Year   DREC Events   National Events   World Events      
1893 - Weather recording equipment established near present location.              
1905 - ND Senate Bill 62 establishes the Dickinson Experiment Station March 1[1] - Office of Dryland Agriculture, USDA organized.  Involved 22 stations in 10 states representing 450,000 square miles          
  - L.R. Waldron served as the first superintendent from May 1, 1905 to March 10, 1916.[2]              
  - First cereal grains seeded at DES:  Durum, HRSW, Oat, Barley, Flax              
  - First grass work at DES - Seeded smooth brome grass May 25[3]              
  - Grimm alfalfa sown on May 6[4]              
  - First corn planted at Dickinson - Variety was sunshine dent              
1907 - Cooperation begins with USDA in small grains work              
  - Barley variety comparison tests begin - 5 varieties compared              
  - Winter and spring rye comparison tests begin              
  - Root crop variety comparisons begin:  Mangle, sugar beet, rutabaga, carrot, and artichoke              
1908 - Nursery testing begins              
  - First foxtail and proso millet comparison trials - oldest annual hay crop trials at Dickinson.  Demonstrated millet could be successfully grown as a late-seeded emergency hay crop.              
  - Alfalfa breeding nurseries begin[5]              
  - Alfalfa in rotations experiment begins              
1908-1909 - First winter kill in alfalfa noted at center              
1909 - First seeding of crested wheatgrass in ND[6]              
  - Yellow flowered alfalfa (Medicago falcata) (Medicago ruthenica) seeded on June 3[7]              
1910 - Buckwheat first seeded at Dickinson              
  - Bromegrass improvement program begun through plant selection[8]              
1911 - Cooperative alfalfa growing program started.              
  - Livestock (Chickens) research begins with egg laying study              
1912 - First field pea study              
1913 - First sunflower study              
1914 - First grain sorghum comparison trials grown.  Conclusion sorghum not adapted to Dickinson area.   - Smith-Lever Extension Act passed setting up a national extension service.          
1916 - J.C. Thysell served as the second superintendent from March 10, 1916 to April 1, 1919              
1917 - First horses (2 Percheron mares), Holstein bull, purebred Yorkshire sow purchased.              
1918 - First livestock feeding trial              
  - Corn, sunflower, and mangles compared as silage crops.              
1919 - L.Mooman, serves as third superintendent from April 1, 1919 to October 1, 1950.              
  - Uniform regional hard red winter wheat performance nursery initiated.              
1923 - Dickinson dairy herd transferred to Hettinger              
1934 - Dr Warren C. Whitman, Botanist and Agrostologist, North Dakota State University commences work in western North Dakota "To determine methods of range management that would permit maximum utilization of the vegetation without deterioration of the range, and to advise methods of improving the range.[9]              
1938 - Characteristics of major grassland types in western North Dakota     - First working tuboprop engine      
     [10]              
1943 - Rotation of drought and grazing to ND rangeland.     - Palatable dehydrated eggs developed, Synthetic rubber invented      
1945 - ND House Bill 203 added livestock research to mission of the Dickinson Experiment Station on March 14[11] - 10 to 14 hours and 2 acres required to produce 100 bushel of corn, Bankhead-Flanagan Act provided for expansion of County Extension work.  Food and Agriculture Organization formed by the United States.     Influenza vaccine developed.Atomic bomb tested on July 16, 1945, World War II ends      
  - Western ND ranchers-farms donate additional 100 acres to Research Station              
  - Vitamin A study - first formal livestock experiment conducted with Herford heifers.              
  - Forage production caged in areas              
  - First lamb feeding experiments start              
1946 - Standing corn for late fall and early winter pasture studies initiated   School lunch program passed - J Mauchly and J Eckert build ENIAC - first fully electronic computer.  Microwave oven invented.      
  - Dr. Warren Whitman initiates work on Purnell Project 129.  A project to determine carotene, protein, and phosphorus in the grasses and some annual forage crops of western ND are adequate to meet the requirements of a beef breeding herd during the grazing season.[12]              
1947 - Turkey feeding experiments initiated and terminated shortly after due to limited staff and physical facilities   Congress authorized project with Mexico to eradicate foot and mouth disease in Mexico   First commercial mobile phone call.  Transistor invented at Bell Labs.  First supersonic flight.      
