434 Researching Wisconsin Community History of the State, Historical Society

RESEARCHING Wisconsin Community History of the State Historical Society. An incomplete series of 20 articles pertaining to genealogy and historic research that were written by various historians and
educators.The material was just 'too nice' to dispose of. NOTES: There will not be a paper booklet of this PDF. The documents may be relocated in the archives of the WKCHS.

9649114

unknown

434 Researching Wisconsin Community History of the State, Historical Society.pdf

Linda Valentine Snippets

Linda Valentine Snippets

Copyright undetermined

text

eng

Wisconsin

History

Midwest

Pamphlets

Kenosha County, Wisconsin

PDF

Valentine

SNIPPETS of SALEM
434- RESEARCHING
Wisconsin Community
History of the State
Historical Society
Contents:
An incomplete series of 20 articles pertaining to genealogy and
historic research that were written by various historians and
educators.
The material was just 'too nice' to dispose of.

NOTES:
There will not be a paper booklet of this PDF.
The documents may be relocated in the archives of the WKCHS.

0-73 pages
NOTE:
The materials herein were contributed by those of the area who wished that the history they have
experienced be saved for the future generations. These may represent private documents as well
as previously published articles and obituaries and images from their saved collections ..
Researchers should also refer to the Valentine Digital archives at the SALEM COMMUNITY
LIBRARY (and perhaps other websites) for more images in this collection or digital images of
items photocopied in this booklet or related to the topic.

Compiled 4/2014 by L S Valentine Copyright©Valentine2014

Valentine

SNIPPETS of SALEM
434- RESEARCHING
Wisconsin Community
History of the State
Historical Society
Contents:
An incomplete series of 20 articles pertaining to genealogy and
historic research that were written by various historians and
educators.
The material was just 'too nice' to dispose of.

NOTES:
There will not be a paper booklet of this PDF.
The documents may be relocated in the archives of the WKCHS.

0-73 pages
NOTE:
The materials herein were contributed by those of the area who wished that the history they have
experienced be saved for the future generations. These may represent private documents as well
as previously published articles and obituaries and images from their saved collections ..
Researchers should also refer to the Valentine Digital archives at the SALEM COMMUNITY
LIBRARY (and perhaps other websites) for more images in this collection or digital images of
items photocopied in this booklet or related to the topic.

Compiled 4/2014 by L S Valentine Copyright©Valentine2014

j //
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to provide this service, the Sanborn Company began to produce large scale (fifty
feet to an inch) extremely detailed maps (including even the direction of prevailing winds) focusing upon the downtown areas of cities. They included the
size and number of stories of every building, the type of construction, the nature of the business or businesses which occupied individual buildings or larger
commercial "blocks", the presence of fire hazards such as blacksmith forges,
large baker's ovens or stored kerosene, and the existence of fire fighting
equipment, cisterns or community water works.
·--~----'"'k-

The Sanborn map makers developed a
detailed set of symbols to indicate the
features of individual buildings. As
the key shows, color indicated the material of which buildings were constructed. Other symbols were used to
show the type of roofing, the presence
of fire walls or iron shutters, the
number of stories, and the location of
windows and doors.

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Since communities were always changing,
the Sanborn Company continually updated maps to reflect new construction
+ FIRE STAT ION. AS SI10WII 011 MIY MAP.
and different uses of existing buildALTfRNAT! STREET NUMBERS "RE ACTUAL
ings. In rapidly expanding cities,
~CONS-ECUTIVE ST".EET NO'S ARE "RIIITR,.RV. _;
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updated versions appeared frequently.
In Eau Claire, for example, Sanborn
maps exist for 1885, 1887, 1889, 1894, and 1897. On the average, however, the
company updated maps approximately every five years.
Sanborn maps exist for 325 Wisconsin communities. The earliest date from 188J
and some have information as recent as 1970. Most, however, are between 1883
and 1930. Maps were created for small cities and villages as well as large ones.
The selection for Wisconsin includes communities ranging in size from Milwaukee
to Wilson in St. Croix County, whose 1980 population was only 155 people.
Although the maps were created to provide details about the commercial district
in communities, some residential neighborhoods are also included--especially
those areas within one to three blocks from downtown.
The State Historical Society's collection of Sanborn Maps is extensive, and although the maps do not generally circulate within the ARC network, many Center's
have obtained copies for their regions. The ARCs at Eau Claire, La Crosse,
Stout, River Falls. Oshkosh and Parkside all have microform or other copies. In
addition, smaller sets have been microfilmed for the counties of Rock and
Kewaunee, as well as for the cities of Appleton, Merrill, Wausau and Wisconsin
Rapids.
~

Microfilm copies will soon become even more easily available. The State Historical Society has ordered a complete microfilm edition of Sanborn maps for
the State of Wisconsin which will be available through interlibrary loan. In
addition, the Center for Research Libraries in Chicago, Illinois, is purchasing
a microfilm edition, which may be borrowed by ARCs through the OW-System interlibrary loan program.
The following illustrations show some of the typical information one can find
on the Sanborn Maps and suggest some of the different ways that they may be
used to obtain information about communities, individual businesses, residences
or neighborhoods.

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We can begin to trace the development of one small portion of a
downtown district by examining this
1884 Sanborn Map. At the top is
N. A. Thelander's manufacturing business which produces carriages,
doors, blinds, and other wood products. The dotted lines indicate
the location of stacked lumber, and
the word "drive" between the stacks
indicates that there is sufficient
room for a carriage--or a fire wagon--to drive through. The colored
original shows that all the buildings were constructed of wood. Notice how the map shows the location
of wells, pumps, and water tanks,
and the fact that the blacksmith
shop at tpe upper left was vacant
at that time. The River Falls Roller
Riak was immediately south of Thelander's, also constructed of wood.

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Only seven years later, many changes
have taken place. By 1891 the Thelander property has been purchased by
another businessman and expanded considerably. The former "Carriage Repository" has been changed into a large
"three forge" blacksmith shop, with
additions to the west and south for
painting, woodworking and harness shops.
The 1884 planing mill building is almost
gone. Only the front warehouse portion
remains and it has been converted into
a band room. Note how the distance to
the river has been recorded at the upper left corner of the map. This was
an important consideration in the days
of bucket brigades and hand-pump hose
carts.

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The old roller rink has been literally
picked up and moved away from the
street. A two-story brick veneer
boarding house has been added to the
front and the rink is being used as a
theatre.

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Between 1891 and 1900 the theatre has undergone only minor changes, but it
has come to be known by the more glamorous name of the "Opera Hall." However,
the carriage factory is totally different. Research in the local newspaper
quickly tells us why: in 1893 Lund's business was completely destroyed by
fire. The new building at the upper right has been constructed of brick and
stone rather than wood. We also can see that the firm has started to sell
agricultural implements. The final map, from 1912, shows continued expansion
with the addition of a large new building for implements, buggies and wagons,
and a line of hardware which was added after 1900.

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A close examination and comparison
of Sanborn maps can also reveal important information about changing
economic conditions in a community
over the years. The map to the far
left shows one block in a Wisconsin
city's commercial district during a
depression in 1891. Notice that in
this single block there are three
vacant buildings where businesses
have gone bankrupt.

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Compare this with the same block
only nine years later. The map
from 1900 shows every building occupied at that time. We also can see
how stable the businesses appear to
have been. Moving from the top to
the bottom of the map, the hardware
store, confectionary, harness shop,
flour & feed store, saloon & billiard
parlor, laundry, sample room, saloon,
office and dining room are virtually
unchanged from one map to the other.

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1900

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Although the Sanborn Insurance Maps focus upon a community's business district,
some also include a large portion of the residential area. Individual homes
were recorded with the same precision as large factories. For this reason the
maps are an excellent resource for determining when homes were built, and how

-8-

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they have changed over the years. The four illustrations below show a single
residential dwelling between 1884 and 1912. Extensive remodelling has completely
changed the appearance of the home, and the Sanborn map makes it possible to
determine approximately when each of t.he changes was made. Notice the bay window which appears in both the 1884 and the 1891 diagram. The dotted lines which
appear along exterior walls indicate porches, or partially enclosed areas.

1884

1891

1900

1912

For additional information about Sanborn Maps, contact the Area Research Center
in your district or the Map Librarian at the State Historical Society.

WISCONSIN'S
AREA RESEARCH CENTER
NETWORK
1 State Historical Society of Wisconsin,
Madison
2 University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse
3 University of Wisconsin-Platteville
4 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
5 University of Wisconsin-Parkside
6 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
7 University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
8 University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
9 University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
10 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
11 University of Wisconsin-Stout,
Menomonie
12 University of Wisconsin-River Falls
13 University of Wisconsin-Superior
14 Northland College, Ashland

\11

-9-

From Exchange

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Lb, No. l

Winter 1986

~(

~a<eetrching

l~ C\Visconsin Community q{jstory

L

Resources at the State Historical Society
This is the second in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society. It was written by Tim Ericson~
Archivist for the Statewide Cooperative Collection Development Project.

Church Records- Part 1
Wisconsin church records, and vital records kept by early itinerant missionaries, are widely used by genealogists and by researchers tracing the history
of their congregations for acentennial or another special event. However,
records from churches or other religious organizations--regardless of their
denomination--also have broader research value for all community historians.
Religion has been an important factor in Wisconsin history since the earliest
days of settlement. Often a church was the first record-keeping organization
in the community. In many cases, missionaries were among the first people
to travel through a newly settled region and write what they saw of the
land and the people. In addition to serving religious needs, churches often
became the primary social and cultural centers in small frontier villages.
They sponsored educational programs and functioned as centers of community
life for ethnic immigrant groups. Churches actively promoted community
improvements such as schools, and they served as the rallying points for
social crusades of the day, from the abolitionists of the Civil War era to
the longstanding prohibition campaign to the civil rights movements of the
1960s.
Because of churches' close involvement in community affairs, and th~ average
clergyman's overriding concern for the well-being of Wisconsin's early
inhabitants, religious records--aside from what they might tell us about an
individual church--often contain unique, invaluable information about the
early history of specific localities.

~

Many of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin's religious records-particularly individual church records--have been distributed throughout the
Area Research Center network where they are closer to their area of origin
and more accessible to local researchers. Additionally, many ARCs also have
collections from regional denominational organizations. For example, the
Eau Claire ARC has records from the Episcopal Diocese of Eau Claire (l877l949:EC Mss V) which include registers and record books from several regional
Episcopal congregations. The Oshkosh ARC has a similar collection from the
Episcopal Diocese of Fond duLac (1860, 1862, 1873-1935:0SH Mss AV).

- 7 -

1,

Denominational Organizational Records
Many church-related collections remain at the State Historical Society in
Madison. Among the most useful are several large collections of association
or conference records which contain a great deal of information about local
churches and communities throughout the state. Notable among these are the
archives of the United Church of Christ-Wisconsin Conference (1839-1958:
Mss 181). In addition to minutes and proceedings, a large portion of this
collection is composed of files on individual Congregational (UCC) churches
in more than 200 different Wisconsin communities. Typically these files
contain photographs, correspondence, newsletters, reports, and other
records. Although the files pertain directly to the church, they often
contain valuable information about the history of the community or the
region in which the church is located. The following excerpt--from a letter
written by a minister in the Trego, Wisconsin, area in 1930--provides insight into conditions in that region at the time of the Great Depression.
"Northern Wisconsin has for some time been facing a very serious
economic condition which has been aggravated this summer and
fall by the drouth. For over two months our locality has not
had a rain and all hay, potatoes, grain and other crops burned
up. One grower with 80 acres of potatoes told me the other
day his crop would not bring $10 per acre. Douglas County
is offering its land at $2 per acre and has thousands of acres
of abandoned farms to sell."
It is easy to see how such information would be an interesting addition to a
community history. The UCC files date primarily from the 1920s to the 1950s,
although some contain documentation as far back as the 1880s. To find out

~
FiZes of church records often document important community-related activities.
Here the pastor of a Trego church prepares to distribute clothing to needy
families during the Great Depr~ssion.
SHSW WHi(x3) 41715.

- 8 -

~

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which communities are included in this collection, researchers should consult
the nearest ARC or the Reference Archivist at the State Historical Society.
The Wisconsin Congregational Conference (1840-1949:Wis Mss GX) is a similar
collection which includes records from Ripon College, Brockway College, and
church records from 38 Wisconsin communities, as distant from one another as
Cumberland, Platteville, Stoughton and Green Bay.
The American Home Missionary Society collection (1827-1848:Wis Mss GV) includes approximately 300 photostat copies of letters written by missionaries
who worked in Wisconsin Territory prior to 1848. Many letters describe,
in striking detail, the hardships endured by some of our pioneer ancestors.
The following excerpt from one such letter, written by a missionary in the
Burlington/Roches~er region, illustrates that bilingualism was an issue in
1847 as it is today, and that the "American Dream" was not achieved quickly
by everyone:
"The majority of the [Norwegian immigrants] know nothing of
the English language & from so far as I learn, care nothing
for it. An English school has been taught among them one or
two winters, by means of which a few children have acquired
some knowledge of our language. Many of the parents, however,
reject the opportunity with ignorant self conceit, and say they
have no need of English •.• A few of them .•. have neat &·comfortable dwellings ••• but a majority of them,especially those who
emigrated from the barren regions of Norway, are poor & miserable
and know little of the arts of husbandry whereby to gain a
livelihood."
The same letter concludes with a moving description of the conditions endured
by one immigrant family during the winter of 1846-1847:
"I visited one family in which I found every individual, eight in
number, prostrated with disease. Two of them, the father and a
daughter of some 16 years, were shaking violently with the ague.
The daughter shoeless and nearly destitute of clothing stood
hovering over a few live coals by the side of which stood an
old filthy looking copper tea kettle, from the spout of which
they would take their turns drinking. The others were huddled in
bunks filled with prairie hay with nothing over them •.. save a few
sheep skins sewed together. Aside from the tea kettle we saw
but one article of furniture ••. a wooden bowl filled with what
I took to be [bread] kneaded and prepared for baking. This, as
near as I could learn, was all they had in the house with which
to support life."

~.

