U: University

U is for University, and Colorado State has been at the heart of Fort Collins since 1870, when Territorial Governor Edward McCook signed the bill establishing the Agricultural College of Colorado. Elijah Edwards was college President when the first classes were held in 1879. The Alumni Association was formed in 1884.






Other interesting facts:

1891 – First issue of the Rocky Mountain Collegian newspaper
1899 – First Border War football game vs. Wyoming
1909 – The Oval is designed as a way to connect campus buildings
1910 – College Days begins as spring festival
1912-1918 – Peanuts the English bulldog roams the campus as the first mascot
1914 – First Homecoming celebration
1923 – Students build the ‘A’ in six hours
1936 – Alumnus Glenn Morris wins a gold medal for decathlon in Berlin Olympic games
1948 – Thurman “Fum” McGraw becomes CSU’s first consensus All American in football
1957 – School officially becomes Colorado State University
1964 – KCSU radio launched
1968 – The Bronzed Boot—worn in Vietnam by alumnus Dan Romero—becomes Border War trophy
1969 – Women join ROTC
1970 – Old Main destroyed by arson
1985 – Professor Tom Sutherland kidnapped in Lebanon
1987 – Cans Around the Oval gets its start
1991 – Tom Sutherland released
1995 – Marching band first performs "Trombone Suicide"
1996 – Amy Van Dyken wins four Olympic gold medals
2001 – First ‘I Love CSU’ day
2008 – Erin Popovich wins four gold and two silver medals at Beijing Paralympics
2009 – 15-acre solar array installed on Foothills Campus



And one last little bit of history:

The Lost Cheer (circa 1893)
Hayseed! Turnip!
Pumpkin! Squash!
CAC We Are by Gosh!

(All this great stuff comes from the For-Ever-Green book.)

Flat Cam in my daffodils