Posted on 01/02/2016 5:01:53 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
One of the best things about getting older is that you never stop learning. I learned a few things from this e-mail. Interesting - Especially the one about Green Bay and #10 -- Oconomowoc was popular with gangsters. (So was Mequon.)
Growing up in Wisconsin, a lot of us learned some facts about the state's history and took an historical field trip or two. But there are some things many people just don't know about the state despite living here for a long time. Here are ten little-known facts about Wisconsin's history.
1. Everything that Wisconsin is is thanks to glaciers.
Why is it that Wisconsin has enjoyed excellent crops, a dairy industry, beautiful forests, and almost a lake per person? You can thank Wisconsin glaciation. Wisconsin glaciation extended from approximately 85,000 to 10,000 years ago. Prehistoric human migration was greatly influenced through this last glacial period. Beyond that, it left us admiring some awesome geography, such as Devil's Lake State Park.
2. There are tons of effigy mounds hiding across Wisconsin.
The author has come across some of these mounds and had no idea that what he was looking at was not due to geology. Effigy mounds are raised piles of earth that were built in the shape of an animal, symbol or other figure. They were built by Native American communities throughout the country, but the most in the country are right here in Wisconsin. They built between 15,000 and 20,000 of these mounds. Today, still 4,000 exist.
3. The United States acquired Wisconsin from France.
Ha ha ha (cue French accent). Yeah, we are all little Frenchies. The French came up here and basically dominated the fur trade, bringing beaver furs back to Europe, where they were all the rage. They maintained control over us until the Treaty of Paris (1783). We were originally claimed by Massachusetts and Virginia. Eventually, we became our own state.
4. Many of the first settlers were lead miners.
You might think that Wisconsin is the "Badger State" because these cute little guys are found in Wisconsin. Actually, the reference has to do with the rush of lead miners in our state during the early 19th century. Men came to Wisconsin to mine, and rather than build structures, they would actually burrow into the hillsides. That's kind of what badgers do, so the name stuck.
5. The Republican Party was born in Ripon, Wisconsin.
A lot of people do not know that the Republican party was founded in Ripon, Wisconsin. It was founded at a meeting at the Little White Schoolhouse, which you can visit and is included on the Registered Historic Places list. The reason this party came into existence was for the express purpose to combat slavery.
6. The most disastrous fire in United States history happened in Wisconsin.
A lot of people learn about the Great Chicago Fire, even if they aren't from Illinois. But most people never learn about the Great Peshtigo Fire. Coincidentally, it occurred on the same exact day as the Chicago fire. But it was much more devastating. In fact, it caused the most deaths in one fire in United States history. As many as 2,500 people perished as a result of this fire (by contrast, the Great Chicago fire only killed around 300). Small fires were often set to clear land in Wisconsin, but on that fateful day, incredibly strong winds fanned the flames and it quickly became out of control.
7. Madison has not always been the capital of Wisconsin.
Actually, Madison was not the first. The first was Belmont, and there is a free admission historic museum located just outside of there. In these buildings, territorial legislators first met to establish the territorial government.
8. Wisconsin's oldest city is Green Bay?
It seems like Milwaukee or Madison would have been the first city. But the oldest city is actually Green Bay. Nicolet founded a trading post in Green Bay back in 1634, originally naming Green Bay "La Baie des Puants" (which means 'the stinking bay'). The British renamed it Green Bay...you're welcome. Because The Stinking Bay Packers really doesn't have the same ring to it.
9. The first American kindergarten was started in Wisconsin.
The first American kindergarten was actually started in Watertown, Wisconsin. It was opened in 1856 by Margarethe Schurz, who started a home kindergarten for her daughter and four of the cousins. She soon let other children in. You can even visit the actual house, which was been converted into a museum.
10. Wisconsin has provided a hideaway for a LOT of gangsters.
You might think that all of the old-time gangsters operated in Chicago or on the East Coast. But there is a huge history of gangsters up in Wisconsin. They really enjoyed Waukesha County, particularly Oconomowoc. Some notorious vacationers included Baby Face Nelson, Bugs Moran, John Dillinger, and, of course, Al Capone.
Why didn't we learn this stuff in history class? Or, did we?
Yep.
It seems we have fresh water to drink due to global warming.
