Photos: Marquette School of Dentistry celebrates 130 years on campus

• By Dan Reiner| Marketing and communication specialist
• September 26, 2024
• < 1min. read

Thursday marks 130 years since the addition of dental education in Wisconsin and what is now the Marquette University School of Dentistry.

The Milwaukee Medical College, housed at Trinity Hospital on 9th and Wells streets, welcomed its first class of 30 dental students on Sept. 26, 1894. In 1913, Marquette absorbed what was then the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons and established the School of Dentistry.

"Since the late 19th century, the Marquette School of Dentistry has been at the forefront of dental education in Wisconsin by providing a patient-centered and consistently innovative curriculum while remaining aligned with Marquette's mission to serve its community," said Dr. Elsbeth Kalenderian, dean of the School of Dentistry. "More than 10,000 dentists have graduated from this illustrious institution, each one of them backed not only by a quality, holistic dental education, but instilled with the character to care for and serve others."

In addition to extensive dental education and training to students from Wisconsin and beyond, Marquette also provides over $15 million of dental services to the Milwaukee community annually. Nearly two-thirds of its patients live in Milwaukee County, many from high-poverty neighborhoods with 43% of those falling below the federal poverty level. Throughout the state, its dental clinics treat patients from 66 of Wisconsin's 72 counties and serve nearly 30,000 patients with over 110,000 patient visits annually.

Read more about the history of the dental school here.

• Trinity Hospital, home to the the Milwaukee Medical College, on 9th and Wells streets. The first dental school in Wisconsin was founded here in 1894.
• Marquette University School of Dentistry examination room, circa 1907.
• Marquette University School of Dentistry's new building, opened in 1922, on 16th Street. An addition was built in 1956.
• A woman adjusts sterilization equipment within a model office in the Dental School, 1922-1923
• The facade of what is now Cramer Hall on 16th Street still reads "Dentistry" today
• A nun and a dental student examine.
• The bustling School of Dentistry clinic, 1955
• Rev. William McEvoy, S.J. surveys the Dental Clinic from the floor above, 1960-1961.
• Dental students examine patients in the clinic while a group watches from the observation deck above.
• Students practice in the pre-clinical technique laboratory, 1973
• Drs. Yasser Khaled and Yeshwant Rawal talk in the modern School of Dentistry building.
• Present-day Marquette dental students working in the lab.