Iowa State University history

The Farm House Museum (1860) is the restored home of the university’s first two presidents.

To learn more about the first graduation and to see photos of the class of 1872, check out this earlier blog post by Outreach Archivist Rachel Seale!

Iowa State was and is a leader in agriculture, engineering, extension, home economics, and created the nation's first state veterinary medicine school in 1879.

As Old Main held the entire college, it had a lot of functions including classrooms, museums, a chapel, dining halls, and housing for both faculty and students (to learn more about Old Main, visit our online exhibit). In 1880, the library had 6,000 volumes and was open from 2 pm to 9 pm.

In 1891, the library was moved to Morrill Hall, which was designed to house the library and a museum.

Freshmen took a 1 credit course during the second term titled “Library Work.” In 1893, the library had 10,200 volumes and was open from 8-9:30, closing over the noon and dinner hours.

Iowa Agricultural College (Iowa State College of Agricultural and Mechanic Arts as of 1898), as a land grant institution, focused on the ideals that higher education should be accessible to all and that the university should teach liberal and practical subjects.

Take a look back at Beardshear over 100 years ago in 1920!

Finally in 1923, construction on the new library building was started, and the first cornerstone was laid on October 11.

After studying at several American institutions of higher education, Spedding held various teaching and research positions until he became professor of physical chemistry at Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, in 1941.

The college administration agreed to the proposal and purchased a 187-acre farm just south of campus in the fall of 1942.

In 1959, the college was officially renamed Iowa State University of Science and Technology.

To address these issues, the first expansion opened in 1961.