Purdue: A History | Traditions Over the Years

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Purdue has a long standing history of tradition, and one of my favorites is the Old Oaken Bucket. This tradition began in 1925 and marks the yearly football game between Purdue and our rival Indiana University. Each year, the winning team gets to add a P or an I to the bucket depending on who wins. The first year of the Old Oaken Bucket ended in a 0-0 tie, so the handle has both an I and a P to commemorate this. This tradition just makes the rivalry game stakes even higher and is a fun way to celebrate!

The Old Oaken Bucket is not Purdue’s only tradition, and I have found that the many traditions Purdue has built over the years add to the feeling of family you are guaranteed to experience as a Boilermaker.


First Week on Campus

If you participate in Purdue’s orientation program, Boiler Gold Rush, you will experience a good amount of Purdue traditions during your first week on campus! This starts with Crossing the Tracks. Our mascot here at Purdue is a train, the Boilermaker Special. We have train tracks outside of one of our libraries on campus, and when you arrive on campus you jump across them into campus. When you graduate, you get to jump the other way! Another fun tradition during that first week is the Fountain Run. We have a lot of fountains on campus, and it’s a fun event to run through all of them while music is playing and many fellow students are lining the road.

Athletics

There are a lot of traditions in Purdue athletics outside of the Old Oaken Bucket. To start, the Purdue All American Marching Band always gets the crowd excited during games! They are home to the “World’s Largest Drum” which is a fun symbol of our band! There are also a lot of traditions before, during, and after games. For example, after the third quarter of football games we play Shout! which is a fun song and cheer we do. We also have cheers and dances that the whole student sections do during football, basketball, and volleyball games.

Food and Snacks

Discount Den is a store near campus that has a wall of sodas. Students can get “den pops” for a dollar and make one of the recipes of soda mixtures that have been hung up throughout the years by past Purdue students. They make for a great study snack and are often free on Fridays! Cary Knight Spot is a fun restaurant in the basement of Cary Quad that has been around for a while, and it’s a great place to grab a midnight milkshake with friends!

And More...

Purdue is known as the “Cradle of Astronauts” with 27 alumni flying to space! Most notably Neil Armstrong who was the first man on the moon in 1969. Grand Prix is the greatest spectacle in college racing that has been run annually since 1958! This is a fun event where a bunch of student groups race go-karts at a track just off campus. Students can buy tickets and walk or take a bus to the track for a fun day of competition and tradition! The Exponent is Purdue’s student newspaper, and it has been around since 1889!


Ella Richardson, ME '25

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