The year was 1885…
Grover Cleveland was President of the United States…
The Washington Monument was dedicated…
Mark Twain had just completed The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn…
The Panama Canal was in its third year of construction…
Tchaikovsky was busy composing symphonies in Russia…
General Ulysses S. Grant died…
John Philip Sousa was the director of the United States Marine Band and would not write Stars and Stripes Forever for another twelve years…
Football would not be known on the University of Wisconsin campus for at least nine years…
and THE WISCONSIN BAND WAS BORN!
The story of the Wisconsin Band begins in 1885, when the University Press, a weekly publication that covered campus events, announced the “official authorization for the organization of the Wisconsin Regimental Band.” According to the University Press, Major Chase, the Battalion commandant, strongly stressed in 1883 that there was a “need for a fife and drum corps to play for the Battalion drills.” That first band, with F.O. May as leader, consisted of 11 musicians, adding two or three more before the year concluded.
The history of the Wisconsin Band, from its humble beginnings to the powerhouse that it is today, has been well documented. The following pages highlight the band’s history, as well as the talented conductors that have led the way.
