Wisconsin 101

Slavery in Wisconsin

It may come as a surprise to learn that during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries slavery existed in the region that would become the state of Wisconsin. Over this period, thousands of enslaved African Americans or enslaved American Indians lived and…

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August 1, 2018

Broad History / Pre-1787 / Lake Koshkonong / Industry / Ethnicity & Identity / 1787-1848 / Related Stories / 1848-1877 / A Duck Decoy / 1877-1900 / Jefferson County / Manufacturing & Trade / 1900-1918 / Nature & Environment / 1918-1945 / Region 7 - South Center

When Lake Koshkonong was a Marsh

Maintaining practices like an annual visit to Lake Koshkanong to hunt and harvest food is an important way for indigenous knowledge and culture to be passed-on to the next generation.

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July 1, 2018

Art, Sport & Entertainment / 20-sided die / Lake Geneva / Related Stories / Sports & Games / Walworth County / 1965-1987 / Region 8 - South East

A Brief History of Dungeons and Dragons

In the late 1960s, Gary Gygax of Lake Geneva, WI fell in love with the board game Wargames. Wargames simulated actual battles from historic wars, but offered players the opportunity to carry out campaigns in new ways based on rolls of a…

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June 15, 2018

Wausau / Broad History / Industry / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Related Stories / Everyday Life / Global Connections / Marathon County / Manufacturing & Trade / A Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket Coat / Region 4 - Center / Fur Trade

What is a Point Blanket Coat?

The practice of converting Hudson’s Bay Company blankets into coats began years before the company began mass-manufacturing point blanket coats in the twentieth century. During the fur trade, Native Americans hunters traded beaver pelts for wool point blankets. Point blankets were waterproof…

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February 1, 2018

Wausau / Industry / Related Stories / Marathon County / Manufacturing & Trade / 1900-1918 / A Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket Coat / Nature & Environment / 1918-1945 / Region 4 - Center / Transportation & Tourism

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,…

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February 1, 2018

Art, Sport & Entertainment / Wausau / Related Stories / Sports & Games / Marathon County / A Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket Coat / 1918-1945 / Region 4 - Center / Transportation & Tourism

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…

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February 1, 2018