| 1492 | Columbus |
| 1565 | St. Augustine, Florida - 1st permanent settlement |
| 1607 | Jamestown established. Colonists have to trade all their goods to Indians for food. They nearly die until two captured Indians are forced to teach them how to farm. |
| 1620 | Plymouth colony established. The Indian Squanto teaches agriculture to the settlers. |
| 1636 | Harvard established |
| 1647 | "Old Deluder Satan" Act passed in Massachusetts (elementary school if villages with 50 families, Latin grammar schools in villages of 100 families) |
| 1776 | The Constitution of North Carolina stated "all useful learning shall be encouraged in one or more universities." |
| 1785 | Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture established, South Carolina Society for Promoting and Improving Agriculture and Other Rural Concerns is also started |
| 1789 | The University of North Carolina was chartered. It opened in 1795. |
| 1795 | A professorship of chemistry and the philosophy of medicine, agriculture and the mechanical arts was established by the University of North Carolina, but little teaching of these subjects were done. |
| 1810 | A county agricultural society was formed in Edgecombe County. |
| 1819 | The American Farmer, a weekly newspaper was started in Baltimore. This was the first successful agricultural publication. |
| 1822 | North Carolina passed a law promoting the organization of agricultural societies. A State Board of Agriculture was to be composed of presidents of local societies. |
| 1823 | Governor Gabriel Holmes, in a message to the legislature, recommended the purchase of a farm near the University of North Carolina "to be put under the care of a scientific and practical farmer" on which experiments could be conducted so that students might "see and learn the usefulness and beauty of husbandry." |
| 1826 | The Lyceum is started in Millbury, Mass. By 1930 over 900 towns had organized lyceums. A lyceum was a group of adults who held regular meetings and courses for the "application of sciences to agriculture and other useful arts." Libraries often developed. |
| 1830s | Wake Forest Institute and Davidson Seminary were chartered as manual-labor schools. Agricultural instruction, both theoretical and practical, was emphasized but the manual-labor idea was soon abandoned. |
| 1844 | John Morehead made a similar recommendation to that of Governor Holmes. He also advocated the establishment of an agriculture professorship at UNC or the creation of a school where agriculture might be taught. |
| 1852 | The North Carolina Agricultural Society sent a memorial to the state legislature which said, in part, that agriculture in North Carolina was "in a languishing condition, too much neglected by men of science." |
| 1854 | UNC employees a professor of agricultural chemistry. |
| 1862 | The Morrill Act is signed into law by President Lincoln. |
| 1866 | The state of North Carolina accepts the provisions of the Morrill Act |
| 1867 | The land grant funds were transferred to UNC. |
| 1870-75 | UNC is closed |
| 1871 | The University of Michigan sends faculty out to "inspect" high schools. |
| 1872 | L. L. Polk, newspaper editor and active Grange member called for "an agricultural college somewhere in North Carolina with its branch schools in every county as feeder schools to the main school." |
| 1875 | UNC reopens with a College of Agriculture. John Kimberly is the professor of agriculture. |
| 1876 | Kimberly requests $2,800 for his department but only receives $200--much less than the appropriations made for other departments. This is seen as a lack of commitment on the part of UNC to agriculture. |
| The State Grange inquires of the President of UNC how the land grant fund is being used. His reply mollifies them for awhile. | |
| 1877 | A Department of Agriculture is established in North Carolina. An agricultural experiment station is to be established and there is to be a fertilizer control station. |
| 1885 | The general assembly assigns the responsibility for holder farmer's institutes at regular intervals to the Department of Agriculture. |
| 1886 | A sarcastic editorial appeared in the August 25 issue of Progressive Farmer: " After a period of eleven years of laborious effort, and with an expenditure of $82,500 of money given our people by the government, we have at last succeeded in getting a College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts. It is a model of architectural beauty and admirably equipped in all its departments. It is located on the forty-eighth page of the catalog of the University. The catalog says that 'two courses are offered' in this elegant paper college. 'Offered' is a good word! These 'courses' we presume, have been 'offered' to our farmer boys for these eleven years, but we search the catalog in vain to find one who has availed himself of the offer." |
| 1887 | A statewide meeting of farmers is held in Raleigh to demand the establishment of a "real" agricultural college. The legislature responded by passing legislation establishing the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts. |
| Congress passes the Hatch Act which established an agricultural experiment station in every state. | |
| 1889 | North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts opens with 72 students and a staff of eight. |
| 1890 | Public education is dismal. A series of investigative reports point out problems with schools. |
| 1892 | The boll weevil crossed the Mexican border and in ten years had covered most of Texas. |
| The NEA Committee of Ten is formed. | |
| 1901 | The legislature indicated one of the required subjects to be taught in public school is agriculture. |
| 1903 | A farmer's convention is held at North Carolina A&M. |
| Seaman Knapp established a demonstration farm in Terrell, Texas under the auspices of the USDA to combat the boll weevil. The demonstration was successful. | |
| 1904 | The USDA provides funds to hire farm demonstration agents in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. A year later Oklahoma and Mississippi were included. |
| 1906 | North Carolina becomes the first state to hold institutes for women. |
| The General Education Board provides money to hire farm demonstration agents in states not affected by the boll weevil. | |
| The Farmer's convention held at North Carolina A&M becomes a part of the state Farmer's Institute Work. | |
| 1907 | C. R. Hudson, under the auspices of Knapp and the General Education Board comes to Raleigh to start farm demonstration work. After receiving a cold reception in Raleigh he moves to Statesville and starts the work there. |
| James A. Butler becomes the first county agent in North Carolina. | |
| The NC Department of agriculture hires T. B. Parker to conduct demonstration work. He established a number of boys corn clubs by offering prizes in corn growing contests. | |
| 1908 | County agents are appointed in Rowan, Gaston, Lincoln, Union, Catawba, Mecklenburg, and Cabarrus counties. |
| The Agricultural Experiment Station in cooperation with the Norfolk And Southern Railway operated a Corn Special train through the eastern part of the state. | |
| 1909 | Twelve additional counties have county agents. |
| 1909 | USDA and land-grant colleges agree to cooperate in the demonstration work. This agreement result in the appointment of I. O. Schaub to become boys corn club agent that year. He is stationed at A&M. Parker of the Department of Agriculture shares names of boys club participants and cooperates with Schaub. |
| 1910 | There were 46 agents in 43 counties. Two district agents are employed to help supervise the work. T. E. Browne is hired as a district agent for the Eastern part of the state. C. R. Hudson moves his headquarters to North Carolina A&M. |
| Schaub working through the state superintendent of public instruction attends meetings of country school superintendents and organizes corn clubs in the schools. Nearly 4,000 boys and girls participate in 1910. | |
| 1911 | The North Carolina General Assembly passed an act authorizing boards of county commissioners to make appropriations for farmers' cooperative demonstration work. |
| The General Education Board provides funds to start girls club work. Jane S. McKimmon is hired. | |
| The legislature established farm-life schools. $25,000 was to be used to establish 10 schools. Schools were first established in Jamestown, Pleasant Garden, and Monticello. | |
| 1912 | Home demonstration agents are working in 14 counties. |
| Schaub and McKimmon operate a demonstration train over the Coast Line Railway. They travel 1,200 miles and reach 10,000 people. This train hauled drainage implements, livestock, and field implements. | |
| 1913 | Schaub resigns. T. E. Browne is placed in charge of boys club work. |
| 1914 | Smith-Lever Act formally establishing extension is passed by the Federal Congress. |
| 1917 | Smith-Hughes Act formally establishing agricultural education is passed by the Federal Congress. |