Same fish, different story in east central Illinois: The “Suckers” were people from Indiana who came to Illinois to vote and then returned to Indiana.
Another thing i learned while here is that Appleton used to be a “sundown town”
I found that out while researching on the net, believe it or not Illinois is number one in the nation.
Ummmm...yummmmmy pasties. I knew about the connection to
Cornwall but always thought that they were more of an upper MI treat than here in WI. Interesting info.
I make pasties regularly (using shortcuts). My mom was born & raised in the UP where many worked in the mines.
Enjoyed the post AFFTR. I didn’t know a few of those details.
Wayne Campbell: So, do you come to Milwaukee often?
Alice Cooper: Well, I’m a regular visitor here, but Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers were coming here as early as the late 1600s to trade with the Native Americans.
Pete: In fact, isn’t “Milwaukee” an Indian name?
Alice Cooper: Yes, Pete, it is. Actually, it’s pronounced “mill-e-wah-que” which is Algonquin for “the good land.”
Wayne Campbell: I was not aware of that.
Margarine was not sold in grocery stores, I think, until the mid 1970’s. It was BUTTER only. My family used to “bootleg” margarine when we visited relatives out of state back to Wisconsin.
Lived there (West Allis, then Appleton) through 8th grade—haven’t visited in 40+ years but want to one of these years.
In California, margarine looked like Crisco. The hosewife had to stir color in with a wooden spoon in a big bowl. After WWII, the big advance was the margarine coming in a plastic bag with a color capsule included. Then you kneaded the bag until the color disbursed throughout (that was my job). Finally, in the late 50s margarine was allowed to be sold in quarters, but it was cut in a different shape from butter. The Dairy industry was very powerful.
During the War, my grandmother and uncle had a dairy farm, so we could get butter during the war because they were producing for the Army and were allowed to keep a certain amount for themselves. Margarine was very difficult to get and used up scarce ration stamps. Butter was impossible to get. We brought back a supply of butter whenever we visited the “ranch”, as we called it in California. Normally my family would have eaten margarine because it was cheaper. I always loved butter when we could get it.
I was a very small child then, and sometimes we’d make our own butter. My other grandmother would skim the cream off the top of the milk and save it.(They hadn’t invented homogenized milk yet.) Then she’d put it in an old mayonnaise jar, and my job was to roll the jar around on the floor until it turned to butter. Then she’d salt it and we’d use it. We lived in the Central Valley of CA where it was very hot in the summer. It didn’t take long to make butter by that method.
He’s wonderful. I have a bumper sticker that says “I STILL stand with Scott Walker.”
I don’t know about Dassy, but Avery was convicted.
True!
It’s “Forward”. Obama stole it from us in the 2012 election.
Never heard of them until the other day. Out for a holiday toast with friends had a Leinenkugels Cranberry Ginger Shandy. Mighty refreshing.
Wisconsin outlawed the death penalty very early in our history when a public hanging went awry and the man didn’t die right away. People were appalled and the death penalty was outlawed very early in our history as a state.
Prisoners sometimes impose it on others in prison as happened about 20 years ago with Jeffrey Dahomer and Steven (?) Anderson. Each of them had insulted the black community in some way (many of Dahmer’s victims were black and Anderson tried to frame a black man for the murder of his wife). They were both cut down and killed in prison by another prisoner on the same day. The perp was already serving a life sentence for another, so nothing more was done to him except to tack on more years to his sentence.
Ripon Wisconsin claims the distinction, nevertheless.
You are very welcome. Sometimes current news just becomes overwhelming.
People in Wisconsin (and some restaurants) still serve pastys in the winter. Mmmmmmm-good!
There are 2 benefits to our bitter cold.
1. The grass doesn’t grow so you get a break from mowing the lawn.
2. You get to own and wear fur (both men and women) and nobdy (well, hardly anybody) says a thing.
And God lives in the Bluffs - at least a friend from La Crosse (for those unfamiliar with Wisconsin, it’s right across the river from Winona, MN) was wont to tell me it was God’s country....
You know, of course, that the rugged erosional topography of southwestern Wisconsin survives as it is because it was not glaciated.
There stands a little white frame house, originally a schoolhouse, I believe, near a highway in the vicinity of Ripon (?), identified by a sign as the birthplace of the Republican Party.
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