Wisconsin 101

Orlando Metcalfe Poe and Wisconsin’s Waterways

Orlando Metcalfe Poe (1832-1895) was an engineer who shaped the landscape of Wisconsin’s harbors and waterways, playing a crucial role in the development of Wisconsin’s commerce. Through his lighthouse designs and his design of major systems of ship locks and canals on…

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May 10, 2023

New Glarus / Dairy Industry / Food & Cooking / Industry / Related Stories / 1848-1877 / Green County / 1877-1900 / 1900-1918 / Manufacturing & Trade / Region 7 - South Center / Swiss Cheese Kettle

Early Cheese Factories in New Glarus

Green County has long been known for its cheese factories, particularly ones making Swiss cheese. However, when the first Swiss immigrants arrived it wasn’t at all clear that they would go into cheesemaking at all. New Glarus’s rise to prominence as a…

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April 17, 2023

New Glarus / Ethnicity & Identity / 1787-1848 / Related Stories / 1848-1877 / Green County / Global Connections / 1877-1900 / Region 7 - South Center / Swiss Cheese Kettle

Swiss Immigration to New Glarus

For nearly a century, southeastern Wisconsin and especially Green County was a hotbed of Swiss immigration. Even though the immigration slowed dramatically in the early 1900s, the area still preserves a distinctive Swiss character. Visitors can attend the annual Cheese Days festivities…

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April 17, 2023

New Glarus / Dairy Industry / Industry / Object Histories / Food & Cooking / Ethnicity & Identity / Green County / 1848-1877 / Everyday Life / Global Connections / Manufacturing & Trade / Region 7 - South Center / Swiss Cheese Kettle

OBJECT HISTORY: Swiss Cheese Kettle

This cheese kettle, now held at the Swiss Historical Village in New Glarus, reflects Green County’s cheesemaking past. Made out of copper because of its ability to retain heat well and to be heated easily on an open fire, this cheese kettle…

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April 17, 2023

Beetown / Grant County / Related Stories / Ethnicity & Identity / Iowa County / Pleasant Ridge / 1848-1877 / 1877-1900 / 1900-1918 / 1918-1945 / Society & Religion / Region 6 - South West / Ingersoll-Sergeant Pneumatic Rock Drill

Pleasant Ridge: Southwest Wisconsin’s Integrated Pioneer Community

Pleasant Ridge was a rural agricultural community located near present-day Beetown in central Grant County that was founded in 1850 by formerly enslaved African Americans. Pleasant Ridge is unique in that it was one of the first fully racially integrated communities in…

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December 21, 2022

Baraboo / Military History / Related Stories / 1848-1877 / Sauk County / Politics & Government / Society & Religion / Region 7 - South Center / The Canfield Temperance Case

The Whiskey War of 1854

Alcohol consumption is an integral and often contentious facet of American life and has been for most of the nation’s history. In the 1800s, the public believed alcohol had medicinal properties and regulated health. However, the harmful effects of drunkenness on the…

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October 4, 2022