Wisconsin 101

Migrant Labor and Door County Cherries

Early Door County cherry orchards relied heavily on local workers, and all members of the family that owned a cherry orchard were expected to contribute. From the planting process, spraying of fungicides, pruning, and finally cherry picking, each cherry tree required a…

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July 1, 2017

Broad History / Agriculture / Industry / Related Stories / Door County / 1848-1877 / 1877-1900 / 1900-1918 / Manufacturing & Trade / 1918-1945 / Nature & Environment / 1945-1965 / Region 5 - Center East / Transportation & Tourism / Cherryland T-Shirt

The Cherry Industry in Door County

While early European immigrants in Door County survived by subsistence farming, efforts in later years to grow cash crops proved challenging, due in large part to the area’s rocky landscape. Despite little success with traditional crops, Door County residents continued to look…

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July 1, 2017

Wisconsin Bicycle Tourism

M.C. Rotier, the publisher and editor of The Pneumatic, a Wisconsin periodical and trade journal dedicated to bicycles in the 1890s, called bicycling “the most independent, healthful, rapid, and convenient mode of travel” in the nineteenth century.[1] Rotier, a leading bicycle advocate…

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April 10, 2017

Industry / Hamburg / Related Stories / Marathon County / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / 1918-1945 / Region 4 - Center / Fromm Fox Fur Coat

The Fromm Fur Farm

The land that became the Fromm Fur Farm was first settled by Joachim Nieman, a forester who came to Wisconsin as part of the mass immigration from Germany after 1848. He gave his daughter Alwina a quarter section of undeveloped wilderness near…

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January 1, 2017

Industry / Hamburg / Related Stories / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Everyday Life / Marathon County / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / 1918-1945 / Region 4 - Center / Fromm Fox Fur Coat

The Fromm Brand and the Hamburg Fur Auction

Probably the biggest reason for the success of the Fromm Brothers’ fur farm was the particular color of fur that they bred. As fashions shifted to favor the trademark Fromm “bright with silver” color, the Fromms were in a position to capitalize on their control of…

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January 1, 2017

Prairie du Chien / Broad History / Green Bay / Brown County / Columbia County / Crawford County / Industry / Milwaukee / Milwaukee County / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Related Stories / Hamburg / Everyday Life / Marathon County / Global Connections / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / Region 4 - Center / Region 5 - Center East / Region 6 - South West / Region 7 - South Center / Region 8 - South East / Fromm Fox Fur Coat / Fur Trade

Fashion and Fur

The End of the Old Fur Trade The development of fur farms at the close of the 19th century was perhaps the most revolutionary change in North America’s fur industry, and fashion played a significant role in that change. Beaver pelts had been…

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January 1, 2017