The archives of the Methodist Episcopal Church-West Wisconsin Conference
(1848-195l:Wis Mss UT), encompasses a territory roughly west of a line from
Ashland to Beloit. Many of the records in this collection were compiled by
a conferenc~ historical society which was organized to encourage the writing
and preservation of church histories. There is historical information on
churches from more than 100 different Wisconsin communities. Files include
newspaper clippings, unpublished historical manuscripts and correspondence.
Church historians will be interested in conference and circuit histories,
biographies of ministers who served in the region, local and association
- 9 -

.....

lt

newsletters, membership and baptismal records, and other statistical information relating to churches in western Wisconsin. Detailed lists of the
contents of this rich collection also are available at each of the ARCs or
from the Reference Archivist at the State Historical Society.
The Wisconsin Baptist State Convention (1842-1955:Mss 274) has a similar
collection, although it is less extensive than either the UCC or the
Methodist archives. The Baptist materials include short church histories
from approximately 30 communities around Wisconsin. There is, in addition,
a large number of typed transcripts of letters from Baptist ministers who
were in Wisconsin during the 1840s, 1850s and 1860s. The letters generally
are short, but they were written by missionaries working from Racine to
Superior, and many contain valuable information about the respective regions.
The account below, written March 12, 1857, by a missionary in the Green Bay
region, shows that at least some of Wisconsin's early settlers took their
religion very seriously:
"Last Sabbath I baptized the first person into the fellowship
of the church. The candidate was a young lady 18 years of age.
We repaired to the Fox River [which] was covered with ice three
feet thick, [and] in which a beautiful baptistry had been cut
for the occasion. A flight of steps cut in the ice descended
to the bottom of the river. It was the first baptism [by]
immersion in Green Bay [and] it made an impression on persons
of other denominations."
The State Historical Society has recently purchased a large collection of
Wisconsin American Lutheran Church records (1844-1978), originally microfilmed
for the ALC archives at Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. This collection
includes records from more than 300 Wisconsin communities. The Platteville
ARC also has an extensive collection of microfilmed ALC church records from
the southwestern part of the state (Platteville Micro 16).

~

A Spring Valley Congregational Church file contains several photographs documenting a
disasterous flood that almost wiped out the community in September, 1942.
SHSW WHi(x3) 41716.

- 10 -

"

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During the 1930's many found it impossible to make financial pledges. Instead they gave
food or other "in-kind" contributions. Church members shown here use a tractor-powered
saw to cut wood for the church.
SHSW, WHi(x3) ?1714.

Works Progress Administration Survey Records
Certainly one of the most fascinating collections of church~related material
can be found in the records of the Works Progress Administration (1936~1942:
Series 1953). During the Great Depression the WPA undertook many projects,
among which was a survey of Wisconsin church records. During this search,
workers also compiled brief histories of all the churches they could find~~
even some which had ceased to exist years prior to the survey. The result
is a gold mine for community historians.
Individual histories are generally quite brief, noting facts such as the
date of founding, names of ministers and other church officers, highlights
in the church's history, and information on the church buildings(s). Occa~
sionally photographs, news clippings, annual reports, brochures and other
historica~ material accompany the written reports.
Even these brief sum~
maries often contain valuable information, as illustrated by the selection
from a now defunct Baptist church located in Pierce County:
"[The church was] organized in 1889. People in this community
donated logs for lumber and their services. Soon a frame church
building was erected and dedicated in 1889 . . . . Slowly the mem~
bership dwindled and by 1925 there were not enough members left
to hold services, and so from 1925 to 1930 the Baptist Conference
held quarterly meetings.
[In] 1930 [the] Conference sold the
building to the Ku Klux Klan, and in 1939 the building was torn
down."
~

11

~

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Community historians will find the WPA collection useful for many reasons.
Most important is the sheer number of histories included--close to five
thousand! The survey covered all parts of the state--both rural and urban-and includes information about churches that have long since ceased to exist.
The collection would be indispensible, for example, to a researcher looking
at the history of churches on a county-wide basis. The survey encompasses
all denominations, including Catholic churches that are not represented in
most other Historical Society collections. It also includes denominations
which are extremely small, or which no longer exist, such as the Church of
God in Christ, the Christadelphians, and the Foursquare Baptists founded by
the famous woman evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. Finally, the collection
also contains information about religious organizations such as the Salvation
Army, YMCA and non-denominational groups.

Church Records, Histories & Missionary Correspondence
The archives section also has a large number of individual church histories
and original church records, as well as letters, recollections and records of
itinerant missionaries who traveled around the state during the early years
of settlement. Like the examples cited above, these resources frequently
contain unique information about the early history of Wisconsin communities.
The following excerpt, written in 1833 by a missionary in the Prairie du Chien
area, gives advice to prospective emigrants:
"The soil is certainly superior to any I ever saw in any country,
producing small grain such as wheat, oats &c., from 30 to 45
bushels per acre. Corn does not grow so well here as in Missouri
and Illinois, but I am told that 40 bushels per acre may be
expected.
[Concerning] the price of staple products ... corn and wheat $1
per bushel, oats 50 cents, pork and beef from $5 to $6 per hundred. I gave since I came $45 for two cows and calves, and was
glad to get them.
Prospects for common laborers [are as follows:] $15 and boarding
are given per month for laborers on a farm, fifty cents per cord
for chopping wood, and $18 to $25 for digging minerals. I know
of no place in the United States, where laborers can do better
than in this country."
For additional information about any archival records related to churches,
missionaries and religious organizations, contact the Reference Archivist,
State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin
53706, or the nearest Area Research Center.

I~

- 12 -

-- --··-

--~~-~---~

~~<earching

Ll~ CVVisconsin Community ®story
Resources at the State Historical Society
This is the third in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society. It was written by Tim Ericson~
Archivist for the Statewide Cooperative Collection Development Project at
the Society.

Church Records-Part 2
Community historians excited by the richness of information contained in
church records in the Archives of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin
will also find useful material in the State Historical Society Library's
large collection of resources about Wisconsin churches and religious
organizations. Like the records in the Archives & Manuscripts section,
Library collections contain unique information about Wisconsin's early
settlers, and the cities, villages, and rural localities they inhabited.
Included, of course, are hundreds of individual church histories from
throughout the state. But community historians probably will find even more
unique and fascinating information in one of the many publications issued by
various religious organizations active in Wisconsin during the nineteenth
century.
One of the earliest and most extensive is the Home Missionary (1828-1909:
DS.7H7). This publication regularly featured letters from missionaries
living in all parts of the Wisconsin frontier, especially in the years
prior to 1880. Although these letters focus primarily upon religious matters,
they also contain a wealth of material about individual communities, and about
the people who had immigrated to the state. For example, the following
selection, from a letter written in 1856 by a missionary in Trempealeau County,
gives an early account of the origin of that county's name.
"There is, just east of the Trempealeau River . . . a conical
bluff which appears to stand in the water when the rivers are
high.
To this the French gave the name 'Trempe a l'eau'
[which means] soaked in water.
This is the origin of the name
now applied to the range of bluffs, river, county and town."
Another selection, from North Pepin in 1857, tells something about the hardships faced by early settlers.

'~

\~

". . . many thoughts and cares are about the comfort of wife and
children.
Till within about ten days past we lived in a very
uncomfortable log cabin--so low that we must always stoop or hit
our head upon the boards above.
It is no slight trial of one's
patience to be always thumping the head against a rough board or
beam.
This cabin became so cold that we really suffered in it
before we left.
Some of our Eastern friends would not think such

- 19 -

v.

t

accommodations endurable.
new country."

But such we have to put up with in a

A third example, from Praire du Chien, gives an excellent idea of how scarce
money was on the Wisconsin frontier in 1858.
"The [$2] fee [for baptizing two children] was a 'godsend.' We
had been, for some time, borrowing, and the last dollar was
spent, the flour barrel was empty, and over every store door
is now written in large letters TERMS CASH.
The $2 bought us a
sack of flour and one dollar, a donation from an old lady, got us
some butter and cheese. These, with some stores remaining from
last year's,garden, afforded bountiful supplies."
Other publications, similar to the Home Missionary, contain equally useful
information about the establishment and building of churches, and about the
early history of Wisconsin communities. For example, Church Building
Quarterly (1883-1909:
DS.7C57), published by the American Congregational
Union, lists facts about hundreds of Wisconsin churches, including the year they
were built, the amount of aid they received, and the amount that had been
returned to the Society through local donations. Also included are many church
building designs which feature an artist's drawing of the building's exterior,
and detailed floor plans such as the one shown on the opposite page.
The Minutes of the Wisconsin Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church
(1861:BX/8381/WSl)
represents only one of several denominational publications that typically contain statistical and biographical information. However,
such proceedings also include revealing evidence about the attitudes and beliefs
of Wisconsinites at a given period of history.
The resolutions below, from
the 1861 Methodist Episcopal annual meeting, illustrate strong feelings on the
subject of liquor, and the outbreak of the Civil War:
Resolved, That we will do all that we can to cast odium on the
liquor traffic, and to banish from good society all that are engaged
in the nefarious business.
Resolved, That we strongly recommend that a sermon be preached at
least once a year, in all our congregations, on the subject [of
temperance reform].
Resolved, That all the war power of the nation should at once be
used to crush the rebellion.
Resolved, That the citizen who withholds from the Government, in
this time of peril, his earnest and cheerful support, is a traitor
to his country, and an enemy to his God.

"'\J~

The Baptist Home Mission Monthly (1881-1909: DS.7B21) featured regular
statistical tabulations of church membership and financial giving, biographical
information on ministers, diagrams of church buildings, and occasional articles
concerning work with ethnic groups in several Wisconsin regions. A regular
feature entitled "From the Field" included occasional excerpts of letters
written by wisconsin clergymen. Focusing more heavily on spiritual matters

- 2U -

.;;

DESIGN NO XVII

C.J\O\.I}'fo PJ..AT(.

s~·~-

[~~~~[~~~~~[[~~~~.
[~~~~[[~~~~[[~~~~·

~

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.

:

1

uu11 ~w:f;;;;~;~;.:-.~~;;-;..;.;.~
:~

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L!!CTURE. f\00"'\
20'o·x

za·o·

Sea..t•

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-~

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Illustration from the Church
Building Quarterly, Aoril 1883,
Vol. I, No. II. New York:
The American Congregational Union,
No. 59 Bible House, p. 47.

bS.

than the typical Home Missionary letters, they still contain some gems about
pioneer life in Wisconsin.
An 1888 letter from Chippewa Falls adds to our
knowledge about the importance of lumbering in that community:
11

Thousands of young men this winter have been here and are now
away in the camps far from everybody . . . This occupation takes
many for six or eight months of logging, so that the term 'woods
- 21 -

:);

e;

widow' has grown up in this north land and signifies the woman
whose husband is off in some distant camp earning a livelihood."
The Journal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Wisconsin (1847:BX/
5918/M6/J7) lists parishes and the names of all ministers, proceedings with
res~lutions concerning social issues with which the church was involved, and
reports from missionaries and rectors.
The following excerpt tells a few
intriguing details about a mass migration from one Wisconsin village during
1862 and 1863:
"I left my station in Theresa, Dodge Co., on the 18th of October,
1862, the Rev. F. A. Beckel taking my place. He found there yet
15 families of the old congregation; the most of them have left
since the time he took charge of the parish, and moved to
Minnesota and Nebraska, whereby the once flourishing mission has
been destroyed entirely."

The Wisconsin Historical Records Survey's six volume set entitled Inventorv of
the Church Archives of Wisconsin (CD/3590/H48) is the only portion of the WPA
church records survey (discussed in the previous issue of Exchange) that was
published in its final form.
The set encompasses six denominations: the Church
of the United Brethren, the Protestant Episcopal Church (Diocese of Fond duLac),
the Church of the Nazarene, the Disciples of Christ, the Assemblies of God and
the Moravian Church. Each volume includes a denominational history, a bibliography of secondary resources, a map showing the distribution of churches in
Wisconsin, and a brief historical sketch of churches, missions, hospitals,
schools and other denominational organizations. Much of the information duplicates the WPA records (Series 1953), although it is more complete and easier to
use.
Individual churches are indexed both by their name, and the name of the
community or county in which they were located. Typical church listings include
founding and ending dates, the names of ministers, and information about the
construction of church buildings. The Inventory of Church Archives would be
especially useful to persons researching counties or regions since it includes
both defunct and ongoing churches.

--

~

The periodicals mentioned above represent only a sample of the many publications
that have been preserved in the State Historical Society of Wisconsin's Library.
A host of denominational journals and almanacs contain articles and sermons
dealing with issues of the day, including the activities of reform groups like
the Anti-Saloon League, and reports about work among particular ethnic groups.
Religious newspapers contain names of clergymen, lists of churches and other
facts, figures and narrative information important to understanding the history
of Wisconsin churches and the communities of which they are a part. The types
and the amount of the information available in each of the titles varies
considerably depending upon the date, the denomination, and the nature of the
journal. Some, especially Lutheran publications, require a reading knowledge
of German or Norwegian, but almost all contain at least some information that
will be useful to church or community historians.
Many of these resources are available on interlibrary loan.
For further information write the Reference Librarian, State Historical Society of Wisconsin,
816 State Street, Madison, \Hsconsin 53706

- 22 -

1/J

<5'

When conducting research on the history of your county, township, village, or
city, remember to consult religious records.
From the beginning, churches
were important forces in Wisconsin communities. Missionaries and clergymen
were astute observers of the conditions that prevailed in the newly settled
territory, and of the attitudes of the early immigrants.
In addition to
telling about religious history, church records and publications document
aspects of the social, political and economic life that our Wisconsin
ancestors experienced as they built the communities in which we now live.

'""'-......
~~;'-

.i"<earching
L

From Exchange

Vol.28, No. 4

Autumn 1986

~ <:Wisconsin Community q[jstory
Resources at the State Historical Society
This is the fourth in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society. It was written by Tim Ericson~
Map Curator for the Society's Archives Division.

Published Government Documents
Community historians often have a difficult time finding new information pertaining to the early years of the village, township or county they are interested in writing about. Frequently they must rely upon previously published histories for the majority of their information, but for another excellent historical resource, think about all the different ways that government
influences our lives. At the local, county, and state level there are hundreds of agencies that deal with matters relating to business and manufacturing, public health, taxation, law enforcement, general welfare, agriculture, and a host of other responsibilities. In the process of performing
these duties, government agencies collect an enormous amount of statistical
and narrative data.
Government has been an information gatherer to some extent throughout Wisconsin's history. The information collected over the years and now preserved
at the State Historical Society, can tell community historians a great deal
about life in Wisconsin from the earliest days of settlement.
Although original government records are preserved in the State Archives, a
surprising number have been compiled, analyzed and published over the years.
They appear in the form of histories, proceedings, catalogs, and annual reports of the government agencies that produced them. This ~ticle will focus
upon some of the published government records that contain information
relating to individual communities. The publications mentioned in this
article are occasionally available in public libraries and certain government
documents depositories around the state. But the most complete collection is
located in the State Historical Society Library's government documents area.

""'-

--i

Several of these government publications do not need much description because
they are already well known and widely available. The Wisconsin Blue Rook,
for example, contains some excellent community history data, especially relating to population, voting patterns, newspapers, and biographical information
on locally elected state officials. Likewise, Printed Proceedings of the
County Board of Supervisors, published annually in pamphlet form under the
provisions of Wisconsin Laws of 1901, and the Supervisor of Assessments'
Annual Statistical Report, also published annually under the Wisconsin Laws of
1905, include information pertaining to road and bridge construction, local
crop production, and farm animals. Bowever, these resources only scratch the
surface of the information available for historical research in government
publications.

- 12 -

'

'<I

43a.

'cOMMISSIONER OF LABOR STATISTICS.

Report of In,pection-Continued.

~!

Nunn o11

Male., Fem.,

f

a 110
0~~

EliPLOTD.

l!:Br.un.IIUIKDTS lNBPZC'I'ED.

Tot&!

