Founded in 1888 by Frederick A. Dennett, the Wisconsin Chair Company (WCC) was perhaps the most important business in Ozaukee County at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. The company, …
1910s
The Cherry Industry in Door County
While earliest European immigrants in Door County survived by subsistence farming, efforts in later years to grow cash crops proved challenging, due in large part to the area’s rocky landscape. Despite little success with traditional …
The Settlement House Movement
Mass immigration from eastern and southern Europe dramatically altered America’s ethnic and religious composition around the turn of the twentieth century. Unlike earlier immigrants, who had largely come from western European countries like Britain, Germany, …
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Black Kander
The first generation of women—mostly white and middle- or upper-class—to graduate from college in large numbers left school full of promise and enthusiasm, but were largely denied employment in medicine, law, or business. Rejected by …
The Settlement
Having outgrown the basement of Temple B’ne Jeshurun, the mission moved to an old house at 507 Fifth Street in 1900. It was simply called “The Settlement.” Programs expanded as space and resources did—the building …
Fashion and Fur
The End of the Old Fur Trade The development of fur farms at the close of the 19th century was perhaps the most revolutionary change in North America’s fur industry, and fashion played a significant role …
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 …
Milwaukee: The Bowling Capital of America
Bowling evolved in the mid-nineteenth century United States from imported European games like the German kegling. Beginning with clubs in eastern U.S cities, bowling grew in popularity and spread to the Midwest—particularly cities like Milwaukee—as German-Americans …
The Vulcan Corporation
The Vulcan Corporation was founded in 1909 in Ohio as a manufacturer of wooden shoe lasts. The business really took off once they developed a new shoe last turning lathe. In 1919, Vulcan started a plant …
An Immigrant Family in Rural Wisconsin
Rose Mary Drab was born in southeastern Langlade County on April 23 of 1913. Her family had settled there the year before on a small farm south of Antigo. Originally named Drabowski, Rose Mary’s parents …