The University of Wisconsin-Madison: A History Etched in Stone and Spirit

The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), a public land-grant research university, stands proudly in Madison, Wisconsin, in the American Midwest, specifically within Dane County. As the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System, it has a rich history intertwined with the state's development and a commitment to extending its influence beyond the classroom.

Founding and Early Years

The seeds of the university were sown in 1838 when the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature passed a bill to establish a University of Wisconsin "at or near Madison, the seat of government." However, it was on July 26, 1848, when Wisconsin achieved statehood, that Governor Nelson Dewey signed the act formally creating the University of Wisconsin. This act, an incorporation act, invested the university's governance in a board of regents. The first class met on February 5, 1849, under the direction of Professor Sterling, a day now celebrated as Founder’s Day. John H. Lathrop became the university's first chancellor in the fall of 1849.

A permanent campus site was selected, comprising 50 acres bounded by Lake Mendota, a street to be opened at right angles with King Street (later State Street), Mineral Point Road (University Avenue), and a carriage-way from said road to the lake. The regents envisioned a "main edifice fronting towards the Capitol, three stories high, surmounted by an observatory for astronomical observations." This building, University Hall, later known as Bascom Hall, was completed in 1859. North Hall, designed and used as a classroom facility and a men’s dormitory, opened in 1851, becoming the first campus building. In 1854, Levi Booth and Charles T. Wakeley received the first degrees from the UW.

Growth and Transformation

The university experienced significant growth and transformation in the subsequent decades. In 1863, the first women were admitted to the UW in the Normal Department. However, to satisfy President Paul Chadbourne’s anti-coeducation views, the Normal Department was abolished and replaced by the separate Female College in 1867. The Female College building (later Chadbourne Hall) opened in 1871. Due primarily to the efforts of President John A. Bascom, Female College closed during 1874-75, and women officially received full coeducational status.

In 1866, the Legislature designated the UW as the Wisconsin land-grant institution. This followed the Morrill Act of 1862, which established the program. Bachelor’s degrees were awarded to women in 1869. The Legislature began making annual contributions for the support of the university in 1872. William Smith Noland became the first known African-American to graduate with a B.A. in 1875. That same year, UW-Madison established the nation’s first Scandinavian studies department.

The UW established the country’s first magnetic observatory in 1876. Cadwallader C. Washburn, former regent and governor, provided the first major gift to the university in 1877, $43,000 to build and furnish an observatory overlooking Lake Mendota. Agricultural physicist Franklin H. King developed the round silo in 1881. Pharmacy was established as a department in 1883, offering a four-year bachelor of science degree in 1892. John Stearns was appointed the first full-time education faculty member in 1884, and the Marching Band was founded in 1885 to accompany the University Military Battalion. The appointment of Professor Joseph Jastrow in 1888 made the psychology department the oldest continuously supported psychology department in the country. In 1889, the Legislature formally established the colleges of Letters and Science, Mechanics and Engineering, Agriculture and Law.

Landmark Discoveries and the Wisconsin Idea

The late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed groundbreaking discoveries and the formal articulation of the "Wisconsin Idea." Agricultural chemist Stephen M. Babcock developed the Babcock butterfat test in 1890, which became the standard for testing the quality of milk. Edward A. Birge was named the first dean of the College of Letters and Science in 1891, and William Arnon Henry was named the first dean of the College of Agriculture. University Extension was established, largely due to the efforts of President Thomas Chamberlin. Charles R. Van Hise received the first UW Ph.D. in 1892 and later became the first UW graduate to be named its president.

Frederick Jackson Turner delivered an essay in 1893 about the significance of the frontier in American history at a meeting of the American Historical Association. As early as 1895, he taught the first course on the history of the American West. In 1894, following controversy, regents adopted an academic freedom statement: “Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe that the great State University of Wisconsin shall ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth may be found.” The Armory-Gymnasium opened on Langdon Street that year. The Summer Session was established in 1899, with College of Letters and Science Dean Edward Birge as its director.

