The Other Whitewater School
By Amanda Voelzke
Many University of Wisconsin-Whitewater students may be surprised to know that their campus was not the only prominent place of higher education in Whitewater.
The Morris Pratt Institute was originally located at the corner of West Center and Fremont Streets. An article from the Milwaukee Sentinel in 1921 said it was “the only spiritualistic school in the world” at the time.
A medium told Morris Pratt to buy land in northern Wisconsin in the late 19th century. The seemingly useless land turned out to be full of iron. Pratt sold the land and bought property in Whitewater for a building dedicated to spiritualism.
Built in 1889, it became a school in 1903, a few months after Pratt’s death at an old age.
The building was 48 feet wide and 85 feet long according to morrispratt.org. It included two large auditoriums, one of which could seat nearly 400 people.
The Whitewater Register wrote an article about the institute in 1918 that described an entirely white room where students and faculty were required to wear white as well, and séances took place there.
During that time, UW-Whitewater was known as Whitewater State Teacher’s College. In a 1991 issue, the Walworth County Week reported:
“… attendance was high at the weekly séances held at the Pratt Institute on Sunday nights. These ‘shows’ were a favorite date spot for UW-Whitewater students in those days.”
A few subjects taught at the school were science, math, language, along with psychic research, comparative religion and the struggle of science with theology.
One story from the Wisconsin State Journal said Clarence Darrow, a trial lawyer who spoke at Whitewater Teacher’s College, disappeared for two days. Later, it was found that he had spent that time at the institute where he was “unconvinced, but mystified.”
The school struggled with financial issues and low enrollment during the Depression and eventually closed in 1946. Sometime after that, it was used as female off-campus housing for the Teacher’s College.
Karen Weston, UW-Whitewater’s archivist, said in those days there was an approved list of off-campus housing kept by administrators. The buildings had to meet certain requirements like supervision and dining.
A few years later the building was torn down. In the 1960s dorms were being built at the college and students were able to move on campus. Weston said the building was probably torn down because it was too expensive to maintain or it was unable to be updated for the times, and the land was more valuable due to its location.
“After the building was torn down, a phone company bought the land,” Richard Haney, professor of history, said. “Since then, the new building has been sold and private offices now occupy the space.”
However, Morris Pratt’s efforts in promoting spiritualism didn’t die with the building. A new Morris Pratt Institute opened in Wauwatosa, Wis. in 1977.
Carol Cartwright, curator at the depot museum in Whitewater and local historian, said spiritualism was an interesting phenomenon.
It was a fascinating part of Whitewater history and it had nothing to do with the “cult rumors” students talk about, Cartwright said. The institution “represented a major social movement.”
Cartwright said, “They [the Morris Pratt Institute] had séances to study the issue seriously.”
Sarah Rehborg, sophomore, had not heard of the Morris Pratt Institute, but she wasn’t surprised about the stories that go around campus about hauntings.
“I think you can find stuff like that in any city,” Rehborg said.