Boilermakers Alternate Logo

The Purdue Boilermakers are a proud and storied college athletics program that has been around since the late 1800s. As such, they have had many different logos over their long history, each one with its own unique design and story to tell. The alternate logo history of the Purdue Boilermakers is an interesting one filled with changes in style and meaning as time went on.

The earliest alternative logo used by the Purdue Boilers was a drawing of a locomotive engine set against an oval shape featuring two stars above it back in 1898 when they were first established as the “Old Gold” football team. This symbolized strength, power, speed, and progress which made sense for this new upstart university looking to make waves in collegiate sports. In 1915 another version was introduced featuring just the locomotive engine itself without any other shapes or symbols surrounding it; this became known as “the boilermaker special” due to its resemblance to training cars hauling coal from local factories near West Lafayette Indiana where Purdue University is located today

In 1925 yet another version came out that featured more intricate details including three stars at the top instead of two, lettering along both sides spelling out P-U-R-D-U -E BOILERMAKERS, and also included red stripes running down either side representing fire coming off steam engines. This particular variation stayed popular until 1950 when finally replaced by what we know today –a white block lettering spelling PURDUE centered inside a circle surrounded by five stars all colored black & gold school colors. This look has become iconic throughout the college sports world but still holds true original meanings behind early versions: strength, power & progress through hard work!