Norton S. Townshend

Norton S. Townshend, Franklin County-educator, legislator, and professor of agriculture. He was a member of the 1850 Ohio Constitutional Convention and appointed to the State Board of Agriculture in 1858, later becoming president of the Board.

He exerted a strong influence for passage of the Morrill Act in 1862 and Ohio’s acceptance of the Act in 1864 and helped to transform agriculture from an “art” into a “science.”