FEATURE STORY
Field Notes
Texas A&M Agrilife’s Overton Research Center delves into the science of agriculture
BY STELLA WIESER | swieser@panolawatchman.com PHOTOS BY MICHAEL CAVAZOS
T
he Texas A&M Agrilife Research and Extension Center in Overton is an exponential resource for East Texans. There are 13 similar research centers across the state, said Dr. Charles Long, resident director of research and professor. "In the mid 1960s, if you looked across the state of Texas, you can see that (as) you go from east to west, rainfall declines, soil types change, and so the ecosystems change," Long said. "There's probably at least five major and maybe a dozen minor ecosystems in the state of Texas... if you're gonna serve the people of Texas, the thought was in the '60s to put centers with Ph.D.-trained research and extension faculty out in the state to do research and extension programming to meet the needs of the particular ecosystems." The East Texas Center, as it was then called, was established in Overton because of local leaders and the Bruce McMillan Jr. 12 Etcetera | Summer 2022
Foundation, Long said. The foundation was established by W.P. Moore and named for his son, Bruce McMillan Jr., who died at the age of 8 from leukemia. "The Bruce McMillan Jr. Foundation has done a lot of good. Scholarships for people, support to different universities, to churches, to a lot of things," Long said. "They also helped make this center be here because we're sitting on 26 acres of land, which was donated jointly by the Bruce McMillan Jr. Foundation and the Montgomery Family. That shop just right south of here belonged to Jim Montgomery. He had two sons, and the younger son was Jack, he just passed away a few months ago. The older son died when he was a student at Texas A&M... so they donated part of this land in his memory." The Foundation donated the 26 acres, plus funds to construct the main research building as well as equipment and a cow herd of 150. The building was dedicated in 1967.
