A closer look at the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station’s history

Missouri’s fruit story began nearly a century and a half ago.
According to Missouri State Parks, in the decade of 1880 to 1890 we climbed to the No. 1 fruit state with apples being the main crop. Land of the Big Red Apple was a nickname associated with both Webster and Wright counties and ultimately brought the Wilder family to Mansfield in 1894.
Mountain Grove, formerly known as Fyan, in 1901 became home to the only experiment station in the United States dedicated to fruit culture.
The State Fruit Experiment Station first operated as a state agency with a board of trustees as appointed by then governor, Alexander Dockery.
Board members were M.T. Davis of Aurora, J.C. Kerby of West Plains, L.O. Hailey of Ava and the manager was J.T. Stinson. Director Stinson has been credited with having introduced the saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”.
The original building, now known as Faurot Hall, was constructed in 1901. It has been preserved and added to the National Registry of Historic Places in Missouri as of 1979. Incidentally, Wright County is home to five properties listed with three of them in Mountain Grove and one each in Hartville and Mansfield.
Situated one mile north of Mountain Grove, the Station consisted of 190 unimproved acres donated by the citizens of Wright County. But first, the land had to be broken before any fruit could be planted. Men were paid $1 a day or .10 cents an hour.
Mr. W.I. Fox was paid $10 for five days for himself and his team.
Hard work and determination paved the way for success.
Missouri dominated the fruit medals at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Entries included 42 varieties of apples collected from 18 counties. Missouri ranked the highest with two grand prizes, 18 gold medals, 161 silver medals and 190 bronze medals. Invited speakers included Professor John Stinson, of Mountain Grove, and Lewis Erb, of Memphis,Tenn., who also owned apple orchards at Cedar Gap.
Medalists from Wright County were C.R. Worley, C.H. Oetting, Fred Oetting, Henry Oetting, S.L. Peer and son, C.J. Sanersby, and Guy Slead for their apple, peach, and pear entries.
This same year (1904) the Fruit Station reported 468 varieties of apples, 317 varieties of peaches, 94 plums, 65 pears, 151 grapes and 150 varieties of strawberries. Annual labor expenditures were reported to be $8,000. Spraying experiments for disease prevention focused on the San Jose scale as well as curly leaf and cankers. Local farmers could request on-site orchard inspections for these blights.
Owing to our fruit-friendly climate, it was in 1914 that an English Baron tasted his first peach picked from a tree at the Fruit Experiment Station.
Due to England’s cool, unpredictable climate, peaches were considered a delicacy. Peaches, grown only in a hothouse environment, were enjoyed by the very elite.
A new director came to town in 1917. Mr. F.W. Faurot, former Horticulturist to the Extension Department of the University of Missouri, was selected. He served from 1918 to 1933.
Under his direction, accompanied by adequate government funding, the station experienced continued growth.
In the early 1920s, several railroad cars of manure (fertilizer) from the Kansas City Stockyards were shipped to Mountain Grove. However, leaner years when appropriations were lacking, expansion took a back seat.
The long-term process of fruit breeding requires in-depth research.
From the Fyan apple, named for the original town and introduced to the public in 1935, to the Norton Blanc grape patented in 2025, fruit breeding and experimentation has been at the forefront of the mission of the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station.
Currently, part of the William H. Darr College of Agriculture, the Station is a licensed winery and distillery.
Harvesting and processing the fruit occurs in August and September with products ready to sell the following spring.
Proceeds continue to benefit further research and education.- Sources include Missouri State Historical Society, Chronicling America, Missouri State Parks and Missouri State University.