From to , they kept a fully operational steam locomotive, The Schenectady, on hand for research. Real boilermakers and blacksmiths would have felt right at home in this university lab. Become a Boilermaker. Learn how to join our membership. Take Action! Support Boilermaker Initiatives. Subscribe to the IBB Update. Sign up to get news briefs. Why are Purdue students and alumni called Boilermakers? Become a Boilermaker Learn how to join our membership. Back before the campus in West Lafayette, Indiana, had any sort of mascot, the land-grant institution was known for providing a hands-on curriculum in the engineering and agricultural fields.
Related: Why is Tennessee called the Volunteers? And who are the Tennessee mascots? In fact, from to , Purdue's engineering department kept a fully operational steam locomotive, The Schenectady, on-hand for research. The university's working-class approach earned its students - and its football team - monikers in the local press such as rail splitters, blacksmiths, foundry molders and, yes, pumpkin shuckers.
There were even jokes that the football team recruited players from among workers at the rail yard just off campus. In , Purdue's football team put a beating on its rivals at the liberal arts Wabash College in nearby Crawfordsville, Indiana.
Today, Purdue's official mascot is a mini-locomotive known as the Boilermaker Special. Besides the locomotive, there's Purdue Pete, who shows up at the games and revs up the crowd in ways a train engine simply He first took to the field in That's a hammer in his hand.
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