Starting in 1894, the Tank Scrap has to be one of the strangest and most violent of the long list of Purdue traditions. It all started when the Class of 1897 decided to paint the tank, which sparked the current sophomore class to react. Although the altercation was not intended to be violent, it became quite so and morphed into an annual rivalry event. The tradition’s basis was that the freshman and sophomore class of each year would fight to paint their class year on the tank.

The tradition eventually became a giant brawl that included capturing, hazing, and hurting members of the other class. Sometimes these fights would last hours and sometimes only minutes. As the years went on, more and more people began to get hurt, and sometimes deaths were even reported by major newspapers in New York and Los Angeles. It continued until 1913, when the students, faculty, and administration unanimously voted to end the event after a student by the name of Francis Walter Obenchain was found dead in the middle of the scrap due to what would later be proven as a broken neck.

The tank in the tank scrap was built in 1894 on the southern edge of the Grand View Cemetery on North Salisbury Street. The tank still stands there today, but is surrounded by a security fence topped with barbed wire, undoubtedly to prevent vandalism or climbing accidents.