J~~

~

_!_

~E [

HL'lJSON-Sl' f..:JWlX. CO
lllttpectt'c! Jane, 1~~:~, bv ,~<''" Eltt:n..
CHICAGO. ST. PAUL.l\11:-<'"F.APOLIS& 0\IAHA RY.
to\ HOP::>. nlfrt4. frei~hc. car ... and geo ... rat repa1r work
Ei~:ht

buildiugs -one:.! st. bricl<;

l·Ht frame; tour boiler::J; one

1 •t. orick; one

SIX

~ngta~~

260 bor·sd power.

l!:st.ah. !RIIO

. . .. •
. . .. .. .
.
Accidents. -A workman lost hi•

..

..

.. I 861

le~: in gearln~t
to •·an.: drilling m&cbin~: &nllther lost 1\ thumb
on hand planer; auotb~r lo•t a tbumb and ftn~rer in
a rip ..aw; th" for .. m•n or blacksmith .hop lll•t
,. finger In g .. aring of a port •bho forl!e; another
workm!Ln c.,u Crom a car and broke hi• abould.,r.

HUDSON FURNITURE CO. Five build!nira-one ~-st.
frame; one 8-st. rrame: two l·st frame: one !·st.
brick; two bJUer; one engine, 7~ horse power. Estab.
1!i90 . ·... . . · . . . .
. . .. . . ..
.. ·
. . .. I 100
Sole.- Firm bas since reported as "gone out oC

S9,MO

-·· .... 861

...... 100

bu~ID&IS.,

HUDSON SAW :lULL CO. Eight hulldlngs-one2-st.
frame; &P.ven l·tit. frame; "ix boill!rli; two engines,
290 horoe pow.,r. &!tab. tes·l. . . .
.. .. . .. .
.
I 9;;
Ord~red a r .. lllngplaced around crank t'l en~~;loA
aod co,·er placed ov~r pulley "' nw du•t conveyor
in b&sf'meut or mill. .4rcident --A workm,_o lo·
jured hi • r.ght band 10 a saw du•t conuy" neces><itatiDg amputation; aooth~r lo•t t'ree tlugers In
hooJ.•w roll"r on e<1gt'r Cut nr mill for 1M9t was
11,000,(()0 feet lumber; 1,600,000 lath; 4,WO,OOO
thingles.
H!:DSON STAR & TDIE~. B. J. PricP, t>rint.ing nnd
pu • lishin~r. On tlr~t tloor o! 1!-•t. brick bUilding.
LStab. ~~~t .................................... .

5

95

ss. OOOI

5,000

5

WILLOW RlYER MJLl.ING f'O .. mfr•. ft.mr Eight
buildin;:s--t.wo 3-st. tra!llt'; SIX J·St. !ram .. ; 600 horse
po"·er (Wat.,r;. E>tai.J. l~ti, ..
. ............ .
1/['M/I!Rll·-CLARK

cc;

Inspect. rf Jlay. 189:!. by !'an Ellen.
WATERS. JAMF.S, mtr. lumbf'r. Tl\'o l·st. frame
buildinJZo: on" boiler; on<' ~Dll.lnt'. ~b boro;e power.
E>tab. J~OO . . .
.. .
..
. . _. .
. .. .. .. I 18
Or.l"r"d 1\ railing placed &t •ide or m:~.io belt and
projectlu~ key on puli"Y of rot:<ry s3w coven'd.

18

l·.H_ frnmt>

powt>r.

lnnldm~:

Esttsh Jt\0;"

Boardi~!;'

.

.

.....

I

One 2·•t; nne

one boiler: voe PtJKioe,

~0

I

horse

. .....•....•...•.

I, 800

!

1/['NTJ.\'U-- :iHA ll'.·t.\'0 CO.
Repo1'1ed hy .firm.

'J'CRNER. WILI.l.\M, mlr lumber.

~OJ

I

20

20

35

35

60_

ro

hou"'" connected.

400.

200

JSGRA.lf-CH!PPF:ILI CO.
Reported bv firm.

FRENCH

LU~IBERING

and one 1-st.

rram~

CO.

On" 2·•t frame

p1aoiog mill; one

boil~r;

f&w

mill

one en-

gine, 0:1 horse power. &tab., li:Sbti ................. .
JRO.V R!T"ER-BA l"FJELJJ CO.
ln•pecl~d Julv. 18~3. by ran Ellen.

IRON RIVER LUMBER CO. Five

hulldiugs-h~o

2-st.

frame; three ]ao;t. f'ranu~: four boU~rt.;; one engine~·

400 horse power.

E•tab. lblrJ . . . . .
... . .. ..
.AccideTLt.-A worl<.mau was wound around a shaft

--........_
~

Hi
i
I
S,OOOJ 25,000

From the Synaptical Report
of Inspection of Factories
and Workshops, the Sixth
Biennial Report of the
Commissioner of Labor, Census
and Industrial Statistics
of Wisconsin, 1893-94,
J. Dobbs Commissioner,
Democrat Printing Company,
State Printer, Madison,
Wisconsin, 1894, 43a.

The published reports of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (1883-1910) are an
excellent community history resource. Each year the Bureau sent inspectors
throughout Wisconsin to check on factories, bakeries, newspaper offices,
hotels and other types of businesses where there was a concern for public

- 13 -

'

...
safety. Each report contains the compiled results of these inspections. The
result is a body of information on thousands of individual l~iscons:tn
businesses, organized by community and containing such information as the
number and construction of buildings, the type of power used, the size and
composition of the work force, and the year of founding.
For certain years the Bureau of Labor Statistics also conducted "man-an-thestreet" interviews with Wisconsinites in order to get their opinions on questions relating to working conditions, labor unions, child labor, immigration
and other topics pertaining to the workplace. These interviews also have been
published, with the respondents identified by occupation and community. A
typical example from the 1887-88 report asked "Does immigration injure your
trade? If so, in what manner, and to what extent?" A blacksmith from Hudson
responded "Yes; because immigrants work for almost nothing and seem to be able
to live on wind--something which I cannot do." A boxmaker from Milwaukee
agreed, and said "To illustrate the effect of immigration upon our trade, I
~~11 say that if we should demand an increase in wages and in order to secure
it strike for a half a day, we would find the shop full of immigrants the next
morning." Responses to these and other questions may help to explain a great
deal about attitudes, working conditions and other aspects of life in late
nineteenth century Wisconsin communities.
The Bureau also compiled information about blacksmiths, carriage and harness
makers, millers, coopers, carpenters, stone masons, and other professions.
Data included average wages (for example, carpenters in 1900 made from $1.50 $3.00 daily), nationalities, working conditions, periods of employment, common
illnesses or injuries, the ages at which they entered their trades, and even
what trade they would recommend for a boy:
Finally, the Bureau undertook several fascinating studies relating to housing
conditions in particular Wisconsin communities. The following excerpt from a
1909 Eau Claire report indicates that the problems we commonly associate with
large cities were also present in smaller communities.

The keeping of horses, cattle and chickens within the crowded wards is a
serious problem. rin one location] on First Avenue [there were) three
lots [where) in addition to four families of twenty-seven persons, there
were six cows, four horses and over 100 chickens. rElach rear yard contains in addition to its barn, chicken coops and earth closets a well from
which the families secure drinking water. There are no sewer connections
or provision for disposal of garbage.
There has been considerable sickness in the past summer and fall,
especially in the ninth and tenth wards. Small pox, scarlet fever, and
spinal meningitis were spreading at the time of the inspection, and the
quarantined families were too ignorant or wilful to strictly observe such
quarantine.
"'-~

The concern for health and sanitation was echoed by government officials from
rural areas also. County Health Officer E. L. Boothby from Hammond, St. Croix

- 14 -

'

~
r.ounty, reported in 1886 that "not one cent has been expended for sanitary
work. Privy vaults, which are in a filthy condition, are the special unsanitary things here. There has been [much] disease here, much of which is
among children from two to six years old." His remarks along with those of
physicians from throughout Wisconsin are preserved in another interesting
series: the published annual report of the State Board of Health (beginning
in 1876).
Information pertaining to law enforcement, county institutions such as jails,
and poor-houses (or county farms) can be difficult to locate--unless one looks
in the annual reports of the Wisconsin State Board of Charities and Reform
(lR71-1890). These include detailed summaries of county institutions. One
inspector reported about the JA Crosse City Lock Up in 1871: " • • • a more
dtsmal, uncomfortable and unhealthy place than this hall can hardly be conceived. Completely underground, no ventilation, but dim light, damp, mouldy,
with a foul smell from the privy, with water standing on the floor." Thereports also tell about the number, nativity, and reasons that people were confined. Some included interesting details about the day to day routine of confinement. The state official who inspected the Dodge County poor-house in
1871 even detailed the standard meals served:
Breakfast - Meat, vegetables and coffee
Dinner - Meat, vegetables and sometimes soup
Supper - Bread or pudding, and molasses and tea
During the previous century when most Wisconsinites were involved in agriculture, it is important to know something about farming practices of the time.
The Transactions of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society (1851-1896) are
an excellent source of information for this. The following 1852 account,
illustrates some differences in dairy farming and the attitude toward it:
While I have never considered Wisconsin to be preeminently a dairying
state, there are many portions well adapted to the business. [However] at
the present time too many of our farmers keeping from two to six cows do
not even make butter enough for the family use. They suffer their cows to
range over the country during the summer, and • • • waste one-third of
their time hunting after cows that have strayed into the woods or onto the
prairies."
Additional information about county and local agricultural organizations and
county fairs wil~ be of equal interest to community historians. The following
1R52 account, for example, indicates that the formation of the Jefferson and
Dodge County Agricultural Society was accomplished without the usual fanfare:

~

At the [organizational] meeting the attendance was meagre. Some four or
five farmers appeared from Dodge County and about the same number of
mechanics, merchants and manufacturers from Watertown. Those who had been
active in getting up the meeting were almost discouraged by the indifference which, it was but too apparent, was felt by those most deeply interested. Nevertheless, it was determined to form an association to be
known and designated as the Jefferson and Dodge County Agricultural
Association.

- 15 -

~

fj

Several similar agriculturally related organizations, including the Wisconsin
Dairymens Association (1874-1916), the Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association
(1897-1952), the Southern Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association (1905-1928), the
Northern Wisconsin Agricultural and Mechanics Association (1870-1887) and the
Wisconsin Cranberry Growers Association (1889-1936) all have similar published
reports with information--especially during the early years--that will be of
interest to community historians.
The wealth of published government and organizational records and proceedings
in the State Historical Society I~brary can add new perspectives to the
research and writing of local history. The next article in this series will
continue to survey these resources by examining Civil War and other military
records and published information on doctors, dentists, and other
professionals.

~
-..:...._

__

Jl

Froli Exchange

s~~·

Vol. 29, No. 2

Spring 1987

~r.
CWisconsin Community Lttistory
Resources at the State Historical Society

This is the fifth in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society. It was written by Tom McKay~
Coordinator of the Office of Local History.

Bird's Eye Views
Slides, snapshots, home movies, and the ubiquitous camera strapped around
every tourist's neck offer reminders of an instinctual need to produce
pictorial records that can be traced back to petroglyphs and cave paintings.
While photography continued to emerge in the last half of the nineteenth
century of a means to satisfy this need, ·engravings and lithographs, techniques for converting drawings to prints, remained important parts of the
pictorial record of everyday life. For the community historian, the nineteenth century bird' s eye view, one form of printed pictorial record,
represents a valuable research tool.
Bird's eye view's depicted communities as panoramas seen from above. Though
neither map nor photograph, bird's eye views combined elements of both while
lacking the precision of either. As detailed representations of communities,
the views reproduced a record of street patterns and names, bodies of water,
railroad lines, landmarks, and each of the houses, barns, factories, stores,
and public buildings in the town. The resulting illustration captured a
tremendous amount of information, and the map collection in the Archives
Division of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin includes more than 160
bird's eye views of communities from all parts of Wisconsin. Local historians
can write to the Society to purchase a pamphlet compiled in 1975 which lists
the bird's eye views in its collection. Although the 1870's and 1880's
represented the heyday of the bird's eye view, the Society's collection ranges
from an 1852 illustration of Milwaukee to a 1915 depiction of Superior in a
view of the twin ports.
Artists began their bird's eye views by sketching all of the buildings on
every street and each feature of the surrounding area for the subject community. After studying the sketches, the artist selected a "vantage point"
~and translated the sketches into the completed perspective illustration. A
~variety of artists and lithographers engaged in the bird's eye view trade with
some resulting variance in the quality and style of the products. However,
nearly all bird's eye views will include accurate street patterns and names,
illustrations of buildings depicting the main details of major structures, and
identification of schools and churches.

- 11 -

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Bird's EYe View of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, l88l.
Society of Wisconsin.

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Courtesy of the Archives Divison .Yap Collection, State Historical

Comparing an 1896 bird's eye view of Washburn with photographs of the same
period offers insight into the accuracy that could be achieved. As expected,
a photograph shows that the prominent Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha
Railway elevator in the foreground is accurate down to the exact number and
placement of its many windows and doors. The bird's eye renders less
important buildings and houses in a generic style, but period photographs,
where available, indicate that even those structures have the correct number
of windows and doors. Church steeples, towers on the city hall, and the smokestack on the Washburn brewery all appear in the appropriate size, style, and
position.

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As a commercial venture, accuracy and detail helped sell bird's eye views.

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Bird's eye views can offer much more to the local historian than details
of individual buildings. They also contain a record of settlement pattern,
environment, and community activities. For example, the 1881 view of Peshtigo
indicates the burned out forest on the town's outskirts that remained from
the huge fire ten years earlier. An 1870's bird's eye of Mauston shows, on
the edge of town, the stockyards and railroad siding of a livestock shipping
business. The main business district along Mauston's State Street appears
in detail, and a cluster of false front buildings on Mansion Street pinpoints

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the location of a secondary business district. Unlike present day Lancaster,
the community's 1875 bird's eye view shows the primary commercial district
extending along Maple Street away from the largely undeveloped courthouse
square. A glance out into the countryside shows not only the location of a
racetrack at the fairgrounds but also the size and orientation of the grandstand.
While much of the historical record contained in bird's eye views can be
pieced together and actually studied in more detail through other sources,
some of the information is unique. An 1880 view of Alma provides a record
of every business building with wharf or levee facilities for riverboats. The
1885 bird's eye of .Waupun includes a detailed inset of the Althouse, Wheeler
& Co. windmill factory complex. The inset identifies every building in the
complex, foundry, wood shop, warehouse, machine shop, paint shop, etc., by
function.
Inset illustrati~ns were a feature, designed to sell more prints, that
appeared on some bird's eye views. The 1896 view of Washburn contained 20
insets, each a careful rendition of a major building in the community. While
a list of churches and schools was standard for bird's eyes, some added the
businesses and homes of prominent residents or subscribers. The 1880 view
of Alma has a list of 45 entries keyed to the illustration. While most
represent leading citizens, Mr. Probst's small boatworks, located in two sheds
along the Mississippi, appears on the list.
Bird's eye views contain a wealth of information, but they are, true to their
name, overviews and most useful in combination with other sources, even other
bird's eyes. For example, comparing the 1871 view of Lake Geneva with an
1882 version shows that one of the two mills along the millrace added a
smokestack and steampower during the intervening eleven years. Statistics
from the manuscript records of the federal census for Buffalo C~unty, provide
a better understanding of the Probst boatworks identified on the 1880 Alma
bird's eye view.
Nineteenth century bird's eye views froze communities at
a point in time. Today they give local historians a window in time which,
when used with other historical sources, can increase the understanding of a
community's history.

