The Andersen Library Blog

Over its 154 years of operation, the University of Wisconsin Whitewater has undergone three name changes. The first of those name changes came in 1924 as Whitewater had undergone a curriculum development that resulted in Whitewater Normal School becoming Whitewater State Teacher’s College. On April 21, 1868, Whitewater Normal School opened and began educating future teachers in writing, reading, math, and the art of teaching. [1] A training school, a school for local children ranging in age from elementary to what we would consider high school students today, was located on campus. The training school allowed for the teachers in training to be observed under experienced critics and learn by doing. [2] This idea of supervised practice teaching was solidified under President Salisbury within the first twenty-five years of the school’s history and has been a key factor in the education department ever since. [3]

As the decades progressed, Whitewater kept up its high academic standards by competing with the offerings of newer universities. By 1913, the Whitewater Normal School had established a new department in commercial education, offering students “maximum training in commercial subjects and a minimum of theoretical work.” [4] The commercial education program provided teachers with specialized training in areas of business, law, and typewriting in order to better educate students entering business professions. Eight years later, in 1923, Whitewater had expanded its commercial courses to a three-year program in order to better prepare their teachers. In 1925, the curriculum expanded to a four-year course, and so the Whitewater Normal School now had the ability to grant the degree of Bachelor of Education, becoming the first normal school in Wisconsin to do so. This prompted the name change to Whitewater State Teacher’s College in 1927. [5]

[1] Brian Dahlstom, “Normal School Opened in 1868,” The Royal Purple (Whitewater), December 6, 1989.
[2] M. Janette Bohi, A History of Wisconsin State University Whitewater 1868-1968 (Whitewater: Whitewater State University Foundation, Inc., 1967), 41.
[3] M. Janette Bohi, A History of Wisconsin State University Whitewater 1868-1968 (Whitewater: Whitewater State University Foundation, Inc., 1967), 93.
[4] M. Janette Bohi, A History of Wisconsin State University Whitewater 1868-1968 (Whitewater: Whitewater State University Foundation, Inc., 1967), 134.
[5] M. Janette Bohi, A History of Wisconsin State University Whitewater 1868-1968 (Whitewater: Whitewater State University Foundation, Inc., 1967), 130.

In 1969, UW-Whitewater organized its first May Week. It would take place May 4th – May 11th as a way “to get the campus out to have fun together with the town and parents.” [1] It was a huge success! There were dances, stag and drag races, films to be watched, a Whitewater Forum presentation, a carnival, sports games, concerts, and Phi Sigma Epsilon even held a pancake brunch. [2] By 1976, the celebrations were still going strong, but now it was being used as a way “to strip Whitewater of its reputation as a suitcase college” by giving students a reason to stay. [3]

UW-Whitewater hosted its final May Week celebration April 28th-May 4th, 1980. Many of the events from the first May Week took place. Students enjoyed the warm weather and relaxed while listening to bands preform at the Spring Outdoor Happening Concert. However, some students interrupted comedian Tom Parks’ act and booed him off the stage. Other students also unplugged Tom Clyde’s amplifier during his performance. [4] By the 1980s, May Week turned from a campus and community event to a campus celebration. The traditions that took place at the first celebration continued, but also included many events were put on as fundraising opportunities for buildings and organizations around campus. A few events were even hosted by the Miller Brewing Company. This all changed in 1985 when Assistant Chancellor of Student Affairs, William Riley. and Director of the University Center, Steven Summers, decided that there would be no sponsorship of alcohol anywhere on the campus. [5]

May Week was successful in giving the students of UW-Whitewater the opportunity to relax and enjoy the spring weather as a campus and community, and more students were staying on campus to enjoy the festivities.

[1] “WSU-W Students Prepare for First May Week,” The Whitewater Register, May 1, 1969.
[2] “WSU-W Students Prepare for First May Week,” The Whitewater Register, May 1, 1969.
[3] “Dorms Show Super Spirit,” The Royal Purple, February 11, 1976.
[4] “Inconsiderate students mar May Week events,” The Royal Purple, May 7, 1980.
[5] “Sponsors,” The Royal Purple, September 18, 1985.

Readers of the blog are likely familiar with the Old Main fire of 1970, however that is not the only time part of the building burned down. On a blustery Monday morning, April 27, 1891, just before the 8 o’clock bell, screams of “’Normal is afire’” could be heard throughout Whitewater. [1] Students, staff, faculty, and community members all lined the streets to watch as the north half of the building was consumed by flames. [2] The origin of the fire is unknown, since the smoke from the furnaces was “carried off in iron flues inside brick chimneys with air space between them. Mr. Beach, the curator, started the fires in three furnaces at half past six. About an hour later he set out to visit the rooms and see that the temperature was right. Reaching Normal Hall he found it filled with smoke.” [3]

While the building was on fire, bystanders were “[running] in and out, removing every portable object from rooms where it was safe to enter” due to their fondness for the building. [4] Students and staff were throwing items from the third-floor windows, “few attempted to tear up the seats in the Assembly room and broke every one they touched”, “some began to remove doors”, and “others were busy throwing books from the library windows.” [5] One faculty member was seen “frantically searching for his desk” and there was a woman “with one edge of a patch-work quilt drawn over her head and confined under her chin by one hand, while the remaining seven-eighths floated in the wind.” [6]

