University of Minnesota. Northwest Experiment Station (Crookston, Minn.)

The Minnesota State Legislature and the University Board of Regents created the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station in 1885 near the University’s Minneapolis campus. The 1897 Biennial Report of the Board of Regents explained how the subsequent experiment sub-stations were established, “A law, enacted at the last session of the state legislature, required the regents to purchase and equip two substations, each to contain not less than 320 acres, and appropriated $20,000 for that purpose, and the additional sum of $10,000 for the biennial period of 1895-96 with which to pay the expenses of conducting experiments.” At their May 1, 1895, meeting, the Board of Regents appointed an agricultural committee “to carry out the provisions of this act.”

The 1897 Biennial Report of the Board of Regents also noted that the committee visited Crookston and “made a careful examination of several tracts of land…”James J. Hill’s (of the Great Northern Railroad) offer to donate land for the substation was accepted and the deed for the land was executed on August 21, 1895.

The 1900 Biennial Report of the Board of Regents included the following update, “Our three subexperiment farms, located at Crookston, Grand Rapids, and Coteau, Lyon county, respectively, are doing valuable work for these different sections of the state, which, owing to the peculiar conditions of soil and climate, can be better carried on there than at the central farm. They are deserving of liberal support, encouragement and commendation.”

In 1905, the Minnesota legislature appropriated funding to establish the Northwest School of Agriculture in Crookston as a regional residential high school with a focus on agriculture. The School opened in the fall of 1906 with 31 students enrolled and providing technical and practical training in agriculture and homemaking.

At their May 6, 1912, meeting, the Regents voted to recommend new official names for all experiment stations under the administrative umbrella of the University’s Department of Agriculture. The Northwest Sub-experiment Station and the Northwest School of Agriculture became the Northwest School and Experiment Station, Crookston.

The 1946 President’s Report described the Northwest Station at Crookston and other branch experiment stations as “active in the testing, increase, and distribution of new crops; the management of pastures; and the investigation of rotation practices, soil fertility, and use of fertilizers.”

After decades of fairly steady growth in student enrollment, the School’s administrators recognized in the 1950s that agricultural education opportunities were now readily available in the students’ home communities. The Legislative Commission on Schools of Agriculture and the Legislative Commission on Higher Education submitted reports in 1959 recommending that the Board of Regents develop collegiate programs at the Northwest School and the West Central School (Morris) of Agriculture. A study in the 1960s by the University Bureau of Field Studies examined new roles for the Northwest School of Agriculture, and the Board of Regents discussed launching a college-level technical institute.

On May 26, 1965, the Minnesota Legislature approved the creation and education appropriations funding for an Agricultural and Technical Institute to be located on the campus of the Northwest School of Agriculture in Crookston. On September 17, 1965, Stanley D. Sahlstrom was appointed the first director of the University of Minnesota Technical Institute. Classes began at the new Technical Institute in the fall of 1966. In March 1968, the last graduating class of the Northwest School of Agriculture held its commencement ceremony.

Both the Northwest Experiment Station and the Technical Institute were under the administrative structure of the University’s Institute of Agriculture.

The 1968 President’s Report described the Technical Institute at Crookston as “a new and different concept of college education, offering two-year programs in agriculture, business, and food service management.” That same year, the University of Minnesota Technical Institute was renamed the University of Minnesota Technical College.

During this time, the Northwest Experiment Station concentrated its research and outreach efforts on swine, turkeys, sunflowers, sugar beets, vegetables, alfalfa, apples, crab apples, plums, drainage problems, and hail damage effects.

In 1988, the Regents officially changed the name of the Crookston campus to the University of Minnesota, Crookston, with a mission to provide a “unique contribution through applied, career-oriented learning programs that combine theory, practice and experimentation in a technologically rich environment.”

In October 1998, the Educational Planning and Policy Committee of the Board of Regents recommended that branch Experiment Stations change their names to Research and Outreach Centers, and the Board voted unanimously to approve the recommendation at their October 9, 1998, meeting. The Northwest Experiment Station became the Northwest Research and Outreach Center. Research areas for the Center’s work included agronomy, entomology, natural resources, plant pathology, and soil science.

Through the early 1990s, the Crookston campus offered only associate degrees, but the University wanted to explore expanding Crookston’s mission in “those areas unique to the campus -- agriculture, natural resources, small business, and hospitality -- which will serve students well.”

At their July 1992 meeting, the Board of Regents approved a revised mission statement for the University of Minnesota, Crookston, which included the following section, “The University of Minnesota, Crookston provides teaching, research, and service, including associate degrees and selected baccalaureate degrees, with a focus on applied undergraduate instruction and research in agriculture, business, environmental sciences, human resource development, and appropriate interdisciplinary studies.”