The Linn Junior Farmers Club was the first 4-H Club organized in Wisconsin. Mrs. May Hatch, a local community leader, and Thomas L. Bewick, newly appointed State Boys and Girls Club Leader at the University of Wisconsin, organized the club on the Hatch farm on October 30, 1914. It began five months after Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act, which created the Cooperative Extension Service through participation by federal, state, and county governments in the county agent system. Four boys and three girls attended the first meeting. Membership grew to 21 during the year, with projects in livestock, crops, gardening, canning, cooking, and sewing. During this period, similar boys and girls clubs were beginning in other states. The movement grew rapidly, the variety of projects appealing to rural and urban youth increased, and by 1970 four million urban and rural members were participating annually nationwide while 4-H had spread to 84 countries.