When walking around campus everyday one can admire central campus, the buildings, the campanile and other landmarks, but how much do we really know about how and why these beautiful pieces of history came to be? Here are just a few of my favorite old facts and traditions that are a little less well known.
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Why are we the Cyclones? Cy, the Cyclone When our football team was very young we beat Chicago’s Northwestern 36-0. During the game the closest Northwestern got to Iowa State’s goal line was the 15-yard line. A sports writer reporting on the game in the Chicago Tribune said that Northwestern, “might as well have tried to play football with an Iowa cyclone.” The football team was such a success that year and the name stuck so the Iowa State Cyclones were formed.
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Why was the campanile built? The Campanile The Stantons, Edgar and Margaret, were both involved at Iowa State University. After Edgar graduated in 1872 he was a dean and was president four times while Margaret helped at the student hospital. When Margaret died in 1895 Edgar decided to honor her by donating the first ten bells of the carillon. The Iowa Legislature then provided the funds to create the campanile and the clock.
- What is the meaning behind the Plaza of Heroines? Catt Hall The home of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the beautiful red brick building called Catt Hall was not always named as such. Before being renovated in the 1990’s the building was the home to the College of Agriculture. The building was then named after Carrie Chapman Catt, the only woman to have graduated from ISU in 1880, an advocate of the woman’s suffrage movement and a co-founder of the League of Women Voters. The Plaza of Heroines located out front of Catt Hall consists of 600 bricks with the names of women who have made an impact somehow on their family, community, or country. A couple of the famous women that can be found in the plaza are Oprah Winfrey and Rosa Parks. If you have someone in mind for the plaza, bricks can be purchased for $100 to be dedicated to a woman who has made a difference. Posted by: Carly Crist