By VINCE REMBULAT

209 staff reporter

Agriculture is a big part of San Joaquin County’s glorious history.

So what better way to celebrate the 50th year of the SJC Historical Society & Museum than with an exhibit of the era that revolutionized agriculture at the Cortopassi-Avansino Building located inside Micke Grove Regional Park between Lodi and Stockton west of Highway 99.

The new “Innovators in Agriculture” exhibition features everything from historic equipment and historic photos to large-screen videos and touchscreen displays.

It’s here that stories of families come to light along with innovations that developed six crops identified closely with SJC after the earlier era of dry-farmed grains – fresh produce “truck farming,” dry beans, asparagus, cherries, processing tomatoes and walnuts.

The museum offers self-guided tour including the one-room Calaveras School built in 1866 near the intersection of Eight Mile Road and Highway 88.

The history here dates back to California’s heartland, where native tribes – Miwoks and Yokuts – were among the earliest settlers.

But no one was more famous than Capt. Charles M. Weber,