(Note: Because of a staff change at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin,
the article on Civil War, military, and professional records scheduled to appear in this series has been postponed to a future issue of Exchange.)

'~..J
--{:

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-

From Exchange

Vol. 29, No. 4

Autumn 1987

C\Visconsin Community ®story
Resources at the State Historical Society
This is the sixth in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It was written
by Tom McKay, Coordinator of the Office of Local History.

The Blue Book
In 1853, a Legislative Manual for the State of Wisconsin appeared in print
pursuant to a resolution of the Assembly. The resolution directed that the
manual contain the rules of the Assembly and Senate along with such statistical
information as might prove useful. The publication that Wisconsin citizens
know as the Blue Book traces its origins to that resolution. During the course
of one hundred and fifty-four years, the volume has experienced changes in size,
content, and publication schedule - even the official title has changed several
times. The statistical information collected has been organized for the use
of officials with statewide responsibilities, and the categories of tables
and compilations have changed as a reflection of the changing society which
state government has served over the years. Nonetheless, the local historian
who explores Wisconsin's Blue Book will find a surprising amount of specific
information about individual communities and counties packed between its
covers.
A community's institutional structure represents an integral feature of its
history. Over its years of publication, the Blue Book has initiated several
lists of community institutions. The 1853 Legislative Manual included a list
of all communities with post offices in the state, and the Blue Book has continued to publish such a list to the present. For small communities in
particular, the post office lists are quick reference tools. A local historian
in Valton, for instance, can find a post office listed for the community in
the Blue Book from 1869 through 1915, or researchers studying ghost towns in
Waupaca County can chart the growth and decline of communities in question in
part with the county post office lists in the Blue Book.

~

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In 1867, the Blue Book added a list of all newspapers published i.n Wisconsin,
and each succeeding Blue Book has carried a list of current newspapers. The
list appears by municipality and indicates the title, publisher, and publication schedule for the newspaper. In some years the listing also included the
language in which the newspaper was published and its political persuasion.
The Blue Book began reporting on the electronic media in 1946 with a list of
radio stations, expanded in 1950 to include television broadcasters.
Educational institutions received attention on a community-by-community basis
for a portion of the Blue Book's history. While educational statistics in the
- 22 -

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58

ASSE~\IDI,Y

MANUAL.

POST OFFICES IN

WISCONSL~.

LIST OP' POST Ol"FICES, WITH NAME OF COUNTY. AND WHERI!:
SITUATED.

BROWN

CouNTY.

Bridgeport.
Cooperstown.
Depere, (c. h.)
Fremont.
C.ALu:MFr

Green Bay.
Greenville.
Hortonville.
Lansing.

Little Chute.
Mukwa.
Oneida.

New H0lstein.
Pequot.

Pigeon Gmvc.
Stockuridgc.

CoUNTY.

Charlestown.
Dundas.
CHil'PEWA CouNTY.

Clearwater.
Middle Mills.

Nelson's Landing.
Oga11a.

CoLUMBIA CoUNTY.

Bellefontaine.
Hampden.
Centreville.
Lodi.
Columbus.
Lowerville.
Dekorra.
Marcellon.
Fall River.
Oshanknta.
Fort Winnebago. Otsego.
Grand Marsh.
Pardeeville.

N
~·

Pigeon Gr0ve.
Portage City.
Port Hope.
Poynett.
Randolph.
Rocky Run.
Wyocena.

ManuaL for the Use of the AssembLy of the State of Wisconsin
for the Year 1853.

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f),

current Blue Book appear as state or county compilations, earlier editions
contained specific information on local districts. For example, a table appearing in the 1903 Blue Book recorded each graded school in the state along with its
enrollment, attendance, and teachers' wages. Similar information on free
high schools also appeared. Higher education has received attention in the
Blue Book, and future local historians may find a 1987 table reporting enrollments for each public and private college in the state to be a useful source.
As a creation of politicians and public employees, it comes as no surprise
that the Blue Book contains a wealth of material on politics and public
institutions. However, the degree to which this material records local history
may cause some surprise. A researcher can put together an interesting picture
of local political leanings by charting the results of statewide gubernatorial
races. The Blue Book reports these election results for each local precinct in
the state and has done so since 1853. It is possible to learn that Tommy
Thompson and Anthony Earl ran a dead heat at 61 votes apiece in Spooner's
second ward in 1986 or that in the Adams County Town of Grand Marsh,Randall
outpolled Hobart 52 to l in the election of 1860. The Blue Book records
Presidential elections in similar detail.
The Blue Book also reveals political patterns through lists of county office
holders. The 1853 Legislative Manual recorded the name of each county sheriff,
register of deeds, and clerk of court, and by 1861, an expanded table of county
officials also listed the names of the treasurer, district attorney, clerk of
board, surveyor, and coroner. Although the careers of local legislators are
often well chronicled, the Blue Book may hold some further tidbits. The 1853
Legislative Manual printed each legislator's town and county of residence,
age, native state or country, years of residence in Wisconsin, and boarding
place in Madison. The 1870 edition expanded the section on legislators into
brief biographies that added information about marital status, educational
background, occupation, other elective offices held, and organizational
memberships. Since 1905, photographs of individual legislators have appeared
in the Blue Book.
Local historical societies in communities that serve as homes to state institutions may find the Blue Book particularly useful. During the late nineteenth
century, the Blue Book reported the affairs of state operated schools, hospital~
and prisons in considerable detail. Engravings printed in the Blue Book also
offer some of the best recorded images of these institutions. Even the more
recent Blue Books hold statistics of value to a local historian studying the
influence of a state institution on the community. For example, current
copies of the publication report the annual attendance at each state park and
historic site.

~
....j

The Blue Book gathers statistical information generated through government
operations, and its contents have changed as government has changed. Exploring
early volumes can lead to unexpected insights about local history. A close
examination of the 1874 Blue Book produced an abstract of county tax assessment
rolls from throughout the state. Among the categories tabulated were the numbers
of wagons, watches, and pianos reported in each county. The 1491 pianos recorded
in Milwaukee County compared to the 8 registered in Kewaunee County might give
extra perspective to a local historian in either location. The figures
certainly create a context for understanding the settlement of the state that

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381

:b!ISCELLAXEOUS ST.\TISTICS.

Ali.itract from .1s&tlssntcltt Rvlld-continucd.

I

c:::=---___;_=---"--·------------· -·-----l'ittn08, etc. Raul<
v.i;~o-,,-V~lu~ -~ r Total.,.ol.
CoU!iTlES.

Mocl<.,

l N
\' 1
X
- - - - - ~:_~~ ~
Adnnu . .. .
Ashluml . ..

I Ynh~.

;1.~1~......

3·
!I

J,-100

'")Jilrl'OII •.••..• , .. , , , ,

1

J:aytldd.. ..
13
2,~90 .... ..
l!w1111 .....
I •
l5,UIO 2,067
l!utlulo.....
28
l, 093~
3
Jluructt .... .... .. .... •.. .. . .....
Calumet....
41
1,02· ......
Chtppcwa..
2-1
1,\l!lti,......
CJ.~rl; .....
4~
4,207 .... ..

;c;~~·'r~1r"d·:

Dane... . •
Dvd:;c......
lloor .......

D1)U.!.;Ias .. . .

lh!U 11.......
EanClnirc.
}'und du Lnc
Grnnt ......
Green......
Grecu Lnkc.
JOWl\.......

Jackson....
Jdl"crson...
Jnncdtl.....

...

!101
118,870
I, 1::,0
..........
..........
... ......
..........

;15,~17

3J,tl83

562
511
I
12
50
12:1
5.~

3tO:l
!!55

27'
173
60
30:!

11''

Kcno~ha...

~~

8
194

46
51
631

~7. 827,2, 71i6
3~,1tl5

1,56U
l,!W
1
710.....
3, 94~ .. . .. .
2-1.5.~5
tiOl
47, 94H ~. U'J9
26,450
;,oo
!ll,213 1,400
15, 49~ .. . .. .
9,';9~ ....
4, ~'9ti • .. . ..
2ti,N7 1,·"
8,~
l
26,0:~
o685 . . .. ..
:!'~, 6!lti
7
13,268.......
1,5-l!l
409
2,1300 . • • . ..
2,748
1
25.1,10515,4
9, 7 45 .. .. ..
6,800
9, 602 1,126
2, 4:t:l .. .. ..
1,665
4
G, OO:l .. . .. .
l, S:i>
1
11,210......
3:1,37~ 3.:;0:
4, Ul~
2
74,42-1 ~. 7
10,0.12
7~
18, ti2u • .. .. •
73-t......
18,1871
•
4,8451......
2, 4~9.......
5.1,445: :l,
6,770·......
31,988,
'
G, 4:!'~ 1
33
1,7181 .....
47,245 2,0~)()
5, 495:
489

280, 37~
1~1,589

all other

of oil per•

l'croonol
Property.

:·,r:;~fsraiS

;34,170
:JO, r.u

;210, 301
81,218

• , • • • • , ..• , ••.••• , ••..• c., ••.••

9,8!l0
309,tilll
~. 521
:j, HlO
·IH,Sl..l'tJ
165,17:\
78.2~3

~~ .... ~::~~ ... ~~ .... ~:~ .... ~:::t>J

Kewnuuco .
La t.;ro•sc..
LA .F'avclte.
Mnnituwoc.
~larathon ..
ll!arqucttu..
lllilwankee.
Monroe .. ..
Oconto.....
Outar;:amie.
Oznu><ce ...
Pepin......
l'iercc .. .. .
Pnlk .. . • • • .
Portage.....
Itnciuc .....
}{ichlnnd • . .
Hock.......
St. Croix...
Suuk . .. .. ..
Shawano...
Shcooyj:an.
Tremp'Jcnn.
Vernon.....
Walworth..
Wn•hing-ton
"Wnukcsba..
Wnupnca...
Wan•hura..
Winnebago.
Wood .. .. ..
Total •..••

. .. . . . . . ..
Sl,

... • . . . . • • • , •••... , .

Mcrch'ts
Anti ~tau.

stock.

777,200
2'JH,!!:>.I

2,:Jti{
4ti.~~t
.. .. .. . . .. . .. . . ... .. .
.. .. .. .. ..
·Hl4, 000
GO,OOO
769,101
78, ~-t:J
625, 16~
:JI,:!.-.0
414,4-H
90,~
!l01,867
.. • .. • .. ..
12'~. f\.10
..........
lti!j,l9ti
8, 327
15:!, !l:>l
14-1,505
376,000
2,000
215,803
35.000
~.301;
.. . .. . .. . .
49,467
<2, UOO
474, 14:J
14,500
10~, .").'i7
14,l(l:l
!!tii,ti58
6, s.tO
It'll, 000
400
21,306
1,0-15,000 8,959,647
30, 400
lSi, 851
1,400
505,805
84, 8~"5
201, I~
37
49,475
1,000
35,42-1
6, •
~l9, 2W
350
18,438
. . .. .. .. ..
!lOt!, tl20
26.1,812
4!1:1,120
4, 891
70,616
307,500
782,4
42,500
13-3,667
~. 900
~.52.~
. . .. .. . .. .
9, 482
1~,000
2-16,865
7, ·
47,041
. .. .. . ..
70,358
125,1!'JO
347.1l&j
7!0
110.844
50.000
:J:~,2!J6
3, 7
129,723
........ ..
33,97\1
2.i0, O:i6 1, 188,404
1~. 57;143,746

14,~10

34,!164

186,179
til, 5-'
2,549
5i,388
88,290
51,676

408, 78.~
3:ll.577
2..1,795
411.507
281,ti53

9~6,442

.... ~~~:~:~ .::~~~:~~
1, 623,189 4, 7!l0,107
898,0:14 2,721,104
·10,127
188.227
2, i57

9. f.05

216,527
98.~. 884
:>11,153 1,578,431
878, 650 2, &18, 431
7!13,!1!">4 2,838,028
589,8~9 1,873,031
2tJ.1, 847
894,891
318,676 1,417,33$
1:!1,035
528, BS6
488,767 1,9jll,912
16i,ltiG
641,559
4::8,1174 1,316,866
8. 579
Ill, 5:U
809,93:1 1, 591, S.'l5
:.!6:!, 05:! 1, 277,716
19"~031
803,7!12
34, Ill
3-1ll. 687
25,1S:l
291,241

4,9~5,72416,328,364

182, 622
100,511
109,545
115,1tlt<
4.~,498

155,301
36,219
106,695
042,475
138, 161
1, 793,096
:.!{}l, 725
406,020
I, 752
475,28'!
174,101

2:.!7. 0~3

1,299,991
401,484

1, 0!11, 060ffi
78,338,259
1, 717,689
42,911

842, 134
783,519
801,378
435,866
2-10,716
li67, S2:l
193,090
616, P15
2,400,865
667, 7'.'7
4, 62:l, 6:!:>
795,1!11:1
1, 4.16, 378
90,014
l,f>0\1,467
68-1,8:.!0
937, 70.~
3,404,84!1
1,1111,717
2, 782,789
5.'!5, 954
361,2-17
4,177, 967
~.(X;9

i"O,"m1u, 030,805 43, r.i!i1 ~,55?,;21, 666, St7!;zt, 155, 0031so, ol3,943
1

;Norepoi-t.

~~.J

The Legislative Manual o:
the State of Wisconsin •..
for 1874.

population statistics alone do not achieve.
Three useful guides can aid researchers using the Blue Book. Two indexes for
locati~g biographies of specific legislators are:
Biography Index to the
Wisconsin Blue Books, 1870-1973, compiled by Darlene E. Waterstreet, Milwaukee:
Badger Infosearch, 1974; and Biography Index to the Wisconsin Blue Books,

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1975-1985, compiled by Darlene E. Waterstreet, Milwaukee: Badger Infosearch,
1986. An overview of the Blue Book's history and contents appears in A Guide
to Wisconsin Blue Book, 1853-1962, by H. R. Theobald, Research Bulletin No.
141, Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library, Madison, 1963.
To thoroughly explore the Blue Book as an historical resource, the researcher
needs access to the most complete set as possible of the volumes published
since 1853. The State Historical Society Library holds a complete set in its
reference section as do some large public and university libraries. Every public
library in the state receives a copy of the Blue Book when it is published, but
many of these libraries were formed after the publication of the manual began.
Some smaller libraries are not able to retain out-of-date copies of the Blue Book.
In addition to its reference set, the State Historical Society Library has every
Blue Book since 1860 in its circulating collection. This covers all of the publications except the'first two Legislative Manuals. These circulating copies are
available to any resident of the state through interlibrary loan. As a record
stretching back to 1853, the Wisconsin Blue Book represents one more tool that
the local history researcher can use, sometimes with surprising results, in the
study of community history.

w

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Fro~

Exchange

I'

s\.1--

Vol. 30, No.2

Spring 1988

CVVisconsrn Community ®story
Resources at the State Historical Society

This is the seventh in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It was written by
Jim Hansen~ Reference Librarian at the Society.