In 1903, the Legislature established the State Laboratory of Hygiene at the request of the UW and the state Board of Health. The Graduate School was established in 1904. (The Committee of Graduate Study was first organized in 1895. Before 1895, individual departments conducted graduate study with no coordination among them.) Under President Charles R. Van Hise, the Wisconsin Idea - the principle that the university should improve people’s lives beyond the classroom - became a living doctrine in 1905. The Wisconsin Union was founded in 1907 as one of the first college unions in the nation, second only to Harvard’s union.

Advances in Medicine and Agriculture

The College of Medicine was established in 1907 to run a two-year, preclinical course. Wisconsin General Hospital admitted the first patients on Sept. 29, 1924. The first class of clinical students began work in the fall of 1925, and the first M.D.s were awarded in 1927. The first student-health facility was established in 1908, a precursor to the University Health Services, which opened in 1910. The Department of Agricultural Economics was established in 1909, the first of its kind in the United States. The genetics department, known until 1918 as the experimental breeding department, was the first such department in the United States (1910). E.V. McCollum and Marguerite Davis discovered Vitamin A in 1913, found to be a vital component in animal feed.

The university established the first curriculum in speech correction and the first speech clinic in the country in 1914. E.V. McCollum and Marguerite Davis discovered Vitamin B in 1916, found to be a preventive against beriberi. WHA, considered the oldest radio station in the nation in continuous service, began broadcasting in 1917. Mabel Watson Raimey earned a B.A. in 1918, becoming the first African-American woman to graduate from the University. Professor Edgar Gordon started “Music Appreciation” on WHA in 1921, the first course broadcast over radio. Professor Joel Stebbins attached a photodiode to the 15-inch telescope in 1922 to measure and track stars, making the UW the nation’s pioneer in systematic photoelectric astronomy. Sara Stinchfield received the first Ph.D. in communicative disorders in the country that same year.

Professor Harry Steenbock discovered in 1924 that when the skin of animals and food surfaces are exposed to ultraviolet irradiation, vitamin D is produced and stored. This made it possible to enrich food with vitamin D by exposing it to ultraviolet light, a process that helped wipe out infantile rickets. The School of Nursing was established in 1924. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation was chartered in 1925, largely to control the patent on Harry Steenbock’s vitamin D work. Based on Margaret N. H’Doubler’s pioneering work in dance education, the UW was the first in the nation to award undergraduate degrees in dance education in 1926. The Experimental College opened in 1927, directed by Alexander Meiklejohn.

The Great Depression and World War II Era

The School of Business established the country’s first graduate program in public utilities in 1929. The School of Education was established in 1930, following the 1919 creation of an Education Department within the College of Letters and Science. Frederick Mohs began developing the Mohs Micrographic Surgery Technique to precisely remove external cancers in the 1930s. E.B. Hart and colleagues developed a method for stabilizing iodine in salt, a convenient delivery system still commonly used to ensure adequate iodine in human diets. Animal behaviorist Harry Harlow founded the Primate Laboratory in 1932, including the nation’s first monkey-breeding colony. The UW released Wisconsin’s first strain of hybrid corn that same year. Memorial Union became the country’s first public university union to serve beer (3.2 percent alcohol) in 1933.

UW economist Edwin Witte headed the commission that drafted the Social Security legislation as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1935. John Steuart Curry painted murals for the artist-in-residence program in 1936, the first of its kind at an American university. Conrad Elvehjem led UW researchers who found that niacin supplementation prevents pellagra in 1937, a disease that killed 5,000 people a year at the time. Aldo Leopold developed a UW department of wildlife management in 1939, the nation’s first. The College of Agriculture established the first Wisconsin artificial-breeding program that same year. The Wisconsin Union Theater opened in 1939 with the premiere performance of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in “The Taming of the Shrew.”

