Around the nation and the world
- 1900, The Galveston, Texas hurricane, with winds of 135 miles an hour, kills 8,000 people.
Around campus
- 1900, Laboratory work in hydraulics was inaugurated by the Civil Engineering Department.
- 1900, The president’s residence, The Knoll, is built for a cost of $12,721.
- 1900, Thirty-five cases of typhoid fever occur on campus.
- 1900, The Iowa Legislature grants the first educational support to the college in the sum of $25,000 annually.
- 1903, Engineering Hall (now Marston Hall) is built at a cost of $218,500. The Iowa Legislature passes a bill that appropriates $3,500 for the establishment of the Iowa State Highway Commission to create better roads for automobiles.
- 1904, The first example of specialization in the CE department was said to be in 1904: transportation (railways).
- 1904, Anson Marston is appointed the first dean of the College of Engineering (1904-1932; Dean emeritus, 1932-1949).
- 1904, The Iowa State Highway Commission is established at Iowa State. Led by Dean Anson Marston and his belief that highway engineering should be centralized; the Commission eventually grows into the Iowa Department of Transportation.
- 1904, Anson Marston becomes the first dean of engineering. He develops the Engineering Experiment Station—the nation’s first research agency organized in an engineering school.
- 1905, The Women’s Athletic Association is organized for the playing of basketball, tennis and hockey.
- 1906, Central Building (renamed Beardshear Hall in 1938) is completed for $300,000
- 1906, Research in geotechnical engineering begins, providing the foundation for Iowa State’s leadership role in highway systems research.
- 1907, Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, is installed on campus. Women are not allowed to join as full-fledged members until 1972.
- 1908, Iowa States first intercollegiate basketball game is played against the University of Kansas. The game, played at the Armory in downtown Ames, results in a Kansas win, 53-35.
- 1909, There were four members on the civil engineering instruction staff. The transportation emphasis began to shift from railways to highways.