Wisconsin 101

Marathon City Brewing and the Wee Willy Basketball Team

The Marathon City Brewery sponsored local sports teams like the Wee Willy basketball team, originally known as the Catholic Youth Organization Team, which organized in 1936. Though the team temporarily disbanded during World War II, in the mid-1940s, young men from the…

0 Comments

September 14, 2021

Industry / Marathon / Related Stories / Marathon County / Manufacturing & Trade / 1877-1900 / 1900-1918 / 1918-1945 / Region 4 - Center / 1945-1965 / Marathon Brewing Company "Superfine" Beer Bottle

The Marathon Brewery’s Chain of Calamities

In the early 1880s, Franz Sindermann, who was trained as a brewer in Germany, formed a brewery in Marathon, Wisconsin with his brother, August, along with a third partner, Charles Klein. The brewery got off to a good start, producing 300 barrels…

0 Comments

September 14, 2021

Industry / Marathon / Food & Cooking / Object Histories / Everyday Life / Marathon County / Manufacturing & Trade / 1945-1965 / Region 4 - Center / Marathon Brewing Company "Superfine" Beer Bottle

OBJECT HISTORY: Marathon Brewing Company “Superfine” Beer bottle

The "Superfine" beer bottle is from the 1940/1950s from the Marathon City Brewing Company. Superfine was one of the many labels produced by Marathon City Brewery over eight decades from 1881 to 1966, featuring names such as Tannenbaum, Marathon Holiday, Marathon Bock,…

0 Comments

August 31, 2021

John Gund Brewing Company postcard, c. 1911, courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Image 35952.

Industry / La Crosse / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / Global Connections / 1848-1877 / La Crosse County / Manufacturing & Trade / 1877-1900 / 1900-1918 / Region 3 - Center West / King Gambrinus Statues of LaCrosse

The Heileman Family: A German Immigration Story

The G. Heileman Brewing Company is often remembered by historians as the vision of the two ambitious men who founded the brewery in La Crosse, Wisconsin. At the height of its popularity in 1983, Heileman’s was the fourth largest brewery in the…

0 Comments

August 17, 2021

Industry / Art & Design / Art, Sport & Entertainment / La Crosse / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Global Connections / Manufacturing & Trade / La Crosse County / 1918-1945 / Region 3 - Center West / 1965-1987 / King Gambrinus Statues of LaCrosse

OBJECT HISTORY: King Gambrinus Statues of La Crosse

The King Gambrinus statue located in La Crosse, Wisconsin depicts the king of beer and brewing.[1] The origins of the statue, specifically its sculptor and construction date, are unknown. Weighing in at approximately 2,000 pounds, this concrete statue is 15 feet tall.…

0 Comments

August 17, 2021

Photo depicting original Old Style behind updated LaCrosse Brewing label, August 7, 2021, Courtesy of Cortney Anderson Kramer.

Industry / Agriculture / La Crosse / Object Histories / La Crosse County / Manufacturing & Trade / Region 3 - Center West / 1965-1987 / King Gambrinus Statues of LaCrosse

OBJECT HISTORY: World’s Largest Six-Pack

Located in La Crosse, Wisconsin, the “World’s Largest Six-Pack” is a popular tourist attraction and landmark structure representative of the city’s renowned brewing history. At 54 feet tall, the six steel storage tanks, shaped and arranged to resemble a six-pack of beer,…

0 Comments

August 17, 2021