What is a Boilermaker?

After a 44-0 pounding of Wabash College in 1891, the local paper in nearby Crarfordsville criticized the Purdue football players with the following headline "Slaughter of Innocents. Wabash Snowed Completely Under by the Burly Boiler Makers from Purdue." The Lafayette papers picked up that nickname and used it in articles. As a landgrant school, like Ohio State, Purdue was characterized as teaching the children of the working class, and the students were considered socially below the more privileged students who attended liberal arts colleges such as Wabash. Also adding to that nickname was the fact in the same year, Purdue acquired a working railroad engine as a teaching device in the locomotive laboratory. Purdue has grown to be one of the world leaders in engineering teaching and research. A boilermaker is a trained craftsman who produces steel fabrications from plates and sections. A boilermaker can make boilers, but the work can also include bridges and blast furnaces. You will be reminded of the boilermaker nickname when you hear the train noise multiple times at a home game, which can also be heard on TV. Purdue Pete roams on the sidelines and is fashioned after a boilermaker, but the official mascot is a replica of a working locomotive named Boilermaker Special.