Who Knew WashU? 7.18.17

Question: Washington University founded the first of which of these west of the Mississippi River in 1881?

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum (Photo: Robert Pettus/Maki and Associates)

A) Washington University launched the first professional, university-affiliated art school in the U.S. in 1879 and, in 1881, founded the first art museum west of the Mississippi, called the St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts. The institution later spawned what’s now known as the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park.

In 1961, the university moved its art collection into Steinberg Hall and, in 2006, dedicated the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum as part of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. 

Congrats to this week’s winner, Todd Farr, who works in the Sam Fox School and will receive an “I Knew WashU” luggage tag!