Federal Population Census Schedules
Sauk City village-917, Sheboygan city-7314, Waukesha village-2969, Ahnapee
city-948,New Munster village-87. These population totals, from the census of
1880, are examples of what every local researcher is likely to need at some
point in his or her research--information on the population of the city,
village or town being investigated. However, these totals, fascinating
though they can be of themselves, are only the introduction to a mass of
records of nearly unparalleled detail and interest to the local historian,
the original records of the federal censuses.

The federal government has taken a census of the population of the United
States every ten years beginning in 1790 and continuing through 1980, with the
21st census scheduled to be taken in 1990. Each census has had the statistical
data published but, for the earlier censuses, the original schedules have much
more to offer the local historian. The original manuscripts of the federal
censuses from 1790-1910 are open to the public and are available on microfilm
at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Wisconsin is first covered in
extant schedules in the census of 1820. Brown and Crawford Counties, covering
most of the present-day state, were part of Michigan Territory at that time
and were enumerated on a total of two pages. The later censuses of 1830, 1840,
1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, and 1910 are also available, and with the more
recent censuses provide much more information both in volume and detail. A
fire at the U.S. Census Bureau in 1921 destroyed the original manuscripts of
the 1890 U.S. censuses. No Wisconsin schedules (and almost none for the
rest of the country) survive for that particular census year.

\jJ
~.

The earliest available censuses for Wisconsin, those of 1820, 1830 and 1840
are somewhat limited in the information they provide, recording the name of
only the head of the household and listing the rest of the members as so
many males or females within a variety of age categories. Beginning in 1850,
however, the census schedules become much more detailed and informative for

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the researcher, listing the name, age, sex, race, and state or country of
birth of each individual. They give the occupations for all males fifteen
years of age or over and the value of the real estate owned by the head of
the household. Later censuses also contain this basic core of information
and gradually add more details. In 1860 the value of the "personal estate"
was added. In 1870 the census asked whether the parents of each individual
were of foreign birth and whether adult males were citizens of the United
States. The census of 1880 indicates the relationship of each individual to
the head of household, as well as the state or country of birth of the parents
of each individual listed. The 1900 census provides even more detail,
indicating the number of years married for wedded couples, the year of
immigration for foreign born residents, and the naturalization status of
immigrants. The census of 1910 again contains this information.

The census is most important as a snapshot of a particular community at a
particular stage in its development. The census for any given area was
normally taken over a limited period of time and thus provides a mass of
detail that can be absorbed and manipulated. There are, however, some
difficulties in using these materials effectively.

The basic arrangement of the census remains essentially the same from year
to year. The census of the entire United States is normally arranged by
state; within a state by county~ and within a county by township or
municipality. However, in early years the enumerators frequently did not
separately identify municipalities from the townships in which they were
located. The 1870 census does this to some extent but the 1880 census was the
first to make this separation in any regular and consistent fashion. Although
the overall arrangement of census schedules remains fairly consistent, when
the researcher reaches the local level that logical pattern breaks down. How
a particular enumerator chose to traverse his designated area was entirely
up to that enumerator's judgement. Unless the researcher is willing to
undertake extensive and detailed investigation, the exact path of the
enumerator through his area is not normally known.

The census of any given area is only as accurate and useful as its enumerator
made it. The enumerators were as human as any other officials, and the
researcher will find considerable variation in the level of care and accuracy
with which the censuses were taken. Enumerators were hired through the
patronage system during the nineteenth century with little attention given
to any special qualifications that the individual did or did not have.
Enumerators frequently had particular difficulty in areas with large immigrant
populations, and there are obvious indications in the census records of
confusion caused by language barriers and similar problems. It should also
be understood that any given census is likely to have missed individuals for
\j\j a variety of reasons including lack of care by the enumerator, individuals in
~
the process of migrating or moving, and individuals refusing to answer the
inquiries or simply disappearing into the woods when the census taker came
around. Another possibility that may occasionally be encountered is the
opposite situation, an overcount. While this has not been documented in

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0

Wisconsin, there have been cases identified in large cities, particularly in
1870, and the phenomenon isi not unknown in other census enumerations, as
well. If the researcher encounters substantial numbers of people who cannot
be documented in other sources as being in the community, the possibility of
an overcount should be cons~dered.

As indicated above, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin holds microfilm
of the U.S. censuses for th~ entire United States from 1790-1910. Copies of
the microfilms for Wisconsih only from 1820-1880 and 1900 are available for
interlibrary loan. As yet,' the 1910 census can not be obtained on loan.
Microfilm of the 1850, 1860~ and 1870 censuses can be purchased from the State
Historical Society, and oth~r years are available for sale from the National
Archives. Many local libraries or historical societies will also hold microfilm of the census records for their immediate areas. These detailed
enumerations of the populat~on represent a basic research tool for many local
history projects.

'\j\j

~

;:· Fro!\: Exchange

Vol . 3 0, No. 4

Autumn 1988

s\.1- CVVisconsin Community ®story
Resources at the State Historical Society
This is the eighth in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It was written by
Jim Hansen> Reference Librarian at the Society.

Federal Non-Population Census Schedules
The Gustave Steuding Brewery of Durand with capital of $3,000, hand and
horse power, one employee and the appropriate amounts of barley, hops and
wood produced 200 barrels of beer (worth $2,000) in the year ending June 1,
1870. William Richardson, a 39-year-old, English-born carpenter died at
Janesville in October 1849 of "dissipation." Waupaca County in 1860 had 67
common schools serving 3,369 pupils, seven churches (three Methodist, and one
each of Presbyterian, Baptist, Catholic and Lutheran), three libraries (all
in the common schools) totalling 89 volumes, 13 paupers and no convicted
criminals during the preceding year. George Newton of Hustisford had one
milk cow in 1850. In 1860 he had six. All the above-listed minutiae of
nineteenth-century Wisconsin came from the same source--the non-population
schedules of the federal census.

When historical or genealogical researchers consider the census they most often
think only of the population schedules (described in Exchange val. 30 no. 2,
Spring 1988, pp. 18-20), but the non-population schedules are at least as
interesting--and informative. These schedules, gathered by the census
enumerators at the same time they took the population census, provide a wealth
of otherwise unrecoverable detail for an important period of Wisconsin's
nineteenth-century history.

\_J'\

.\}J

The census was originally intended to serve as a basis for legislative apportionment, but as the nineteenth century progressed, the statistics-gathering
function of the census nearly overwhelmed the head-count. While abortive
attempts were made in earlier censuses to gather more than population totals,
it was the census of 1850 that marked the real beginning for the non-population schedules. In that census, in addition to providing more details on
every individual listed in the population schedules, the enumerator was
directed to record mortality schedules, agricultural schedules, industrial
schedules and social schedules.

- 12 -

j;}

•..""
The manuscripts for these schedules survive and are available for research
use for the censuses of 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. At least some of these
schedules were also taken for later censuses but the original copies were
destroyed after the statistical compilations were made. The published statistical reports are available for the 1890 census and its successors, but
unfortunately not the original manuscript returns--the ones that named individual names.

Census instructions directed enumerators to record on the mortality schedules
the name, age, sex, race, occupation, state or country of birth, month of
death, cause of death and duration of final illness for every person who died
within his area of coverage during the year immediately preceding the taking
of the census. For example, in the 1850 census the mortality schedule would
cover deaths occurring between June 1, 1849 and May 31, 1850. The mortality
schedules, because of the built-in inefficiencies in collecting the data,
never included more than a fraction of the deaths occurring in a particular
district even within that limited time-span, but the reports do provide useful information on diseases that were prevalent in a particular area (the
incidence of consumption, i.e. tuberculosis, in the early records is noteworthy) or at least those that were recognized at the time.

The most extensive of the non-population schedules were the agricultural returns in which the enumerators were supposed to identify each individual farm,
its acreage both improved (i.e. under cultivation) and unimproved, the cash
value of the farm, the value of farming implements or machinery (often under
$100), the number of livestock of various types, and the production of the
farm crops during the previous year. These detailed reports, recorded in
long horizontal columns over two pages, provide a wealth of detail information for
analysis. Comparisons can also be made from census to census on the intensity
of farming, popular crops, horses vs. oxen and many other factors. When used
in conjunction with the population schedules they can give a good picture of
how a particular household was faring in comparison to its neighbors and again
from one census to the next census ten years later.

VJ

-~

The industrial schedules (called manufacturing schedules in the 1880 census)
list the name of the corporation, name of the business, capital invested,
kind, quantity and value of the raw materials, kind of motive power ("foot"
was popular), the number of employees and wages paid, and the kind, quantity
and value of goods produced. Urban areas may list many industries while a
rural area might have only a single mill. The enumerators were supposed to
include any manufacturing industry that produced more than $500 of goods per
year, but interpretation varied. Some enumerators listed only substantial
factories, others more usefully listed every blacksmith and shoemaker.

The social schedules (which apparently survive for Wisconsin only for 18501870) provide a miscellany of scattered information. The schedules requested
information on the valuation of real estate and personal estate; the annual

- 13 -

~

0

taxes; details on colleges, academies and schools (kind and number of teachers
and pupils, and funding sources and amounts); libraries (kind and number of
volumes); newspapers and periodicals (name, political affiliation, frequency
and circulation); religious establishments (number of denominations, individual churches, parishioners and the value of church property); the number of
paupers and criminals; and the average wages of the district. Much of the
detail asked for in the social schedules was not gathered in any other form
in the nineteenth century, making these details from the county or even
township level quite valuable resources. They have proven helpful for research ranging from newspaper history and bibliography to tracing the history
of religion in several counties.. The social schedules for the 1850 and 1860
censuses were sometimes gathered for specific townships or assembly districts,
sometimes for an entire county. For 1870 only county-wide social statistics
were reported.

Any of the information gathered by the enumerators, whether raw data or compiled statistics, must be used with caution. Enumerators frequently misunderstood their instructions, and made recording or copying errors. The
non-population schedules were gathered by the same enumerators and at the
same time they gathered the information for the population schedules. As a
result, the listings in the agricultural schedules for a given district should
be in the same order as the population schedules.

The non-population schedules can sometimes be hard to locate. Many libraries
have the population schedules on microfilm from the National Archives, which
does not include the non-population schedules. However, on the microfilms
of the 1850-1870 U.S. Census for Wisconsin produced and sold by the State
Historical Society of Wisconsin, all the schedules for a particular county
will be found together. For the 1850 and 1860 censuses the various schedules
will be scattered through the reels in what appears to be a random order.
Actually that order retains the order of the schedules gathered by a particular enumerator. For 1870 the non-population schedules (with the exception of
the social schedules) follow the population schedules for the entire county.
The social schedules for all the counties in 1870 will be found on the last
reel of the series--the reel containing the schedules for Wood County. The
original schedules for 1850-1870 will also be found in the manuscript census
volumes near the reference librarian's desk at the State Historical Society's
headquarters. Duplicate copies of all the non-population schedules also
appear in the Society's Archives collections. For 1880, only the mortality
schedules have been microfilmed. All the other schedules must be used in the
Archives at the State Historical Society.

vJ

'.}'\

The mortality, agricultural, industrial and social schedules of the federal
census will certainly not answer all the historian's questions about those
areas, even for the limited periods they cover, but they are an important
contemporary source of information from the period that should not be ignored.
They can provide statistical analysis at a more detailed level than published
census statistics and, used carefully, they can shed much light on the
nineteenth-century history of any community.

- 14 -

•

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From Exchange

Vol. 31, No. 2

Spring 1989

A;" searching
L~
CVVisconsin Community %story
Resources at the State Historical Society
This is the ninth in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It was written
by Tom McKay~ Coordinator of the Office of Local History.

County Atlases
During the years between the Civil War and World War I, an active commercial enterprise developed in the publication of county atlases. Maps
of rural land ownership in a county formed the core of each of these publications. However, as commercial ventures, publishing companies added a wide
variety of information to their atlases that they hoped would increase the
number sold. Most of the atlases also relied on the monetary contributions
of patrons or subscribers to underwrite the cost of publication.
In return,
the atlases carried biographical sketches, directories of the patrons, or
engraved illustrations memorializing the subscribers who made the publications
financially viable.
The formulas used by publishers to achieve commercial
success in the 19th century make the county atlas a valuable, and sometimes
surprising, source of information for local historians today.

The State Historical Society holds an extensive collection of \.Jisc.onsin county
atlases (as well as county atlases from many other states) in its Archives
Division. While the collection does not include all atlases published for
Wisconsin counties, most of the state's counties are represented in the Archives
by one or more atlases. Atlases did not appear on a regular schedule but only
when a company decided to undertake this complex subscription publishing venture. Many counties had only two or three atlases published during this period,
and many northern Wisconsin counties did not become subjects of printed atlases
until after 1900.

~
.."--\

In the search for commercial success, nearly every atlas publisher employed
a different formula for the content.
The plat maps of rural land ownership
represented the one common denominator.
The plat of each township in the
county received its own page in the atlas.
These plat maps identified the
boundaries and the name of the owner of each parcel of rural land in the
township.
A small black square in the parcel indicated the presence of a
home and/or farmstead.
The township plats identified the routes of railroad
lines by name and also showed roads and streams. Most atlases identified the

- 11 -

...

"
sites of school and church buildings, and many included other prominent features
such as creameries, cemeteries, and marshlands.
An overall county map at the
beginning of the atlas showed the location of the township within the county.

County atlases published by the Minnesota magazine, The Farmer, printed lists
of rural families organized by the township in which they resided and the post
office where they received their mail.
Each family's entry also included the
names of family members residing in the home, the number of acres in the farm,
and even, where applicable, the name of the farm.
For example, the G. G.
Williams family which resided in Unity Township in Trempealeau County called
their farm "Violet Meadows." While names of family members and the number of
acres in a farm can be found in the manuscript records of the federal census,
the census was taken only once every ten years.
The county atlases published
by The Farmer provide a supplementary source of specific information about
some families in a non-census year.
This series of atlases also noted other
useful information including towns in the state with telegraph stations and
post offices authorized to prepare money orders.

To increase the marketability of their atlases, publishers usually included
plats of cities and villages.
These maps did not show individual homes or
land ownership. However, they usually marked the locations of schools,
churches, hotels, opera houses, and similar buildings of interest to the
general public. Large manufacturing concerns often appeared on the city and
village maps.
For example, the Medford plat in the 1913 Taylor County atlas
published by George A. Ogle and Company indicated each of the major structures
at the excelsior factory, brickyard, tannery, and sawmills.

Publishers prepared general information to repeat in each county atlas they
printed. A world map and a map of the United States were standard features in
most county atlases.
The Wisconsin county atlases published by The Farmer all
featured a mileage chart of distances between selected Wisconsin cities.
George
A. Ogle and Company included a standard digest of civil government, chronology
of world history, and general information on banking and business methods in
the county atlases it published.

