ABSTRACT
In 1846 an institution called Farmers’ College opened on the outskirts of Cincinnati, Ohio, under the leadership of an enthusiastic young man named Freeman Grant Cary. Its mission was to give the sons of farmers, artisans, and mechanics a practical education unlike anything available at existing colleges. Freeman Cary’s vision for a program of agricultural studies was well received by the local community. The College also offered classical and scientific subjects. It enjoyed healthy enrollments for more than a decade, but then began to founder and after the Civil War evolved into a different type of institution. Although scholars have not overlooked Cary and his College entirely, at best Farmers’ College has been regarded as merely a failed experiment in practical education.1 In fact, it can lay claim to being the nation’s first college of agriculture, and it presaged the land-grant movement by combining heretofore divided educational philosophies.
