Wisconsin 101

The Stout Institute and Educational Innovation

Wilson Place Mansion in Menomonie, Wisconsin, was once the home of James Huff Stout (1848-1910), a lumber baron, longtime state senator, and philanthropist. He is best known for founding the Stout Institute, now the University of Wisconsin-Stout. According to local tradition, Stout…

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March 9, 2016

Art & Design / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Home Furnishings / Related Stories / 1877-1900 / 1900-1918 / Wilson Place Door

The Arts & Crafts Movement

Wisconsin’s Stout Institute is a major landmark of educational innovation in state history. With its emphasis on creativity as well as vocational preparation, the school was greatly influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement, then a major force in artistic, cultural, and progressive political…

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March 7, 2016

Art, Sport & Entertainment / Menomonie / Art & Design / Object Histories / Education / Dunn County / 1877-1900 / Region 3 - Center West / Wilson Place Door

OBJECT HISTORY: Wilson Place Door

The Wilson Place Mansion front door was crafted at the turn of the twentieth century, likely by a well-known Arts and Crafts Movement blacksmith named Thomas F. Googerty. Wilson Place Mansion was the home of James Huff Stout, a lumber baron, longtime state senator, and philanthropist. Area tradition has it that the door was fashioned to honor Stout,…

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March 7, 2016

Industry / Langlade County / Related Stories / Lumber Industry / 1848-1877 / 1877-1900 / 1900-1918 / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / Bark Spud / Region 2 - North East

The Lumber Industry in Northern Wisconsin

Prior to the Civil War, most of northern Wisconsin was inhabited by the Menominee and Ojibwe Indians and transient fur traders of European origin. Demand for wood in Chicago and Milwaukee after the Civil War brought lumbermen to the north woods. Initially,…

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February 1, 2016

Object Histories / Education / Science & Technology / Williams Bay / Walworth County / 1877-1900 / Science & Medicine / Region 7 - South Center / Region 8 - South East / Yerkes Telescope

OBJECT HISTORY: Yerkes Telescope

The 40-inch refracting telescope at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, contains the world’s largest refracting lenses. Built in 1895, the telescope contains two lenses, one made of crown glass, and one made of flint glass. The lenses are each 40 inches in diameter, weigh 500 pounds, and have a 62-foot focal length. The telescope and observatory…

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December 10, 2014

Williams Bay, Wisconsin

Captain Israel Williams founded Williams Bay, Wisconsin, in 1835. Williams and his two sons originally traveled to Wisconsin from their Massachusetts home to look for good farmland. Williams Bay was later named in honor of Captain Williams.Until 1890, only a few families…

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December 9, 2014