1950 - Cattle feeding studies emphasize the feeding of corn silage to both cow her and finishing calves   One farmer supplies 15.5 people with food.   World population is 2.3 billion      
1951 - R.J. Douglas serves as 4th superintendent from October 1, 1950 to July 1, 1969.       Power steering, videotape recorder and super glue invented.  Color television first introduced in US.  Andre& Thomas devises heart-lung machine.      
  - Swine research is initiated.              
1953 - Reported long term rotation-tillage trials in NDAES 383.   ARS - Agricultural Research Service created.  First calves born as a result of embryo transfer from donor to recipient cows.   Korean War ends.  Radial Tires, first music synthesizer, transistor radio, and black box flight recorder invented.      
  - Sawfly resistance breeding materials turned over to Bureau of Plant Industry, USDA              
1956 - Weather station site selected as Benchmark Site by US Weather Bureau   Soil Bank Act Passed.  Pays farmers an annual rental rate to put land in Conservation Reserve   Transatlantic cable telephone service established.  First computer hard disk used.  Liquid Paper invented (Dette Graham, called Mistake Out)      
1963 - Alfalfa mixture with tance grass early season grazing in NDAES 142       Circa early 1960's modern day GIS invented by Roger Tomlinson, a Canadian      
1969 - Chicken research terminated at Dickinson.   Food and Nutrition Service established, National Environmental Policy Act passed   First man on the moon - Neil Armstrong.  Intel announces a 1 KB ram chip      
1969 - T.J. Conlon serves as 5th superindent from July 1, 1969 to July 1, 1991.              
1970 -     One farmer supplies 47.7 people with food.  3.75 hours and 3 acres required to produce 100 bushels of wheat, 3.5 hours and 1 and 1/8 acres required to produce 100 bushels of corn.  Farmers made up less than 5 percent of the work force for the first time.  First artificially produced crop variety, Higgins buffelgrass, developed that reproduces by seed, but without fertilization.          
1976-1979 - Mine spoil reclamation studies - 1977 Methods developed to determine exact sequence of DNA          
1980 - Kubic Polled Hereford Ranch aquired[13]              
1983-1987 - Grain sorghum trials.  Conclusion:  varieties not adapted. - 1987 3 hours and 3 acres required to produce 100 bushels of wheat.  2.75 hours and 3 acres reqired to produce 100 bushels of corn.            
1988 - Selected for National Lightning Detection Network              
1989 - Senate Bill 2005 of the 51st Legislative Assembly of the State of ND changes name of Dickinson Research Station to Dickinson Research Center and clarifies mission statement.[14]              
1990 -   - One farmer supplies 100 people with food.  Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade Act passed. - Boeing 747 jumbo jet makes first regularly scheduled flight.        
1991 - K. Ringwall begins serving as the 6th superintendent/director              
1994       Farmers start to use global positioning systems          
1996     - The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform act, known as Freedom to Farm phases out agricultural subsidies over 7 years - EU imposes ban on British beef due to BSE      
2000     - 2 labor hours and 1 acre of land required to produce 100 bushels of corn          
[1]
The Dickinson Research Extension Center is the oldest branch station in North Dakota.  The Edgeley Station, established two years earlier, was closed sometime in the 1960's.  Simpson's senate bill carried an appropriation of $10,000 to establish the substation.  160 acres adjacent to the Dickinson City limits was selected.  The original site of the DES SE 1/4 Sec 31, T140N, R96W of the fifth principal meridian located in Stark County, was donated to the State of ND by farmers, ranchers, and townspeople of the Missouri Slope Region.  Senator Simpson was assisted by Representatives Phelan, McClure and Martin.  Governor Sarles appointed J.F. Brodie local director to act with the Ag College faculty in the management of the station.  At the time of acquisition the quarter was owned by W.L. Richards and A.N. Jefferies. 
[2]
Waldron was a graduate of North Dakota Agricultural College, Fargo, ND and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.  Waldron promises that within a few years the station will produce a variety of alfalfa that will be hardy in southwest ND and that will yield two crops per season on any average land.  Work will include grasses, grain crops, as well as trees and feeding livestock.  $3,500 was allocated to erect buildings.  Five thousand trees, including apple, plum, and cherry, were planted in Waldron's first year at the center.  Also raspberry and other small fruit, rhubarb and asparagus beds were plant that year.
[3]
Land was double disked, seed broadcast at the rate of 25 pounds per acre and harrowed in with a peg tooth harrow. 
