University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering | University of Illinois Archives

The 1867 Catalogue of the Illinois Industrial University listed Mechanical Science and Art in the Polytechnic Department.¹ In 1870, the first professor of the Department of Mechanical Science was appointed to the Chair of Mechanical Science and Engineering.²

On September 1, 1940, the Department of Railway Engineering was discontinued and some of its courses and faculty were transferred to the Mechanical Engineering Department.³ A new curriculum leading to a B.S. in Industrial Engineering began to be administered by the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1952.⁴ The name of the department was changed in 1960 to the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.⁵

1. Catalogue and Circular, 1867, p. 6.

2. Board of Trustees Transactions, 3rd Report, March 8, 1870, p. 47.

3. Ibid., 40th Report, June 28, 1940, p. 971

4. Ibid., 46th Report, March 12, 1952, pp. 1410-11

5. Ibid., 50th Report, April 20, 1960, p. 1257.