Wisconsin 101

The Cherry Industry in Door County

While early European immigrants in Door County survived by subsistence farming, efforts in later years to grow cash crops proved challenging, due in large part to the area’s rocky landscape. Despite little success with traditional crops, Door County residents continued to look…

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July 1, 2017

Agriculture / Industry / Related Stories / Door County / Manufacturing & Trade / 1918-1945 / 1945-1965 / Transportation & Tourism / Region 5 - Center East / Cherryland T-Shirt

Cherryland Tourism

The beginnings of Door County tourism preceded the cherry industry boom by several decades. The natural beauty and cool temperatures made the area an attractive destination for urbanites in search of a respite from the summer heat. As transportation improved, visitors from…

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July 1, 2017

Broad History / Brown County / Columbia County / Crawford County / Prairie du Chien / Green Bay / Industry / Milwaukee County / Milwaukee / Hamburg / Related Stories / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Everyday Life / Marathon County / Global Connections / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / Region 4 - Center / Region 5 - Center East / Region 6 - South West / Region 7 - South Center / Region 8 - South East / Fromm Fox Fur Coat / Fur Trade

Fashion and Fur

The End of the Old Fur Trade The development of fur farms at the close of the 19th century was perhaps the most revolutionary change in North America’s fur industry, and fashion played a significant role in that change. Beaver pelts had been…

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January 1, 2017

Brown County / Green Bay / Industry / Pre-1787 / Related Stories / Global Connections / Manufacturing & Trade / Politics & Government / Society & Religion / Region 5 - Center East / Fur Trade / Le Maire Sundial

French Wisconsin at Fort la Baye

French explorers, voyageurs (fur traders), Jesuit priests, and other settlers began arriving in the Upper Great Lakes region of North America in the mid-1600s. Jean Nicolet supposedly landed near present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1634, naming the waterway La Baye des Puants, literally “Bay of…

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December 24, 2016

Green Bay / Brown County / Pre-1787 / Related Stories / Global Connections / Nature & Environment / Region 5 - Center East / Transportation & Tourism / Le Maire Sundial

French Cartography in the Great Lakes

French mariners and explorers using the Le Maire Sundial Compass depended on both their own specialized navigational expertise and maps produced by French cartographers. Many such maps were created based on explorer accounts of the navigable waterways between the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi…

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December 21, 2016

Green Bay / Brown County / Object Histories / Pre-1787 / Global Connections / Science & Medicine / Region 5 - Center East / Le Maire Sundial

OBJECT HISTORY: Le Maire Sundial

The Le Maire Sundial is a rare example of a mid-18th century French sundial (cadran solaire) compass (boussole). It was found near Green Bay in 1902 by a local antiquities collector, Frank Duchateau. The sundial is broken, missing its glass compass cover as well as the back of its gnomon holder. Located on the front surface,…

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December 9, 2016