West Central School of Agriculture and Experiment Station Historic District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

From the record

One of 6 National Register listings published here for Stevens County · listed in 2003 · category: District.

Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. 600 E. Fourth St., Morris, 56267
When was it listed? January 2003
Category. district
City. Morris city
National Register reference number. 02001707 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

3 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of West Central School of Agriculture and Experiment Station Historic District between 2002 and 2009, burning about 81 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Smoking	2
Arson/incendiarism	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
11 July 2009	Smoking	1.0 acres	Morris National Wildlife Refuge	YETTIE
22 March 2003	Arson/incendiarism	25 acres	Minnesota Department of Natural Resources	not named
23 November 2002	Smoking	55 acres	Minnesota Department of Natural Resources	not named

Every fire recorded in Stevens County

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of West Central School of Agriculture and Experiment Station Historic District: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where	Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
	Schmidgall S and G Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Stevens County

Storms near this property

60 of 63 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Morris, the town this property stands in, in 63 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 36 hail, 22 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	$5,000,000	There were several trees down in town and areas without power. An apartment building in town had a window blown out. There were also reports of trees down across other parts of the county.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	$25,000	Several power poles and trees were either uprooted or blown down in Morris.
July 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	$20,000	A 90 foot long portion of a tin, and wood roof from a gas station, was blown off in Morris. There were also power lines blown down around the city.
July 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	$1,000	A snowmobile trailer was blown into a roadway behind a local business in Morris.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	An old section of the Highway Department building roof was blown back. Thunderstorm winds estimated to be 70 mph.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 mph snapped two power poles along Highway 9. Young corn stalks were also damaged. Damage to more power poles, trees and some outbuildings continued across much of northeastern Stevens County.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 mph snapped off 10 to 16 inch diameter trees and various limbs at a residence north of Morris along Hwy 59.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	A farm shed was destroyed.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	A few large trees were blown down near Morris.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	Several large trees were uprooted northeast of Morris.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	A large tree was blown down across Highway 3, east of Morris.
September 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	Dozens of trees were damaged, shingled were blown off a house, a flag pole was bent, antennas were damaged on a radio tower, and a pump station at a co-op was blown over. There were also scattered trees down in the city of Morris. Based on radar, it is possible that this may have been tornado damage, but the report came in days later and by that time, the damage had been cleaned up and therefore a damage survey was not conducted.
June 2013	Flash Flood	Morris	-	Several city roads became flooded due to high rainfall rates, poor drainage, and recent rainfall of 3 to 6 inches that occurred earlier in the day.
June 2013	Heavy Rain	Morris	-	Storm total rainfall amount of 5.60 inches was measured near Morris.
June 2013	Flash Flood	Morris	-	Very heavy rainfall began across Stevens County after 1130 PM CST, Thursday, June 20th. Due to the extreme rainfall rates that continued through 1230 AM CST, Friday, June 21st, several roads in the city of Morris became inundated with flood waters.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	Several large tree branches were blown down near Morris, Minnesota.
August 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	Several large tree limbs were blown down near Morris, Minnesota, and a measured wind gust of 60 mph occurred at the Morris airport.
May 2008	Tornado (EF0)	Morris	-	Brief touchdown in open field. Multiple eyewitnesses.
June 2007	Hail	Morris	-	Reported on U.S. Highway 59.
May 2006	Hail	Morris	-	Hail covered the ground.
July 2006	Hail	Morris	-	Hail occurred along Highway 59.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	A tree was downed.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	Power lines were downed.
August 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	Estimated winds. Roof partially off barn. Large branches down.
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	Estimated winds. Trees felled. One vehicle damaged.
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	Tree blown down on University campus. Estimated windspeed.
June 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	Trees blown down. Estimated windspeed.
July 2025	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
June 2025	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
May 2022	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
June 2017	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
September 2017	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
June 2016	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
July 2016	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
September 2014	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
August 2013	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
August 2013	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
August 2012	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
August 2012	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
August 2012	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
August 2012	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
July 2010	Funnel Cloud	Morris	-	no account filed
August 2009	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
August 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	no account filed
May 2008	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
June 2007	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
June 2007	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
August 2007	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
April 2007	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
April 2007	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
June 2005	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
June 2005	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
July 2003	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
June 2003	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
July 2002	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
June 2002	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
June 2001	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
August 1999	Hail	Morris	-	no account filed
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Morris	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Stevens County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

5 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Morris Industrial School for Indians Dormitory	under 500 feet	1984
Morris High School	0.3 miles	2004
Morris Carnegie Library	0.8 miles	1983
Lewis H. Stanton House	1.1 miles	1982
Alberta Teachers House	7.2 miles	1983

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 02001707 in Record Group 79.
Stevens County	All 6 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.