Judge Downer, one of the best known lawyers in the State of Wisconsin was born on a farm in Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, a son of Solomon and Martha (Huntington) Downer. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1838, moved to Louisville, KY, where he studied law, and was admitted to the Bar. In Nov. 1842 he came to Milwaukee, where he lived until his death. He was the first editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel, but after six months he relinquished this position to Gen. Rufus King, and returned to the practice of law. In Nov. 1864 he was appointed to the Supreme Court to fill a vacancy, and the following spring he was elected for a 8 years. He resigned in 1867, and returned to his law practice. "Mr. Downer was a small wiry, compactly built frame, small features, was not very nervous or easily exicited, but was a cool, clear headed, sharp financier, loved money, and could keep it as well as make it, he was very wealthy. As a legal counsellor he had no superiors and very few equals in the city of that day." He was married twice, his first wife, Jane, was the daughter of John Dunbar from PA., whom he survived nearly twenty years before marrying Alcy Miner, the sister of Dr. G. Miner. When Judge Downer died he left an estate of $250,000, and gave away in legacies to friends and relatives and in benefactions to public institutions $150,000. Having no children he left the balance of his estate to his wife. She gave a legacy of $5,000 to the Wisconsin Female College at Fox Lake, provided the trustees changed the name to Downer College,in memory of her husband. In 1897, Milwaukee-Downer College formally came into being. The city named the wide street leading to the college Downer Avenue, and the buildings are now on the site of the University of Wisconsin.