This portico was the entrance of the Frederick W. Stone farm house, the building in which the first classes of the Ontario School of Agriculture were held on May 1, 1874. Renamed the Ontario Agricultural College in 1880, this institution, the first college established on the University of Guelph campus, was affiliated with the University of Toronto in 1888. A Provincial Act of 1962 created the Federated Colleges of the Ontario Department of Agriculture, comprising the Ontario Agricultural College, the Ontario Veterinary College, and the Macdonald Institute, these, in 1964, formed the nucleus of the newly established University of Guelph. Through its research and innovative ideas the Ontario Agricultural College has contributed greatly to the development of the country's agricultural industry.