It took the fire department until 11 a.m. to extinguish the fire. By that time, hundreds of items littered the lawn of what would become the UW-Whitewater campus. Parts of the building were deemed safe enough to reenter and so students and staff set to work putting everything back inside. [7] University President Albert Salisbury called for classes to be canceled for the next two days while alternate spaces were found for the displaced classes. One such location was Mrs. Camp’s house on Prairie Street, which was fondly labeled “Normal School Annex.” [8]

Reconstruction of the building began June 16, 1891, during the summer holidays. The fire at Old Main was not forgotten thanks to the efforts of Professor Shutts. He “organized seven fire squads among men after the turn of the century, and in 1906 a regular fire drill was inaugurated.” [9]

[1] H. D. Keyes, “The Fire, April 27, 1891,” in Historical Sketches of the First Quarter Century of the State Normal School at Whitewater, Wisconsin, with a Catalogue of its Graduates and a Records of Their Work, ed. Albert Salisbury (Madison: Tracy, Gibbs and Co., Printers, 1893), 92.
[2] H. D. Keyes, “The Fire, April 27, 1891,” in Historical Sketches of the First Quarter Century of the State Normal School at Whitewater, Wisconsin, with a Catalogue of its Graduates and a Records of Their Work, ed. Albert Salisbury (Madison: Tracy, Gibbs and Co., Printers, 1893), 93.
[3] “The Normal School Building in Flames: Good Work by the Fire Department Saves the Main Structure,” The Whitewater Register, April 20th, 1891.
[4] H. D. Keyes, “The Fire, April 27, 1891,” in Historical Sketches of the First Quarter Century of the State Normal School at Whitewater, Wisconsin, with a Catalogue of its Graduates and a Records of Their Work, ed. Albert Salisbury (Madison: Tracy, Gibbs and Co., Printers, 1893), 93.
[5] H. D. Keyes, “The Fire, April 27, 1891,” in Historical Sketches of the First Quarter Century of the State Normal School at Whitewater, Wisconsin, with a Catalogue of its Graduates and a Records of Their Work, ed. Albert Salisbury (Madison: Tracy, Gibbs and Co., Printers, 1893), 93.
[6] H. D. Keyes, “The Fire, April 27, 1891,” in Historical Sketches of the First Quarter Century of the State Normal School at Whitewater, Wisconsin, with a Catalogue of its Graduates and a Records of Their Work, ed. Albert Salisbury (Madison: Tracy, Gibbs and Co., Printers, 1893), 94.
[7] H. D. Keyes, “The Fire, April 27, 1891,” in Historical Sketches of the First Quarter Century of the State Normal School at Whitewater, Wisconsin, with a Catalogue of its Graduates and a Records of Their Work, ed. Albert Salisbury (Madison: Tracy, Gibbs and Co., Printers, 1893), 94.
[8] “The Normal School Building in Flames: Good Work by the Fire Department Saves the Main Structure,” The Whitewater Register, April 20th, 1891.
[9] M. Janette Bohi, A History of Wisconsin State University Whitewater 1868-1968 (Whitewater: Whitewater State University Foundation, Inc., 1967), 116.

In 1917, Paul A. Carlson came to Whitewater Normal School (now UW-Whitewater), as a business education professor. During his tenure at Whitewater, he published the first standardized textbook in bookkeeping developing the “how” and “why” of the practice/subject. He was also a big proponent for commercial education, proposing “‘A New Deal in Commercial Education,’ stressing personal and social values as primary and vocational training as secondary”. Carlson also took on many leadership positions, including being the director of the accounting department, supervising Pi Omega Pi (business education fraternity), and serving as the president to many business associations. With all these achievements, it came as no surprise that a building on campus would be named in his honor. Carlson Hall, a men’s dormitory, opened in 1964. Located on top of the hill on West Starin Road, the impressive new building housed 246 students. [1]

For many years, the building was used as housing for students and later transitioned to offices for the College of Business and Economics, but it was left empty in 2009 when the business department moved to the recently built Hyland Hall. In 2011, the university received $52 million from the state government to use for campus remodeling projects, and so the university decided that Carlson Hall would no longer remain empty. [2] As part of the campus wide refurbishment efforts, Carlson Hall renovations included “research labs, a café, new faculty offices, conference rooms and space for student organizations.” [3] After the renovation was completed in 2012, Carlson Hall was renamed Laurentide Hall and became the new home of the College of Letters and Sciences in October of that year. [4]

[1] University of Wisconsin—Whitewater, “Ready New Dorms for Fall,” The Royal Purple (Whitewater), July 28, 1964.
[2] University of Wisconsin—Whitewater, “Carlson remodeling an ‘important change’ for university,” The Royal Purple (Whitewater), March 30, 2011.
[3] University of Wisconsin—Whitewater, “Carlson remodeling an ‘important change’ for university,” The Royal Purple (Whitewater), March 30, 2011.
[4] University of Wisconsin—Whitewater, “New name for Carlson Hall likely,” The Royal Purple (Whitewater), April 11, 2012.