A Brief History of 4-H in Roland

It was in 1913 that the Department of Agriculture through the Extension Department of the University of Manitoba organized eight Boys & Girls Clubs in Manitoba. The first one, being in Roland, made us the Home of Canadian 4-H. Other clubs were organized the same year in Darlingford, Manitou, Neepawa, Oak Lake, Starbuck, Stonewall and Warren.

The Department gave each new member one dozen eggs from a good breed of laying hens, good quality seed of fodder corn and seed potatoes. The eggs were set in the spring under a hen and the corn and potatoes were planted painstakingly in the corner of a field or garden and tended by the members. In the fall the communities held a fair where the chickens and the produce were judged.

In 1952 the name was changed from Boys and Girls Clubs to 4-H in keeping with the name of the 4-H Clubs in the United States.

Advertisement, Boys' and Girls' Club Fall Fair, Roland, 1913.
Provincial Archives of Manitoba, Still Images Section.
Roland Collection--Fairs.
Item Number 2. Negative 4303.

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