As Lawrence University celebrates its 175th anniversary, its ties to Appleton's past, present remain strong
APPLETON - Before Appleton became a city and Wisconsin was even a state, there was the Lawrence Institute.
In January 1847, the private college that would become today’s Lawrence University was granted a charter, marking the official start of the school. It was named after Boston merchant Amos A. Lawrence, who donated $10,000 to help fund it.
It wasn’t until 1853 that Appleton incorporated as a village and then as a city in 1857. The city got its name from Samuel Appleton, who donated $10,000 to the Lawrence library.
From the start, Lawrence and Appleton have been tied together.
This year marks 175 years since the start of Lawrence and the university is celebrating the milestone this week with an event to welcome its 17th president — Laurie Carter — and by taking time to reflect on all the ways the school has grown and helped shape the city it calls home.
While it can feel like the two just exist in parallel lines, in reality, they intertwine and intersect in big and small ways.
The university and the city have a symbiotic relationship that's been fostered by decades of music, education and other outreach initiatives.
"All these bridges are going out from Lawrence to the community," said Brian Pertl, dean of the Lawrence Conservatory of Music. "But if you aren’t involved, they can be invisible."
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Growing up with Lawrence in the backyard
Growing up in Appleton, Mayor Jake Woodford said he didn’t think about going to college in his hometown. But when he took a closer look at Lawrence, he said, he was realized that having a high-quality university right down the road was “too compelling to pass up.”
After graduating LU in 2013, Woodford worked with the administration at his alma mater, so he's seen the relationship from both the university's and the city's perspectives.
While some colleges may have a tense relationship with their city or town, Woodford said Lawrence and Appleton have built a stronger connection over the past few years through increased communication, including quarterly meetings between the school’s and city’s administrations where they discuss challenges they face.
"The community we know today as Appleton wouldn’t be what it is without Lawrence University, and I don't think Lawrence University would be what it is without a community like Appleton around it," Woodford said.
Regularly, Lawrence steps off its campus and into the larger community, while the citizens of Appleton engage in all that Lawrence has to offer.
This could look like residents attending a performance at Lawrence's Memorial Chapel or Lawrence students working in local public schools.
Other examples are the Lullaby Project, in which Lawrence students help mothers at Harbor House in Appleton write lullabies for their babies, and the Lawrence Community Girls Choir, which has about 300 girls each year and is the only nonprofit girl choir in the Fox Valley region.
When he was a student at Lawrence, Woodford said it felt like the world came to him. Lawrence's ability to draw people from all over the country to its campus is one of its "unsung benefits" that enriches the intellectual life of the whole community, he said.
"The people that make up the Lawrence community also make up the Appleton community," he said.
Pertl — who grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah — has established roots in Appleton thanks to a postcard he got years ago that led him to Lawrence for his undergraduate degree.
He said Lawrence has a way of opening people's eyes to Appleton, whether they're coming to give a guest lecture or perform in the Chapel. Professors have come, thinking they'll teach for a year or two, but stay longer because they find a home here.
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Lawrence and Appleton are 'together in this'
Since Pertl became dean in 2008, he’s tried to create more connections between Lawrence and the Fox Cities through music. But it's not just by audiences watching a performance. One of the biggest intersections between the two is the annual Mile of Music festival in downtown Appleton.
At Mile of Music, there are around 50 hands-on music events every August, from hip hop to ukulele to Mariachi classes. The year before COVID, 7,000 people participated in those events and made their own music over the four days of the festival, Pertl said.
That’s on top of the 1,000 students of all ages who participate in the Lawrence Community Music School, which has been offering lessons since 1874.
The way Pertl sees it, Mile of Music and Lawrence’s arts scene have helped Appleton see itself as a “hip, cool arts and music town.” He thinks Appleton, in conjunction with Lawrence, can be an epicenter of creativity and art.
But music isn’t the only way the two have overlapped.
In her role as chief of staff in the university president’s office, Christyn Abaray is at the center of Lawrence's relationship with the city.
Beyond the regular conversations and partnership with city government, she said the Lawrence career center reaches out to local businesses to find landing spots for students after graduation.
Part of what makes the relationship work, Abaray said, is that what Lawrence is as an institution and what it wants to be aligns with where it is and what Appleton says it wants to be.
"We're together in this," she said. "We don't see Lawrence without Appleton."
Anniversary celebration
Lawrence University will celebrate its 175th anniversary and Laurie Carter's inauguration as president with a Brighter Together Picnic from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday on the Main Hall Green. It's open to the public.
Reach AnnMarie Hilton at ahilton@gannett.com or 920-370-8045. Follow her on Twitter at @hilton_annmarie.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Lawrence University celebrates 175th anniversary, ties with Appleton
