Wisconsin State College of Milwaukee was a predecessor institution of the

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wisc ...

. Founded in 1885 as Wisconsin State Normal School, it became Wisconsin State Teachers College-Milwaukee in 1927, and Wisconsin State College–Milwaukee in 1951. Originally at a downtown site, the Normal School subsequently moved to the Lakeside campus. In 1956, it became part of the then University of Wisconsin, and subsequently the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee's primary (Eastside) campus.

History

Wisconsin State Normal School at Milwaukee opened for classes in 1885 in a specially constructed building on the corner of 18th and Wells streets, with six teachers and 46 students. At the beginning, it was a

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

: a teacher preparation school for

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

's soaring population at that time. After the turn of the 20th century, the school introduced several new areas of study including

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as La ...

and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

education. In 1909, the school moved to the new Kenwood campus, on which had been erected a single building which would later be named ''Mitchell Hall''. The north wing opened three years later. The original building is now used as the Milwaukee Rescue Mission. After moving to the new site, the school also began to offer even wider curriculum including

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

home economics Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences, is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as texti ...

commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, natio ...

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (p ...

pre-medical Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med course ...

and

pre-law In the United States, pre-law refers to any course of study taken by an undergraduate in preparation for study at a law school. The American Bar Association requires law schools to admit only students with an accredited Bachelor's Degree or it ...

. The broadened curriculum proved to be popular and accounted for over one-third of the enrollment. Wisconsin State Normal School continued to grow after absorbing the Milwaukee School of Art and, in 1913, the school of music. The broadened curriculum, however, was attacked by the Carnegie Endowment for the Advancement of Teachers, arguing that

s should not stray from their role as trainers of teachers. In 1922, the State Normal School Regents voted to discontinue college courses in an effort to refocus on the instruction of teachers. The Wisconsin State Normal School then began to offer education-related four year degrees. In 1927, the Wisconsin State Normal School changed its name to the Wisconsin State Teachers' College-Milwaukee, popularly known as "Milwaukee State." Known for its innovative and experimental programs in teacher education, the Wisconsin State Teacher's College was a national prominence at that time and was considered one of the top teacher training colleges in the nation by the 1940s. In 1951, when the Legislature empowered all state colleges to offer liberal arts programs, Wisconsin State Teachers College-Milwaukee changed its name to Wisconsin State College of Milwaukee, which merged with the University of Wisconsin–Extension's Milwaukee branch five years later to form the present day University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

Notable alumni

Ruth Asawa Ruth Aiko Asawa (January 24, 1926 – August 5, 2013) was an American modernist sculptor. Her work is featured in collections at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.< ...

, Japanese American sculptor * John C. Becher, American stage and television actor * Allen Busby, teacher, attorney, Progressive state legislator and businessman *

Florian Cajori Florian Cajori (February 28, 1859 – August 14 or 15, 1930) was a Swiss-American historian of mathematics. Biography Florian Cajori was born in Zillis, Switzerland, as the son of Georg Cajori and Catherine Camenisch. He attended schools first ...

, Swiss-American historian of mathematics * Timothy T. Cronin, U.S. Attorney * Frank A. Dudley, American lawyer, politician, hotelier and business owner *

Dorothy Fuldheim Dorothy Fuldheim (June 26, 1893 – November 3, 1989) was an American journalist and anchor, spending the majority of her career for '' The Cleveland Press'' and WEWS-TV, both based in Cleveland, Ohio. Fuldheim has a role in United States televis ...

, American journalist and anchor, "First Lady of Television News" * Paul C. Gartzke, former Presiding Judge of the

Wisconsin Court of Appeals The Wisconsin Court of Appeals is an intermediate appellate court that reviews contested decisions of the Wisconsin circuit courts. The Court of Appeals was created in August 1978 to alleviate the Wisconsin Supreme Court's rising number of appe ...

Warren Giese Warren E. Giese (July 14, 1924 – September 12, 2013) was an American state legislator in South Carolina and a college football coach. He served as the head football coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks for five years at the University of S ...

, former South Carolina state legislator and college football coach * Herschel Burke Gilbert, composer of film and television theme songs *

Frederick Hemke Fred Hemke, DMA ''(né'' Frederick Leroy Hemke Jr.; July 11, 1935 – April 17, 2019) was an American virtuoso classical saxophonist and influential professor of saxophone at Northwestern University. Hemke helped raise the popularity of class ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pro ...

and former Professor of Music at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

School of Music A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

Marguerite Henry Marguerite Henry (' Breithaupt; April 13, 1902 – November 26, 1997) was an American writer of children's books, writing fifty-nine books based on true stories of horses and other animals. She won the Newbery Medal for ''King of the Wind'', a 19 ...

writer of

children's books A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younge ...

Clara Stanton Jones Clara Stanton Jones (May 14, 1913 – September 30, 2012) was the first African-American president of the American Library Association, serving as its acting president from April 11 to July 22 in 1976 and then its president from July 22, 1976 ...

, the first African American president of the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

Frank Tenney Johnson Frank Tenney Johnson (June 26, 1874 – January 1, 1939) was a painter of the Old American West, and he popularized a style of painting cowboys which became known as "The Johnson Moonlight Technique". ''Somewhere on the Range'' is an exampl ...

, painter of the AmericaWest * John Kaney, Wisconsin State Assemblyman * Ken Kranz, former NFL football player *

Golda Meir Golda Meir, ; ar, جولدا مائير, Jūldā Māʾīr., group=nb (born Golda Mabovitch; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was an Israeli politician, teacher, and '' kibbutznikit'' who served as the fourth prime minister of Israel from 1969 to ...

, former Prime Minister of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

* Paul Meyers, professional football player * Clem Neacy, NFL football player * Mark Ryan, Wisconsin State Assemblyman * Virginia Satir ('36 BA Education) noted author and psychotherapist *

Douglas C. Steltz Douglas C. Steltz (1920-2009) was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. Biography Steltz was born on December 7, 1920 in West Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended Carroll University, the Wisconsin State College of Milwaukee and Marquette Universi ...

, Wisconsin State Assemblyman * George H. Sutton, professional billiard player, the "handless billiard player" *

Whitey Wolter Herbert Max "Whitey" Wolter (August 22, 1899 - 21 August 1947) was an American football player in the National Football League for the Kenosha Maroons in 1924. Early life Wolter was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and played football at North Side ...

, NFL football player

Notable faculty

* Herbert Eugene Bolton, American historian * Lorenzo D. Harvey, President 1892–1898 * J. Martin Klotsche, President 1946–1956 * Guy Penwell, long time men's basketball coach from 1930–1942 and 1946–1952 *

Russ Rebholz Russell "Doss" Rebholz (September 11, 1908 – August 1, 2002) was a professional football player for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and later a high school and college football and basketball coach. College A native of Portage, Wisconsin, Rebholz was ...

, head basketball coach 1952–1956 * W Otto Miessner, American composer and music educator *

S. Anna Gordon Sarah Anna Gordon (January 9, 1832 – unknown) was an American physician and author of ''Camping in Colorado with Suggestions to Gold-Seekers, Tourists and Invalids'' (1879). Early life Sarah Anna Gordon was born in Charlemont, Massachuset ...

, first principal of the State Normal school of Wisconsin.

History

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

See also

References

Further reading