We're back with another edition of "Old and New". To see just how much campus has changed over the years, take a look at these then-and-now photos from some famous campus locales.
Old Law Building
(Photo Credit: UW Archives S12066)
1895: The first UW Law School class was held in 1868, but their official home wasn’t built until 1891. The building stood until 1963 as the university worked to expand the school and accommodate its growing library.
2016: The new school building was completed in 1996, and the four-story atrium now houses one of the gargoyles saved from the original building’s roof.
Commerce Building
(Photo Credit UW Archives S07608)
1975: The Commerce building, built in 1954, was the first building to be built on the west side of Bascom Hill. One of the major Vietnam War era protests to be held on campus took place here: the Dow Chemical riots. Dow, a chemical manufacturer responsible for the production of napalm, was recruiting employees in the Commerce building. More than 1,000 people gathered in the building in what turned into a violent conflict.
2016: In the late sixties, “Commerce” was changed to the School of Business, though the building name stayed the same. It wasn’t until 1993, when the business school moved to Grainger Hall, that the building was renamed Ingraham Hall to honor Mark Ingraham MA’22, former dean of the College of Letters & Science.
Home Economics building
(Photo Credit UW Archives UW.CLP-A0468)
1960: Built in 1912, this building housed the home economics department and the University extension program. In 1953, the west wing was completed. The school was renamed to the current School of Human Ecology in 1996.
2016: Shortly after the school was renamed in the late nineties, plans began for an addition to the original building. In 2012, a new 200,000-square-foot space opened: Nancy Nicholas Hall.
Agriculture Dean’s Residence
(Photo Credit UW Archives UW.CLP-H0026)
1896: This house was built in 1896 to be the private residence of William Henry, the first dean of the agriculture department. It remained as housing for the agriculture dean through the mid-forties. When Dean Edwin Broun Fred resigned from the post in 1945 to become president of the university, he remained in the house through his emeritus years and until his death in 1980. The house then became home to various College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) offices.
2016: A new plan was recently announced to renovate the house by 2018, converting the space for CALS student organizations.
Allen Centennial Gardens
(Photo Credit UW Archives S02346)
1989: In 1985, work began to create an instructional garden that would replace the Plant Sciences teaching gardens that were destroyed for a building addition in 1979. The gardens were completed in 1989 and named for Ethel Kullmann Allen ’28, MS’30, a major funder of the project.
2016: The Garden still functions as a teaching space, not only for UW–Madison students but also for community members. There are 21 themed gardens, including Herb, French, Rock, and Conifer.
Van Hise
(Photo Credit UW Archives S03020)
1964: Prior to 1965, the UW’s language departments were scattered across campus. But in 1964, excavation began at the corner of Linden and Charter to build Van Hise Hall, which would house
2016: At 260 feet above sea level, Van Hise is the highest building in Madison. It is the second tallest building, measuring in at 243 feet (19 stories). The Capitol is the tallest building, by just 41 feet.
