Students from across the globe come to Ames to become part of the Cyclone family.

Countless students have walked through its campus since it first opened in 1869, but did you know that the university used to be a model farm and agricultural college? Or that the university didn’t have an official mascot until 1954?

Here are five fun facts about Iowa State that any member of the Cyclone family should know:

The first class at Iowa State had 26 students

Although Iowa State was established in 1858 — as The Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm — it didn’t officially open its door to students until 1869, when the college’s inaugural class had 26 students.

Then, the campus had few buildings: Farm House (1860), Old Main (1867), which was destroyed by a series of fires from 1900 to 1902, as well as barns as part of the college’s model farm.

The college quickly grew, adding buildings to its campus, and in 1868, became “Iowa Agricultural College”, “Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts” in 1898, and finally “Iowa State University of Science and Technology” in 1959. It is now commonly known as Iowa State University.

Today, Iowa State is home to more than 30,000 students according to the university’s website, and has many more buildings.

One of the nation’s first land grant universities

Although Iowa State was the fourth college to become a land grant university under the Morrill Act of 1862 — Kansas State University, Michigan State University and Penn State all opened their doors first — Iowa was the first state to accept the terms of the act.

A land grant university is a designated institution to receive benefits from the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890, to account for a growing demand for agricultural and technical education, according to the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities.

But Iowa State boasts being the first co-educational land university, according to a placard on Central Campus that reads:

“Iowa started an education revolution as the first state to accept the 1862 Morrill Act terms. The act allowed Iowa to sell federal land to finance a new college open to all regardless of wealth, race, or gender; offering a practical education in agriculture, engineering, and military science as well as classical studies; and sharing research knowledge with all Iowans. Iowa State University officially opened in 1869 and was the first coeducational land-grant school.”

Iowa State has always accepted both men and women for school admission.

First public veterinary college in the U.S.

In 1879, Iowa State established the Iowa State College of Veterinary Medicine, the first public veterinary college in the U.S.

The college had previously offered a four-year course in both agriculture and veterinary science starting in 1872, according to the College of Veterinary Medicine’s website, but officially started the veterinary medicine program in 1879 and since has been the nation’s longest serving veterinary college.

Iowa State known as the ‘Cyclones’ thanks to Chicago Tribune

Before there was Cy, the college had been known as “ the Cyclones” after the Chicago Tribune had referred to the college’s football team as an “Iowa Cyclone” in September 1895 after the team had scored a whopping 36 unanswered points against Northwestern University.

The Tribune wrote:

“Struck by a Cyclone…Northwestern might as well have tried to play football with an Iowa cyclone as with the Iowa team it met yesterday. At the end of fifty minute’s play the big husky farmers from Iowa’s Agricultural College had rolled up 36 points, while 15 yard line was the nearest Northwestern got to Iowa’s goal.”

The name stuck, and in 1954, the university got its first mascot: Cy the Cardinal. Cy was chosen in a contest, reflecting the college’s colors of cardinal and gold.

Parks Library is home to Grant Wood’s largest murals

Even though one of Iowa’s most famous artists decided to teach at Iowa State’s rival school, the University of Iowa, Grant Wood painted what would be his largest murals for Iowa State University’s Parks Library.

Wood, best known for American Gothic, was commissioned by then-Iowa State President Raymond M. Hughes to reflect Iowa heritage and Iowa State’s land grant mission.

Wood painted a 23-by-11 foot mural, Breaking the Prairie, depicting Iowa’s agricultural beginnings. The mural can be seen on the first floor in the Grant Wood Mural Lobby behind Bookends Cafe.

Wood also painted an eight-panel mural Other Arts Follow, which depict the original divisions of Iowa State at the time: Veterinary Medicine, Farm Crops, Animal Husbandry, Home Economics, Ceramics and Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Aeronautical and Civil Engineering.

Each panel of the mural stands at 17 feet tall.

The murals can be seen in the stairwell leading from the Grant Wood Mural Lobby to the Upper Rotunda on the second floor of Parks Library.