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Traffic whizzes past on Academy Street (US 13) without realizing the significance of what happened in Ahoskie in May of 1909.

There’s a State Historical Marker (the original one erected in 1955) in front of the old Ahoskie High School that offers a few details about that 1909 event. The deeper story is in the following words:

“Better conditions in agriculture will be brought about as you boys study and apply yourselves to present day problems. The yield of corn in North Carolina is approximately fifteen bushels per acre. If you boys would like to do something about it, the Extension Service will help you organize a corn club and attempt to teach you how to increase the yield of corn.”

Those words, spoken by I.O. Schaub to a group of Hertford County boys in May 1909, launched North Carolina’s first 4-H Club.

Beginning in the 1890s and early 1900s, 4-H Clubs were sprouting around the country, particularly in the South. The club’s goal at that time was to improve young people’s agricultural education. The Hertford County club, arranged in Ahoskie, began as a Corn Club with 15 members.

Two months later (July 1, 1909), an agreement was made by North Carolina’s land grant colleges: State College and North Carolina A&M as well as the Bureau of Plant Industry and the Cooperative Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support the agricultural demonstration work of boys and girls clubs. Schaub was appointed the state’s first club agent.

Jane McKimmon, North Carolina’s first home demonstration agent, started a Tomato Club in 1911 for girls.

Also in 1911, Charles Parker, one of the Corn Club charter members, produced a record-breaking 25 bushels of corn on one acre.

The Corn Club and the Tomato Club became official 4-H clubs in 1918 and their focus expanded to embrace many areas of rural life including education about soil, farm animals, tools, housekeeping, and cookery.

In 1919, Hertford County hosted the first joint 4-H boys and girls camp on the banks of the Chowan River at Winton.

By 1939, there were 1,156 organized 4-H Clubs in the state. Sixteen years later, the number of clubs nearly doubled (2,280 in 1955).

Today, 4-H is the youth development program of North Carolina Cooperative Extension, based at N.C. State and N.C. A&T State universities.

4-H is the largest youth organization in the United States with more than 7 million participants. Some of the exciting offerings include raising livestock, taking part in talent competitions, and horticultural science.

There are summer camps that offer excellent overnight and day camp opportunities for youth ages 6-17.

The Forestry & Wildlife Program includes projects, presentations, and two contests [Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Program (WHEP) and 4-H Forestry Contest]. WHEP is a natural resource program dedicated to teaching wildlife and fisheries habitat management to junior and senior level youth and 4-H Forestry Contest helps youth develop appreciation for conserving forests.

There is a 4-H Honor Club, open to those 16-and-up. Membership is based on a point system involving community service, 4-H activities, leadership and citizenship.

The North Carolina State Fair provides 4-H’ers with a wonderful opportunity to market 4-H and their county by participating in 4-H Crafts, 4-H Photography, 4-H Hay Bale Decorating, 4-H Entomology, and each Extension District with opportunities to exhibit their 4-H skills and talents.

All programs work toward helping members develop and improve head, heart, health, and hand. Those are the four personal development areas of focus for the organization.

The official 4-H emblem is a green four-leaf clover with a white ‘H’ on each leaf standing for Head, Heart, Hands, and Health. White and green are the 4-H colors. The white symbolizes high ideals. The green represents springtime, growth, life, and youth.

The idea of using the four-leaf clover as an emblem for the 4-H program is credited to Oscar Herman Benson (1875-1951). When Wright County school superintendent Benson dropped by to visit a one-room school house near Clarion, Iowa, the students outside for recess presented him with a good will gift of seven just-picked four-leaf clovers. This simple gesture inspired Benson to select the four-leaf clover for the 4-H emblem. He awarded three-leaf and four-leaf clover pennants and pins for students’ agricultural and domestic science exhibits at school fairs that Benson promoted.

The goal of 4-H is to develop citizenship, leadership, and life skills of youth through mostly experiential learning programs. Though typically thought of as an agriculturally focused organization as a result of its history, 4-H today focuses on citizenship, healthy living, and science, engineering and technology programs.

The 4-H motto is “To make the best better,” while its slogan is “Learn by doing” (often also written as “Learn to do by doing”).

The foundations of 4-H began around the start of the twentieth century, with the work of several people in different parts of the United States. The focal point of 4-H has been the idea of practical and “hands-on” learning, which came from the desire to make public school education more connected to rural life. Early programs tied both public and private resources together to benefit rural youth.

During this time, researchers at experiment stations of the land-grant universities and USDA saw that adults in the farming community did not readily accept new agricultural discoveries. But, educators found that youth would “experiment” with these new ideas and then share their experiences and successes with the adults. So rural youth programs became a way to introduce new agriculture technology to the adults.

A. B. Graham started one of the youth programs in Clark County, Ohio in 1902, which is considered the birth of the 4-H program in the United States.

T.A. “Dad” Erickson of Douglas County, Minnesota started local agricultural after-school clubs and fairs also in 1902. When Congress created the Cooperative Extension Service of the USDA by passage of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, it included within the CES charter the work of various boys’ and girls’ clubs involved with agriculture, home economics and related subjects. By 1924 these clubs became organized as “4-H” clubs and the clover emblem was adopted.

The first 4-H camp was held in Randolph County, West Virginia. Originally, these camps were for what was referred to as “Corn Clubs”. Campers slept in corn fields, in tents, only to wake up and work almost the entirety of each day.

4-H membership hit an all-time high in 1974, as a result of its popular educational program about nutrition, Mulligan Stew, shown in schools and on television across the country.

And for those of you wondering how much the corn yield has improved across North Carolina since 1909, it now averages 144 bushels per acre.

Cal Bryant is the Editor of Roanoke-Chowan Publications. Contact him at cal.bryant@r-cnews.com or 252-332-7207.