Wisconsin 101

Preventing Hearing Loss

In 1953, Wisconsin added occupational hearing loss to the list of claimable conditions under workers compensation. Employers Mutual of Wausau quickly created a program that would make the company an industry leader in hearing loss prevention. Creating a hearing loss prevention program not only…

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May 24, 2018

Le Maire Sundial / Related Stories / Green Bay / 1600-1800 / Region 5 - Center East / Brown County / Science & Medicine / Nature & Environment / Religion / Global Connections

French Cartography in the Great Lakes

French mariners and explorers using the Le Maire Sundial Compass depended on both their own specialized navigational expertise and maps produced by French cartographers. Many such maps were created based on explorer accounts of the navigable waterways between the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi…

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May 21, 2018

The SS Meteor / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / Nature & Environment / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / 1960-1980 / Transportation & Tourism

Great Lakes Shipping and the SS Meteor

The SS Meteor sailed the lakes longer than most ships of her day, and in her many reincarnations she offers a portrait of how some of the industries on the Great Lakes changed– and what those changes meant for Wisconsin. Launched in 1896, the then-named Frank…

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May 21, 2018

The American Steel Barge Company

Duluth, MN and Superior, WI face each other across the Saint Louis Bay. In the mid-nineteenth century, as grain harvests of the northern plains expanded, logging grew, and as iron and copper mining developed in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula, shipping…

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May 21, 2018

Early Lifesaving Stations in Wisconsin

A Slow Beginning As maritime commerce grew in the early 19th century, the loss of vessels and crews to shipwreck increased. In 1848, the federal government, through the United States Revenue Marine, established its first lifesaving stations along the New Jersey coast. The…

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May 21, 2018

Milwaukee County / Lifesaving Medal / Milwaukee / Region 8 - South East / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / 1880-1900 / Nature & Environment / Transportation & Tourism

The Wreck of the Tanner

The Wrecked VesselThe Tanner was a barque, or three-masted ship, whose foremast was square-rigged and whose main-and mizzenmasts were fore-and-aft rigged. It measured 156.38 feet long by 31.75 feet in breadth. The ship was built in 1863 by the Milwaukee shipbuilding firm Ellsworth & Davidson and…

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May 21, 2018