Marquette University of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is an outgrowth of Marquette College, which was opened in 1881, although it had been planned by Right Rev. John Martin Henni as far back as 1850. In 1848, while in Europe, the bishop met the Chevalier J.G. de Boeye, of Antwerp, who gave him $16,000 to help to found an institution under the care of the Jesuits. The foundation was to be made in the bishop's diocese, in the far North-West, a country first visited by the missionaries Allouez and Marquette. In 1855 Rev. P.J. de Smet, S.J., and Rev. F.X. de Coen, S.J., arrived at Milwauke, commissioned by the Provincial of Missouri to co-operate with the bishop in his plans for the proposed institution. St. Gall's parish was placed under the care of the Jesuit Fathers. Two years later, Rev. Stanislaus P. Lalumiere, S.J., commenced the St. Aloysius Academy, which was soon abandoned. It was resuscitated in 1864, under the name of St. Gall's Academy, under the management of Rev. J. T. Kuhlman, S.J. This school existed until 1872, when it was also abandoned. The project of establishing a college had not been relinquished, and in 1864 a charter was obtained by a special act of the legislature. Marquette College was dedicated, 15 Aug., 1881. The degree of bachelor of arts was conferred for the first time in 1887, and when in 1906 Marquette celebrated its silver jubilee, the college had conferred the degree upon 186 students, Master of Arts on 38, and Bachelor of Science upon one.

In 1907, owing to the munificence of the late Robert A. Johnson, of Milwaukee, who built and donated the structure on Grand Avenue, between Eleventh and Twelfth Streets, Marquette College was enabled to enlarge its usefulness. The charter was amended by the legislature, and the college became a university. That year it affiliated temporarily with the Milwaukee Medical College, which comprised a school of medicine, a school of dentistry, and one of pharmacy. In 1908 the Milwaukee Law School became the Marquette University College of Law. In the same year the College of Applied Sciences and Engineering was opened. In 1910 the Robert A. Johnson College of Economics was organized. It consists of two schools ; one of business administration, and another of journalism. In 1911 the Marquette Conservatory of Music was established.

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