2 years ago I was asked by the National Weather Service Wilmington, OH, to become a cooperative weather observer. Here is more on the history of the cooperative weather observer program. -Ron Rothhaas
In 1644 and 1655, John Campanius Holm, a Lutheran minister, was the first observer to take systematic observations in the American Colonies.
In 1776, Thomas Jefferson began to recruit volunteer weather observers throughout Virginia. By 1800, there were volunteers in five other states across the newborn nation. They included Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York and North Carolina. In 1891, the network of voluntary weather observers across the country had grown to 2,000 stations.
In 1890, the growing volunteer force was taken over by the Smithsonian Institution. It was not until 1953 that a plan was established to evenly blanket the nation with weather observers.