Records of the Colorado School of Agriculture

Leaders at the Colorado Agricultural College (CAC) (now Colorado State University) noted a lack of practical secondary education in agriculture across Colorado. Their response was to establish the Colorado School of Agriculture (CSA) in 1909.

Classes commenced on October 5, 1909, with Thomas M. Netherton serving as the first principal. Education was focused on agriculture for boys and domestic science for girls. Classes were held five months each year and enrollment requirements were minimal; girls must be 16 years of age, boys 17, and a diploma from a primary school was not required. The classes were not intended to prepare students for enrollment at CAC, but instead give practical instruction that could be used when students returned to the family farm. 213 students enrolled the first year, rising to 418 for the 1914 school year.

Over time, CSA evolved. The minimum age for enrollment was lowered to 15 and an 8th grade diploma was required for entrance; courses in mechanical arts and agriculture for forest rangers were added; the school year was lengthened to six months; and courses were expanded to four years, allowing a CSA graduate to enroll at CAC.

In the 1910s, secondary education across Colorado began to improve, leading to declining enrollments at CSA. No longer seeing a need, college president Charles Lory and the Board of Agriculture closed the Colorado School of Agriculture on March 31, 1927.