Republicans Celebrate Anniversary of GOP Birth in Wisconsin Schoolhouse

AP ^ | 3-20-04 | Todd Richmond

[Indy Pendance]

RIPON, Wis. (AP) - Republicans celebrated the 150th anniversary of their party Saturday by returning to the one-room schoolhouse where some historians believe the GOP was born.

The schoolhouse was the centerpiece of a daylong celebration in Ripon that included a display of political buttons at the city's library and an evening banquet featuring remarks by former Wisconsin Gov. Lee Dreyfus.

"This is the day," said Tom German, 54, of Brillion, as he walked through the schoolhouse, a national landmark that now serves solely as a museum.

The schoolhouse is outfitted with photos from every Republican president from Abraham Lincoln to George W. Bush and newspaper clippings of Lincoln's assassination.

The schoolhouse is a huge source of pride for Ripon, a town of about 7,000 people, 1 1/2 hours northeast of Madison.

This month Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., slipped through a resolution naming Ripon as the place where the Republican Party had its first meeting, March 20, 1854. It passed the Senate unanimously during a routine series of motions, but did not make it though the House.

New Hampshire's two Republican senators, who unwittingly approved the resolution, went into an uproar. New Hampshire Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Van McLeod claims a meeting in Exeter, N.H., in 1853 was the party's true genesis.

Bunk, says Tim Lyke, master of ceremonies at the Ripon banquet and publisher of the weekly newspaper Ripon Commonwealth Press. He said the Republican name came out of the Wisconsin meeting.

"It all came together here," Lyke said. "We love to play games with the New Hampshire people."

[rmmcdaniell]

This month Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., slipped through a resolution naming Ripon as the place where the Republican Party had its first meeting, March 20, 1854. It passed the Senate unanimously during a routine series of motions, but did not make it though the House.

New Hampshire's two Republican senators, who unwittingly approved the resolution, went into an uproar. New Hampshire Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Van McLeod claims a meeting in Exeter, N.H., in 1853 was the party's true genesis.

Sort of like the patriot act? Approving it without lending a single brain cell to consider the implications. Fools!

[LPM1888]

Somebody better tell the people of Jackson, Michigan about this. They have a sign at the city limits claiming that Jackson is the birthplace of the Republican Party. They're going to be pi$$ed.

[Sacajaweau]

Geez, I think I have something that pre-dates both of those places. I'll look in my Library. I think I remember the book with the info.