Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station – Wooster Digital History Project

This photograph from 1898 shows the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station’s first horticulturist, William J. Green as he examines an apple core for mold. © The Ohio State University Photo courtesy of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

In 1891, Wayne County made the monumental decision to purchase the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station (OAES) from Ohio State University. The following year the station was moved from Columbus to Wooster, and the town became a center for agricultural success and innovation.¹

Charles Thorne, the station’s first director, advocated for the move to Wooster, where he continued his work.² Under his leadership, the station grew and prospered, working with a multitude of farmers across Ohio to “improve crop yields, animal nutrition, animal husbandry, and pest control.”³ William J. Green, who had become the station’s first horticulturalist when it was still located in Columbus, conducted a variety of experiments to improve crop production.⁴ His work, along with so many others, helped establish Wooster as a center for agricultural prosperity.

In this photograph, researchers at the OAES apply lime to a test plot to reduce the acidity of the soil and raise crop yields. © The Ohio State University Photo courtesy of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

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For further reading:

Jones, Robert Leslie. “Ohio Agriculture in History.” Ohio History Journal, April 28, 1956.

Move to Wooster Photograph. Photograph. 1892. Ohio History

Connection. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p267401coll36/id/15158/rec/47

William J. Green Photographs. Photograph. 1898. Ohio History Connection. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p267401coll36/id/23883/rec/28.