History of Iowa State: Time Line, 1900-1924

  Academic life:

The school year is changed to begin in September rather than in March.

  Campus:

The north wing of Old Main burns on December 8. 

The president's residence, The Knoll, is built for a cost of $12,721, and a brick horse barn (later the Landscape Architecture Building) is constructed.

Student life:

Thirty-five cases of typhoid fever occur on campus, and the lower two floors of Agricultural Hall are used for an emergency hospital. A farmer who supplied milk to the college had washed his pails in water from a contaminated well. The first 2 floors of Catt Hall (Agricultural Hall, Botany Hall) are used as an emergency hospital.

  University:

The Iowa Legislature grants the first educational support to the college in the sum of $25,000 annually. Previously the appropriations of the legislature were made for buildings only.

  Academic life:

A 2 week short course for livestock work is sponsored by Agriculture.

The Iowa Engineer begins publication.
 

  Academic life:

Charles F. Curtiss is appointed Dean of Agriculture.

The Agriculture Experiment Station, with an enrollment of 1,322, receives its first state appropriation of $10,000.

The Iowa Agriculturalist begins publication.
 

  Campus:

The remainder of Old Main (after a previous fire in 1900) burns.

  University:

 William Beardshear, one of Iowa State's most popular presidents, dies from complications following a heart attack.

  Academic life:

Perry G. Holden hosts a Farmers' Institute at Hull, considered to be the beginning of Extension.  He later establishes and supports demonstration farms, club work for youth (which becomes 4-H), short courses, and "seed corn gospel trains" that travel throughout the state.

  Campus:

Engineering Hall (Marston Hall) is built for a cost of $218,500. This is the only building on campus where designs were submitted as part of a competition

  University:

Albert Boynton Storms, Methodist minister from Des Moines, is appointed president on September 1 (1903-1910)

  Academic life:

Anson Marston is appointed the first dean of the College of Engineering (1904-1932; Dean emeritus, 1932-1949).

The Cardinal Guild is founded, as students want more input in campus governance. The Guild later evolves into the Government of the Student Body.

The Engineering Experiment Station is created.

The Iowa State Highway Commission is established at Iowa State. Led by Dean Anson Marston and his belief that highway engineering should be centralized, the Commission eventually grows into the Iowa Department of Transportation.

The Department of Forestry is created.
 

 Academic life:

Farm mechanics had been taught at Iowa State from the beginning, but the arrival of Professor Jay Brownlee (J.B.) Davidson leads to the establishment of a four-year course in agricultural engineering. Davidson founds the American Society of Agricultural Engineers in 1907.

 Athletics:

The Women's Athletic Association is organized for the playing of basketball, tennis and hockey.

  Campus:

The Dairy Farm of 170 acres was purchased south of campus.

Student life:

The Alumnus begins publication in May.

 Campus:

Central Building (renamed Beardshear Hall in 1938) is completed for $300,000 on the site of Old Main.

The Olmsted Brothers' campus planning report is solicited. Although the plan is not adopted by the Board of Trustees or Iowa State faculty, it does influence the locating of several buildings, such as Agricultural (Curtiss) Hall and State Gym.
 

 University:

The Iowa Legislature passes an act establishing the Extension Service. This appears to be the first legislation in the United States establishing funds for a state extension service.

O.H. Cessna (Class of 1872) professor of history and psychology since 1900, becomes the University's chaplain (1906-1929).
 

 Academic life:

Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, is installed on campus.  Women are not allowed to join as full-fledged members until 1972.

 Campus:

Alumni Hall is completed for a cost of $35,000. Funds for the structure are donated by students, faculty, alumni, and friends.
 

Student life:

Delfin Sanchez de Bustamante is the first international student to receive a degree from Iowa State, in agronomy.

The first May Day Festival is sponsored by the Women's Athletic Association, in honor of senior women. This event is absorbed by VEISHEA in 1922.

 

 Academic life:
Florence Kimball is the first woman to receive a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State.

Athletics:

Iowa States first intercollegiate basketball game is played against the University of Kansas.  The game, played at the Armory in downtown Ames, results in a Kansas win, 53-35. 

 Academic life:

 Campus:

Curtiss Hall (Agricultural Hall, 1909-1947) is completed for a cost of $340,000.

 Student life:

The first annual freshman-sophomore pushball contest is held at Iowa State, a tradition that continues until 1927.

 University:

A July 4th picnic is held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the selection of Ames as the site of Iowa State College.

The Board of Trustees is abolished by the state legislature, and the State of Board of Education (later renamed the Board of Regents in 1955) is created to oversee Iowa educational institutions.
 

  Academic life:

The first agricultural engineering degree in the world is granted to Jacob E. Waggoner.

  Student life:

St. Patrick's Day, sponsored by civil engineering students, is celebrated in March. It is absorbed by VEISHEA in 1922.

An acute housing shortage occurs on the campus. The college has 1,562 students but only 88 beds in residential campus housing.

The first student loans are offered by the YWCA. The program is eventually overseen by the college.
 

