Wisconsin 101

OBJECT HISTORY: The 1904 Kohler “Armeda” Toilet

By the year 1904, when the “Armeda” toilet pictured here appeared in the Kohler Company’s product catalogue, Sheboygan-based Kohler had become one of the largest makers of bathroom furnishings in the United States. Even at this early date in its history, as…

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November 10, 2020

Read more about the article The Early History of the Kohler Company

Kohler advertisement from the April 15, 1916 edition of 'The Saturday Evening Post.'

Home Furnishings / Industry / Sheboygan / Related Stories / Everyday Life / 1877-1900 / Manufacturing & Trade / Sheboygan County / Science & Medicine / Region 5 - Center East / The 1904 Kohler “Armeda” Toilet

The Early History of the Kohler Company

As was so often the case with major American businesses in the 1800s, the Kohler Company grew from modest roots. The company’s founder, John Michael Kohler, began his working life first as a delivery truck driver and then a salesman. Born in…

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November 10, 2020

Sheboygan / Industry / Related Stories / Ethnicity & Identity / Global Connections / 1877-1900 / Manufacturing & Trade / 1900-1918 / 1918-1945 / 1945-1965 / Sheboygan County / Society & Religion / Region 5 - Center East / Synagogue Window

The Growth of Sheboygan’s Jewish Community

Although Sheboygan and Milwaukee are only 55 minutes apart by car today, the two cities on the west coast of Lake Michigan remained largely separate in 1900 when they both competed to become the industrial capital of Wisconsin. Through the latter half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, the industrialization process in both cities was shaped by an increase in Jewish immigration to the region.

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July 7, 2020

Sheboygan / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / Curators' Favorites / 1877-1900 / Global Connections / 1900-1918 / Sheboygan County / Society & Religion / Region 5 - Center East / Synagogue Window

Jewish Immigration from Russia to Sheboygan

The first Russian Jews arrived in Sheboygan in the 1880s. Like many other immigrants, they often followed their "landsleit" (fellow townsmen) to settlements in the new world, with the result that many of Sheboygan's Jewish immigrants came from a relatively small area east of Vilna and north of Minsk in current-day Belarus. They settled on the northwest side of Sheboygan, in a neighborhood bounded by 13th and 15th Streets, Geele Avenue on the north, and Bluff Avenue on the south.

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July 7, 2020

Sheboygan / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Global Connections / 1900-1918 / Sheboygan County / Society & Religion / Region 5 - Center East / Synagogue Window

OBJECT HISTORY: Synagogue Window

This synagogue window is a testament to the successful efforts of hundreds of Russian Jews to recreate a familiar community in Sheboygan, Wisconsin in the early twentieth century.

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July 7, 2020

Greenbush / Industry / Object Histories / Lumber Industry / 1848-1877 / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / Sheboygan County / Region 5 - Center East / Wade House Museum

OBJECT HISTORY: The Muley Sawmill

If you grew up in Wisconsin, you may be familiar with some of Wisconsin’s forests like the Black River forest, Menominee forest, or the Chequamegon-Nicolet forest. For hundreds of years these forests have provided Wisconsin with lumber used for building homes, factories,…

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September 10, 2019