Wisconsin 101

Marathon City Brewing and the Wee Willy Basketball Team

The Marathon City Brewery sponsored local sports teams like the Wee Willy basketball team, originally known as the Catholic Youth Organization Team, which organized in 1936. Though the team temporarily disbanded during World War II, in the mid-1940s, young men from the…

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September 14, 2021

The Marathon Brewery’s Chain of Calamities

In the early 1880s, Franz Sindermann, who was trained as a brewer in Germany, formed a brewery in Marathon, Wisconsin with his brother, August, along with a third partner, Charles Klein. The brewery got off to a good start, producing 300 barrels…

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September 14, 2021

Marathon County / Marathon / Marathon Brewing Company "Superfine" Beer Bottle / Region 2 - North East / Food & Cooking / Manufacturing & Trade / Object Histories / 1940-1960

OBJECT HISTORY: Marathon Brewing Company “Superfine” Beer bottle

The "Superfine" beer bottle is from the 1940/1950s from the Marathon City Brewing Company. Superfine was one of the many labels produced by Marathon City Brewery over eight decades from 1881 to 1966, featuring names such as Tannenbaum, Marathon Holiday, Marathon Bock,…

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August 31, 2021

Taylor County / Region 2 - North East / Medford / Bark Spud / Manufacturing & Trade / 1880-1900 / Object Histories / Nature & Environment

OBJECT HISTORY: Bark Spud

The bark spud is an iron tool used to remove bark from cut timber. Most bark spuds have a steel head with a hard wooden handle. The head is rounded or dish-shaped and has one cutting edge. The sharp wedge on the end of the bark spud slides between bark and wood on a log…

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September 10, 2020

Migrant Worker's Cabin

Oconto / Oconto County / Migrant Worker's Cabin / 2000-2020 / Region 2 - North East / Home Furnishings / Manufacturing & Trade / Object Histories / 1920-1940 / Nature & Environment / 1940-1960 / 1960-1980 / 1980-2000

OBJECT HISTORY: Migrant Worker’s Cabin

This cabin, once occupied by a family of migrant workers employed by the Bond Pickle Company, is located at the property of Thomas and Jamie Sobush of Pensaukee, Wisconsin. The cabin was originally one of many other small cabins, clustered together at the Bond Village Migrant Camp on Van Hecke Avenue in Oconto, Wisconsin. The…

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September 10, 2020

Langlade County / Antigo / Region 2 - North East / Mepps Fishing Lure / Manufacturing & Trade / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Object Histories / 1920-1940 / Nature & Environment / Global Connections

OBJECT HISTORY: Mepps Fishing Lure

The classic Mepps fishing lure the Aglia, was invented in France in the 1930s and patented in 1938. (Mepps is a French acronym for Manufacturier d’ Engins de Precision pour Peches Sportives, translated as “Manufacture of Precision Equipment for Sport Fishing”.) It was introduced to northern Wisconsin, and to the U.S., by a G.I. returning from France.…

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September 10, 2020