The Fraternity considers the Morrill Act of 1862 to be the instrument of its inception. Having been signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, it provided land and other financial supports to establish one institution of higher learning in the agricultural and mechanical sciences within each state. Alpha Gamma Rho, referred to as "AGR", was founded when two local fraternities from Ohio State University (Alpha Gamma Rho, founded 1904) and the University of Illinois (Delta Rho Sigma, founded in 1906) met at an International Livestock Competition in Chicago. Sixteen men originally signed the Fraternity's charter at the Claypool Hotel in Indianapolis on April 4, 1908. Expansion increased dramatically over the next 3 decades to almost all land-grant universities in the country. The first chapter at a non-land-grant university was chartered in 1959 at Arizona State University. The National Fraternity has expanded to many smaller agricultural colleges and departments in the last 45 years as a measure to increase its membership and influence in agricultural communities. Its members typically pursue agricultural careers upon completion of college, but many have gone on to have careers in other natural sciences, education, economics, law, medicine, and politics. Five easily recognizable alumni from Alpha Gamma Rho are Orville Redenbacher, Norman Borlaug, J. C. Penney, Earl Butz and Sam Brownback
