Keokuk Gate City Daily, IA
05-29-07
Credited with inventing the first computer, ISU also leads the nation in
horticulture programs
For the Daily Gate City
DONNELLSON - To help celebrate Iowa State's 150th Anniversary, each of the
100 Iowa State University Extension County Offices in Iowa have organized a
special event or project to celebrate and commemorate this milestone.
In Lee County, the Extension Council has set the goal of having a tree planted at
all of the schools, both private and public.
“We as a board believe this is a great opportunity for young people who assist
with the planting of trees at very young age to learn, appreciate, and understand
the importance and beauty of trees, and the long lasting impact they can have on
our environment,” said Mary Weisinger, president of the Lee County Extension
Council.
Lee County Extension Director Bob Dodds said Allen Caudill, transportation
Director of Keokuk Schools and Judy Walrath, Lee County Extension Council
member coordinated the project in Keokuk.
Tom Boeck, Iowa State alumni and vocational agriculture instructor, coordinated
the project at Central Lee.
This fall the program will be offered to Fort Madison schools.
“While Iowa State University is most often thought of as the school that first
invented the computer, ISU is also well known for the contributions it has made in
the area of horticulture,” Dodds said. “This includes George Washington Carver's
discovery of 300 uses for peanuts, and hundreds more uses for soybeans,
pecans and sweet potatoes during his time at Iowa State in the late 1800s;
professor J.L. Budd's development of one of the largest fruit breeding programs
in the country, with major emphasis on apples; A.T. Erwin serving as president of
the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHA) in 1930 and honored as
the oldest living member in 1969; E.S. Haber as the pioneer in the development
of hybrid sweet corn during the 1940s and the resulting inbred lines still being
used today in the commercial hybrids; and professor Nick Christians' discovery of
a pre-emergent herbicide made out of corn gluten in 1986.”
The Department of Horticulture at Iowa State was a national leader in the
education, research, and extension programs up through Dr. Haber's tenure,
Dodds said. Under the plant breeding programs of Professors Budd, Beach,
Erwin, Pickett, Volz, and Haber, 50 horticultural varieties were named and
released, consisting of of 16 fruit, 10 ornamental, and 34 vegetables. A number
of them are in existence today.
Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm (now Iowa State University) was
officially established on March 22, 1858, by the state legislature of Iowa.
Story County was selected as a site on June 21, 1859, and the original farm of
648 acres was purchased for a cost of $5,379.
The Farm House, the first building on the Iowa State campus, was completed in
1861. In 1862, the Iowa legislature voted to accept the provision of the Morrill
Act, which was awarded to the agricultural college in 1864.
Iowa Agricultural College (Iowa State College of Agricultural and Mechanic Arts
as of 1898), as a land grant institution, focused on the ideals that higher
education should be accessible to all and that the university should teach liberal
and practical subjects. These ideals are integral to the land-grant university.
The first official class entered at Ames in 1869, and the first class (24 men and
two women) graduated in 1872. Iowa State was and continues to be a leader in
agriculture, engineering, extension, home economics, and created the nation's
first state veterinary medicine school in 1879.
In 1959, the college was officially renamed Iowa State University of Science and
Technology. The focus on technology has led directly to many research patents
and inventions, including the first binary computer (the ABC), Maytag blue
cheese, the round hay baler and many more.
Beginning with a small number of students and Old Main, Iowa State University
has grown to approximately 27,000 students and more than 100 buildings with
world class programs in agriculture, technology, science, and art, Dodds said.
“Iowa State University is a special place, full of history,” Dodds said. “But what
truly makes it unique is a rare combination of campus beauty, the opportunity to
be a part of the land-grant experiment and the ability to create a progressive and
inventive spirit that all Iowa Staters like to call the ‘Cyclone Experience.'”
As Iowa State marks its 150 th year, Lee County Extension invites everyone to
share in the celebration.