06/12/2026
4-H is a wonderful summer and year-round activity, but how did it get started?
In the 1890s, researchers and politicians found that farmers were often reluctant to accept new agricultural developments from Universities, but younger people were often more open to experimentation. As a result, people all over the country began to establish after-school and summer clubs to show children new forms of agriculture and home economics. The first unofficial club was created in 1902 by Principal A.B. Graham in Clark County, Ohio. Ten years later, Jessie F. Shambaugh designed the now iconic four-leaf clover with an H on each leaf. in 1914, the U.S. Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act. Part of this act created the Cooperative Extension System within the USDA, nationalizing the 4-H program.
Who knows what each "H" means?
