Purdue University began to offer technical training courses in Indianapolis during World War Two (1939-1945) in cooperation with a federal government program to prepare for wartime industrial production needs. Purdue's Indianapolis presence continued after the end of the war, at first cooperating with the Indiana University Extension Division in Indianapolis to offer liberal arts and social sciences courses to Purdue students, and later in developing its own general education coursework as well as deepening its engineering and sciences offerings. In the 1950s Purdue acquired property on East 38th Street in Indianapolis and in 1961 opened its new building there housing its Indianapolis Extension operation. With the creation of IUPUI in 1969 the East 38th Street campus continued to serve as a place for science and engineering classes until new buildings were completed downtown on the IUPUI campus.
