Grant County

The Great Seal of the State of Wisconsin, showing a Cornish miner right of the shield, circa 1881. Image ID: 91654. Wisconsin Historical Society

Grant County / 2000-2020 / 2020-2040 / Region 6 - South West / Related Stories / Platteville / Ingersoll-Sergeant Pneumatic Rock Drill / 1820-1840 / Manufacturing & Trade / 1840-1860 / 1860-1880 / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / Nature & Environment / 1920-1940 / Education / 1940-1960 / 1960-1980 / 1980-2000

Platteville’s Mining History

The Great Seal of the State of Wisconsin, showing a Cornish miner right of the shield, circa 1881. Image ID: 91654. Wisconsin Historical Society The Platteville lead boom spanned from 1827 to 1849, bringing diverse groups of people and the mining industry…

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December 21, 2022

Schoolhouse of District #5 in Pleasant Ridge. Both Blacks and whites built, attended, and taught at the school, circa 1890. Image ID: 4239, WI Historical Society.

Grant County / Region 6 - South West / Related Stories / Ingersoll-Sergeant Pneumatic Rock Drill / Beetown / Politics, Society & Government / 1840-1860 / 1860-1880 / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / Education / Ethnicity & Identity

Pleasant Ridge: Southwest Wisconsin’s Integrated Pioneer Community

Schoolhouse of District #5 in Pleasant Ridge. Both Blacks and whites built, attended, and taught at the school, circa 1890. Image ID: 4239, WI Historical Society. Pleasant Ridge was a rural agricultural community located near present-day Beetown in central Grant County that…

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December 21, 2022

Grant County / 2000-2020 / 2020-2040 / Region 6 - South West / Platteville / Ingersoll-Sergeant Pneumatic Rock Drill / Manufacturing & Trade / 1880-1900 / Object Histories / 1900-1920 / Nature & Environment / 1920-1940 / Education / 1940-1960 / 1960-1980 / 1980-2000

OBJECT HISTORY: Ingersoll-Sergeant Pneumatic Rock Drill

Picture of Ingersoll-Sergeant Pneumatic Rock Drill, courtesy of Liam Reinicke. The Ingersoll-Sergeant pneumatic rock drill stands in front of the Rountree Hall Apartments in Platteville, serving as an important symbol of Platteville’s mining history. The drill was manufactured by the Ingersoll-Sergeant Rock…

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December 13, 2022

James D. Williams' Windlass / Platteville / Grant County / Region 6 - South West / Manufacturing & Trade / 1860-1880 / 1880-1900 / Object Histories / 1900-1920 / Nature & Environment

OBJECT HISTORY: James D. Williams’ Windlass

This is a machine used to lower and raise miners and materials through mine shafts in the lead mining region around Platteville, Wisconsin. Made from wooden supports with a wooden barrel shaft and crank attached to a rope with a bucket, a…

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January 9, 2018

Ellenboro / Grant County / Region 6 - South West / Sterling Safety Bicycle / Manufacturing & Trade / Art, Sport & Entertainment / 1880-1900 / Object Histories / Transportation & Tourism

OBJECT HISTORY: The Crab Tree Special

In the 1890s, mass-produced safety bicycles sparked a bicycle craze across Wisconsin. However, despite the lowered costs associated with mass production, not everyone could afford this new luxury. Walter Atkinson of Ellenboro, Wisconsin, was not going to let a $100 price tag deter him from experiencing the liberating power of bicycle transportation. Tapping into the…

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September 10, 2017