Milwaukee-Downer College
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1895-1964
E-Travel
Several issues of the school yearbook, the Cumtux, a Chinook word for “Do you understand,” are available through Internet Archive, as are some early catalogs. The History of Milwaukee-Downer College, 1851-1951, Centennial Publication by Grace Norton Kieckhefer is available on HathiTrust. The Kenosha News was among newspapers covering school activities.
History
Milwaukee-Downer College was created from the 1895 merger of Milwaukee College (founded as Milwaukee Female College in 1851) and Downer College (founded as Wisconsin College at Fox Lake, WI in 1855). The 1930 Cumtux shows an enrollment of 348 students—120 Freshmen, 103 Sophomores, 72 Juniors and 53 Seniors. Seventy-eight percent of Juniors and Seniors were from Wisconsin—most from Milwaukee. The rest represented twelve states. They were taught by a faculty/administration of 32. There were 13 English majors among the B.A. graduates; among the B.S. graduates were 13 Home Economics majors.
M-D.C. was one of the first four colleges in the nation to offer courses in occupational therapy and had a twenty-member club of students studying in the field in 1930.
The Cumtux shows that the most prolific student activity was drama. The Mountebanks, members of both Little Theatre and the Wisconsin Dramatics Guild, performed and did workshops for both the college and the greater Milwaukee community. The City Students’ Organization also did a play. In addition, Le Circle Francais performed an annual French drama; The Marie Wollpert Verein did one in German; Liebing Club performed an original operetta. One M-D.C. tradition was the Christmas play—either Elizabethan or Victorian. An outdoor drama was part of May Day Festivities, and the Senior class presented a play as part of Commencement Week.
The most famous Milwaukee-Downer College tradition was the Hat Hunt, a contest that had its origins in a stolen clergyman’s hat at Downer College. The hat was hidden each fall, by the heroine who had found it the previous year. In a three-week period in the spring, Freshmen and Sophomores could search for the hat. Success resulted in the chant “Katy did, Katy did, Katy found the Downer Lid,” and a parade.
Enrollment at Milwaukee-Downer College peaked at 444 students in 1947. By the 1960’s it had dropped to 176. In 1964 Milwaukee-Downer College merged with Lawrence University.\
Bricks and Mortar
The merged Milwaukee-Downer College purchases ten acres in north Milwaukee. Two new buildings, Merrill Hall and Holton Hall, were ready in 1899. These were three-story, American Gothic style structures, built of red sandstone and St. Louis pressed brick, with slate roofs. Merrill Hall with its 170-foot frontage contained classrooms, a chapel, libraries, an observatory, a studio, a museum, and administrative offices. Holton Hall, measuring 212 feet in length, contained faculty and student dorm rooms, the parlor, the music rooms, the dining hall and a two-story gymnasium. Within two years the college added a matching dormitory named Johnston Hall. With Green Hall (1905), these constituted the “Quad.”
In 1964 the campus was sold to Milwaukee Normal College. The Quad remains as part of the campus today, with Merrill Hall housing the Education Department. In 1974 the Quad was placed on the National Register.
Merrill Hall with Johnston Hall to the right. Just visible to the left is the passage to Holton Hall. Image by Freekee at English Wikipedia UWM-0904-downer-quad.jpg.
Sports
School colors: apparently the college color was blue (as opposed to class colors of red, yellow, green and
purple)
President Sabin was a firm believer in physical education for women, so students had required physical education classes twice weekly. Ultimately the school had a Physical Education Department. An Athletic Association was formed in 1900 to organize a sports program for the school. Ten sports formed the basis for competition among classes, giving individuals opportunities to amass points toward “Big M-D,” the Silver Pen, and ultimately the Blue Blazer, awarded to the outstanding senior athlete.
The most popular sport was rowing. After Downer students brought their racing scull from Fox Lake, M-D.C. added another. In June each year, the school sponsored an interclass regatta, the first held in the Midwest. In addition to intramurals, M-D.C. had school teams in both basketball and field hockey, competing against seminary and alumnae teams,
1929-30 Athletic Association. Image from Cumtux.
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