The M

The world’s largest “M,” located on the Platte Mound four miles northeast of the city of Platteville, has served to help identify the university throughout the years as an iconic symbol of the mining tradition and the history of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville

At a December 1924 meeting of the Engineering Club, members voted to place an “M” on the mound. A committee of five students was formed to investigate the project. That investigation did not take place and there was no mention of an “M” until 1936.

As history tells it, Wisconsin Mining School students Raymond “Pat” Medley ‘37 and Alvin Knoerr ‘37 stomped a large “M” in heavy snow on the Platte Mound in 1936. “It took several trips in parallel to widen out the path so that it would show up at a distance,” explained Knoerr in Thomas B. Lundeen’s book, “Jubilee! A History of the College of Engineering, The University of Wisconsin-Platteville, 1908-1983.”

“Shortly before sundown we walked back to Platteville and were happy to note that the ‘M’ could be discerned at a distance,” said Knoerr in the book.

The weather was particularly cold and the image of the “M” was frozen in the hillside. “This freeze contributed to the life of the snow ‘M’ and to its visibility, because a noticeable amount of dust or other material accumulated in the frozen pathway to make it more visible,” recalled Knoerr.

The following spring, a classmate of Knoerr suggested they construct a stone “M.” Another student suggested they make it the largest “M” in the country, even larger than the Colorado School of Mines’ “M,” which was 200 feet high.

“When Pat and I had worked at Climax in Colorado during the previous summer as student miners, we resented the way some of the Colorado students would look down on Platteville miners as being inferior,” said Knoerr. “Maybe that had something to do with the decision to outclass Colorado as ‘M’ builders.”

The school obtained permission from landowner William Snow to construct the “M,” which is 241 feet high and 214 feet wide.

Shortly after beginning the project, H.B. Morrow, director of the Wisconsin Mining School, approved a field day for students to help construct the “M.” Students used picks, crowbars and wheelbarrows to move an estimated 400 tons of limestone to form the “M.”

The “M” was completed in the fall of 1937.

The outline of the “M” is lit once each year in the fall and for special occasions, using coffee cans containing kerosene. Wicks made from sound-deadening board are lit inside more than 200 cans.

The “M” was first lit Oct. 16, 1937 as part of Homecoming festivities. The torch traveled 4.6 miles, in an Olympic-style relay between students from the university to the “M.” After being lit, the “M” is visible from parts of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.

The land remains under the ownership of the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, and the property was later named Clausen Park.

The Platteville Mound is one mile long and approximately one-half mile wide, 150 feet high and 450 feet above the city at the summit of the hill. The “M” was built on the south side of the hill at a 45-degree gradient.