Judge George Gale went to college at the University of Vermont and moved to the western frontier in La Crosse, Wisconsin in the early 1850s. After finding little interest in starting a college in La Crosse, he bought 2000 acres to start Galesville at a choice spot for his upcoming university. The state of Wisconsin chartered the school in 1854 as "Galesville University" and he held the first classes in the county courthouse in Galesville. The first class had 16 students including Gale's son George Gale Jr. Old Main was completed in 1862 and the campus becomes occupied in 1863. Gale ran the nonsectarian college until 1865 and the school floundered while his health deteriorated during his involvement in the American Civil War.
