Wisconsin 101

Read more about the article Pleasant Ridge: Southwest Wisconsin’s Integrated Pioneer Community

Schoolhouse of District #5 in Pleasant Ridge. Both Blacks and whites built, attended, and taught at the school, circa 1890. Image ID: 4239, WI Historical Society.

Pleasant Ridge: Southwest Wisconsin’s Integrated Pioneer Community

Schoolhouse of District #5 in Pleasant Ridge. Both Blacks and whites built, attended, and taught at the school, circa 1890. Image ID: 4239, WI Historical Society. Pleasant Ridge was a rural agricultural community located near present-day Beetown in central Grant County that…

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December 21, 2022

Read more about the article The Whiskey War of 1854

The Wisconsin House (left) and Al Ringling Theatre (right). Before the theater was built, the Wisconsin House occupied the land. The Brick Tavern—located within the Wisconsin House—was the main target of the Baraboo Whiskey War, an event that would see its stock dumped. The Theatre was built in 1915 on the same site. Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society ID # 29104 & 72938

Military History / Baraboo / 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

The masthead from an 1849 issue of The Old Oaken Bucket. The masthead includes the icon of a trinity with the values of love, purity and fidelity surrounding each side. Above the trinity, the tagline “Sons of Temperance Organ” is visible. Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society ID # 67985

The Temperance Movement’s Impact on Wisconsin’s Early Laws

Temperance was a defining and prominent movement in Wisconsin from the state’s admission to the union in 1848 until the mid 1850s. Temperance legislature, and the battles fought in favor of and against it, determined the state’s early legal trajectory.Temperance arrived in…

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October 4, 2022

Read more about the article Manhole Cover Designs and Contemporary Aesthetics

City of Madison Manhole Cover. Photo courtesy of Keith Kaziak, 2020.

Industry / Art & Design / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Neenah / Related Stories / Everyday Life / 1848-1877 / Manufacturing & Trade / Winnebago County / 1965-1987 / Region 5 - Center East / 1987-2011 / 2011-Today / Neenah Foundry Manhole Cover

Manhole Cover Designs and Contemporary Aesthetics

Over the past 45 years, there has been a growing worldwide fascination and appreciation for the beauty and craftsmanship of manhole covers. Some enthusiasts even created a subreddit aptly titled, Manhole Porn: Sewer covers in all their glory!, celebrating this ubiquitous iron…

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September 29, 2021

Read more about the article An Iron Kinship: Abraham Darby and William Aylward Sr.

Raw coke for iron ore smelting. Made by heating coal in the absence of air. Photo courtesy of Stahlkocher.

Industry / Neenah / Related Stories / 1848-1877 / Manufacturing & Trade / 1877-1900 / Winnebago County / Science & Medicine / Region 5 - Center East / Neenah Foundry Manhole Cover

An Iron Kinship: Abraham Darby and William Aylward Sr.

In 1872, William Aylward Sr. combined air, coal, and iron ore to produce his first plowshares and other agricultural implements.[1] The founder of what would become the Neenah Foundry followed a process developed by an English man named Abraham Darby more than…

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September 29, 2021

Read more about the article Christopher Latham Sholes

Portrait of Christopher Latham Sholes posing at a typewriter, n.d., Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, ID 3218.

Milwaukee / Education / Milwaukee County / Related Stories / 1848-1877 / Politics & Government / Region 8 - South East / Sholes and Glidden Typewriter

Christopher Latham Sholes

Christopher Latham Sholes worked with his brothers at a Green Bay newspaper after having completed a printing internship in 1837, and in 1840 he moved to Kenosha to serve as the owner and publisher of the Southport Telegraph for a number of…

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September 22, 2021