Wisconsin 101

Milwaukee’s Music Scene in the Late Nineteenth Century

The Wisconsin music industry experienced a dramatic growth in the second half of the nineteenth century, as Milwaukee became a national leader in musical performances and a manufacturing center for the production of musical instruments. The city was home to a vibrant…

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April 23, 2025

Recital Poster / Milwaukee / Milwaukee County / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / 1900-1918 / 1918-1945 / Region 8 - South East

Milwaukee’s Early Mexican Community

Milwaukee’s Mexican community began in 1920, when the Pfister and Vogel Tannery recruited a handful of men from the midwestern states of Mexico to work in their Menominee and Bay View plants on the city’s near south side. Unaware that they had been…

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April 23, 2025

Music, Theatre & Cinema / Recital Poster / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / 1900-1918 / 1918-1945

Raphael Baez

Raphael Baez, Sr. can be counted as one of the first Mexicans ever to call Milwaukee home. Born in Puebla, Mexico in 1863, Baez began his musical education at the age of nine. From the start, the youngster displayed a remarkable ability…

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April 22, 2025

Janesville / Chevy Caprice / Industry / Related Stories / Rock County / Manufacturing & Trade / 1918-1945 / 1945-1965 / Transportation & Tourism / 1965-1987 / 1987-2011 / Region 7 - South Center

Janesville General Motors Assembly Plant

The Janesville Assembly Plant’s near ninety-year run helped define both the city and its workers and the General Motors Company as one of the most successful automakers in the world. The history of the plant is deeply rooted in Janesville’s agricultural past.…

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February 17, 2025

Lac du Flambeau / Odanah / Ricing Sticks / Broad History / Indigenous Wisconsin / Agriculture / Ashland County / Food & Cooking / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / Nature & Environment / Region 1 - North West / Region 2 - North East / Vilas County

Wild Rice and Wetland Conservation

Wild rice grows only in the Great Lakes Region in shallow and calm waters. It requires specific conditions, nutrient-rich muddy soil and stable water levels, in order to properly grow to maturity, to produce the seeds able to be harvested. Damaging the…

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November 17, 2024

Lac du Flambeau / Indigenous Wisconsin / Agriculture / Odanah / Broad History / Ricing Sticks / Ashland County / Food & Cooking / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / Nature & Environment / Region 1 - North West / Region 2 - North East / Vilas County

Ricing (Manoominikewin)

Wild rice was depicted in an Ojibwe prophecy before there was even a name for the grain. When the Ojibwe people began to migrate west, they were prophesied to settle where food grows on water. The westward migration was in part because…

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November 16, 2024