Research and Education Center at Greeneville

Burley tobacco has been grown in Tennessee since about 1900. In 1928 Clyde B. Austin, a well-known tobacco buyer, and several others involved in the tobacco industry requested the establishment of a Tobacco Station to advise farmers and do research to improve yields. The legislature appropriated $25,000 for the purchase of land in 1930, and in fall 1931 a tract of 164 acres and buildings was purchased from F. C. Wilhoit. In 1941 the center added 103 acres, with the land being paid for by proceeds from crop sales made from the new land. The F. S. Chance Administration Building, providing office and laboratory space, was completed in 1949. It was named for the former director of the Tobacco Experiment Station. In 1986 the burley tobacco variety Tennessee 86 was released by the station—the only commercial burley variety in the world with resistance to black shank and other diseases. The name of the installation was changed to Research and Education Center at Greeneville in 2005.