Wood County Extension Service

The mission of the West Virginia University Extension Service is to form learning partnerships with the people of West Virginia to enable them to improve their lives and communities.

Welcome to West Virginia University Extension Service in Wood County

The Wood County Extension program is informal education designed to help people help themselves in acquiring knowledge and improving their quality of life. Based on the 1990 census, Wood County has a population of 87,000 people. There are nearly 25,000 families in the county. The county is primarily an urban, industrial economy with many suburban communities. There are 468 farms with 27,397 acres of urban and industrial land.

The Cooperative Extension Service provides programs in the areas of 4-H and Youth, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Community Resources and Economic Development, Family Nutrition, and Family and Consumer Sciences. Faculty and staff involve local people in developing programs to meet the needs of people and communities.

To effectively reach diverse audiences, Extension Educators offer a variety of educational programs through many methods and media including workshops, meetings, exhibits and fairs, newsletters, telephone calls, letters and individual consultations.

Extension programs and activities offered by Wood County Extension are available to all persons without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age, veteran status, political beliefs, sexual orientation, national origin, and marital or family status.

Wood County Extension Service was started on December 1, 1912 with the hiring of Hugh S. Vandervort as the first County Agent. The Parkersburg Board of Commerce and the Agricultural Extension Division of the United States Department of Agriculture jointly financed the program. Shortly after Extension work was started in the county an agricultural organization was formed. This group was known as the Wood County Agricultural Improvement Association and in 1915 became the Wood County Farm Bureau.