This week the “Walcott Community News” has a front page ad featuring the “District Farmers’ Institute & Poultry Show” that was slated to be held at the Walcott Coliseum on January 26-27, 1934. The first “Farmers’ Institute” was held at Walcott in 1913.
So what was the Farmers’ Institute? It was basically a “traveling show” of agricultural experts who went from community to community educating farmers about improved farming techniques. The Institute was normally 1-3 days in length and typically offered agricultural topics for men during the day and sometimes even topics of interest to women. The programs at night were entertainment or topics of general interest to the whole community. Below are examples of a few early “Farmers’ Institute” newspaper articles. The last one has names of all the prize winners in 1918. See if you recognize some of them!
Saturday, January 22, 1916
The Daily Times
Sunday, November 26, 1916
Davenport Democrat and Leader
Sunday, January 20, 1918
Davenport Democrat and Leader
Remember to click on the link at the top to view the full “Walcott Community News” newspaper.