Wisconsin 101

OBJECT HISTORY: Employers Mutual Audiometer

This Maico Audiometer was one of many devices used by health and safety consultants of the Employers Mutual Liability Insurance Company of Wisconsin throughout the mid-to-late 1960s. Employers Mutual was the very first workers compensation insurance company in the United States. The company was founded in Wausau, Wisconsin, in 1911 shortly after the nation’s first workers compensation law was…

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March 9, 2019

Wisconsin Made / Sports & Games / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Langlade County / Wolf River / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / Region 2 - North East / 1945-1965 / Mepps Fishing Lure

Squirrel Tails Wanted? The Improved Mepps Lure

Driving through Antigo, visitors are often puzzled by a sign proclaiming “Squirrel Tails Wanted” advertised by Sheldons’ Inc., manufacturer of Mepps lures. Squirrel tail hair has unique properties ideal for lures. [1] Its addition to the Anglia has proven to be the…

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May 24, 2018

Wisconsin Made / Industry / Sports & Games / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Antigo / Langlade County / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / Region 2 - North East / 1945-1965 / 1965-1987 / Mepps Fishing Lure

Mepps Lures: The Antigo Connection

A chance encounter of an American G.I. in France after World War II with a local fisherman led to the development of a major industry in Antigo, Wisconsin and put Antigo on the sports fishing map.Frank Velek discovered a fishing lure while…

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May 24, 2018

Building a Tourism Industry in Northern Wisconsin

Equipment manufacturers played a major role in developing fishing as a part of the tourism industry in northern Wisconsin. Each year nearly two million people fish in Wisconsin’s waterways. They catch about 72 million fish of various species.Fishing lures expanded in popularity…

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May 24, 2018

Health & Medicine / Education / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / 1918-1945 / Science & Medicine / 1945-1965 / Employers Mutual Audiometer

Promoting Workplace Safety

For an insurance company like Employers Mutual, it made sense to try to promote safety in the workplace. Reducing the number of industrial accidents would naturally lead to less money lost to claims. But Employers Mutual was also very adept at translating its…

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May 24, 2018

Health & Medicine / Science & Technology / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / Employers Mutual Audiometer / 1945-1965 / Science & Medicine

Preventing Hearing Loss

In 1953, Wisconsin added occupational hearing loss to the list of claimable conditions under workers compensation. Employers Mutual of Wausau quickly created a program that would make the company an industry leader in hearing loss prevention. Creating a hearing loss prevention program not only…

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May 24, 2018