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The College of Agriculture began as one of six divisions of the Washington Agricultural College, Experiment Station, and School of Science in 1892. The Division of Agriculture became the Department of Agriculture in 1894 when the departmental system was organized. In 1917, that departmental system was reformed into a system of schools and colleges, one of which was the College of Agriculture. WSU's Institute of Agricultural Sciences combined Agriculture, Extension, and other departments in 1946, but was dissolved into its component departments in 1965. In 1982, Agriculture and Home Economics merged to form CAHE (College of Agriculture and Home Economics), and in 2002 CAHE became CAHNRS (College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences).

Extension work at WSU (then WSC) was authorized in 1913 by state legislation. Originally refered to as Agricultural Extension, it was renamed as Cooperative Extension in 1965 and simply as WSU Extension in 2003.

History of the state of Washington's Extension programs can be found in Russell M. Turner's The first 45 years : a history of cooperative extension in Washington State (Pullman, Wash.: [Washington State University Extension Service], 1961). and in Felix Entenmann's The next 25 years : 1960-85 : an update of the history of cooperative extension, Washington State University (Pullman, Wash.: Cooperative Extension, College of Agriculture and Home Economics, Washington State University, 1989).