  Campus:

The Domestic Technology Building (part of MacKay Hall), started in 1910, is completed. The new classrooms, kitchens, sewing and fitting rooms, demonstration laboratories, and offices are for the Home Economics Department and its 250 students.

  Campus:

The Vet Med Quadrangle (now Lagomarcino Hall) is built for $150,000.

  Student life:
The first Homecoming celebration is held.

The Ag Carnival is held; similar to a county fair, the activities include a parade, greased pig contest, baseball games, relay races, and a carnival. It is absorbed by VEISHEA in 1922.
 

  University:

Raymond A. Pearson, former Commissioner of Agriculture of New York, is appointed President  (1912-1926) on September 1.

  Academic life:

The Graduate College (Graduate Division, 1913-1919) is established.

  Campus:

The college roads are paved.

Physical and Chemical Hall is destroyed by fire.
 

   Academic life:

The Little International is founded by the Saddle and Sirloin Club.
 

   Campus:

The Horticulture Gardens are established, north of Farm House and Landscape Architecture.
 

   University:

Ralph K. Bliss is appointed director (1914-1946) of the Agricultural and Home Economics Extension Service.

   Student life:

The Green Gander begins publication, with the slogan "Every man's got at least one good laugh coming. Maybe you'll find yours here." The campus humor magazine, occasionally the subject of criticism, is an immediate success and is published until 1960.

 

   Academic life:

The first PhD degree is granted to Leslie A. Kenoyer, in the Department of Botany.
 

   Campus:

The college lake is named Lake LaVerne for LaVerne Noyes (class of 1872), who donates $10,000 for constructing the lake and for other landscape projects.  

   Student life:

All freshmen men are required to wear their freshman cap, or "beanie," beginning on the first day of the school year through VEISHEA.  The beanies are burned during the spring, as part of a "moving up" event.  The practice eventually dies out by 1934.
 

   Campus:

Groups of Memorial Trees were dedicated:
President Adonijah Welch
President William Miller Beardshear
President Seaman A. Knapp
Professor Millikan Stalker
Professor Charles E. Bessey
LaVerne Noyes (Class of 1872)
 

   Student life:

The Ames Ambulance Unit of 36 students enlist in the U.S. Army, and after a year's training in Pennsylvania, are sent to the Italian-Austrian front, where they won an army corps citation and an Italian Cross of War.
 

   Academic life:

The 18th annual winter course for agriculture, home economics, and engineering (Annual Short Course and Farmers' Week) became known as Farm and Home Week.

A 2-year program for herdsmen was held during the winter quarter. Organized by the Department of Animal Husbandry, it ran through 1954.

Ada Hayden is the first woman to receive a PhD from Iowa State in botany.
 

   Student life:

About 1,700 men are inducted into the Student Army Training Course (SATC) on campus. Their training is interrupted by the influenza epidemic and a quarantine of the campus.

The first White Breakfast for women students is held on Dec. 18, a holiday tradition of hot chocolate, white dresses, and candles. The menu includes cream of wheat, stuffed olives, and stollen.

 

   Academic life:

R. E. Buchanan (Class of 1904) was appointed the first dean (1919-1948) of the Graduate College.

 

   Academic life:

Animal Husbandry Experimental Farm of 182 acres is purchased. Located south of Lincoln Way, between Beech Avenue and Squaw Creek, is now is the site of the Iowa State Center.

   Campus:

The Armory is built for $125,000.
 

   Student life:

Edgar W. Stanton (Class of 1872) dies. As Iowa State's first graduate, mathematics professor, interim President (4 times), and founder of the Alumni Association, he has dedicated his life to Iowa State.

   Academic life:

The Iowa Homemaker begins publication.

Sigma Xi is installed.
 
 

   Academic life:

Maria M. Roberts (Class of 1890) is appointed Dean of the Junior College.

   Campus:

The Armory burns, and is rebuilt in 1923.

Physic Building is built for $285,512.

   Student life:

The first VEISHEA is held May 11-13. Wallace McKee (class of 1922) is first chairman of the Central Committee and Frank D. Paine (professor of electrical engineering) choose the name, based on the first letters of Iowa State's colleges: Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Industrial Science, Home Economics, and Agriculture.

   University:

WOI-AM goes on the air with its first regular feature, market news.

   Academic life:

Iowa Beekeepers' Bulletin (Ag Extension Service) begins publication.

   Athletics:

Jack Trice, Iowa State's first African-American football player, is mortally injured during a game against Minnesota. In 1997, the football stadium is officially named in his honor.

   Campus:

After burning in 1922, the Armory is rebuilt for $155,000.

The Hog Barn and Pavilion are built.

   Academic life:

The first nursery school at Iowa State is founded in the Child Development Department, primarily to give home economics student practical experience with young children.  The program expands in the 1950s operating on a daily basis and also including older children.  

   University:

The Collegiate Press (later to become the Iowa State College Press, the Iowa State University Press, and ultimately Blackwell Publishing) is incorporated and a printing plant is set up in Curtiss Hall.