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Downer College was a women's college in Fox Lake, Wisconsin, chartered in 1855 and opening in September, 1856.

History
It was founded in 1854 as Wisconsin Female College under the auspices of the Wisconsin Baptist Education Association to prepare women for missionary service. In 1857, the Baptist Educational Association was forced, due to lack of funds, to discontinue financial support of the young institution, though it gave the Trustees a quitclaim deed to the property. In 1862, the college became non-sectarian when the Association severed all ties, and left the college completely in the hands of the trustees. Even so, most of the trustees were from Presbyterian, Congregational, and Baptist churches.

In 1963, Miss Caroline A. Bodge became principal, and the college took a new direction, establishing a higher college curriculum and a two year preparatory department. In 1866, Judge Jason Downer of Milwaukee was elected a trustee. He supported the notion of a thorough education for women, and was sympathetic to the management direction. At his death in 1883, he made the college his residual legatee.

In recognition of his many services to the college, the trustees, with the approval of the legistlature, renamed the college Downer College in 1844.

Miss Ellen C. Sabin became president of Downer college in 1891. At that time, it was apparent that the college had outgrown both its buildings and its location. In 1895, Downer College graduated eighty-five students.

It was poorly funded, and was reorganized in 1863, with control passing to the village of Fox Lake. For a while it operated as Fox Lake Seminary and was co-educational. In 1883 Judge Jason M. Downer of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, a strong advocate of educational opportunities for women, died and left the college $80,000, putting the school on a firmer foundation.

Merger
In July, 1895, Downer merged with Milwaukee College to form Milwaukee-Downer College under the presidency of Milwaukee College's Ellen C. Sabin. A new site was purchased on a tract of about ten acres on the northern end of the city of Milwaukee, about half-way between Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River.