Official Song of the
State of Wisconsin

The music for "On, Wisconsin!" was composed in 1909 by William T. Purdy with the idea of entering it in a Minnesota contest for the creation of a new university football song. Instead, Carl Beck persuaded him to dedicate the song to the University of Wisconsin football team, and Beck collaborated with the composer by writing the lyrics. The song was introduced at the University of Wisconsin in Madison in November 1909. It was later acclaimed by world-famous composer and bandmaster, John Philip Sousa, as the best college song he had ever heard.

Although "On, Wisconsin!" was widely recognized as Wisconsin's song, the state did not officially adopt it until 1959. Representative Harold W. Clemens discovered that Wisconsin was one of only 10 states without an official song. He introduced a bill to give the song the status he thought it deserved. On discovering that many different lyrics existed, an official text for the first verse was incorporated in Chapter 170, Laws of 1959, and it is contained in Section 1.10 of the statutes.

Source: State of Wisconsin Blue Book 1995-1996