Fourth Annual Report of the NCAg Extension Service showcases the work of Mrs. Hanamon, HomeDemonstration Agent for Buncombe County, and Mrs. JH Henley, with the Influenza ReliefCommittee in the below article:
Fourth Annual Report of the North Carolina Agriculture Extension Service of the Year Ended June 30, 1918. P. 57-58. Cooperative Extension Service. Annual Reports (UA102.002). Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries.
The current staff of Buncombe County Cooperative Extension continues serving the community in times of need, most recently working at various locations in the county distributing food and supplies, providing fencing materials and other needed assistanceto those affected by Hurricane Helene.
The 1920s brought both prosperity and despair to western North Carolina. From the increasing use of tractor farming to the stock market crash of 1929, this decade brought great change to both rural and urban areas. Join us in February as we explore the 1920s and highlight the changing times of agriculture and Cooperative Extension work in Buncombe County.
Sources:
(1) Rasmussen, Wayne D. Taking the University to the People: Seventy-Five Years of Cooperative Extension. Iowa State University Press, 1989.
(3) "Out on the Farm.” The Asheville Daily Citizen, 30 Sept. 1890, pp. 2–2, https://www.newspapers.com/image/202716375/match=1&terms=%22Experiment%20Station%22.
Edward W. Pearson Sr. 1937. Asheville, North Carolina. Photograph from Buncombe County Special Collections - Buncombe County Library. “Extension Farm-News Vol. 1 No. 8, April 3, 1915.” NC State University Libraries’ Rare and Unique Digital Collections, NC Department of Agriculture, North Carolina Experiment Station, 3 Apr. 1915, d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/S1E9-v1n8-1915-04-03#?c=&m=&cv=&xywh=-2439%2C-1%2C8103%2C6052.
Moore, Justin - Director of Marketing and Communications. “Extension History and Milestones.” NC State Extension News, North Carolina State University, www.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-history-and-milestones/
