Logan County 4-H’ers join in the
100th anniversary celebration of Extension
4-H
In 1914, Sen. Hoke Smith of Geor-
gia and Rep. A.F. Lever of South
Carolina authored and introduced
to Congress an act that would
establish a Cooperative Extension
program that would be adminis-
tered through state universities.
The purpose of the program was to
educate farming communities and
develop best practices in agricul-
ture.
The 4-H program actually began
several years before the advent of
the Extension. History shows that
in the 1800s there was a movement
to create youth organizations for
rural and farm children. The clubs
were originally designed to focus
on agriculture and home econom-
ics.
The programs were developed
because universities across the
country discovered that while many
old-time farmers were set in their
ways and leery of change, younger
people were more willing to “ex-
periment” with agriculture. As
universities studied and developed
advancements in growing crops,
they found that teaching these
things to the youth was a better
way to advance agriculture.
There is a mixed consensus on
who formed the first actual clubs
for boys and girls, as there were
several that sprang up across the
country at about the same time.
However, the 4-H federation recog-
nizes the Tomato Club or the Corn
Growing Club, formed in 1902 in
Clark County, Ohio, as being the
first official 4-H club.
In 1910, the clover was adopted as
the official logo of the clubs, with a
dark green four-leaf clover and an
“H” on each petal. The “H’s” stood
for “head, heart, hands and health.”
In 1912, the youth clubs were unit-
ed under one umbrella and became
the 4-H program.
When the Extension or Smith-
Lever Act was passed in 1914,
4-H officially became part of the
University Extension programs
throughout the country.
In 1923, 4-H programs in Illinois
were officially organized and iden-
tified as 4-H clubs.
As the Extension celebrates its
100th anniversary this year, there
have been hundreds of advance-
ments made in agriculture that can
be attributed to the work of the
Extension program.
The same is true with 4-H. While
the program started in the very
early days as socialization for rural
kids, it developed into an educa-
tional program for young farmers.
Then it began moving into less
rural settings and consequently
evolved into the programs that we
Carissa Apkore of the Logan County Extension office holds up a sample
of the 4-H clovers that will be scattered around about the Logan County
Fairgrounds on Tuesday and Thursday. Those who find the clovers can
take them to the 4-H booth that evening and turn them in to receive a
gift from the Logan County 4-H. Read more about this in the Top Stories
section.
Photo by Nila Smith
2013 LOGAN COUNTY FAIR. A special editon of LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com July 30, 2013 page 5