~
~

While companies used standard "boilerplate" as an inexpensive device to produce
a more substantial publication, unique information about the county provided
the primary commercial appeal of the atlases.
Some publishers used a historical sketch of the county as part of their format for a county atlas.
The
sketches listed the names of early settlers, dates in the establishment of
civil government, and incidents of interest from the county's early years.
The historical sketch in W. Belden and Company's 1876 atlas for Milwaukee
County recounts the rivalry between east side settlers and west side residents
over the first bridge across the river.
The historical sketch also featured
tables of statistical information such as the growth of population by decades.
The sketches often included more contemporary economic data than historical
statistics.
Tables in the 1876 Milwaukee County atlas listed economic data
such as commerce through the lake port, value of local manufactures, and
wholesale sales from the 1874 report of the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce.

- 12 -

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0

To appeal to Milwaukee's German population, this atlas printed its historical
sketch in both English and German.

County atlases employed a variety of methods to acknowledge the patrons and
subscribers who provided much of the money to support the cost of publication.
Virtually all atlases carried lists of patrons. Many rewarded larger subscribers by including portraits, illustrations of farmsteads, or biographical
sketches of the individuals.
Portraits of subscribers in the 19th century
atlases appeared as engravings, but by the 1910's atlases began running
photographic portraits.
Publishers also heavily illustrated their atlases with
engravings of the farmsteads or businesses of subscribers.
Comparisons with
extant photographs reveal a concern for accuracy in producing the engraved
illustrations.

The biographical sketches in county atlases reflect the commercial system
used to produce the publications.
In most cases, publishing company employees
solicited the subscriptions, collected biographical data from the subscribers,
and wrote the individual sketches of the subscribers. Naturally, the sketches
preserve the history of those subscribers who were able and willing to pay
rather than individuals chosen purely for historical reasons.
The Winnebago
County atlas published by Brant and Fuller in 1889 demonstrates the potential
shortcomings in a list of biographies created by the subscription system.
Its
42 pages of biographies contain more than 800 entries--but not one biographical sketch of a woman.

Paid advertising represented yet another component in the commercial formula
for most county atlases, and these ads form an additional historical record.
Typically, advertising sections did not appear in county atlases until the
20th century.
Neither the 1877 nor 1895 Grant County atlas, for example,
carried advertising.
However, the 1918 Grant County atlas published by
George A. Ogle and Company had an advertising section of nine pages that
presented 345 ads.
These advertisements represented businesses from virtually
every community in the county.
The businesses placing ads ranged from banks
and hospitals to bakeries and newsstands.

'-S;-)

........,.'\

Although they developed content largely around commercial concerns, county
atlases of the late-19th and early-20th centuries remain useful historical
documents.
As archival collections, researchers must use the at.lases in the
archives reading room at the State Historical Society.
In addition to the
atlases held in Madison, the Society has placed all duplicate copies of
atlases in the collections of the appropriate Area Research Centers throughout
the state. Area Research Centers are located at Northland College in Ashland
and the University of Wisconsin's Eau Claire, Green Bay, La Crosse, Milwaukee,
Oshkosh, Parkside, Platteville, River Falls, Stevens Point, Stout, Superior,
and Whitewater campuses. Local historians can turn to county atlases in these
collections as valuable tools in researching county history and the often
poorly documented history of rural areas.

- 13 -

u

I.

From Exchange

Vol. 32, No. 1

Winter 1990

A;n<earching
L

~

CV\lisconsin Community %story
Resources at the State Historical Society

T.his is the tenth in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It was written
by Tom McKay~ Coordinator of the Office of Local Histo~J.

,__
WILL BE FOU~D ACCUR.-\.TEL\" COl'oiPtLED ASD ALPJU.BETIC.\LLf

ARRA!WED FOB EACH CITY AND TOWN IS THE STATE.

~

*

~bll ~tarn D! ~~~ Statisuu a!
Sal!,
RAIL RO.\D AND OTHER COMP.\!i!ES.

ltJJ111Vlltl m
~ANKS,

AK BlS'l'OBICAL SUIUI AND ! Dmtii'IOI 01 TO ST!TI BY COUlli!S.
CONTAINING

AUTHENTIC

Wisconsin Gazetteers
and
Business Directories

KILW.!t"W: S1'JUCIU.liD .t CO.
:P2\%CB.

4:::
~

•a

oo~

The 19th-century expansion of the United States across an entire continent
intertwined widening geographical boundaries with business opportunities.
America's businesses could find new markets in recent settlements and investment possibilities in growing communities. Both to serve and profit from a
growing economy, a variety of publishers became engaged in another new enterprise, producing state gazetteers and business directories. These gazetteers
and directories were about business and for business. The· ambitious volumes
attempted to list all active businesses in a state as well as compiling data
about communities throughout the state that would be useful to business
interests. Because of their goal of gathering information about all businesses
and all communities, these written companions for the 19th-century entrepreneur have become helpful sources for today's local historians.

- 17 -

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0

~30

WISCONSIN STATE DIRECTORY.

Bigger & Hill .................. Oshkosh
Comstock & Brothers ....... Portage City
Pettibone C. J .............. Portage City
Gaillard & Fame chon ... Prairie du Chien
Pelton, Wright & Co .... Prairie du Chien
Lee & Dickson .................. Racine
Lyman & Sully .............. Sheboygan
Skinner & Son .......... Sheboygan Falls
Livingston & Blodgett ..... Stevens Point
Seamans & Hamilton ......... Two Rivers
Moak & Peabody ............. Watertown
Hall S. C. & Co ............. Whitewater
Smith E. _·L & Co ............ Whitewater

Sheet Lead and Lead Pipe.
Shepard S .................. Milwaukee

Shingle Manufacturers.

Peck I. G .................. Black Earth
i'vlix Nathaniel. ................... Clyde
Beach Samuel C ................ Dundas
Hokes John... . . . . . . . . . . . . ... Freedom
Ellis A. B ................•.. Harmony
Bushnell A .................... Horicon
Yates C. H .................... Horicon
Bates Stephen & Son ...•..... ~Ianitowoc
Rand H. & Sons .............. }lanitowoc
Peppard John ......... Manitowoc Rapids
Palmer William ................ )Iauston
i Alexander S ................. )Iilwaukee
: Jones J. M .................. )Iilwaukee
Blinn Washington. . . . . . .......... Omro
West H........ . ............. Prescott
Rodgers John ............... Sacramento
Bernier Joseph ................. Seneca
Beauprie Peter .............. Sheboygan
Stokes & Lockwood ........... Sheboygan
Morse Charles H ......... St C.roix Falls
Farmer H. W ................ Taycheeda.
Herbridge J:tmes ............ Two Rivers
Jerome J. R .................. Wautoma
:.\Iaillows Louis ................. Wequiot
Cheever Frederick ............. Westfield

·
Marsh G. S .................... Depere
Cook & Corbett ............. DuPlninvile
Cunningham, Galloway & ·
Humphrey ............... Fond duLac
Gallmvay E. H. & Co. . . . . . Fond du Lac
Hamilton J. K. & W. C ...... Fond duLac
SawY:er & Hurd ............ Fond du L~c
Ship Chandlers.
Harns Isa.ac. . . . . . . . . . ....... Franklin
Hickok .1., & C? .. · · · · · · · · · · · · · :Fra.nklin Norris G. D.................. ~Iilwa.ukee
Hubbard-; Wilbur.·········· .. Fremont Langlois & Robilliard ............ Racine
Salmon. Clark & Co ............. Hudson
G~rme D. C .................... Kenosha
Shipsmiths.
Gilles E. D.... . . . . . . . . . ...... Kenosha
Hellicut Da.vid · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ···Leon Co lister & Carpenter ......... Manitowoc
Brotherhood Thomas ........... li-Ienasha Alexander s ................. )Iilwa.ukee
Lawson P. V .. · · · · · · · · .. ····· . .Menasha Jones J. M ................. :Hilwaukee
·Potter & Duchma.n ............. Menasha
Williams L .................... Menasha I Sil
Pl ted d B . .
W
Lynch Thomas ............... l\Iilwaukee
ver a
an
ntiana are.
Otto & )iihoff................ :Milwaukee
Ryan ~Iichael.. .............. Mi11'raukee Poo~e D. C · · .. · · · · · .. · ... · · ... :)!adison
Storer Joseph ............... :llilwaukee Blair & Persons ............. :.\!~!waukee
Taylor J. R. &Co ............ Milwaukee C~amer & Becker ............ :II~lwaukee
Benson A .................. North Bend Eissfeldt C .................. i.\IIlwaukee
Phillips & More ........ North Roya.lton Elmor~ :IL G. & Co . · · · .. · · .. :l~lwaukee
Beckwith. )lead & Ripley ...... Oshkosh GoodrlCh H. W & Co .......... )~!waukee
Sheldon L. P .................. Oshkosh Hardy J · · · · · · ........ · ..... Milwaukee
Thompson - .................. Oshkosh Loomis, Watson & Hoes ...... -~~!waukee
Evans James .................... Racine Preusser C. E ............... :llilwaukee
Secor & Baxter ................ Racine VanCott A. B ............... :llilwaukee
Ensign John .................. Saratoga
Silver Platers.
Humphrey Henry ............ Sp~ngville
Richardson Joshua .......... Sprmgnlle /
.
.
.
Pot-ts Brothers ............... Springville ~I?r~IS & Darling ............ l\I~lwaukee
Standeford William D ........ Springville Williams & Kraft ............ :llilwaukee
Eldred & Balcom ................. Stiles
Fuller E. S ............... Sturgeon Bay
Soap and Candle Makers.
Nelson Edwards .......... Sturgeon Bay
Peterson Soren ........... Sturgeon Bay Blankenhorn C ............... Cedarburg
Torstenson Frederick ...... Sturgeon Bay i\IcDonald & Co ............ Clifton ~!ills
Furguson Henry ................ Warren Scott Stephen ••.......... Emerald Grove
Oliver 0 ..................... Winooskie Cooper & Gibson ........... Fond duLac
Gill H ......................... Geneva.
Birge George ................... Horicon
Ship Builders.
Maynard Frederick ......... Jacksonville
Moffat R ........................ Berlin Allen J, A ... .................. Ladoga

I

-:s;

Directory page organized by classification. The Wisconsin State DirectoT"' 1857. compiled by
Smith, DuMoulin & Co., Milwaukee: Strickland & Co., p. 230.

- 18 -

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~

The earliest Wisconsin state business directory in the collection of the State
Historical Society dates to 1857. Smith, DuMoulin & Company, compiler of the
directory, identified itself on the title page as a publisher of "Western
State and City Directories." The preface to the volume notes that the
publisher was a Wisconsin company and that the Wisconsin directory represented
its first attempt at such an enterprise. A 272-page listing of companies and
self-employed individuals engaged in businesses and professions comprises the bulk
of the publication.
The directory organizes its entries under classifications
arranged alphabetically from accoucheurs to Yankee notions dealers. Under the
heading for each classification the names of businesses and individuals appear
by city or town, again arranged alphabetically. The directory includes more
than 350 classifications of businesses and professions. Scanning each
classification to identify companies or individuals active in a particular
community can be a time consuming task but may produce some surprising results.
For example, researchers from Sheboygan, Milwaukee, and Manitowoc might expect
to find the shipbuilders listed for their communities, but that classification
also has entries from communities such as Black Earth, Horicon, Wautoma, and
Mauston.

Smith, Dw1oulin & Company supplemented its business listing with other pertinent
information. One section presents brief profiles of state colleges, universities, and academic institutions with rosters of their faculties. The publication includes a statewide list of notaries public and offers financial
information on banks and insurance companies based in Wisconsin. Other tables
concern secret societies, magazines, and the annual conventions or conferences
of religious denominations. Interspersed throughout the directory are more
than 200 display advertisements for individual businesses.

An 1865 directory published by George W. Hawes presents its business listings

in two formats. Each format includes all of the business information gathered
statewide by the publisher. One list is arranged alphabetically by the
classification of the business. However, the directory also organized its
data into a second listing arranged by communities. Rather than scanning the
directory classification by classification, a researcher from West Bend, for
example, can turn to an entry under that community's name and find a listing
of 27 businesses.

~

The publishers of Wisconsin business directories who followed Hawes did not
immediately adopt his format. In 1876, a directory compiled by Murphy and
Company did return to the dual listings, one organized by business classification and the other by community. From that time until 1927, a Wisconsin State
Gazetteer and Business Directory appeared biennially. Although compiled by
several different publishers, each of these directories used the format of
two listings. The listing organized by community also featured a brief
synopsis of information about each of the communities that might be useful
to business people. This synopsis included postal station status, railroad
and telegraph connections, and later telephone service. The community listings
included towns of virtually any size, but county seats and large communities
received descriptions with additional detail. Throughout the period of

- 19 -

4

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WORK} THE MILWAUKEE ••••
MALLEABLE IRON
HfAVY MALLEABLE
ASPECIALTY. co., waukesha, Wi~:
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WISCONSIN STATE GAZETTEER

