WSU History
Washington State University (WSU) is one of the United States major public research universities. Founded on March 28th, 1890 and opened on January 13th, 1892 as the state’s land-grant college, the school changed names from the Washington Agricultural College and School of Science to the State College of Washington in 1905, and, subsequently, in 1959 to Washington State University.
The first school colors were pink and blue, as determined by the first WSU President, George Lilley, who was in awe of the radiant blue and pink sunsets on the wheat fields. Research has not uncovered the exact date when the official colors changed, although Crimson and Gray are thought to have been in use by 1916, when the then WSC “[Indian] Warriors” won the first annual Rose Bowl game.
The school’s first mascot was a terrier, which is believed to have been selected because someone in the president’s office brought their pet dog to campus. The mascot became an Indian during the decade (1910-1919) called the “Carlisle Connection,” when three football coaches arrived from the famous Carlisle Indian College in Pennsylvania. Following the first football game between WSC and California in 1919 (WSC beat the Cal Bears 14-0), an Oakland cartoonist portrayed the Washington State team as fierce northwest cougars chasing the defeated “Golden Bears.” A few days later, on October 28th, WSC students officially designated the Cougar as their team mascot.
As a land grant institution, the university has been entrusted by the state of Washington with 190,000 acres of land for agricultural and scientific research throughout the Pacific Northwest. It is one of America’s 96 public and private universities with “very high research activity,” as determined by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The flagship campus is in Pullman, located on the eastern border of the state in the Palouse region. Additional campuses are located within Washington at Vancouver, Spokane, and the Tri-Cities respectively.
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