Exactly 50 years and one day after the very first day of classes at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the school celebrated its first ever Founders Day in Spaights Plaza Monday afternoon.

Students enjoyed hot dogs and soda while 1950s music blared from the speakers and a group of students in white T-shirts danced a sock hop.

Shortly after noon, Chancellor Carlos Santiago and Kris Barrett, the wife of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and a UWM alumna, pulled into Spaights Plaza in a sea-foam green 1956 Ford Victoria.

“I’ve been chancellor for just four percent of UWM’s history, but it’s been a great four percent,” Santiago said.

Santiago pointed out the growth of UWM through the decades. Spaights Plaza itself was not part of the campus in 1956. A field house with an indoor dirt track was in the spot where Lubar Hall now stands. The Union, the Golda Meir Library and the Art Building that surround the plaza would not be built for several years.

When the doors opened on Sept. 24, 1956, UWM had an enrollment of 6,195 students in two colleges.

Today 28,000 students from over 80 countries are enrolled at one of UWM’s 11 colleges. This December, UWM will hand out its 150,000 diploma.

After Barrett, who graduated in 1983, read a proclamation declaring Sept. 25 to be UWM Founders Day, birthday cake and ice cream were served.

Though the event was promoted around campus, some students came out after seeing the gathering of people and hearing blaring music outside the Union.

Kristin Iselin, a junior, said she and her friends were drawn to the event by the long lines of people and the music in the air.

“It was kind of cool how they had everything set up. And the free food was a plus,” Iselin said.

Although the Founders Day celebration lasted less than an hour, UWM will be celebrating its golden anniversary all year long. For more information on UWM turning 50, check out the UWM 50th Web site.

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