February 10, 1910

Russellville (Pope County) was chosen over competing cities in the area as the site of a “State Agricultural School” authorized by legislative act as a means of reversing the decline in the quality of rural life. Cities chosen for location of the district agricultural schools had to pledge $40,000 and a site of not less than 200 acres. From a school that was essentially a regular high school that offered some agricultural education, the school progressed gradually to become Arkansas Polytechnic College in 1925 and then Arkansas Tech University in 1976.