Post-War Expansion and Social Change

Harold Rusch, a UW oncology professor, was the first to show which wavelength of ultraviolet light produces skin cancer in 1941. Rusch also founded the McArdle Cancer Research Laboratory. The UW Foundation was organized in 1945 to assist in fundraising and development. The Beta Omicron Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated was the first Black Greek-letter organization (B.G.L.O.) at the University in 1946. A student chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.) was established on campus in 1947.

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Charles Heidelberger discovered the anticancer drug fluorouracil in the early 1950s. Elizabeth and James Miller identified characteristics among chemicals that cause cancer during the 1950s and 60s. Vel Phillips was the first African-American woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1951. UW researchers transferred a fertilized ovum from one cow to another, which gives birth, leading to a procedure called embryo transplant. Professor Dean Meeker began the nation’s first course in silk-screening as an art medium that same year.

Harry Waisman developed a test for phenylketonuria (PKU) in the 1960s, a congenital disease causing mental retardation in infants. Professor Harvey Littleton initiated the nation’s first formal glass-working course in 1963. John R. Cameron and Richard Mazess developed new techniques in 1965 to measure osteoporosis, allowing better detection, prevention and treatment of bone diseases. UW-Extension was created as a separate unit that same year. The National Organization for Women, launched by Kathryn Clarenbach and Betty Friedan, was first housed in Clarenbach’s faculty office on the UW campus in 1966. The Biotron opened in 1967 as the first research building in which environmental conditions could be precisely controlled for experimental purposes.

Protests and Transformation

A series of protests against the war in Vietnam began in 1967 with a demonstration against Dow Chemical. Confrontations between students and police and National Guard troops escalated, culminating in the August 1970 bombing of Sterling Hall, which killed one graduate researcher. The UW became the seat of the Wisconsin Sea Grant program in 1968. The School of Business launched the country’s first graduate program in arts administration that same year. Using techniques developed at the UW, the first bone marrow transplant in the United States was performed at UW Children’s Hospital. The UW’s Space Astronomy Laboratory constructed the world’s first true observatory in space - the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory. Harry Harlow became the first animal behaviorist - and only the second psychologist - to win the prestigious National Medal of Science. A team of Medical School researchers discovered how to predict the success of bone marrow transplants by testing blood and tissue compatibility of donors and recipients.

The Black Peoples Alliance organized a strike in 1969, demanding an increase in minority recruitment and a Black studies department. The UW established the world’s first research center on rheology that same year. George Bryan found evidence that links cancer in laboratory animals with saccharine and cyclamates, artificial sweeteners used in soft drinks and other foods. Both substances were subsequently banned. The Faculty Senate held its first meeting in 1970, replacing meetings of the whole faculty. The Institute for Environmental Studies was established that same year. Nobel Prize-winning biochemistry professor Har Gobind Khorana became the first to synthesize a gene.

The Modern Era

The Legislature established the University of Wisconsin System in 1971, merging the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin State Universities. Union South opened to serve the expanding campus that same year. Richard Hong developed a new thymus transplant technique for treating immune-system deficiencies in children and young adults. The Business School launched the first graduate program in health-care fiscal administration in 1972. Sapporo Gold, the country’s first artificially produced variety of elm resistant to Dutch Elm disease, was released in 1973.

UW oncology professor Howard Temin received the Nobel Prize in 1975 for his discovery of retroviruses, viruses that transmit genetic information in a way that is exactly opposite to what had been believed. Charles Mistretta developed a method in 1976 to digitize X-ray images of blood vessels, allowing data to be stored and interpreted by a computer. The Clinical Science Center opened in 1979, providing facilities for UW Hospitals and Clinics, UW Clinical Cancer Center, UW Children’s Hospital, and clinical programs for the medical and nursing schools.

Douglass Tormey found in the 1980s that tamoxifen, an anti-estrogen drug, can prevent breast cancer from recurring in some women. The first clinical trials using two types of interferon produced by recombinant DNA were done at the UW Clinical Cancer Center. Ian Robins tested a systemic hyperthermia device using radiant heat in clinical trials to treat cancer. The medical physics department was founded in 1981, the first in the nation within a medical school.

