Birthplace of Farm Credit

The system grew in layers after this first loan. The Agricultural Credits Act of 1923 added 12 Federal Intermediate Credit Banks, and the Farm Credit Act of 1933 brought Production Credit Associations and the Farm Credit Administration. After the farm crisis the system lost $2.7 billion in 1985, and Congress passed the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 to strengthen it; an Assistance Corporation chartered in 1988 supplied about $1.26 billion in capital. That July, 11 of the 12 districts' Federal Land Banks merged into Farm Credit Banks, and by October 1, 2000, no Federal Land Bank Associations remained.

What the plaque says

Birthplace of Farm Credit This 280 acres was collateral for the nation's first Federal Land Bank loan made on April 10, 1917 to farmer- stockman A. L. Stockwell. In those days, farmers and ranchers found credit hard to come by. If available, it was often very expensive...as much as 10 percent per month. Recognizing the importance of agriculture to our nation's economy, Congress passed the Federal Farm Loan Act which was signed into law by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in 1916. The Federal Land Bank, which makes long-term real estate loans to farmers and ranchers, was the first of the three lending institutions which comprise today's cooperative Farm Credit System. Wichita was granted the first of 12 Federal Land Bank charters nationwide and charged with developing lending programs in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and New Mexico. In turn, it issued the first local association charter to the Pawnee County National Farm Loan Association of Larned. Originally started with seed money appropriated by Congress, the Farm Credit System has long since repaid all government funds. Today, it is entirely owned by the farmers and ranchers it serves. Erected by Kansas Historical Society and Kansas Department of Transportation

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Santa Fe Trail Center — 2.2 mi
  Pawnee County's museum and archive two miles west of Larned, ten buildings on ten acres that carry the story from the trail years into the town that grew up beside Fort Larned.
• Fort Larned National Historic Site — 5.6 mi
  Nine sandstone buildings of 1866-68 on the Pawnee Fork, a post that guarded the Santa Fe Trail and served as the agency where the Plains nations came for the annuities promised at Medicine Lodge.
• Barton County Historical Society Museum and Village — 23 mi
  A village of buildings brought in from around Barton County to a lot on US-281 just south of Great Bend, from an 1898 limestone church to a steel Lustron house of 1950.

More markers nearby

• Camp Criley 1872 — 9.3 mi
• Pawnee Rock — 11 mi
• Battle of Coon Creek — 21 mi
• Discoverer of Pluto — 23 mi