Wisconsin 101

Read more about the article Ice Boating in Madison: A Bernard Family Tradition

A gathering of gaff-rigged, stern-steering ice boats and their captains on Lake Mendota, 1896. Source: WHI 2074

Ice Boating in Madison: A Bernard Family Tradition

Ice boating for sport began along New York's upper Hudson River around the Civil War and soon spread to other cold weather locations. An 1878 article in Harper's Weekly includes an engraving of ice boating in Madison. The city quickly became a center for ice boating in North America, a distinction held for over a century.

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March 27, 2020

Sports & Games / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Lake Geneva / 20-sided die / Related Stories / 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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July 20, 2018

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

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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June 15, 2018

Sports & Games / Wisconsin Made / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Wolf River / Langlade County / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / Region 2 - North East / 1945-1965 / Mepps Fishing Lure

Squirrel Tails Wanted? The Improved Mepps Lure

Driving through Antigo, visitors are often puzzled by a sign proclaiming “Squirrel Tails Wanted” advertised by Sheldons’ Inc., manufacturer of Mepps lures. Squirrel tail hair has unique properties ideal for lures. [1] Its addition to the Anglia has proven to be the…

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May 24, 2018

Wisconsin Made / Industry / Sports & Games / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Antigo / Related Stories / Langlade County / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / Region 2 - North East / 1945-1965 / 1965-1987 / Mepps Fishing Lure

Mepps Lures: The Antigo Connection

A chance encounter of an American G.I. in France after World War II with a local fisherman led to the development of a major industry in Antigo, Wisconsin and put Antigo on the sports fishing map.Frank Velek discovered a fishing lure while…

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May 24, 2018

Read more about the article Bowling in Japan

Bowling featured on this 1964 cover of a special issue of Life Magazine devoted to Japan. Click to enlarge.

Sports & Games / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Antigo / Related Stories / Langlade County / Global Connections / Region 2 - North East / 1945-1965 / Vulcan Bowling Pin

Bowling in Japan

In 1964, a representative of Japanese company Sanko Trading visited the Vulcan Corporation, a bowling-pin manufacturer based in Antigo, Wisconsin. Sanko was seeking a deal for exclusive rights to import bowling pins to Japan. At the time, Vulcan didn’t think much of the…

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February 1, 2016