Norman J. Colman

Born in New York State, Norman J. Colman began a successful professional career in Greenville as principal of the Floyd County Seminary. He later moved to New Albany to practice law and then to Missouri to farm, and in 1854 he was elected Alderman for St. Louis. After serving as Captain in the Civil War, he began publishing Colman's Rural World magazine. In 1875, he was elected Lt. Governor of Missouri. Nominated as U.S. Agriculture Commissioner in 1885, Colman's push for agricultural experiment stations assisted in passage of the Hatch Act of 1887. He later became the 1st U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in 1889, and his impact on education in his early Seminary years and nationally in the field of agriculture is described as momentous.

Greenville, Indiana · United States