In 1943 the legislature appropriated $30,000, to be spent over a two-year period, for buildings and general operating expenses of a permanent agricultural experiment station on the Cumberland Plateau. In April 1943 the Cumberland County Court purchased 588 acres near Crossville for the station. A gift of an additional 87 acres brought the size of the station to 675 acres. In 1947 the War Assets Administration transferred an outlying portion of Cumberland Homesteads, consisting of 1,380 acres, to the station through a grant of surplus property. The station was brought to 2,215 acres by acquisition of 160 of the 194 acres obtained from the federal government as surplus property, being a former prisoner-of-war camp for the internment of 1,371 German and slightly fewer Italian officers. The remainder of the former POW Camp land was designated for the Clyde York 4-H Camp. This station is known for measuring water quality and for its swine-breeding program. Its name was changed to Plateau Research and Education Center in 2005.