Wisconsin 101

Migrant Workers and the Bond Pickle Company

The Bond Pickle Company of Oconto, Wisconsin was founded in 1915 by five brothers. The Bond brothers quickly developed the firm, by 1917 acquiring 10 “salting stations” where the cucumbers were received from local farmers and a processing factory on West Main Street in…

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September 1, 2017

2000-2020 / 2020-2040 / Pre-1600 / 1600-1800 / Home Furnishings / 1800-1820 / 1820-1840 / 1840-1860 / 1860-1880 / 1880-1900 / Object Histories / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / Ethnicity & Identity / 1960-1980 / 1980-2000

OBJECT HISTORY: Cradleboard

Native Americans used cradleboards in North America to protect, carry, and entertain their babies. Cradleboards allowed women to keep babies close to their side. Women carried cradleboards on their backs. They also could rest them against a tree. The cradleboard protected babies from danger and kept them happy. Native tribes made cradleboards in many ways,…

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June 9, 2017

Read more about the article The Fromm Fur Farm

Captive foxes on a pelting range. Date unknown. Photograph courtesy of the Marathon County Historical Society.

Marathon County / Region 2 - North East / Related Stories / Hamburg / Fromm Fox Fur Coat / Manufacturing & Trade / Clothing & Fashion / 1900-1920 / Nature & Environment / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / 1960-1980

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 a quarter section of undeveloped wilderness near…

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January 1, 2017

Read more about the article The Lumber Industry in Northern Wisconsin

Lumber rafts on the Wisconsin River near the Wisconsin Dells, c. 1886. Photograph by H.H. Bennett, courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Image ID 6314.

Langlade County / 2000-2020 / 2020-2040 / Bark Spud / Related Stories / Home Furnishings / Manufacturing & Trade / Clothing & Fashion / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / Nature & Environment / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / 1960-1980 / 1980-2000

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 brought lumbermen to the north woods. Initially,…

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February 1, 2016

Read more about the article Bowling in Japan

Bowling featured on this 1964 cover of a special issue of Life Magazine devoted to Japan. Click to enlarge.

Langlade County / Antigo / Vulcan Bowling Pin / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / Art, Sport & Entertainment / 1960-1980 / Global Connections

Bowling in Japan

In 1964, a representative of Japanese company Sanko Trading visited the Vulcan Corporation, a bowling-pin manufacturer based in Antigo, Wisconsin. Sanko was seeking a deal for exclusive rights to import bowling pins to Japan. At the time, Vulcan didn’t think much of the…

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February 1, 2016

Read more about the article Milwaukee: The Bowling Capital of America

American Bowling Congress tournament in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, c. 1905. Photographer unknown.

Milwaukee County / Milwaukee / Vulcan Bowling Pin / Region 8 - South East / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / Art, Sport & Entertainment / 1860-1880 / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / 1960-1980 / 1980-2000 / Global Connections

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 migrated across the continent. Bowling was often…

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February 1, 2016