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 …
1940s
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 …
Migrant Labor and Door County Cherries
Early Door County cherry orchards relied heavily on local workers, and all members of the family were expected to contribute. From the planting process, spraying of fungicides, pruning, and finally cherry picking, each cherry tree …
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 …
Cherryland Tourism
The beginnings of Door County tourism preceded the cherry industry boom by several decades. The natural beauty and cool temperatures made it an attractive destination for urbanites in search of a respite from the summer …
The Fromm Fur Farm
The land that became the Fromm Fur Farm was first settled by Joachim Nieman, a forester who came to Wisconsin as part of the mass immigration from Germany after 1848. He gave his daughter Alwina …
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 …
Canine Distemper and the Fromm Vaccine
One of the most formidable problems that fur farmers faced in in the early twentieth century were the epidemic diseases that would strike their herds each year. Many fur farmers had come to see losses …
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 …