The encampment school (pictured on campus) was an out-of-doors cross between a camp meeting and a farmers’ workshop. It was one of the experiments that agricultural extension specialists organized to try to interest farmers and their families in proven farming techniques.

First hosted on the Stillwater campus and three or four other locations during the summers of 1911 and 1912, farm families traveled as far as 20 miles to listen to lectures, observe demonstrations, participate in athletic contests, and enjoy homegrown entertainment. The idea was a hit and the encampments continued well into the 1930s.