Wisconsin 101

A Bulgarian miner operating a pneumatic rock drill at a zinc mine in Platteville, circa the early 1900s. Image courtesy of The Mining and Rollo Jamison Museums Platteville, WI.

Eastern European Immigration to Wisconsin

Between the 1880s to the 1920s, a new wave of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe began to arrive in Wisconsin. The Eastern European immigrants included Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Russians, Hungarians, and Bulgarians. Eastern European countries at this time struggled with overpopulation,…

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December 20, 2022

Mining Industry / Industry / Object Histories / Education / Grant County / Platteville / Manufacturing & Trade / 1877-1900 / Region 6 - South West / Ingersoll-Sergeant Pneumatic Rock Drill

OBJECT HISTORY: Ingersoll-Sergeant Pneumatic Rock Drill

Picture of Ingersoll-Sergeant Pneumatic Rock Drill, courtesy of Liam Reinicke. The Ingersoll-Sergeant pneumatic rock drill stands in front of the Rountree Hall Apartments in Platteville, serving as an important symbol of Platteville’s mining history. The drill was manufactured by the Ingersoll-Sergeant Rock…

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December 13, 2022

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

Sholes & Glidden typewriter developed by Christopher Latham Sholes of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and marketed c. 1874. Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, ID 1964.31.

Wisconsin Made / Milwaukee / Milwaukee County / Education / Object Histories / 1848-1877 / Manufacturing & Trade / 1877-1900 / Region 8 - South East / Sholes and Glidden Typewriter

OBJECT HISTORY: Sholes & Glidden Typewriter

Christopher Latham Sholes (1819-1890) had a number of interests, one of which was spending time at Kleinsteuber’s Machine Shop in Milwaukee. While there, he met other tinkerers including Samuel Soule who was a printer by trade and Carlos Glidden who was a…

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September 22, 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…

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September 14, 2021

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

Industry / La Crosse / Related Stories / Ethnicity & Identity / 1848-1877 / Global Connections / 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…

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August 17, 2021