Purdue University Legends

Like many institutions with long and rich histories, Purdue University is steeped in legend. Many of these legends are so outlandish, it is difficult to believe they are still in circulation. Below is a selection of the most popular legends.

*A legend connected with benefactor John Purdue asserts that he owned the local brickyard, and that his donation carried the stipulation that all permanent university buildings must be built of red brick or his entire gift reverts to Purdue's heirs. This claim cannot be substantiated, and it is apparently contradicted by two university buildings: Krannert and Rawls halls, made of limestone. But this does not deter the story tellers, who claim that there is one solitary brick lying somewhere inside the buildings in keeping with the "red brick" tradition. Others claim that since Krannert and Rawls are south of State Street, they are not considered to be in the original boundaries of the campus and therefore are unrestricted in building materials.

*One of the more bizarre, yet most commonly heard, legends on campus concerns the integrity of the Purdue Bell Tower. The legend claims that when construction of the tower was completed in 1995 it was discovered that the tower was structurally flawed, and as a result the bells could not ring without risking collapse. Project leaders supposedly had a speaker system installed to imitate the sound of ringing bells. However, inside the modern Bell Tower are a computerized carillon, and an electronic clock. In fact, the new tower includes bells from the original Bell Tower, which was demolished in 1956. Also of note in regards to the bell tower is that the clock face on all four sides bears the roman numeral for the number four as IIII, which, although common on clockfaces, is not as well known as IV. This is sometimes attributed to the idea that IV looks similar to IU--the abbreviation for Purdue University's rival, Indiana University.

*There is also a superstition about the Bell Tower, that if a student walks underneath it they will not graduate in 4 years.

* At one point 23rd US President Benjamin Harrison had been on a board of advisors. Somewhere there exists a picture of him leaning against University Hall.

*There are also a number of legends that periodically circulate on campus that involve benefactor John Purdue’s grave, which is located on campus per his final requests. The legends range from silly to macabre and many involve students from rival Indiana University participating in grave robbing and other acts of desecration. One common story is that grave robbers took his body to a Purdue/ IU football game.

* In the 1980s, and perhaps at other times as well, a legend circulated that John Purdue won the naming rights in a bet with Amos Heavilon, and as a result the university was named after Purdue and its main building after Heavilon. This story is a myth and is contradicted by the fact that Amos Heavilon's gift was made in 1892, long after the university's establishment in 1869.

*According to some stories there is a nuclear reactor underground, which powers the entire campus. The reactor is supposedly cooled by the Engineering Fountain. In fact, there is a nuclear reactor, but it is in Duncan Annex to the Electrical Engineering Building. While designed to generate up to 10 kW, it only ever is allowed to generate 1 kW. This is comparable to the amount of energy it would take to run a hair dryer or toaster. Were it to be left on at maximum capacity, within 24 hours the water that it is surrounded by would raise its temperature by about 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.5 °C). There is, however, a particle accelerator several stories below ground in the Physics Building, and does extend under the walkway between the Physics and Materials Science and Electrical Engineering Buildings.

*Another legend was of John Purdue's finger. A series of smokestacks on top of a building were arranged in such a way that it looked like an upraised middle finger was being shown in the general direction of Indiana University. In recent years due to renovation, this has been removed.

*Another legend purports to offer an explanation of the Boilermaker moniker. The legend tells of two Purdue football coaches that would not accept the scrawny volunteers that came out for the team. According to the legend, the coaches gathered a number of boilermakers from the nearby Monon Railroad Shops, enrolled them in one class each, and added them to the team. This story is chronologically impossible, however, as the Monon Shops were not yet established in Lafayette at the time the "Boilermaker" nickname originated. For a factual account of the nickname origins, see Purdue Boilermakers.

*The Hall of Music was allegedly named after President Elliott because he was an unlikable person known for his dislike of music. In actuality, Elliott was firmly in favor of the building's construction, and personally lobbied for both state and federal funding for the project.

*John Purdue stipulated that no building built on campus may rise higher than University Hall, the first building on campus. According to this story, architects have to sidestep this rule by employing creative tactics, such as elevating the Mathematical Sciences Building on concrete "stilts", in such a manner that it is not a building, but a bridge. Another supposed method was to allocate the upper floors of Beering Hall of Liberal Arts a different ZIP Code from the rest of the University campus.

*Another version of the preceding legend says that John Purdue required that no building was allowed to be taller than the top of the (former) Purdue Smokestack. This version of the legend went on to claim that the official, on paper name of the Mathematical Sciences Building was, by virtue of its manner of construction, the "Mathematical Sciences Arch" (or, more often, simply the "Math Arch"), thereby making it 'not officially a building.'

*In a somewhat joking urban legend shared with similar ones at many other universities, especially many older ones, the limestone lion fountain at the southeast corner of Stanley Coulter Hall (the northeast corner of John Purdue Memorial Mall) is said to roar when a virgin walks past the fountain.