H I S T O R I C A L   T I M E L I N E :   
1 8 9 0 s - 1 9 0 0 s

August 30, 1890 - United States Congress passes the Second Morrill Act

Although the First Morrill Act called for separate institutions for white and African American students, only Mississippi and Kentucky established such institutions. The Second Morrill Act expands the system of grants to institutions for African Americans.

1891 - Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race opens

An agreement with Shaw University to offer courses in agriculture to interested students there failed to meet the provisions of the Second Morrill Act. To meet federal requirements, the state establishes the Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race, which later becomes North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

1903 - Clarence Poe purchases The Progressive Farmer

1907 - The first extension demonstrations occur

James A. Butler is selected as the first county agent. Butler arranges with an Iredell County farmer, J. F. Eagles, to use his farm for a demonstration of a better method to grow cotton and corn. By 1909 twenty counties had farm demonstration agents. These demonstrations provide a way for the experiment station to share the knowledge they have gained in their research with the citizens of North Carolina.