Founding and early years
In July of 1862 President
Lincoln signed the Morrill Act into law, offering public lands to any
state that would establish and maintain a college for the purpose of teaching agriculture and mechanics. In 1865, the Indiana General Assembly
took advantage of this offer, and began plans to establish such an institution. The state of Indiana received a gift of $150,000
from John Purdue, a Lafayette business leader and philanthropist, along with $50,000 from Tippecanoe County, and 150 acres (.6 km²) of land from Lafayette residents in support of the
project. In 1869, it was decided that the college would be founded near the city of
Lafayette and established as Purdue University, in the name
of the institution’s principle benefactor.Classes first began at Purdue in the fall of 1874 with three buildings, six instructors,
and 39 students. Purdue issued its first degree, a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry, in 1875. The first female students were admitted to the
university in the fall of the same year. By 1883 enrollment had increased beyond 350, and
by the turn of the twentieth century Purdue had begun a period of
active expansion: scholarship standards were raised, courses were expanded, and equipment was improved.
Aviation
Although the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics was not formally established until 1945, Purdue and the greater Lafayette community have a long history in the field of aviation. Since the earliest days
of the University, students, faculty, and staff have played major, and often instrumental, roles in the history of aerospace.In 1910, Dr. Cicero Veal, professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue, organized the Purdue Aero Club. In the summer of 1911 the club hosted Aviation Day, the Lafayette community's first aircraft demonstration. The
event, sponsored by Purdue alumni, attracted an estimated 17,000 onlookers and enthusiasts, and was the first of many such
exhibitions at Purdue.J. Clifford Turpin, from the class of 1908, was the first Purdue graduate to become an
aviator, and received flight instruction from Orville Wright himself.
In 1919 George W. Haskins became the first alumnus to land an aircraft on campus. He
arrived from Dayton, Ohio with a proposal to establish a School of
Aviation Engineering at Purdue. Although it would be several years before a separate school would be established, Purdue did
begin offering technical electives in aeronautical
engineering within the School of Mechanical Engineering in 1921.In 1930 Purdue became the first university in the country to offer college credit for
flight training, and later became the first to open its own airport. Famed aviator Amelia Earhart came to Purdue in 1935 and served as a "Counselor on
Careers for Women," a staff position she held until her disappearance in 1937. Purdue also
played a central role in Earhart's ill-fated "Flying Laboratory" project, providing funds for the Lockheed L-10 Electra aircraft she intended to fly around the
world. Purdue libraries maintain an extensive Earhart collection, which is still studied by those seeking to solve the mystery of
her disappearance.As a result of the expansion in technical education prompted by World War
II, the aeronautical engineering electives in mechanical engineering were expanded to create a full four-year degree program
in 1941 within the newly-rechristened School of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering.
Later, other training programs for the war were introduced that eventually lead to the formation of an independent School of
Aeronautics in 1945. The school initially offered undergraduate degrees in both aeronautical engineering and the new field of air
transportation, and issued its first graduate degrees in 1947. The programs were popular
among returning veterans in the years following World War II, bringing total undergraduate enrollment to 736 students. The school
adopted its present name in 1973.Over the past ten years, Purdue’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics has awarded more aerospace engineering degrees
than any other institution in the country, issuing 6 percent of all undergraduate degrees and 7 percent of all Ph.D. degrees.