Artist: Robert Wadsworth Grafton (1876–1936)
Foster Dwight Coburn
COBURN, FOSTER DWIGHT (1846–1924), inducted by 1920
Secretary of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture for twenty years (1894–1914), Foster Dwight Coburn had no university training in agriculture, but he built enough practical experience over his lifetime to publish dozens of books on the topic and to gain consideration for the post of US Secretary of Agriculture. Coburn moved to Kansas from Wisconsin in 1867, after serving the Union Army during the Civil War. He was an early promoter of alfalfa and published several books on its value. Coburn edited the Livestock Indicator, served as president of the board of regents of Kansas State Agricultural College, and was director of several financial institutions. He was a judge at several world’s fairs: the World Cotton Centennial in New Orleans (1884), Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition (1893), and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis (1904).
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 66