150 Points of Pride

The Iowa State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has a proud and distinguished history. As part of Iowa State's sesquicentennial celebration, 150 points of pride related to the College - accomplishments, discoveries, contributions, highlights, famous and interesting people - will be posted here. These postings will coincide with 150 days of the 2007-2008 academic year, beginning Aug. 20, 2007 and ending May 2, 2008, with time off for the Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks. Check back each Monday for five new items.

Henry Wallace — 1836-1916

Henry Wallace (left) with Tama Jim

Reared on a western Pennsylvania farm, Henry Wallace entered the Presbyterian ministry in 1863 as pastor of two small churches in Rock Island and Davenport. After failing health forced him to leave the pulpit in 1876, he bought farmland in Adair County. His interest in improving Iowa farm life led him into farm journalism as editor of the Iowa Homestead where he became closely associated with another prominent farm editor – James “Tama Jim” Wilson. The two, along with Seaman Knapp, worked for the adoption of progressive agriculture. One of their most notable efforts was a reorganization of Iowa State College during the 1890s “to make the College distinctly industrial and agricultural.” Wallace helped found Wallaces’ Farmer in 1894 and served as its editor. In 1908, Theodore Roosevelt named him to the Country Life Commission to study the quality of rural life and the resulting report had a major impact on efforts to improve rural conditions. He died in 1916.

Fast fact: Rural readers showed their appreciation for the new Wallaces’ Farmer publication, and its first editor, by giving Wallace a nickname that stuck, Uncle Henry.

Henry C. Wallace — 1866-1924

Henry C. Wallace

Henry Cantwell Wallace was one of seven children born to “Uncle Henry” Wallace and his wife Nancy. Known as Harry, Henry C. entered Iowa State College in 1885. After two years, he was bored with college and moved to one of his father’s farms near Orient. After four years on the farm, Harry returned to Iowa State at the invitation of agriculture department head James “Tama Jim” Wilson. He finished his degree in 1892 and became assistant professor of dairying. To augment his teaching salary, he, his brother John and Professor Charles F. Curtiss bought a paper, The Farmer and Breeder. They renamed it The Farm and Dairy and published their first issue in February 1895. The name changed again in September to Wallaces’ Farmer and Dairyman. The elder Henry died in 1916 and Henry C. stepped into his shoes as editor of Wallaces’ Farmer. Henry C. was secretary of the Corn Belt Meat Producers Association and worked for fair freight rates for farm products, earning him national attention. When President Warren Harding took office in 1921, he brought Henry C. to Washington as Secretary of Agriculture. His term was cut short when he died in office on Oct. 25, 1924.

Fast fact: Wallace is honored with a boulder in a grove of trees in the southwest corner of Iowa State’s central campus. A plaque praises him as editor, Secretary of Agriculture, statesman and prophet.

Henry A. Wallace — 1888-1965

Henry A. Wallace

Henry C. Wallace married May Brodhead on Thanksgiving Day 1887. Six children were born, with the first being Henry Agard. As a child, George Washington Carver introduced Henry A. to plant life during the six years he spent on the Iowa State campus while his father was a student and teacher. He later graduated from Iowa State in 1910 with a degree in animal husbandry but his real interest was genetics and statistical methods. After graduation, he became associate editor of Wallaces’ Farmer. He became acting editor when his father was named U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in 1921 and editor upon his father’s death in 1924. He was instrumental in the development of the first company ever formed for the express purpose of producing and distributing hybrid corn — Hi-Bred Corn Company — which evolved into Pioneer Hi-Bred International. He was named U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in 1933 and served two terms. He was elected as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s third-term vice-president in 1940 and served in that position for four years. He constantly urged Iowa State faculty members to seek and adopt new approaches in teaching and research. One notable result is the ISU Statistical Laboratory, which originated in a seminar series he led.

Fast fact: The Wallace residence hall is named in his honor. Built in 1967, it is one of two remaining “towers” south of campus. It was closed in 2005, but reopened in 2006 for students wanting to live in single-person rooms.

James "Tama Jim" Wilson

James Wilson

James Wilson was born in Scotland, the oldest of 14 children. His father John was a farmer who taught his son how to grow crops and raise livestock. When he was 16, the family moved to Connecticut and then west to Iowa, settling in 1855 on the rich soil of Tama County. In 1867, Wilson’s farm work ethic impressed his neighbors and they elected him to the Iowa Legislature, where he served three terms, followed by another three terms in Congress. He returned to Iowa and along with “Uncle Henry” Wallace, formed a coalition of rural Iowans who pushed for restructuring Iowa’s agricultural college to offer more farmers’ institutes and more agricultural courses at the college. The reorganization happened, and Wilson was hired to head the agricultural program. After six years at Iowa State, Wilson was appointed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture by President McKinley. He also served under Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft, holding the post from 1897 to 1913, thus serving longer than anyone else in the position.

Fast fact: Wilson earned his nickname “Tama Jim” while serving in Congress. At the time, there was another James Wilson from Iowa serving in the Senate. To avoid confusion, the Iowan in the lower House of Representatives became known as “Tama Jim.”

Charles F. Curtiss

Charles F. Curtiss

Charles F. Curtiss grew up on a farm 10 miles north of the Iowa State campus. He earned his bachelor’s degree from there in 1887 and joined the faculty in 1891. At that time, there was one course and one instructor in agriculture. He formulated a four-year curriculum, which was adopted in 1892. He received his master’s from Iowa State College in 1894, one of three granted before the turn of the century. Curtiss was the first professor of animal science in 1896 and first head of the animal science department in 1898. When James “Tama Jim” Wilson left Iowa State in 1897 to begin a 16-year stint as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, he chose Curtiss as his successor. Curtiss served as director of the Experiment Station and acting dean. In 1902, Curtiss was named Dean of Agriculture and remained in that position until he retired in 1932.

Fast fact: Curtiss and his family moved into the Farm House, the first building on campus, in 1897. He lived there until his death in 1946. A year later, Ag Hall south of the Farm House, which was completed in 1901, was renamed Curtiss Hall.

*Some historic photographs courtesy of the University Archives.

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