Downer College

November 3, 1963 Appleton Post-Crescent

We first encountered Downer College within the confines of my book, in the section about Elisha D. Smith, the Menasha Woodenware founder and city benefactor.  After the Downer College effort to relocate to Menasha failed, part of the land offered became Smith Park.

According to the Lawrence University web site, Downer's 43-acre eastside Milwaukee campus was sold to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1964 and 49 female students and 21 faculty members transferred to Lawrence. Forty-four of the original 49 Milwaukee-Downer students eventually earned bachelor's degrees from Lawrence, and 11 of the faculty members remained at Lawrence until retirement. Today Lawrence counts more than 1,600 living Milwaukee-Downer graduates among its alumnae.