On 1 April 1854, the Wisconsin Legislature granted a charter to a group of fourteen men interested in establishing a college in Trempealeau County. To be located at Galesville and named Galesville University, the college was to offer courses in literature, sciences, arts, and elementary instruction. Little was done to advance these plans until 1858, when the founders authorized construction of a building and offered control of the college to the Methodist Episcopal Church. The next year, George Gale, a founder, was elected president of the faculty, and the first school sessions were held in the county courthouse. Sixteen students attended the first year.
From its beginning, Gale College was coeducational, with the majority of the students in preparatory rather than college course programs. A “commercial course” was offered as well as collegiate studies, and also taught were languages, music, needlework, and art. The early and ambitious program of the college, which would have included normal and primary, scientific and classical, agriculture and mechanical, law, medical, and theological departments, was never realized fully.
In 1877, the school was transferred to the control of the Presbytery of Chippewa. During the late nineteenth century, attendance fluctuated greatly, from a high of 150 students in 1881-1882 to only eight in 1900-1901. Whenever financial problems and debts grew too heavy, classes were suspended for a year or two. The institution was first called Gale College in 1897-1898, and in 1901 it was transferred to the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. A period of construction and fund-raising followed; in 1906 the Boys' Dormitory was built, and Ladies Hall was constructed in 1914. A major fund-raising campaign was undertaken in 1919 and 1920, but financial difficulties continued. This problem, coupled with low attendance, led to the decision to close the school permanently in 1939.
George Gale (1816-1868), one of the founders of Gale College, moved to Wisconsin from the east in 1841. He soon became an important figure in Wisconsin politics and public life. In 1845 he began publication of the Western Star, the first newspaper in Walworth County. He was a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1847, served as district attorney of Walworth County, and was elected to the state senate in 1849. A few years later Gale moved to La Crosse and was subsequently elected county judge of La Crosse and Chippewa counties. In 1856 he was elected to the circuit court. Gale had purchased approximately 2000 acres of land in the vicinity of Galesville, and founded a village there in 1853. In January of the following year he procured the organization of Trempealeau County with the county seat at Galesville. Gale personally surveyed and platted the original plat and first three additions to the town. He settled in Galesville in May 1857, and resided there until his death on 18 April 1868. A detailed biographical sketch of Gale may be found in Arthur F. Giere's “A Brief History of Galesville University, 1853-1940.”
Additional information about George Gale and Gale College may be found in the following collections of the State Historical Society: a folder containing a biographical sketch of Gale by Bert A. Gipple and material regarding Galesville (File 1849 Apr. 28); George Gale correspondence, 1841-1892?, pertaining to Galesville University (Wis Mss GJ); and letters of Daniel Webster to his fiancee describing his life as a student at Galesville University in 1859 and 1860 (Wis Mss 55S, Box 1).
