Homestead of PSU’s First President Preserved

Marilyn Hershey
Southeastern Pa. Correspondent

OXFORD, Pa. — On Thursday, May 1, about 60 people gathered at the Jordan Banks Farm, Oxford, Pa. to celebrate the preservation of the 72-acre homestead of Dr. Evan Pugh, the first president of Penn State in 1859-1864.

Preserving the farm is a fourth cousin to Dr. Pugh \h— William “Alan” Pugh and his wife Cindy.

Several Pugh family members were on hand to see Alan and Cindy receive the preservation check enabling them to purchase the homestead and guarantee that it stays in open farmland indefinitely.

In special appreciation for the foundational president and the vision of land preservation, the current and 16th president of Penn State, Graham B. Spanier was on hand for the presentation of the check.

Spanier pointed out that while “agriculture is the largest industry in Pennsylvania providing one in six jobs in agriculture and ag related businesses; preserving land to remain in farmland is persistently challenging.

“The efforts of the Pugh family and the East Nottingham Township are laudable and will ensure that future generations will be able to continue this area’s farmland tradition,” said Spainier.

Aiding in the presentation, Leo Lavandowski, chairman supervisor of East Nottingham Township acknowledged, “Without enrolling the farm in the land preservation program, the historical Pugh establishment would have been sold for development.”

Preserving the farm provided Alan’s and Cindy’s family the ability to afford the high-priced acreage as opposed to selling the land for a higher dollar value and going into housing development.

Alan recognizes that the preservation of the farm is possible because of the “immeasurable efforts of the township.”

In 2004, the East Nottingham Township passed a referendum that allowed the township to retain 1/2 percent of earned income taxes for the East Nottingham Township Open Space Fund. To date, the township has helped to preserve 17 farms totaling 1,900 acres in East Nottingham alone.

The Jordan Banks Farm was unique in that it took an effort of the East Nottingham Township and Pugh family to make the transaction possible.

Lavandowski admited that, “without the 1/2 percent tax, there would be no authority to stop the development.” The board has worked “endlessly to keep the beautiful rolling hills clear of development.”

As Spanier addressed the group, he praised the democratic pioneer, Dr. Evan Pugh for his “vision for a higher public education that included a high-level scientific and theoretical knowledge.”

Pugh was 31 years old in 1859 when he accepted the position in Centre County, Pa. with 69 students enrolled in an unfinished facility.

The Oxford Historical Society published a booklet containing a brief overview of the history of Evan Pugh, “Evan Pugh, Pioneer in Democratic Education.”

About 1680, Ellis Pugh migrated from Wales and settled on a tract of land in Chester, Pa. And in 1734, his son John purchased 500 acres in Nottingham from William Penn.

Five generations later, Evan Pugh was born on the Jordan Banks Homestead.

The farm is named for the Jordan Creek that runs through their land. Evan Pugh’s childhood was not without hardship and after the untimely death of his father, Evan lived with his neighboring grandfather to learn the skill of blacksmith. While there, his three aunts planted a hunger for education and eventually the family enrolled Evan in a school near Utica, N.Y., Whitestown Seminary.

After a year of higher education at Whitestown, Evan moved back to the East Nottingham farm and established the Jordan Bank Academy for boys, teaching the usual studies along with laboratory and fieldwork in botany, analytical chemistry, geology and mineralogy.

Being in the forefront of applying science to farming and industry gave Evan a yearning to continue his own education and he made arrangements to travel to Germany, France and England for three years to study agriculture and the sciences. In 1853 Evan closed the Jordan Bank Boys Academy, sold the farm to his uncle Amos, and sailed to Europe for his studies.

Over the years, Evan studied chemistry, plant nutrition, scheduled mineralogy, crystallography and physical geography at the University of Leipzig. He also enrolled at Goettingen University for advanced work in analytical, organic and agricultural chemistry. Heidelberg University was another stop to the educationally hungry lad as he studied the atmospheric gases on plant growth and completed work at the gas analysis laboratory of Robert Bunsen.

In 1857, he enrolled at the Rothamsted laboratory near London where he conducted a report On The Sources of Nitrogen of Vegetation, etc. It was during that study that he received a letter from Pennsylvania offering him the presidency of the Farmers High School in Centre County’s Nittany Valley.

He completed his studies and took his place as president in the same year, 1859.

In December of 1861, 11 students completed their courses, received the new academic degree of Bachelor of Scientific Agriculture, and were the first to complete work at an American agricultural college.

The following year Dr. Pugh began a graduate program in agricultural chemistry awarding the first Master of Scientific Agriculture degree after one year. During this time, he also changed the school’s name to The Agricultural College of Pennsylvania.

Although his young life held much promise in the development of higher agricultural and scientific development, Evan fell ill in April of 1864 with typhoid fever. He passed away a week later at age 36, leaving a young bride of two months, Rachel Valentine of Bellefonte.

Although Penn State University has undergone significant changes, the University’s commitment to agriculture, leadership in the industry, and development of new sciences still remains a core of the University’s foundation.

For Alan and Cindy, the fulfillment of this day was as significant as the history running through the Jordan Banks Farm. For them, securing the family homestead also fulfills the dream of Alan’s late father, John Pugh, keeps the historical farm in the Pugh name and saves precious acreage in East Nottingham Township, Chester County.