Polk Hall, built in 1926 and renovated in 1987, is named after agrarian reformer Leonidas LaFayette Polk. After promoting the establishment of a Department of Agriculture, he became its first commissioner.... Polk Hall, built in 1926 and renovated in 1987, is named after agrarian reformer Leonidas LaFayette Polk. After promoting the establishment of a Department of Agriculture, he became its first commissioner. Polk founded The Progressive Farmer and was succeeded as editor by Clarence Hamilton Poe (Poe Hall). He pushed for the establishment of NC State as a Land-Grant college in order to support the study of agriculture.