Lawrence, like the city of Appleton in which it is situated, owes much of its origins to the perseverance of frontier ministers and to the philanthropy of wealthy Bostonians. In 1847, prior to the statehood of Wisconsin, the first member of the Lawrence administration and Appleton's first permanent resident arrived on the scene in a dugout canoe and selected a wooded bluff above the Fox River as the site for the university's campus. The Reverend William Harkness Sampson had been commissioned, along with the Reverend Henry R. Colman, by the Boston merchant Amos A. Lawrence to establish a frontier school to afford "gratuitous advantage to Germans and Indians of both sexes." Lawrence pledged $10,000 to endow the school, on the condition that the Methodists, represented by Sampson and Colman, match his initial gift. Even before the money could be raised, the Territorial Legislature granted a charter to Lawrence Institute, a name that was changed to Lawrence University when classes first began on November 12, 1849.
During the first 40 years of its life, Lawrence struggled with the problems of a developing frontier: the failure of wheat crops, the disruptions of the Civil War, and the chaos of financial panics. Through it all, seven different college administrations held fast to the tenets of a strong classical education. The early curriculum, though constrictive by today's standards, was, on the whole, rather broad for the time, and the alumni of that era attained distinguished careers in education, business, the ministry, law, and politics.
The year 1894 marked a turning point for Lawrence when Dr. Samuel Plantz returned to his alma mater as president. During his 30-year administration, the student body grew from 200 to 800; the faculty increased from nine to 68; the endowment grew from less than $100,000 to $2,000,000; and the physical plant was enhanced by the construction of eight major buildings. During these years, the university's pursuit of academic excellence found reflection in the selection of Lawrence's first Rhodes Scholar in 1907 and in the establishment of a Phi Beta Kappa chapter in 1914.
During Plantz's administration, the Conservatory of Music, initially founded in 1874, came into its own as a separate part of the university. The addition of six faculty members, the introduction of curricular offerings in public school music and music history, and the acquisition of a building devoted exclusively to music instruction all combined to lay the groundwork for a full-fledged conservatory. Today, the Conservatory of Music affords students a unique blend of professional music training and a liberal education, a combination that has produced composers, performers, and leaders in music education.
In 1913, the university adopted the name Lawrence College to underscore its commitment to undergraduate liberal education. This commitment received further articulation during the administration of President Henry Merritt Wriston (1925-37), when the university charted a course that it has followed faithfully to the present day. In the words of the catalog of 1934, "The ultimate purpose of liberal education at Lawrence is the establishment and improvement of standards--standards of thought and expression, of taste and interest, of character and ethics, of health and sane living."
While holding fast to these enduring goals of liberal education, Lawrence continually has reassessed and reshaped its academic program in response to the changing contours of knowledge and to changing views on the nature of learning. The tutorial system, first instituted by President Wriston, has blossomed into a wide range of options for independent learning. Freshman Studies, introduced by President Nathan Marsh Pusey (1944-53), today remains a distinctive expression of the commitment of the entire Lawrence community to the examination of ideas of abiding importance. With the introduction of a number of overseas programs in the 1960s, Lawrence enhanced its ability to broaden the horizons of its students through direct contact with other societies. The recent appearance in the curriculum of interdisciplinary areas and of special programs in computer studies reflects a concern that new knowledge, so crucial to the educated person of the late 20th century, be available to Lawrence students along with the traditional fare of courses in the arts and sciences.
Under the leadership of President Curtis W. Tarr (1963-69), Lawrence once again assumed its historic name, Lawrence University, when it merged in 1964 with Milwaukee-Downer College for Women. Milwaukee-Downer, named in honor of its trustee and benefactor, Jason Downer, was itself the product of a merger in 1895 between Milwaukee Female College and Downer College of Fox Lake. Both schools had pioneered in the education of women, and Milwaukee Female College had benefitted early on from the interest of Catharine Beecher, a sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who provided the institution with an advanced program of high educational standards.
Lawrence University today is what it has been for much of its history, an undergraduate college of the liberal arts and sciences with a conservatory of music. The university honors the vision of its founders and builds on the heritage of a century and a half of excellence in undergraduate education.
Presidents of Lawrence University