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.

Old Main Historical and Community Center