Wayne County agreed to sell $85,000 in bonds for the development of an Agricultural Experiment Station in Wooster in 1891. Charles Thorne, director of the station then located on the campus of the Ohio State University in Columbus, took advantage of the opportunity to separate from the university. Although much of the equipment went to Wooster on the railroad, the station's seed and some equipment was transported by horse-drawn wagons, shown in this photograph, which measures 8.8" x 4.6" (22.4 x 11.7). It is part of an extensive collection of photographs, tools, and artifacts dealing with the history of the OARDC.

In 1882, the Ohio State University established an experiment station to bolster its agriculture program, which critics charged was being shortchanged by a shift towards liberal arts education. Charles Thorne, who had led the campaign for a separate station, became its first director. The Hatch Act of 1887, a federal act that provided funding for experiment stations, was a response to the land-grant universities' abandonment of their agricultural and mechanical roots. In 1892, the experiment station moved from Columbus to Wooster in Wayne County. Researchers there worked with farmers around the state improve crop yields, animal nutrition, animal husbandry, and pest control. In 1965 the name was changed to the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. The OARDC and Ohio State University officially merged in 1981.