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northwest of Oshkosh, the county seat, and Hansen Gustaf, fish hatchery.
12¥.. southeast of Weyauwega, the usual Heald Alvah A, elk Circu1t Court.
banking and shiping point. Population, 25. Heald ~ A_& Co (Byron A Heald. s ''·
~Iail daily. F. A. Gruenhagen, postmaster.
C BenJ!I-mm>. ge~l !'tore.
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Heald ~1chael, ap1anst.
Gruenllngen F A, Go:nernl Store.
Holliday Edward R, coroner.
Krueger E H, blacksmith.
Hotel Cascade, W J Sevey Pro1or. ''••·
--adv.)
ORLEANS.
Kennedy ·wm T. district attorn·~y.
On the C .. ::u & St. P. Ry., In :\Iarinette Kent Robert. furniture.
county 22 miles northwest of ~Iarm~ne, Kent \V & Bro (Wm and John:., genl ,.,
the judicial seat and nearest bank locauon. and creamery.
and 165 from :\Iilwaukee. Population. 200. Kimball Asahel, lumber.
.>!ail. daily. E. W. De Bower, postmaster. Larson & Oakey (Ole Larson, Chari•·>
llnnson-De Bower Lumber Co.
Oakey), abstracters.
·
--:\-IcDill George D, lawyer.
OSCEOLA MILLS
Mahre Fred, saloon.
. '
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h Mears Charles E, oropr Polk Counn· p,-, ..
An incorporated v1llage, located on ts e ~!iller Frederick, brick mnfr.
·
:'.I., St. P. & _S. Ste. M. Ry., and on_ th~ t. Nason Albert L, carp.
Croix river, m Polk county, of which ltsls Nason )Ierrill ·M, blacksmith.
the judicial seat, 38 miles northeast of t. Oaltey Charles H Iawver.
Paul. It dates its settlement from 1844. and Oakey Charles H' & Co (Charles H Oak•·•··
has Baptist, Lutheran. and Methodist proprs Bank of Osceola.
·
churches, a graded pubilc sc!Iool, a public Osceola JI.Iill Co, C C Ladd pres, J \\' I... : ·
hall, with a seati_ng capac1ty of 3~1. a sec, flour.
creamery, 2 fiour m11ls, a bank and a "eek- Page Moses, carpenter.
Iy newspaper, the Polk Cou.nty Press. Tele- Peterson John P, county supt school.'.
phone connection. Stage_dallY to East Farm- Polk County Press, c E llear" Prnpr .
ington and South Farmmgton. Popula_~ on, Ramsey ·wm apiarist.
500. Exp., Western. Tel., W. U. F. "like, Rowcliff Stephen J, grocer.
postmaster.
Rowcliff Thomas J, painter.
Andersen Henry P, register of deeds.
Saleik Frederick, jeweler and barb~r.
Ayres Seth, hay presser.
Sanders W w·, farm impts.
Bank of Osceola, Charles H Oakey & Co Schmidt Louis, farm impts.
proprs.
.
Schmidt Wm. saloon.
Bell Lycurgus, county treasurer.
Sevey 'Varren J, Propr Hotel Cn•o•:ulo·.
Benjamin Samuel C, livery.
(See adY.)
Bethania )<IIneral Spring Co, H B Dike pres, Skeleton )<Irs Carrie, milliner.
Ole Larson sec.
Sleeper E W, dray.
Bey! Frederick, blacksmith.
Smith Erskine C, blacksmith.
Blanding Seymour W, county surveyor.
Smith Manfred, county clerk.
Burdick Henry P, lawyer.
Smith Uriah H, meats.
Combacker Henry E. physician.
Staples Charles E, furniture.
De Golier S :\-!orris, surveyor.
staples Charles W, drugs and books.
!Dike Henry B, lawyer.
Staples ~rs Ella F, music tchr.
Downend Robert. surveyor.
!Stelling Jacob, harnessmaker.
Dresser Mrs M E, propr Opera Hall.
Stevens A H, plasterer.
Feyder John N, hardware.
Treadwell Edward veterinar'" surgeo!: .
Fllzen & Langebach (Paul Filzen, John E Tyrell John c. propr Valley House.
Langebach), fiour and feed.
Valley House, J C Tyrell propr.
Garlick Louis H, carpenter.
Vassaw Joseph, sheriff.
Geiger Mrs G, genl store.
Vogel Henry C, shoes.
Goodwin H C. carpenter.
\\'like Frans, postmaster.
Goodwin ~rs H C, dressmaker.
Wilkins James )<!, carpenter.
.,
Haag Edward. genl store.
Will Bros (Frederick and Frankl, m•·" '
Hale Isaac. city marshal.
Zorn Emil. mason.

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terns, Brass and Iron Work.
MILWAUKEE, • WIS•

Directory page organiz:ed by community. Wisconsin State Gaz:etteer and Business Oirecwn,
1895-6, \thlume IX, Chicago: R. L. Polk & Cu., 1895. p. 814.

- 20 -

~:,

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gazetteer and directory production, the publications continued to print
display advertisements.
While state business directories gathered an impressive array of data, they
did not produce a definitive list of businesses in Wisconsin. They existed
as private, commercial activities and depended upon the success of their own
surveys of business. These surveys did not produce results as inclusive as
the occupations listed in the original returns of government census schedules,
and even the completeness of the business directories themselves varied from
publisher to publisher. Nonetheless, researchers can find a variety of uses
for the directories. Many communities experienced rapid growth in the ten-year
intervals between federal censuses. The business directories may document the
establishment or growth of particular businesses or industries during these
periods. The listings by community demonstrate the core business activities
that could be expected in even the smallest settlements and how these may have
changed over a fifty-year time span.
Comparitive reading of state business directoriesmayhelp establish a tenor
of the times. Comparisons of street addresses for different types of business
establishments may reveal how the business community organized itself. For
example, an 1865 listing for Columbus shows that Dr. E. Churchill, resident
dentist, located his office on the second floor above John Swarthout's drug
store. The directories may also remind local historians that 19th-century
business was not a single, unbroken line of economic success. Of the state's
twelve manufacturers of threshing machines listed in the 1857 business
directory, only J.I. Case was reported in business twenty years later. An
1857 entry for Miss Perkins of Rural as a rag carpet weaver gives some sense
of the options open for an unmarried woman to earn income in a small town.
Researchers will find Wisconsin gazetteers and business directories in the
State Historical Society's library. The original volumes for many of the years
may be used in the library but do not circulate. The Society has microfilmed
these publicatons, and the microfilms are available for use in local
communities through interlibrary loan. Although limited to the information
that could be produced by the energy of their compilers and respondents, the
Wisconsin gazetteers and business directories contain yet another significant
slice of historical data about virtually every community in the state.

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- 21 -

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From Exchange

Vol. 32, No. 2

Spring 1990

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searching

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.

CVVisconsin Communzt;y ®story
Resources at the State Historical Society

'
This is the eleventh in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It was written by
Tom McKay~ Coordinator of the Office of Local History.

Wisconsin: A Guide to the Badger State
Local historians can construct partial profiles of their communities' pasts by
scanning lists and ledgers of business directories, census schedules, and other
systematic records. Enriching these systematic profiles with the impressions,
ideas, or attitudes about a community as recorded by residents or visitors
immerses local historians in very different kinds of records. Diaries or
collections of personal papers may paint very detailed and elaborate pictures
of a community's history. Other sources, such as travel guides, offer only
quick verbal snapshots of a community at a point in time. During the 1930s,
workers in the Writers Program of the federal government's Work Projects
Administration recorded data and impressions about a large number of Wisconsin
communities for a guide that may provide surprising bits and pieces of information to local historians. The Wisconsin Library Association sponsored publication of Wisconsin: A Guide to the Badger State, one volume in the American
Guide Series. In the Wisconsin guide, researchers will find quick impressions
or miscellaneous notes for more than 350 communities and localities.

s\

As one of its many Depression-era employment programs, the federal government
hired out-of-work writers to travel individual states and compose entries for
a publishable guidebook. A number of writers worked on each guidebook and
authorship of specific sections of the guidebooks is not identified. The
resulting volumes blended history, scenic descriptions, local lore, and
contemporary statistical data into an impressionistic overview of the state.
The Wisconsin guidebook consists of three parts. Part I is a topical
examination of the state as a whole. The eighteen brief chapters in this part
of the guide cover topics ranging from agriculture to education to industry
to the theater. The preface to the guide acknowledges the advice and
assistance received from a long list of Wisconsin's best known scholars.
However, the guide does not name the authors of the eighteen chapters, and
the reader cannot presume that the writers were experts on their subjects. In
general, the chapter makes an honest effort at condensing information
available in a more complete form in other books and secondary sources. For
the topics addressed in Part I, the local historian can find other and better
sources.
In Part II, Wisconsin:

A Guide to the Badger State profiles nine of the

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446

W I SC0 N SI N

As US 2 enters the cutover, farms become more infrequent, their
pastures more ragged, buildings poorer, and fences more straggling
From the top of a long rise, 50.5 m., is the last backward glimpse or
Ashland, curving along the bayshore. lVIuch of the cutover here has
been settled by Slovaks, the first of whom took over the wild cutover
land in I 909, centering their settlement around lYloquah (Ind., bear)
several miles north. These land-hungry immigrants were attracted by
advertisements published in papers printed in their national language.
They have retained much of the culture of their native land; coloriul
Slovak costumes are still worn at weddings and christenings.
At 55.2 m. is the eastern boundary of the CHEQUAMEGO:\
NATIONAL FOREST, an unbroken sheet of trees stretching acros3
a great basin to distant hills. Soon red clay gives way to the yellow
sand of THE BARRENS. Blueberries grow thickly here, ripening in
mid-July; then begins a migration of berry pickers-transients, Indians,
and neighboring farmers. Whole families come, setting up rude shelters and tents in little colonies, picking both to use and sell. Ten to
12 quarts of berries, an average daily pick, bring about $I.
At 61.9 m. is the junction with a side road.
I. Right on this road to LONG LAKE, 1 m., one of the few woodland
recreational developments along US 2 (campground and cottages; baatinr;,
fishing, and s<u:imming).
2. Left on this road to LAKE MILLICENT, 2 m., one of the westernmost
lakes of the Pike Lake Chain. Only seven lakes are actually stream-linked,
but there are more than so in the straggling chain that runs roughly south·
east for 15 miles. The road winds past and between many of them, and
connects with a maze of town and private roads.

IRON RIVER, 64.9 m. (r,Iq alt., 475 pop.), occupies a site once
known to the Indians as Medicine Springs because of the mineral waters
that gush here. The first white settler was John Pettingill, who established a trading post in 1887 in anticipation of the arrival of lumber·
jacks and settlers. A sawmill was soon built on the banks of the Iron
River, and Pettingill erected a hotel, which, in I 892, when people came
to settle on the townsite, once accommodated I 50 people overnight.
Several times during the next generation the village was virtually destroyed by fire.
As the lumber industry gradually declined, many lumberjacks settled down to become farmers. Some time later the Scandinavians, who
now outnumber other nationalities in Iron River and the surrounding
region, drifted in from the :Michigan iron country and began farming.
They sell their produce to a canning factory and a cooperative creamery
in the village and truck in loads of pulpwood to be shipped by rail to
paper mill towns. Summer trade with vacationists on the nearby lakes
constitutes an increasing source of income.
West of Iron River US 2 traYerses an area of swamps and wooded
marshes to BRULE, 73.1 m. (99+ alt., 151 pop.), the center of the
region in which President Calvin Coolidge vacationed in 1928. Consisting of only a few tourist cabins, filling stations, and taverns, Brule

~

~

A page from Tour 14 in Wisconsin: A Guide to the Badger State.

- 14 -

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largest cities in the state. Listed in order of presentation, Green Bay,
Kenosha, La Crosse, Madison, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Racine, Sheboygan, and
Superior appear. Each profile begins with a compendium of information about
local public services and accommodations. The data includes locations of
railroad and bus stations; fares for city buses, trolleys, and taxis;
special traffic regulations; airport locations and scheduled airline service;
radio stations; swimming, tennis, and golf facilities; numbers of hotels
and movie houses; and more. Each of the cities has a brief historical sketch
followed by a description of points of interest. Although these brief
descriptions often lack detail, tucked within them the researcher may find
forgotten bits and pieces of the community's past. For example, the city of
Sheboygan operated a summer "Kiddies Camp" for undernourished children in
Evergreen Park. The Madison section even contains a brief mention of the
subjects of the exhibits in the State Historical Society's museum.
Automobile tours comprise Part III of Wisconsin: A Guide to the Badger State.
Each of the 24 tours in this part of the guidebook follows a state or U.S.
highway. The tour writers describe scenic views, sites connected with history
or lore, and the appearances of cities and villages along the route. For each
municipality visited, the guidebook lists the population and the altitude
above sea level.
The tours meander through virtually every section of the state with comments
about thousands of sites and hundreds of communities along the way. The
longest tour runs 348 miles on state highway 35 from Superior to Prairie du
Chien. The shortest covers 11 miles from Sturgeon Bay to the Washington
Island ferry.
As in the city descriptions, the guidebook's automobile tours contain bits and
pieces of information possibly long forgotten by local residents. For example,
the guidebook describes the carp ponds in Stockholm that supplied live fish
to kosher markets in larger cities. This business might be all but forgotten
by historians in Pepin County. Many people may remember that John Dillinger, Sr.
operated a small gangster museum at Little Bohemia near Manitowish. However,
the guidebook also records the museum's 25¢ admission and the large red
billboard that marked its entrance. Park III of the guidebook can prove
particularly useful to county historical societies because it captures quick
impressions of sites and communities in several sections of most counties.
Some local historians will find Wisconsin: A Guide to the Badger State in
their public library. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin has four
circulating copies in its library collection, and the volume may be borrowed
through interlibrary loan. While the guide may not provide the foundation
for a systematic study, local historians may find between its covers forgotten
details and bits of data that can enrich exhibits, publications, or programs
about community life at the end of the Depression era.

~

-.1

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G

From Exchange

Vol. 32, No. 4

Autumn 1990

/""

5 CVI!isconsin Community q{istory
Resources at the State Historical Society
This is the twelfth in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It was written by
Tom McRay~ Coordinator of the Office of Local History.

State Highway Maps
Local historians face the challenge of piecing together the history of a
county or community from a wide variety of sources. When researching changes
in transportation, local historians will find interesting bits and pieces and
useful starting points about the automobile era on the official Wisconsin
road maps printed by the state government. The state Highway Commission produced a tentative road map in November of 1914, and the State Historical
Society of Wisconsin has copies of all but a few of the state's annual road
maps from 1914 to the present. The maps do not circulate, but a day of study
in the Society's archives reading room would be adequate to assemble important data on the automotive transportation history of any community of Wisconsin.
The earliest official road maps precede the designation of numbered state
highways. These maps attempt to show main routes of travel and indicate,
through differing widths of solid and dotted lines, the quality of road surfaces. The 1916 map advised travelers to inquire locally whether the road
was passable before driving on the routes marked with dotted lines. It also
solicited corrections from travelers for any routes that may have been inaccurately represented on the map.

~

~
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In 1918, the Highway Commission began designating state highways by number.
Some highway numbers provide useful clues in investigating a community's history. The state originally numbered the road from Green Bay to Wausau as
highway 16. It continued with that number on the maps through 1926 but
changed to highway 29 in 1927. For historical societies in communities along
this route, the change in highway numbers may help date photographs, advertisements, or other historical materials that display or make reference to
the highway number. In 1934, state highway 11 changed to U.S. highway 14--a
useful reference point for another group of communities. The 1938 map showed
that the shape of state highway signs changed from an inverted triangle to a
shield. Any photograph with a state highway sign in this shield shape dates
from 1938 or later.
Local historians can use the official state road maps to trace the development of paved highways serving their communities. The State Historical

- 10 -

\).

