Historical Timeline of the College

Mount Mary’s roots are deep in the heritage of Wisconsin. Since its founding in 1913 the college has provided an inviting atmosphere that strongly supports teaching and learning.

Birth of a University: 1846 to 1929
1846 Milwaukee is chartered as a city.

1848 Wisconsin becomes a state.

1850 Mother Caroline Friess, School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND), founds St. Mary’s Institute “for the education of young women of the community” on Jefferson St. in Milwaukee.

1872 St. Mary’s Institute opens in Prairie du Chien with the same course of studies as the Milwaukee Institute.

1910 St. Mary’s Alumnae Association, nucleus of the present association, is organized.

1913 The first college curriculum goes into effect at St. Mary’s Institute, Prairie du Chien, this year. On October 28, St. Mary’s Institute becomes St. Mary’s College, chartered by the state of Wisconsin to grant degrees. It is the first four-year college for women in Wisconsin. Two young women make up the first graduating class of St. Mary’s College.

1926 St. Mary’s College, Prairie du Chien, is recognized by the North Central Association of Colleges as an approved college.

Archbishop Messmer of Milwaukee requests that St. Mary’s College move to Milwaukee in order to make Catholic education available to a wider group of students and also to provide for its students the advantages of a metropolitan center.

1928 On September 12, the cornerstone of the new school, renamed Mount Mary College, is laid.

1929 On September 16, Mount Mary officially opens its doors to 132 young women. The college consists of two buildings of Gothic style: Notre Dame Hall, with its distinctive tower, for classroom and administration, and Caroline Hall, the student residence.

One month and eight days later, the stock market crashes and the Great Depression begins.

Expansion and Growth: 1953 to 1982
1953 Ground is broken on May 19 for Fidelis Hall, a residence for the Sisters, and Kostka Hall, housing the auditorium. The cornerstone is laid on October 1.

1964 On December 19, Bergstrom Hall, location of the college dining rooms, bookstore, and post office, opens.

1981 On October 9, the Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Library is dedicated.

1982 In September, Mount Mary begins its first graduate program—dietetics. In the following years, more are added: education, art therapy, occupational therapy, counseling, English and MBA.

A Rising Star: 1998 to 2003
1998 The Mount Mary College Women’s Leadership Institute is launched.

A Title III grant of $1.75 million, given through the U.S. Department of Education, is received by Mount Mary College to enhance technology and innovation in the area of academic computing.

2000 “Celestial Conversations,” a major work by renowned metal sculptor Richard Hunt, is installed near Caroline Hall and dedicated.

2001 The U.S. Department of Education awards more than $141,000 to Mount Mary College from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-secondary Education (FIPSE) to support development of the college’s Leadership for Social Justice course.

2002 On June 11, ground is broken for the new Gerhardinger Center.

Approval is granted by the State of Wisconsin Board of Nursing for a partnership program offering a joint bachelor of science in nursing degree from Mount Mary College and Columbia College of Nursing.

2003 In September, Mount Mary opens its doors to more than 1,600 students, the largest enrollment in its history. According to all available records, this number includes the largest freshman class and the largest graduate enrollment.

Recognition of Excellence: 2004 to Present

2004 Mount Mary’s capital campaign closes after reaching $28 million, far surpassing the original goal of $16 million.

With a $3.75 million dollar grant from the Trinity Foundation, and additional support from the college, the Midtown Program, designed to bring higher education to young women in Milwaukee’s central city, is established.

2005 Enrollment reaches more than 1700 students, for the fourth year in a row the highest in Mount Mary’s history. For four years, Mount Mary has ranked among the highest in enrollment growth of U.S. Catholic women’s colleges.

2006 In June, the Mount Mary College Women’s Leadership Institute sponsors the first annual NEW Leadership™ Wisconsin program in Wisconsin, in affiliation with the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. Its mission is to educate and empower women to seek leadership roles at all levels.

On July 1 Linda Timm, Ph.D., Mount Mary’s tenth president, assumes office.

Mount Mary’s newest building, the Bloechl Recreation Center, opens for use.

2007 Mount Mary College and its service learning agenda is named to the U.S. President’s Higher Education Community Service National Honor Roll. Mount Mary is the only institution of higher learning in Milwaukee and one of only nine in Wisconsin so honored.

The Urban Education Fellows Program (UEFP), a teacher training consortium administered by Mount Mary and Alverno Colleges, receives over $1.2 million in grant money for the program’s continued support. UEFP is a rigorous master’s program that prepares men and women who already have bachelor’s degrees to teach in urban elementary and middle schools.