Campus Landmarks and Architecture

The UW-Madison campus is a blend of architectural styles, reflecting its long history and evolution. The main campus is situated partially on the Madison Isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona. The main campus comprises 933 acres (378 ha) of land, while the entire campus, including research stations throughout the state, is over 10,600 acres (4,290 ha) in area. The campus contains four National Historic Landmarks. The central campus is on an urban layout mostly coinciding with the city of Madison's street grid, exceptions being the suburban University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, and the Department of Psychiatry & Clinics in the West Side research park. It is approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the Wisconsin State Capitol, connected by State Street. UW-Madison's campus includes many buildings designed or supervised by architects J. T. W. Jennings and Arthur Peabody.

Bascom Hall, at the top of Bascom Hill, is often considered the "heart of the campus." Built in 1857, a decorative dome that once sat atop the structure was destroyed by fire in 1916. The structure has been added to several times over the years. The building currently houses the office of the chancellor and vice chancellors. Flanking both sides of Bascom Hall are the two oldest surviving buildings on campus. Designed by John F. Rague in a Federal style, the oldest structure in the university, North Hall (built in 1851), was planned to be similar to the dormitories at the University of Michigan. It is still in use as the home of the Department of Political Science.

The Carillon Tower, erected in 1936, was designed by Warren Powers Laird and Paul Philippe Cret so that the balustrade echoes that on Bascom Hall. The carillon has 56 bronze bells, with the largest weighing 6,800 pounds. An automated system rings bells on the hour, playing songs such as "Varsity" and "On, Wisconsin!". Science Hall, constructed in 1888, was designed by Milwaukee architect Henry Koch in a Romanesque Revival style. The Education Building features a Beaux-Arts style. Structures built in a Neoclassical style include Birge Hall and the Wisconsin Historical Society. Music Hall was designed in 1878 by Madison architect David R. Van Hise Hall is home to most of the languages departments of the university and the upper floors house the offices of the University of Wisconsin System's president and its board of regents. The George L. Mosse Humanities Building, located on Library Mall, was built in the late 1960s in the Brutalist style.

The hub of campus life is the Memorial Union, built in 1928 to honor American World War I veterans. Also known as the Union or the Terrace, it has gained a reputation as one of the most beautiful student centers on a university campus. Located on the shore of Lake Mendota, it is a popular spot for socializing among both students and the public, who enjoy gazing at the lake and its sailboats. The union is known for the Rathskeller, a Ratskeller or German pub adjacent to the lake terrace. Union South was first built in 1971 to better accommodate a growing student enrollment. Henry Mall is a landscaped quadrangle that was designed by architects Warren Laird and Paul Cret and constructed between 1903 and 1961.

Archaeological Significance

UW-Madison claims more distinct archaeological sites than on any other university campus. The campus contains four clusters of effigy mounds located at Observatory Hill, Willow Drive, Picnic Point, and Eagle Heights. These sites, reflecting thousands of years of human habitation in the area, have survived to a greater or lesser degree on campus, depending on location and past building activities. Surviving sites are marked and fenced on the campus, ensuring that they are not disturbed.

Governance and Academics

UW-Madison is governed by the board of regents of the University of Wisconsin System, which governs each of the state's 13 comprehensive public universities. The four year, full-time undergraduate instructional program is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as "arts and science plus professions" with a high graduate coexistence. The largest university college, the College of Letters and Science, enrolls approximately half of the undergraduate student body and is made up of 38 departments and five professional schools that instruct students and carry out research in a wide variety of fields.

The School of Education

The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education is a school within the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Although teacher education was offered at the university's founding in 1848, the School was officially started in 1930 and today is composed of 10 academic departments. The School of Education offers a broad array of undergraduate programs that reflect the wide range of disciplines housed in the school.

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