Abstract: Based on some historical documents, this paper briefly reviews the development of the Department of Water Conservancy of Peiyang University (Tianjin University), with related events and persons. This paper focuses on the historical continuity of the water conservancy discipline and the Department of Water Conservancy from Peiyang University to Tianjin University and its position in the Chinese higher education of water conservancy; the role of Peiyang University in Chinese First Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and its development process; and the related stories of the Centre of Hydraulic Engineering, famous professors and the outstanding alumni, and shows the historical inheritance and the modernisation achievements of the Department of Water Conservancy of Peiyang University-Tianjin University in the past one hundred and twenty-five years, which inspire a new generation of Tianjin University in water conservancies. Rejuvenate the spirit of Peiyang, and deeply remember the late, outstanding alumni Yu Yuanjun and others.