Albert Belmont Graham (1868–1960) was born near

Lena, Ohio Lena is an unincorporated community in Miami County, in the U.S. state of Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to t ...

. He was a country

schoolmaster A schoolmaster, or simply master, is a male school teacher. The usage first occurred in England in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. At that time, most schools were one-room or two-room schools and had only one or two such teacher ...

and agriculture extension pioneer at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

. Graham taught at an integrated rural school in Brown Township, Miami County. Later, Graham worked at the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

as the Federal Extension Director. On January 15, 1902, Graham held the first meeting of the agriculture experiment club in the basement of what was then the Clark County Post Office in

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in Clark County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in southwestern Ohio along the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, about west of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus and northeast of ...

(now called the A. B. Graham building). Through his diligent efforts, A. B. Graham is considered the impetus for founding the

4-H 4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times ...

program across the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Graham High School in St. Paris, Ohio, was named in his honor, and he attended its first graduation ceremony in 1958. Personal witness. I attended the school in its first year (1957-58)and met him then. His Columbus, Ohio house, the A.B. Graham House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

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* 1868 births 1960 deaths Ohio State University faculty People from Springfield, Ohio {{Ohio-bio-stub