Wisconsin 101

Early Cheese Factories in New Glarus

Green County has long been known for its cheese factories, particularly ones making Swiss cheese. However, when the first Swiss immigrants arrived it wasn’t at all clear that they would go into cheesemaking at all. New Glarus’s rise to prominence as a…

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April 17, 2023

Region 7 - South Center / New Glarus / Related Stories / Swiss Cheese Kettle / Green County / Politics, Society & Government / 1840-1860 / 1860-1880 / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / Ethnicity & Identity / Global Connections

Swiss Immigration to New Glarus

For nearly a century, southeastern Wisconsin and especially Green County was a hotbed of Swiss immigration. Even though the immigration slowed dramatically in the early 1900s, the area still preserves a distinctive Swiss character. Visitors can attend the annual Cheese Days festivities…

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April 17, 2023

New Object Histories / Swiss Cheese Kettle / Green County / Region 7 - South Center / New Glarus / Food & Cooking / 1860-1880 / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Global Connections

OBJECT HISTORY: Swiss Cheese Kettle

This cheese kettle, now held at the Swiss Historical Village in New Glarus, reflects Green County’s cheesemaking past. Made out of copper because of its ability to retain heat well and to be heated easily on an open fire, this cheese kettle…

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April 17, 2023

A Bulgarian miner operating a pneumatic rock drill at a zinc mine in Platteville, circa the early 1900s. Image courtesy of The Mining and Rollo Jamison Museums Platteville, WI.

Eastern European Immigration to Wisconsin

Between the 1880s to the 1920s, a new wave of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe began to arrive in Wisconsin. The Eastern European immigrants included Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Russians, Hungarians, and Bulgarians. Eastern European countries at this time struggled with overpopulation,…

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December 20, 2022

Read more about the article Christopher Latham Sholes

Portrait of Christopher Latham Sholes posing at a typewriter, n.d., Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, ID 3218.

Milwaukee County / Sholes and Glidden Typewriter / Milwaukee / Region 8 - South East / Related Stories / 1800-1820 / Manufacturing & Trade / 1820-1840 / 1840-1860 / 1860-1880 / 1880-1900 / Education / Global Connections

Christopher Latham Sholes

Christopher Latham Sholes worked with his brothers at a Green Bay newspaper after having completed a printing internship in 1837, and in 1840 he moved to Kenosha to serve as the owner and publisher of the Southport Telegraph for a number of…

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September 22, 2021

Read more about the article OBJECT HISTORY: Sholes & Glidden Typewriter

Sholes & Glidden typewriter developed by Christopher Latham Sholes of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and marketed c. 1874. Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, ID 1964.31.

Sholes and Glidden Typewriter / Milwaukee / Region 8 - South East / Milwaukee County / Manufacturing & Trade / 1860-1880 / Object Histories / Education / Global Connections

OBJECT HISTORY: Sholes & Glidden Typewriter

Christopher Latham Sholes (1819-1890) had a number of interests, one of which was spending time at Kleinsteuber’s Machine Shop in Milwaukee. While there, he met other tinkerers including Samuel Soule who was a printer by trade and Carlos Glidden who was a…

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September 22, 2021