Founding History of Whitewater, Wisconsin

Wisconsin has always been a state known for beer and cheese, and it has many unheard-of cities and towns. Whitewater is one of Wisconsin’s small towns with some history. Wisconsinites realize it as a school town; it has a history, from how the school began to when it was founded.

Whitewater, Wisconsin, is a small town that has etched its name primarily through its university. University of Wisconsin- Whitewater It’s a beacon of knowledge and a testament to the town’s rich history, with its sports teams and academic achievements speaking volumes for past generations.

Whitewater, Wisconsin, is in the middle of Walworth and Jefferson County.

“Europeans first settled in Whitewater in 1836. They came to purchase land and build homesteads,” said Carol Cartwright, President of the Whitewater Historical Society. Many families came from New York State at that time and were the earliest European-American Settlers.”

With no specific founder, many families came from New York State.

Most people who came from Whitewater were families from New England, specifically New York. Before they moved to Whitewater, the Potawatomi Tribe was the earliest indigenous people to live there.

“They had land in southeast Wisconsin since they were convinced to sign away in the 1930s; they were the historic native Americans,” said Carol Cartwright.

With the recent news in the media, you have seen an increase in immigrants arriving in Whitewater. Regardless, this has happened before.

Cartwright said, “The early immigrants to Whitewater were diverse, including Yankees, Germans, Irish, and Norwegians. “This multicultural influx continued in the 1960s with an influx of Hispanic families, most of whom were of Mexican descent.”

Just looking at the history of Whitewater, there are a lot of parallels.

“If you look historically, there’s not a lot of difference between what went on with historic immigration and what’s going on now,” said Carol Cartwright.

Recently, the community has welcomed South Americans, adding to the rich tapestry of Whitewater history.

With Whitewater still being a town with a rich history, the local college also has some tremendous archival moments.

UW-Whitewater opened on April 21, 1868. It has a significant business school and an education school. Many sports teams do well, and they have won national titles and intercollegiate championships. 

“Historically, they have had a program that continues to grow and change such in the 1920s as typing, secretarial work, and accounting,” said Jennifer Motszko, Head of Archives of UW-Whitewater. “Their program has continued to grow and change, such as typing, secretarial work, and accounting.”

There are a large number of majors in the business school.

“We are one of the first regular schools, meaning a teaching college in the state they opened before us, but we started building,” said Jennifer Motszko. “We saw the importance of having an educational institution here, and providing access  to education in this corner of the state was very important.”

They are tied with UW-Plateville as one of the state’s first teaching colleges.

With the Warhawk as their mascot, they had different names; while some were not official, they moved around until they found the perfect one.

“Which was not an official name, we were informally called the Quakers,” said Jennifer Motszko. “Another name that we were called was “The Purples” because that has always been the institution’s color.”

You can still see the Quacker name in some news archives.

Whitewater also had an agricultural background since the town had huge cash crops and many industries opened.

“Winchester and Partridge were some of the first manufacturing companies, said Carol Cartwright. They made plows and wagons, wheat harvesters, and planting equipment.”

They then closed them down, and Whitewater became a commercial area known as the university school it is now.

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This project was created through a journalism class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies Department. This work was made possible through the support of MPC Endowment Ltd., the philanthropic affiliate of the Milwaukee Press Club.