Wisconsin 101

Pulaski – A Polka Town

Pulaski, like some Wisconsin communities, possesses a disproportionate number of polka bands, and some have boasted that the town of 3000 has more bands per capita than even Nashville. The strongly Polish community located just outside of Green Bay is still a thriving locale for the polka tradition.

0 Comments

May 18, 2020

Art, Sport & Entertainment / Object Histories / Pulaski / Oconto County / Region 2 - North East / 1980-2000 / 2000-2020 / Polka Rhythms Bandstand

OBJECT HISTORY: Polka Rhythms Bandstand

This bandstand, used by Chad Przybylski and his band the Polka Rhythms, represents Wisconsin's polka tradition.

0 Comments

May 10, 2019

Wausau / Object Histories / Marathon County / Region 2 - North East / Science & Medicine / Employers Mutual Audiometer / 1960-1980

OBJECT HISTORY: Employers Mutual Audiometer

This Maico Audiometer was one of many devices used by health and safety consultants of the Employers Mutual Liability Insurance Company of Wisconsin throughout the mid-to-late 1960s. Employers Mutual was the very first workers compensation insurance company in the United States. The company was founded in Wausau, Wisconsin, in 1911 shortly after the nation’s first workers compensation law was…

0 Comments

March 9, 2019

Read more about the article Emelie Manthei’s Point Blanket Coat

A Point Blanket Coat

Wausau / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Related Stories / Clothing & Fashion / Marathon County / Region 2 - North East / 1940-1960 / A Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket Coat

Emelie Manthei’s Point Blanket Coat

When the Great Depression hit Wausau in the 1930s, Emelie Manthei (now Emelie Borth) was a high school student from a working-class family. Her father lost his job before finding employment with the Works Progress Administration (WPA), where he helped construct the…

0 Comments

June 19, 2018

The Wausau Group: The Businessmen Who Revived Wausau’s Economy

Located on the Wisconsin River, Wausau developed as a logging town in the 1830s. George Stevens chose the site because of the waterfall that spanned the river, which provided power for sawmills used to turn the felled trees into lumber. The waterfall,…

Comments Off

June 15, 2018

Wausau / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Related Stories / Marathon County / Region 2 - North East / 1920-1940 / Transportation & Tourism / A Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket Coat

The Wausau Winter Frolic: Wausau’s History as a Sports Capital

In 1929 a teacher in Waupaca asked her pupils what Wisconsinites did for winter sports. According to one newspaper, the children “with one accord all exclaimed: ‘They go to Wausau!’” In the 1920s, when Wisconsinites thought of winter sports, they thought of…

0 Comments

June 15, 2018