The Origin of Extension Work—A Timeline
 1914
 Extension agent presents a workshop from a train car

The Smith-Lever Act extended the benefits of federal aid to those colleges established under the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890.  Its purpose was to:

…inaugurate, in connection with these colleges, Agricultural Extension work which shall be carried on in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture…in order to aid in diffusing among the people of the United States useful and practical information on subjects relating to Agriculture and Home Economics, and to encourage the application of the same. [Eddy 1957]