JOHN PURDUE, Lafayette business and financial leader.  Principal benefactor at the University's founding was born October 31, 1802, near Shirleysburg, Pennsylvania and died September 12, 1876, in Lafayette, Indiana.    Visit Purdue

President Lincoln signed the Morrill Acton July 2, 1862, by which the federal government offered to turn over public lands to any state that agreed to use the proceeds from their sale to maintain a college for the purpose of teaching agriculture and the "mechanic arts."

In 1865, the Indiana General Assembly voted to participate in this plan and took steps to establish such an institution.  On May 6, 1869, the Indiana General Assembly decided to locate the institution near Lafayette and accepted $150,000 from John Purdue, $50,000 from Tippecanoe County, and 100 acres of land from local residents.  Legislators established the institution and named it Purdue University.  Classes began September 16, 1874 with six instructors and 39 students.

Living in West Lafayette, Indiana my entire life, I became enchanted by these wonderful buildings.