Milwaukee College
| Type | Women's College |
|---|---|
| Active | 1895–1964 |
| Location | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States |
Milwaukee-Downer College was a women's college in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in operation from 1895 to 1964.
Milwaukee-Downer College was established in 1895 with the merger of two institutions: Milwaukee College and Downer College of Fox Lake, Wisconsin. Milwaukee College began as the Milwaukee Female Seminary founded by Mrs. W. L. Parsons, wife of the pastor of the Free Congregational church. It opened on Sept. 14, 1848, in a house in downtown Milwaukee. Two years later Catharine Beecher and her associate Mary Mortimer became connected with the Seminary. Beecher, a reformer and eldest sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe, had designed "The Beecher Plan" for educating women through the college level for professions. She was invited to launch her plan in Milwaukee and came there first in April, 1850. "The Beecher Plan" focused on four professions most open to women: teaching, child care, nursing, and "conservation of the domestic state". The school was incorporated in March, 1851, as the Milwaukee Normal Institute and High School, and moved to new quarters. In 1852, through the influence of Beecher, $17,894 was received from her friends in the East and the American Woman's Educational Association; Milwaukeeans raised another $13,540; and a permanent home for the school was commissioned on the corner of Juneau Avenue and Milwaukee Street (near the site later to be occupied by the Milwaukee School of Engineering). The school opened there in the fall of 1852, though the building was not yet finished. By act of the legislature the name was changed in April, 1853, to Milwaukee Female College. In March 1876 the name was changed to Milwaukee College.
Wisconsin Female College was founded in Fox Lake, Wisconsin in 1855. In 1889, its name was changed to Downer College in honor of trustee and benefactor Jason Downer.
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