Carpenter Tower, Marquette University

Carpenter Tower is Marquette University's second tallest residence hall. Purchased by the university in 1960, the 180 foot tower today is home to some 280 underclassmen. Like many other residence halls on Marquette's campus, the tower at one time was a hotel. One particularly unique fact about Carpenter Tower is that it is actually named after three people.

            The art deco building known today as Carpenter Tower was originally built in 1922 as the Catholic Knights Tower. In 1956 Marquette University began to lease three floors of the hotel in order to provide housing for women students. In 1960, the university purchased the entire sixteen-floor tower for roughly $1 million. Following renovation, it was renamed M. Carpenter Tower and became home to hundreds of female students. Carpenter Tower made history in 1972 when it became the first coed dorm at Marquette University.

            The namesake of Carpenter Tower is unique in that it is not named after one person, but rather three members of the same family. The building’s first namesake, Michael Carpenter was a prominent Wisconsin businessman in the nineteenth century. Carpenter founded the Carpenter Baking Company in 1880 and later became a benefactor to Marquette University. However, it was Michael’s two children, Matthew and Mary, who largely contributed to the university. The two siblings made an annual financial gift to the university in honor of their father. Matthew himself served as a member of Marquette University’s Board of Governors from 1938 to 1950. For a time two buildings were named after Matthew on Marquette’s campus. In addition to the dorm, the original student union was renamed after Matthew in 1953.

Jablonsky, Thomas J. Milwaukee's Jesuit University: Marquette, 1881-1981. Milwaukee, WI: Marquette UP, 2007. Print.

Marquette University Special Collections and University Archives

Marquette Wire. "Building A Legacy." https://marquettewire.org/6689/uncategorized/building-a-legacy/