Myrtle Trowbridge
Myrtle Trowbridge taught history at La Crosse for 36 years, Miss Trowbridge joined the faculty in 1918, when La Crosse Normal School was just eight years old and she headed the history department for many years until her retirement in 1954. Five years later, the university named a women’s residence hall in her honor.
A strict disciplinarian, she always required that men students wear neckties to her classes. At the same time, she had a deep concern for her students, corresponded with dozens of those who served during World War II and was instrumental in organizing the World War II Memorial Fund which provided a scholarship for a senior student each year. Miss Trowbridge traveled extensively, and during her teaching years, used what she observed to supplement her history classes. A graduate of the University of Illinois, she completed her master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin, and also studied at Oxford University.
Myrtle Trowbridge passed away in La Crosse in 1968.