Marquette University - Hilltop Yearbook (Milwaukee, WI)

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Part Two: Marquette University (1907-1930) The new status gave Marquette the incentive to specialize even more. New programs were developed, and existing programs were expanded. Enrollment doubled in a decade, and the university had to purchase or construct buildings to accommodate all the stu -dents. A larger faculty was needed, and non -Jesuit instructors were hired to fill new positions. By 1930, the university already little resembled the Marquette College of a half century before. During these years, Marquette evolved into a dynamic, thriving and modern institution of higher learning. 1908 — The Marquette University Law School is established when the Milwaukee Law School merges with Marquette. In 1912, the S.J. Mackie mansion, next to Johnston Hall, is purchased to house the Law School. The Law School's current home, Sensenbren-ner Hall, is completed in 1924. — The College of Engineering is established. Gasses are held in the basement of Johnston Hall until 1910, when the college purchases two old buildings on Michigan Street. The students refurbish the buildings and build another concrete structure as part of their training. The College of Engineering occupies these buildings until 1941. 1909 — Daisy Wolcott is the first woman to receive a degree from Marquette. — Marquette organizes a summer program, a first among Catholic schools. 1910 — Marquette ends a short affiliation with the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, and establishes its own College of Music. The college closes in 1930. — The Robert A. Johnston College of Economics opens. The college is divided into two schools, business administration and A Graduate from the Jazz Age Only one person showed up at the MXh reunion of the Class of 1922 — Peter). Ver-meulen. Mr. Vermeulen, 89, graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. In his day, he told the Hilltop, engineering students had all the school spirit. “I remember Marquette playing Notre Dame in football. Some of my engineering school friends and I made huge signs and hung them across Wisconsin Avenue in order to get the students fired up, he said. But Marquette lost the game anyway. He had friends outside of the engineering school, too. One was Victor McCormick, who studied law at Marquette in the 1920s. and who donated the money for McCormick Hall, the men s dorm on 16th and Wisconsin. I would ride my bike to school, Mr. Vermeulen reminisced, and Vic would be driven by his chauffeur. Mr. Vermeulen is now retired and lives in Milwaukee, and he still is enthusiastic about his alma mater.

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Right: Engineering students built their own school building as pan of their education in 1910. Below: A 1916 chemistry class takes a break for a photo. Bottom Right: Until Sensenbren-ner Hall was built in 1924, the S.J. Mackie mansion housed the Law School. Bottom Left: These mansions were purchased from the Plankmton family in 1919. They were razed and were replaced by the Engineering Building. 10

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Campus Camaraderie After 1907, there was no longer a central meeting place on campus for the students of the various schools. So in 1920, two students suggested that a mansion on Michigan Street behind Johnston Hall could be used as a union. The renovated house provided a place where men, and men only, could sip soft drinks and have a bite to eat together. Peter Brooks was the first president, and Charles Cobeen was the first manager. The union was such a financial success, that land for a new union building at 631 N. 13th St. was purchased. A $60,000 union was completed in 1923. The first floor of the two-story building featured a cafeteria. A lounge and soda bar, and several meeting rooms and offices made up the second floor. The union was financed by income and sale of shares. The loan for the new building was paid off in 1937, and after that, the Union's profits were used to establish a men’s dormitory. That dorm was opened in 1941. The Union was still a thriving business in 1953, when the alumni funded the building of a new all-university union, named after the old Union s first president, Peter Brooks. The Student Union at 6)1 N. 13th St., about 1924. 12