The student enrollment really fluctuated with American military involvement. Director of the University Archives David Null explained that much of the booms in campus building increases correlated with student enrollment. Social and cultural influences have much to do with the increase in campus size. Land west of Bascom Hall was purchased and used for experimental farming and agriculture education,” Einstein explained. “The university purchased the land to the east of Bascom Hall where the Red Gym, Memorial Union and Science Hall stand, for the new academic programs. According to the UW Registry, the student body exceeded 1,800 students. The campus started in 1848, and by 1900, there were almost 40 buildings belonging to the academic institution. “North Hall, South Hall and then Bascom Hall were the start of UW-Madison.”

“The university started on Bascom Hill, or ‘college hill’ as they used to say,” Einstein said. There are some monuments and grounds dedicated to the original owners of the UW-Madison campus land. UW Campus Planning and Landscape Architecture Historic and Cultural Resources Manager Daniel Einstein explained the land the government gave us wasn’t “free” land, but land that originally belonged to the Native Americans. However, the Morrill Act of 1862 allowed the university to expand physically, under the condition that the university taught courses about agriculture, home economics, mechanical arts (engineering) and military training, according to the Morrill Act documentation.

If the walls could speak, they would have many stories to tell.Īccording to UW records, the first class consisted of 17 students taught the standard academic curriculum of the time, like arithmetic, Greek, Latin and grammar. Some of the buildings from those early days still stand today.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has a history dating back to 1848, when Wisconsin went from being a territory to a state. As students go through their day, odds are they aren’t thinking about the students who walked the same halls 50, 70 or even 100 years ago.

Bascom hall uw madison