[4]
Uninoculated seed was seeded in rows eighteen inches apart and kept clean.  By July 12 the best had attained a height of 14 inches.
[5]
Eleven field plots were planted using seed obtained in part from Mr. J.M. Westgate, Office of Forage Crop Investigations, and in part from Westbook, MN.  Some seeded in acre plots under field conditions and the other a tenth acre sown in rows for seed production.  Sixty-eight strains of seed obtained through Mr. Charles J. Brand of the office of Plant Physiology and Breeding.  These were sown in duplicate drill and hill rows.
[6]
H.L. Westover et al in USDA Technical Bulletin No. 307 published in April 1932 reported that the first seeding of crested wheatgrass in North Dakota was made at the Dickinson Station in 1909 but the possibilities of the grass did not attract much attention until 1915 when sown at the Northern Great Plains Field Station at Mandan and at the Judith Basin Branch Station of the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station at Moccasin, Montana.  During 1922 - 1930 more than 10,000 pounds of crested wheatgrass seed was distributed by the Dickinson Station.  This was sent into 13 states and into 4 Canadian Provinces.  In a lecture to ranchers at an early Livestock Research Roundup program Walster said, "If the development of crested wheatgrass was the only contribution the Dickinson Station ever made to North Dakota agriculture, that alone would be enough to pay for the total operation of the station for its first hundred years of operation."
[7]
Seed of the yellow flowered alfalfas imported from Russia the previous year by the Department of Agriculture through Prof. N.E. Hansen of South Dakota.  Therese were sown in rows for seed production.
[8]
In 1910 a number of hills of bromegrass were planted from single seeds.  No further work was done with these until 1914 when 12 of the more striking were dug, divided and planted into beds 6 feet square.  This program allowed for elimination of unfit strains; establishment of a dual purpose hay and pasture variety; establishment of a strict hay variety; establishment of a strict pasture variety. 
[9]
Hanson, H.C. and W.C Whitman.  1938.  Characteristics of Major Grassland Types in Western North Dakota.  Ecological Monographs 8:57-114.  "Knowledge of variation in botanical composition of grassland, as well as the causes and consequences of the variation, is basic to scientific land management."  Other documents published of interest by Whitman include 1943 NDAES Bulletin 320, "Relation of Drought and Grazing to North Dakota Rangelands."  NDAES Circular 64 published in March 1939 provided a sound basis for successful culture of grasses and legumes in North Dakota
[10]
Dr. Warren C. Whitman.  1941.  Grass - NDAES Bulletin 300
[11]
Established on June 30, 1945.    Representatives Albert Schmalenberger, Ray Schnell, St. and Leo Sticka introduced and the Legislative Assembly passed House Bill 203 which created and established an addition to DES  for the purpose of research with livestock was approved March 14, 1945.  $80,000 was appropriated to purchase 632 acres of Section 5, T139N, R96W in Stark County, ND. 
[12]
Whitman, W.C. et al.  1951.  Carotene Protein Phosphorus In Grasses of Western North Dakota NDAES bulletin 370.
[13]
ND Senate Bill 2327 sponsored by Senators Jack Olin, Dickinson; Adam Krauter, Regent; Gavin Jacobson, Alexander; Kenneth Thompson, Beach; Ralph Christensen, Watford City; and Jack Murphy, Killdeer, provided for the purchase of the Kubic Ranch.  Final payment for the Kubic Ranch was made early in January 1980 and full possession and occupancy of all ranch facilities occurred on November 1, 1980 ending th e expansion project which took slightly more than eight years to accomplish.
[14]
Dickinson Research Center.  The Dickinson research center must be located at or near Dickinson in Stark County.  The center shall conduct research on increasing the carrying capacity of native rangeland, with emphasis on conservation and preservation for future generations.  The center shall conduct research on grass production to determine how to best compensate for the vagaries of the weather as it influences forage production in the dryland agriculture of western North Dakota.  The center shall conduct research at the ranch location in Dunn County with beef cattle and swine breeding, feeding, management, and disease control for the benefit of livestock producers of western North Dakota and the entire state.  The center shall conduct research designed to increase productivity of all agricultural products of the soil by maintaining or improving the soil resource base in that dryland agricultural region of southwest North Dakota by the identification of adapted crop species and superior crop cultivars; propagation and distribution of selected seedstock; and development of profitable cropping systems that achieve the necessary balance between profitability and conservation of all natural resources.  The center shall disseminate research results and information for the benefit of this state.