Wisconsin 101

Williams Bay, WI

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…

0 Comments

May 9, 2018

Education / Williams Bay / Related Stories / Walworth County / Yerkes Telescope / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / Science & Medicine / 1960-1980 / 1980-2000 / Region 7 - South Center / 2000-2020 / 2020-2040

Yerkes Telescope Construction and Use

The construction of the 40-inch refracting telescope at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, was directed by George Hale, an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago, and funded by Charles Yerkes, a Chicago businessman. The telescope is made of 40-inch glass lenses manufactured by the…

0 Comments

May 9, 2018

Home Furnishings / Pre-1600 / 1600-1800 / Ethnicity & Identity / 1800-1820 / 1820-1840 / 1840-1860 / 1860-1880 / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / 1960-1980 / 1980-2000 / 2000-2020 / 2020-2040

OBJECT HISTORY: Cradleboard

Native Americans used cradleboards in North America to protect, carry, and entertain their babies. Cradleboards allowed women to keep babies close to their side. Women carried cradleboards on their backs. They also could rest them against a tree. The cradleboard protected babies from danger and kept them happy. Native tribes made cradleboards in many ways,…

0 Comments

June 9, 2017

Read more about the article The Lumber Industry in Northern Wisconsin

Lumber rafts on the Wisconsin River near the Wisconsin Dells, c. 1886. Photograph by H.H. Bennett, courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Image ID 6314.

Home Furnishings / Langlade County / Clothing & Fashion / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / 1960-1980 / 1980-2000 / 2000-2020 / 2020-2040 / Bark Spud

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,…

0 Comments

February 1, 2016