Governor Matt Blunt has honored one of Missouri’s best known national figures – George Washington Carver – who was born a slave near Diamond Grove in the early 1860s. An Executive Order renames the Jefferson City headquarters of the State Agriculture Department the George Washington Carver State Office Building. In making the announcement, Blunt said Carver – known for his experiments with the peanut – did so much more. He pointed out that Carver, while teaching at the Tuskeegee Institute in Alabama, taught students many important lessons on how to maximize their agricultural output. Blunt referred to Carver as a great scientist, humanitarian, and educator.