Ichabod Washburn

Ichabod Washburn (1798–1868) was an American Congregational deacon and industrialist from Worcester County, Massachusetts.

He attended Leicester Academy with his distant relative Emory Washburn (later Governor of Massachusetts) and Stephen Salisbury II, both of whom would many years later help in the founding of Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

"[1][3] Washburn suffered a paralyzing stroke in February 1868 and died on December 31 of that year, only a month after the Institute opened and before the completion of the shop building.

Their contributions to WPI in its infancy are memorialized by Boynton Hall and Washburn Shops, the first two buildings on the campus.

"The Ichabod" existed only in name until 1938, when alumnus (and later prominent graphic artist) Bradbury Thompson created the studious-looking, tailcoat-wearing figure the university uses today.