Purdue University

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly,

 taking advantage of the Act, accepted a donation of land and money from Lafayette businessman John Purdue to establish a college of science, technology, and agriculture in his name The first classes were held on September 16, 1874, with six instructors and 39 students

The university was founded with the gift of $150,000 from John Purdue, a Lafayette business leader and philanthropist, along with $50,000 from  support of the project. In 1869, it was decided that the new school would be built near the city of Lafayette and established as Purdue University, in the name of the institution’s principal benefactor.

The West Lafayette campus offers more than 200 majors for undergraduates, over 70 master’s and doctoral programs, and professional degrees in pharmacy and veterinary medicine. In addition, Purdue has 18 intercollegiate sports teams and more than 900 student organizations. Today, 

Purdue is a member of the Big Ten Conference. Purdue enrolls the second largest student body of any university in Indiana as well as the fourth largest international student population of any university in the United States

In 1865, the Indiana Genera and began plans to establish an institution with a focus on agriculture and engineering. Communities throughout the state offered their facilities and money to bid for the location of the new college. Popular proposals included the addition of an agriculture department at Indiana University 

or at what is now Butler University. By 1869, Tippecanoe County’s offer included $150,000 from Lafayette business leader and philanthropist John Purdue, $50,000 from the county, and 100 and from local residents. On May 6, 1869, the General Assembly established the institution in Tippecanoe County as Purdue University, in the name of the principal benefactor. Classes began at Purdue on

 September 16, 1874, with six  Purdue’s first faculty member and served as acting president between the administrations of presidents White[A campus of five buildings was completed bat fall.

Emerson E. White, the university’s president from 1876 to 1883, followed a strict interpretation of thct. Rather than emulate the classical universities, White believed that Purdue should be an "industrial college" and devote its resources toward providing a liberal  education with an emphasis on science, technology, and agriculture. He intended not

 only to prepare students for This ban was ultimately overturned by the Indiana Supreme Court and led to White’s resignation The next president, James H. Smart, is remembered for his call in 1894 to rebuild the original Hall "one brick higher" after it had been destroyed by a fire.

Purdue University, 1904

By the end of the nineteenth century, the university was organized into schools of agriculture, engineering (mechanical, civil, and electrical), and pharmacy, and former U.S. President Benjamin Harrison was serving on the board of trustee Purdue’s engineering laboratories included testing facilities foe of the most efficient engines of the time. The School 

of Agriculture was sharing its research with farmers throughout the state with its cooperative extension services and would undergo a period of growth over the following two decades. Programs in education and home economics were soon established, as well as a short-lived school of medicine. By 1925 Purdue had the largest undergraduate engineering enrollment in the country, a status it would keep for half a century.