School, as well as for the subsequent Platteville campuses, apparently 1866
should serve as 
the founding date of U. W.-Platteville. 
Because the Madison campus of the current University of Wisconsin System
was 
created by the Constitution of Wisconsin, it can trace its earliest origin
to 1848. Yet, nine 
years earlier than this origin of the Madison Campus, the Platteville Academy
represented 
Wisconsin's first attempt to provide for a form of "higher education".

Both the first Normal School in Wisconsin at Platteville, as well as the
current 
University of Wisconsin-Platteville, were progeny of the Platteville Academy,
the first 
institution of higher education in geographical area which is now called
Wisconsin. John H. 
Rountree can be considered as the founder of the Platteville Academy, but
Josiah L. Pickard 
must be extended primary credit for the role of the Academy in the promotion
of high 
academic standards and adherence to basic democratic values. In such roles
both Rountree 
and Pickard provided beneficial influence upon the Platteville Normal School,
and a 
continuity of this mission provides a significant challenge for the current
University of 
Wisconsin-Platteville. 
Upon recommendation by the faculty of the Wisconsin State University-Platteville

(now the University of Wisconsin-Platteville) in 1969, the Board of Regents
authorized the 
naming of a Residence Hall in honor of the contributions that Josiah L. Pickard
had 
extended to the creation of the current University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
Now there are 
two "Pickard Halls" honoring the memory of Josiah L. Pickard--at
the University of Iowa, 
Iowa City, and at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. 
Platteville's Pride 
The founders and promoters of the Platteville Academy can be proud that their

pioneering efforts resulted in 27 years of "higher education" (1839
to 1866) at Platteville, and 
that such efforts subsequently culminated in the creation of the University
of Wisconsin- 
Platteville. Undoubtedly, such culmination exceeded the fondest dreams of
John Rountree 
or any of the Trustees or Principals of the Academy, with the possible exception
of Josiah L. 
Pickard, the fourth Principal of the Academy. Such culmination could have
been 
encompassed by Pickard's dreams and far-reaching foresight. 
The Platteville Academy provided the first "higher education" opportunities
in 
Wisconsin, and the genesis of the subsequent campuses for higher education
at Platteville 
can be based upon the existence of the Platteville Academy. 
The history of the Platteville Academy lends credence for the insignia of
the 
University of Wisconsin-Platteville to be, THE PIONEERS. 
 
December, 1993