Artist: Robert Wadsworth Grafton (1876–1936)
Charles Franklin Curtiss
CURTISS, CHARLES FRANKLIN (1863–1946), inducted 1903
Charles Curtiss was raised on a farm ten miles from the Iowa State College campus. He earned his bachelor’s degree there in 1887, joined the faculty in 1891, and completed his master’s in 1894, earning one of the earliest graduate degrees awarded by the school. Curtiss quickly expanded the agriculture program by developing a four-year curriculum and publishing volumes to document the school’s research. He was named the school’s first professor of animal husbandry in 1896. When James “Tama Jim” Wilson left Iowa State to become US Secretary of Agriculture, Curtiss was chosen to take his place as Director of the Experiment Station and Dean of Agriculture. Dean Curtiss served until his retirement in 1932. During his thirty years as dean, Iowa State developed one of the nation’s first cooperative extension services, established a tremendous livestock judging legacy, exhibited multiple grand champions, and introduced soybeans and alfalfa to Iowa. Dean Curtiss was president of the American Society of Animal Nutrition and the International Live Stock Exposition (1919–1921). He was a prominent livestock judge and a breeder of Clydesdale horses, Shorthorn cattle, Southdown sheep, and Berkshire hogs on his Rockwood Farm. Alumni and students from Iowa State presented his portrait to the Club in 1903, the year it was established.
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 76