University of California-Davis

of UC Davis in 1962, when the Shields Oak Grove on campus was named after him, and again posthumously in 1972 when the campus library was named after him. However, local farmer and politician George Washington Pierce Jr. also fought aggressively in the California State Assembly for the creation of a university farm. Shields himself credited Pierce with ensuring that the site criteria in the University Farm Bill were so tightly formulated that they could be met only at the Yolo County town of Davisville. Unlike Shields, Pierce did not live long enough to see the promotion of Davis to a general campus and is now largely forgotten.
On March 18, 1905, the University Farm Bill was enacted, which called for the establishment of a farm for the University of California. The bill provided that the University Farm would "be typical and representative of the best general agricultural conditions in California", and authorized an appropriation of $150,000 to cover the cost of purchasing land and constructing appropriate buildings. …