Chronology of Old Main -
Galesville, WI
1854 - Wisconsin Legislature grants charter for Galesville University.
1857 - School trustees vote to erect a building.
1858 - Methodist Episcopal Church accepts the school.
1859 - Judge George Gale is elected president of the school faculty and
professor of law.
1862 - Old Main, the school's main building, is com-pleted.
1863 - School opens on-campus after operating earlier in off-campus
locations in Galesville.
1877 - The Presbytery of Chippewa, connected to the General Assembly of
the Presbyterian Church, takes over.
1890s - Name changed to Gale College.
1901 - Gale College and its property transferred to the Synod of the
Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church.
1939 - Trustees vote to close the school permanently after mounting
debts.
1941 - First Catholic brothers arrive after St. Louis Province of the
Society of Mary purchases school as a novitiate to train young brothers and
priests. It becomes Marynook, House of the Lord.
1973 - The novitiate moves to St. Louis, and the Galesville facility
becomes a retreat center.
1985 - Society of Mary ends its support of the center, but volunteers
raise enough money to keep it running.
1994 - Marynook Retreat and Conference Center closes June 30 after
mounting debt.
1995 - City of Galesville buys 42 acres, including the college, for
$150,000.
2000 - Garden of Eden Preservation Society obtains the building with a
50-year lease.
2008 - New Air Conditioning/Heating System
Return to the top
