Artist: Robert Wadsworth Grafton (1876–1936)
Eugene Davenport
DAVENPORT, EUGENE (1856–1941), inducted by 1920
An outspoken advocate for a national system of vocational education, Eugene Davenport was a leader for the integration of agriculture into public schools. Born on a Michigan farm and educated at the University of Michigan, Davenport taught at his alma mater from 1889 to 1891, and then spent time in São Paulo, Brazil, helping to establish a government-supported agricultural college. From 1895 to 1922, Davenport was dean of agriculture at the University of Illinois. Dean Davenport also served as vice president of the university, 1920–1922. His Principles of Breeding, published in 1907, was a seminal work on reproduction and heredity. Three honorary doctorates were conferred upon him: University of Michigan (1907), University of Kentucky (1913), and Iowa State College (1920).
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 78