Founded in 1876 as the Morioka Shihan Gakkō (盛岡師範学校), the school was formally established as Iwate University in 1949.

With its main campus located in Morioka, and another in Kamaishi, Iwate, it has several research institutes at cities in the Sanriku region to support the reconstruction of the fishing industry due to the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake.

These are under the jurisdiction of the Iwate University Sanriku Reconstruction and Regional Revitalization Promotion Organization.

Constructed in 1912 and completed in December of the same year, the Historical Museum for Agricultural Education is one of the few buildings still surviving as a central facility of a national professional college established in the Meiji era.

Polan Plaza, which houses a sundial, was built to the northeast of the Hall in the corner that connects to the Faculty of Agriculture building.