John Baptist Pierce (1875 - 1942) S28
A cooperative Extension Service pioneer, innovator, and educator, John Baptist Pierce was appointed in 1906 by Seaman Knapp and H.B. Frissell of Hampton Institute as the first Negro farm demonstration agent for Virginia. Pierce served for 35 years as district agent for Virginia and North Carolina and as the United States Department of Agriculture field agent for the upper southern states. Pierce’s "Live - at - Home and Community Improvement Program" was a unique innovation which helped many rural Virginians raise their standards of living.

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Hickison Summit NV137
About one mile northwest lies a natural pass between two low buttes which, prehistorically, the aborigines may have used as a site of ambushing migratory deer herds. Three petroglyph panels are located in this pass. Concerted, cooperative efforts of several families were necessary for successful trapping, killing and processing the deer. Petroglyphs suggest magical or ritual connections with hunting activities. They were added seasonally by the group's religious leader, or shaman, as omens to insure a successful hunt.

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Fenway Studios MA6
A rare Boston example of the influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement on architectural design, this innovative structure has been in continuous use for artists' studios and residences since it was built in 1905. Designed by Parker & Thomas, the layout conformed to artist's standards for north light and working space. Painters and sculptors from Boston's art community, some of national influence, have been tenants here, including artists of the Boston School in the early years. In 1981, the building was sold to a resident artist's cooperative committed to maintaining Fenway Studios for visual artists.

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Kerr Hall/Student's House MA9
At the turn of the century when few colleges in Boston had living facilities for women students, progressive women's groups organized housing cooperatives to provide safe and inexpensive housing. In 1902 women from Emmanuel Church in the Back Bay started Student's House in rented facilities. They incorporated in 1914 and built this structure as residential accommodations for 85 women who attended nearby colleges. The building was designed by Kilham and Hopkins, a Boston architectural firm interested in housing reform. Part of Northeastern University since 1972, Kerr Hall now serves as a residence hall and faculty club.

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Ansgar Evangelical Lutheran Church and Cemetery TX172

The Danish Folk Society obtained a land option from the Texas Land and Cattle Company and helped 93 Danish families from the midwest establish the Danevang Cooperative Settlement here in the early 1890s. The settlers, strong adherents of the Lutheran religion, organized an evangelical Lutheran congregation in 1895 with the help of the Rev.F.L. Grundtvig. Worship services were first held in the home of Mads and Maren Andersen. Early pastors came from Denmark and held services in the Danish language. The congregation erected a meeting hall at this site in 1895. A sanctuary made of native pine and cypress was erected here in 1909. A painting of St. Ansgar baptizing a child was placed inside the new church building and a 1700-pound bell, which could be heard four to five miles away, was placed in the church steeple. The sanctuary was destroyed in a 1945 storm and replaced with an army chapel which the congregation reassembled at this site. The first recorded interment was that of Maren Andersen in 1895. The cemetery, maintained by a board established in 1965, contains three former pastors and veterans of wars ranging from the Civil Ear to World War II among its more than 500 burials.

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Bartlett Electric Cooperative TX313

Although the town of Bartlett had regular electric service by 1905, farmers in the surrounding rural area were not supplied with electricity until thirty years later. On May 11, 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed an executive order establishing the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) as part of his New Deal emergency relief program. Designed to bring electricity to the rural areas of America, the REA also became a lending agency to help finance such projects. In 1935, the REA lent $33,000 to the Bartlett Community Light & Power Company. Later known as the Bartlett Electric Cooperative, the BCL&P built a 59-mile power line to serve the rural areas surrounding Bartlett. The first section of the line, which was to serve 110 farm homes, became operative in March 1936. Power was provided by the city's municipal light plant, which had been built two years earlier. As the first REA project in Texas and the first in the nation to be enegized under an REA loan, the Bartlett Electric Cooperative played an important role in the modernization of area farms.

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Big Spring School District TX1279

Education has been an important endeavor in Howard County since its formal organization in 1882, when the first commissioners court ordered the construction of a school building and created Howard County Common School District No.1 in 1883. On December 14, 1901, the Big Spring School District was established and a new brick schoolhouse named Central Ward was built to house students in all ten grades. Records indicate that the county provided $40/month for a teacher for African-American students in 1902. Within the first ten years of its creation, Big Spring School District built two more elementary schools and a new high school.

The discovery of oil in the Permian Basin in the late 1920s signaled an era of growth and increased school enrollment in Big Spring. In the 1930s, the Kate Morrison School for Mexican-American students and the Lakeview School for African Americans were both completed, as were three other neighborhood elementary schools. An early vocational cooperative education program in Big Spring was one of the first of its kind in the state. The 1950s and 1960s saw enrollment increases and new school construction because of the presence of Webb Air Force Base.

In 1955, Big Spring became one of the first school districts in Texas to enforce the Supreme Court's decision against school segregation. Big Spring annexed the neighboring Gay Hill and Center Point school districts in 1964. Many accomplishments during its first 100 years give Big Spring schools a significant role in Howard County's educational history.

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Birthplace of Texas 4-H Clubs TX416

First Texas Boys Corn Club was founded in Jacksboro, 1908, by Tom M. Marks (1865-1906), first Jack County agent. This was a forerunner of U.S. 4-H clubs, now International, and part of the cooperative extension service. Lack of adult interest in a 1907 Corn Show prompted friends to tell Marks, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks". Marks replied, "Then I'll start with the pups". 111 boys enrolled as demonstrators. Marks' 1908 show drew national attention, and he was called to Washington to aid in setting up extension program.

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Black Gap Wildlife Management Area TX422
Black Gap Wildlife Management Area

Black Gap, a natural cleft in the basalt ridge northeast of the Sierra del Carmen the headquarters site of the Black Gap Wildlife Mangement Area.

Established in 1948, the "Gap" contains approximately 100,000 acres representative of the rugged big country - the typical arid, mountainous southwest. Owned by the people of Texas and operated by the Game and Fish Commission, the area is the scene of research and developmental work dedicated to the conservation and restoration of wildlife species indigenous to the region. Mule deer, deer, Javelina, Prong-horned Antelope and Scaled Quail are among the principal game species managed. Work is in process to restore the bighorn sheep which, by the 1960's were all but eliminated from Texas. Scientific land use practices, designed to increases the yield of natural food for wildlife, have been instituted by the Commission, water impoundment, diversion dams and "push ups" seeded with native vegetation. Research findings, through demonstrations and educational extension programs conducted on this federal-state cooperative project, are available to the surrounding landowners and others who are interested. Game surpluses produced on the Black Gap are harvested periodically by hunters under a controlled public hunt program.

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Bradford Knapp TX484
BRADFORD KNAPP
(1870 - 1938)

Known for his leadership in the field of agricultural education, Bradford Knapp served as first director of the U.S. Cooperative Extension Service and helped plan and carry out World War I overseas food production for the Agriculture Department. He later served as Dean of Agriculture at the University of Arkansas (1920-23), and as the president of the universities now known as Oklahoma State (1923-28), Auburn (1928-32), and Texas Tech (1932-38).

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