Ashland's Eagles 11/5/21

Case Tractor was cutting-edge from its founding in 1842, when Jerome I. Case founded Racine Threshing Machine Works building an innovative thresher. In 1869 Case expanded into building steam engines to power farm machinery, and by 1886 Case was the world's largest manufacturer of steam engines. And in 1892, Case was the first company to build a diesel-powered tractor. Case even entered a car in the 1911 Indianapolis 500. Fast forward to the early 1970s, J. I. Case Co. merged with International Harvester to form Case IH Worldwide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_IH

Meanwhile, in the 1940s 4 ft tall cast iron eagles that were the symbol of the company began to disappear from Case dealerships. Concurrently, cast iron eagles began to show up in front of buildings on the Ashland College (now Ashland University) campus in north-central Ohio. The story that circulated around campus is that students attending a revival brought the first eagle back to campus in the trunk of a car. After that, it became an unstated challenge for student groups. Soon after appearing on campus, each eagle was named, many in honor of individuals that had made significant contributions in the history of the school. Moreover, when hazing was a common part of college life, freshmen needed to quickly learn the names of the eagles, the Alma Mater, the fight song, give way to upperclassmen, and wear a dink over the initial weeks of the fall semester.

In 1965, the year Sue and I were freshmen, Case donated the huge 20 ft tall trademark eagle from its headquarters to the school. It was placed in front of the Physical Education & Recreation Building and named "Old Abe." (This also was the year that Tuffy the Eagle student costumed mascot, was oficially adopted.) Today, there are 27 eagles located on campus.

https://ashlanduniversity.wordpress.com/eagle-statues/