title: Historic plaque, First Girl's Tomato Club in Texas
creator: Belden, Dreanna L.
date: 2006-10-08
language: English
description: Photograph of a historic plaque in Cameron, Texas. It reads: "First
 Girl's Tomato Club in Texas. The first Girl's Tomato Clubs in Texas were
 organized in 1912 in Milam County to acquaint young women in rural areas with
 tomato production and canning techniques. At the request of the United States
 Department of Agriculture, Mrs. Edna Westbrook Trigg, a local high school
 principal, agreed to undertake the project. She organized eleven clubs
 throughout the county, with members ranging in age from ten to eighteen. A
 similar program for boys, the Corn Clubs, had been instituted in Jack County
 four years earlier. Each member of the Girl's Tomato Clubs was to produce a
 tomato crop on one-tenth of an acre of land and then was taught proper canning
 procedures. The girls exhibited their products at Milano, Rockdale, the 1913
 State Fair in Dallas, and the Waco Cotton Palace. So successful were these
 exhibits that several of the girls started college education funds with the
 money they raised selling their goods. As the state's first rural girl's
 organization of its kind, the Tomato Clubs were forerunners of later programs,
 including 4-H, that were initiated under the supervision of the Texas
 Agricultural Extension Service. Over time, 4-H has expanded its scope but has
 maintained the principle objectives of its predecessors."
subject: Architecture - Monuments
subject: Architecture - Landmarks - Historic Markers
subject: Places - United States - Texas - Milam County - Cameron
subject: Social Life and Customs - Clubs and Organizations - 4-H
subject: Social Life and Customs - Fairs and Exhibitions
coverage: United States - Texas - Milam County - Cameron
coverage: Into Modern Times, 1939-Present
coverage: 2006-10-08
coverage: north=30.850318044953756; east=-96.97671676556087;
rights: Public
rights: Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives
type: Photograph
format: 1 photograph : digital, col.
format: Image
identifier: https://texashistory.unt.edu./ark:/67531/metapth28327/
identifier: ark: ark:/67531/metapth28327