Wisconsin 101

Curling’s Growth in Wisconsin

When the Scottish migrated to the United States in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, they brought more with them then just bagpipes; they brought the growth of curling, a winter sport in which the players slide heavy granite blocks across icy terrain…

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June 20, 2024

Wooden Curling Stone / Lodi / Columbia County / Related Stories / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / 1960-1980 / 1980-2000 / 2000-2020 / Region 7 - South Center / 2020-2040

The Lodi Curling Club: 150 Years of Curling

How do you bring leisure and fun to a newly founded city? Build a curling club of course! At least that’s what James Otis Eaton did just over a decade after the small Wisconsin town of Lodi was officially founded in 1869.…

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June 20, 2024

Fish Boil Kettle / Door County / Related Stories / 1860-1880 / Nature & Environment / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / 1960-1980 / Region 5 - Center East / Transportation & Tourism / 1980-2000

Tourism in Droves: Door County as a Tourist Destination

In the present day, the Door County tourism industry brings in over $500 million in total economic impact every year, with the summer as peak season. Rising from humble beginnings, and getting some help along the way from innovation, mainly the rise…

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April 10, 2024

Fish Boil Kettle / Ellison Bay / New Object Histories / Object Histories / Food & Cooking / Door County / Region 5 - Center East / Transportation & Tourism / 1960-1980 / 1980-2000 / 2000-2020

OBJECT HISTORY: Fish Boil Kettle

This fish boil kettle from the Wisconsin Historical Museum collection, was donated by the Viking Grill in 2010. The two handled baskets sit inside a cauldron which was originally manufactured as a drum for a washing machine. Door County may be the…

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April 10, 2024

Madison / Education / Dane County / Related Stories / Ethnicity & Identity / 602 Club / Politics, Society & Government / 1960-1980 / Region 7 - South Center

The Gay Purge of University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1962-63

Gay students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have not always received the protection they do today; in fact, from 1962-1963 the university attempted to systematically identify and expel gay students. The Dean of Men, in collaboration with Student Health Services and the…

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November 2, 2023

New Object Histories / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Dane County / Madison / Object Histories / Clothing & Fashion / 602 Club / 1960-1980 / 1980-2000 / Region 7 - South Center

OBJECT HISTORY: 602 Club T-Shirt

Not all bars make commemorative T-shirts for their closing, like the one pictured here, but the 602 Club was not an average bar. The bar, previously located at 602 University Avenue, was just a short walk from the heart of campus, making…

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November 2, 2023