Society collection of official road maps has a gap between 1919 and 1924.
The 1924 map and maps for succeeding years indicate through differing solid
and broken lines, the composition of a road's surface. Paving of roads did
not flow evenly and gradually across the state. The road maps reveal the
completion of paved road from Westby to Viroqua between 1926 and 1927. However, the paving of the highway from Westby to Coon Valley does not appear until the 1932 road map, and the completion of paving on U.S. 14 highway all the
way from LaCrosse to Madison comes on the 1936 map. Drivers in northwestern
Wisconsin waited until 1948, when a section of U.S. highway 53 was paved between Minong and Gordon, to have a hard surfaced road the entire route from
Eau Claire to Superior. The pattern of road paving may arouse the curiosity
of local historians in some parts of the state. For example, the 1928 road
map shows a very small section of Marathon County trunk highway A paved at
Hamburg. This hard surfaced section remained isolated for 11 years until
highway A was paved from Hamburg to state highway 51.
The dating of road improvements includes other features in addition to paving.
The 1960 road map shows the opening of interstate highways in Wisconsin with
the appearance of sections of I-90 from Beloit to Janesville and Hudson to
Elk Mound and a length of I-94 from Kenosha to the Milwaukee County line. The
1965 map shows the opening of the highway 151 bypass around Beaver Dam. The
highway maps do not provide precise dates for these events, but they do offer
starting points for further research in local newspapers or other sources.
A miscellany of useful information appeared on the official state road maps
of different eras. Between 1924 and 1935, a symbol indicated which communities provided free public campgrounds for tourists. Lookout towers first
appeared on the 1935 maps, and the 1941 map added symbols for waysides such
as the one east of Omro on highway 21. Starting in 1950, the road maps carried a chart of facilities at state parks. A researcher can learn that Copper
Falls State Park added electrical outlets for campers between the 1950 and
1951 seasons. Researchers investigating the decline of rural crossroads
settlements can find when communities such as Dill, Steward, Polk, and Oakley
in Green County disappeared from the official state road map. A small number
of local historians may even discover photographs of their communities on the
official state road maps of the 1930s and 1940s. Examples of views include
the old Wisconsin River bridge near Spring Green, a sawmill at Neopit, and the
Mt. Valhalla ski area. Following the 1940s, photographs on the maps change
to unidentified, generic scenes.
Wisconsin's official state road maps will contain very little definitive information about a community's history. However, as a starting point they can
help local historians begin to piece together the stories of a variety of developments in transportation and tourism that affected their communities.
The maps also hold clues that will assist some historical societies in more
accurately dating materials in their collections. Through just such bits and
pieces, sources like the official state road maps fill in places in the complex puzzle of community history.
t'

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..........~

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•

f:

From Exchange

Vol. 33, No. l

Winter 1991

rhn<earching

Ll~ CWisconsin Community qfjstor;y
Resources at the State Historical Society
T.his is the thirteenth in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It was written by
Tom McKay_, Coordinator of the Office of Local History.

Automobile Tour Guide Books
America's devotion to the automobile has played a part in the twentieth-century
history of every community in Wisconsin. The last column in this series
examined the bits and pieces of local history that researchers can gather
from state highway maps. Before highway maps became the standard guide for
automobile travel, adventuresome motorists took to Wisconsin roads with the aid
of automobile tour books. In the pages of these guides, local historians will
find useful information about the dawning of the automobile age in their
communities. The landmarks that tour book publishers used to guide travelers
from community to community also offer more fragments of the early twentiethcentury history of rural Wisconsin.
The State Historical Society of Wisconsin's collection of automobile tour
books includes examples from as early as 1908 until well into the 1920s. A
small number of examples exists for the earliest years. For local historians,
the most interesting volumes will be those published prior to 1918, the year
when Wisconsin began designating numbered state highways. The tour books prior
to that year relied on detailed directions which identified frequent landmarks
to guide motorists from one destination to the next. For example, the 1910
Annual Tour Book of the Wisconsin State Automobile Association used 129 entries
to guide travelers from Wausau to Appleton, a distance of 102.9 miles.

v~

~

While many tour book entries consist of a simple "cross R.R." or "pass left hand
road," scanning route descriptions can reveal interesting details about the
communities and rural environs along the routes. County historical societies
frequently encounter a dearth of historical information about the rural hamlets
that once dotted the landscape but have largely disappeared over the last
ninety years. The routes described in the tour books passed through scores of
these hamlets in Wisconsin. Where the route was complex or difficult to
describe, the authors included more descriptive facts to guide travelers
through a rural community. For example, the 1910 Wisconsin State Automobile
Association tour book reveals that the hamlet of Edwards (near Howard's Grove)
had an operating cheese factory and saloon. On the other hand, King's Official
Route Guide for 1916 indicates that Elm City (between Antigo and Rhinelander)
was just a railroad station. Entries in this guide also show that the Clark
County hamlet of Spokesville had a church, creamery, and store in operation.
Although the tour books contain only partial information about any hamlet, the
facts listed in the entries can be valuable additions to files that county

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historical societies maintain about their rural communities.
Some local historians may find unusual and pleasant surprises as they conduct
research in the automobile tour books. King's 1916 guide suggests that
travelers nearing Green Lake turn off to "Mitchells Glenn, a place worth
seeing, with fine views and a cabin full of historic curios of Wisconsin."
Some publishers found that even the most detailed tour books could be made
more accurate, or more attractive to buyers, by including photographs of key
turns or junctions. These photographs, taken from the point of view of an
automobile, constitute scenes which most local historical societies will not
hold in their collections. The Wisconsin State Automobile Association 1910
tour book shows part of a rural flour mill near Whitehall and an excellent
view of Ray Mercale's Cash Crocery in Palmyra among approximately twenty-five
photographs. The State Historical Society's tour book collection also includes
a photographic automobile map of the route from Chicago to Milwaukee. Published
in 1905, this booklet contains a photograph of every turn and many landmarks
along the route. Despite the mixed quality of their photographs, the tour books
will provide previously unknown views of several communities.
Local historians may find the automobile tour books most useful for the insights
they offer into the coming of the automobile age to a community. The publications
concentrated on descriptions of road surfaces. Portage County historians can
locate the beginning of brick pavement in Stevens Point on the route from Knowlton
by using the 1910 Wisconsin State Automobile Association tour book. That same
book identifies a stretch of corduroy road, made from logs, between Weyauwega and
Freemont. All of the tour books clearly distinguish dirt, clay, and sand road
surfaces from each other. Those identified as clay or sand roads may have
accompanying comments about passability in poor weather. Researchers can discover
city streets which had macadam paving and country roads which were favored with
a gravel surface.
Companies printed automobile tour books as profit making ventures. Display
advertisements and directory listings in the tour books contributed to the
income generated by the publications. These advertisements contribute today
to the history of local companies that made early entries into automobile
related businesses. The 1908-09 Automobile Blue Book featured a 72-page
directory of automobile related businesses throughout the state. Listings
include garages, automobile dealers, gasoline retailers, mechanics, hotels,
automobile manufacturers, and speciality equipment dealers of all kinds. Entries
for Milwaukee businesses predominate, but listings of businesses in all parts
of Wisconsin appear. Display ads in the various tour books promote everything
from Cream City car tops to the Hotel Marinette to four models of Johnson
vehicles which were manufactured in Milwaukee in the early 1900s.

v~.

~

During the early years of this century, Wisconsin residents hit the roads in
the invention that would revolutionize the American lifestyle. Automobile
tour books reveal a part of that story as it unfolded in communities across
the state. These rare volumes can be consulted by visiting the archives and
iconographic reading rooms of the State Historical Society. The next article
in this series will examine another early record of the automobile's impact
on Wisconsin's local hsitory and a record which is available on microfilm in
the State Historical Society of Wisconsin's library, the monthly magazine
entitled Wisconsin Motorist.

- 15 -

'

~

From Exchange

Vol. 33, No • .3

Summer 1991

A;"<earching

ll~

CWisconsin Community ®story
Resources at the State Historical Society

This is the fourteenth in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It was written by
Tom McKay~ Coordinator of the Office of Local History.

Wisconsin Motorist
The last column in this series explored the use of automobile tour guide
books to investigate the corning of the automobile age to local communities.
Researchers who use the tour books may find valuable complementary information
in the Wisconsin Motorist magazine, a resource held on microfilm at the State
Historical Society of Wisconsin. This Milwaukee-based publication reported
a miscellany of motoring news from throughout the state. The magazine
began publication in 1909 and continued until 1928. The State Historical
Society collections include only a partial run of the magazines published,
but the issues held contain a surprising variety of information from all
parts of Wisconsin.
The issues of Wisconsin Motorist from 1919 through 1928 exist on microfilm
as a nearly complete run. Prior to 1919, only a few issues from 1910
represent the magazine's early years. However, researchers may find those
few early issues to be especially useful. At the opening of the automobile
age, many local companies entered the market supplying automotive products.
In the early issues of Wisconsin Motorist, researchers may discover
advertisements for local manufacturing companies making long forgotten
products for the automotive trade. For example, the O.C. Hansen Manufacturing
Company of Milwaukee advertised Hansen's Auto Gaunlets, driving gloves, in
the pages of Wisconsin Motorist. Harvey Spring Company of Racine ran
advertisements promoting automobile springs.
The Wisconsin Motor Car
Company of Janesville purchased a full page spread for its car, the Wisco.
In addition to such spots for manufacturing companies, the magazine's pages
include a host of advertisements for automobile dealers, traveling
accommodations, and other services related to the motoring public.
Milwaukee-area businesses predominate, but local historians from many other
areas of the state will find information about businesses in their communities.

\..)"'I

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The Wisconsin Motorist magazines from 1910 featured a column about new
automobile clubs forming in the state. These columns reported the names of
club officers and highlighted goals established by the group?. One new club
in Manitowoc set out to promote a lake shore drive from Manitcwoc to Two
Rivers. The magazine also provided news briefs from around the state
announcing new automotive businesses, motoring accidents, and road improvements. While larger communities such as Beloit, Kenosha, and Eau Claire

- 5 -

t

'I

receive much of the attention, notice also appears of activities in smaller
towns. In 1910, the magazine reported completion of a new gravel road
leading from Sparta to the Little Creek schoolhouse. News from Sauk City
indicated that an experiment in the community had inmates of the county
workhouse crushing rock for road improvements.
Wisconsin Motorist attempted to promote travel through descriptions of scenic
and historic sites to visit. One issue printed a lengthy article about the
Indian mounds at Carroll College in Waukesha. Another month's magazine
told readers about scenic Door County and described the excellent meals and
rooms in such establishments as The Cove and the Eagle Inn. The magazine
also published tour routes like those in the automobile guide books. Some
local historians may find mention of special events, such as the automobile
endurance test that passed through Elroy, Chippewa Falls, Merrill, and other
communities on a great loop beginning and ending in Milwaukee.
The later issues of Wisconsin Motorist reflect the consolidation of the
automobile industry on a national level. Fewer advertisements appear for
manufacturers serving a local market with automotive products. Articles
emphasize more general concerns about maintenance and operation of automobiles. Nonetheless, a selection of items of local interest continue to
appear. Many businesses providing automotive services continue to advertise
and receive mention. For example, a photograph and description in a 1923
issue extol! the efficient new service station of Hoaglin Tire and Battery
Company in Oshkosh. Each year during the 1920s, the magazine ran a table of
automotive registrations for each county in the state. Another yearly table
listed the exhibitors at the large Milwaukee Automobile Show.
Wisconsin Motorist provides a context in which to understand local issues
related to the automobile. A 1923 article about the state automobile club
summarized its legislative agenda. Items of concern included mandating
lights on all vehicles at night, enforcing the headlight law, and increasing
speed limits. During the 1920s, northern states such as Wisconsin saw a
lively debate about the practicality of plowing and maintaining roads for
winter driving. Readers from Westby, Shullsburg, Plymouth, and other
communities wrote to the editor with opinions on this subject. The magazine
also reported that the bus line from Ashland to Park Falls maintained a
winter schedule by leasing its own snowplow and tractor.
News from motor bus companies represented a portion of the range of interests
in the Wisconsin Motorist that extended beyond private automobiles. The
magazine regularly offered sections or articles on motorcycling, motor
boating, and the motor truck industry. Frequent advertisements for Wisconsinmade Harley-Davidson and Indian motorcycles appeared. Notes in the motor
boating section varied from a new boat motor invented by John Cremer of
Cashton to the motor launch service started by William Campbell in Argyle to
give pleasure rides on the Pecatonica River.

\J',
\J~ \

Historical miscellany most accurately describes the information that a
researcher may draw from the pages of Wisconsin Motorist. The examples cited
above represent only a sampling of articles that covered the gamut from
used car prices in Milwaukee to the opening of state parks in Douglas,
Buffalo, and Trempealeau Counties. No local historian should expect to

- 6 -

t

It

develop an overview of automobile history in a community entirely from
Wisconsin Motorist. However, anyone planning a book, article, or exhibit on
the topic of local automotive history could invest a few productive hours
scanning the publication for advertising, articles, and notes that will add
depth to their study. The Wisconsin Motorist microfilms can be borrowed
from the State Historical Society Library through inter-library loan.

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from Exchange

,..,

Vol.

3~,

No. L

L~~L

CWisconsin Community %story
Resources at the State Historical Society
T.his is the fifteenth in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It was written by
Tom McKay~ Coordinator of the Office of Local History.

Iconographic Collections
Geographic Place File
The iconographic collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin contains a huge store of photographs and images documenting both the history of
Wisconsin and historical events beyond its borders that influenced life within
the state. To local history researchers, this rich source of visual information
can represent a large and daunting challenge. Local historians may find an
easy starting point for use of the iconographic collection by investigating its
geographic place file.
The geographic place file contains approximately 12,000 Wisconsin images
organized by community. The communities range from the city of Milwaukee to
unincorporated hamlets such as Elton in Langlade County. All images appear
under the name of the community. The file has no entries by county or other
geographical name. The file holds a small number of non-Wisconsin images.
The communities run in alphabetical sequence with Ableman as the first Wisconsin
community and Yuba as the last. The images cover a broad range of Wisconsin
history, but the majority fall in the years between 1880 and 1950.

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Most of the images in the geographic place file represent Wisconsin's major
cities. Milwaukee and Madison lead in number of entries with a total of eight
file drawers of photographs and images. Throughout the files, images include
a mixture of overall views, street scenes, community landmarks, and some
special events. The section of the file for the city of Green Bay provides
interesting examples of this mixture. The file contains approximately 250
views of Green Bay. A heavy representation comes from photographs of the Fox
River showing docks, boats, paper mills, and other industrial features.
However, a local history researcher may find surprising additional information
in such images. A photograph, taken in 1889, of a southwest view of the Fox
River holds, in the foreground, excellent documentation of family homes and
their backyards. Local landmarks among the Green Bay pictures include St.
Vincent's Hospital in 1910, the Green Bay House hotel in 1925, and a rustic
area called Dutchman's Creek in 1925. The unveiling of a Daughters of the
American Revolution tablet honoring Eleazer Williams is one of the Green Bay
events found in the file.

- 5 -

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Green Ba:·. c. 1890. Air t·ieu· showing old Court House. Frederick L G. Straube!. photographer. WHi(X3)11162.

Many smaller villages and communities appear in the geographic place file.
Elroy has 15 photographs in the file including an excellent view of downtown
in 1922 with a brick paved road, the high school in 1905, and the interior of
St. Patrick's Church in 1911. Following Elroy comes a single image of the
community of Elton. However, it is a detailed photograph of the Chicago
Northwestern depot showing the water tank, a caboose on a siding, and railroad
construction materials. Patch Grove also appears with only one photograph,
but again this early view of its main street is a gem. The file contains 22
photographs of Jefferson, and one shows a chilling scene of the Rock River and
a mill race in winter. The dam and powerhouse at St. Croix Falls appear in
the file as well as a crisp stereoscope view of the office of the Polk County
Press in that community. Three very clear photographs among the images of
Orfordville show the dedication ceremonies for the Skavlem monument in honor
of Norwegian immigrants.

~

Local history researchers using the geographic place file should remember that
the huge iconographic collection often holds other images from their communities.
All entries in the geographic place file include negative numbers. Working
with iconographic reference staff, these negative numbers may lead to other
photographs of equal or greater value to a researcher. The iconographic staff
can also respond to specific written inquiries for assistance. The geographic
place file can be a beginning point for local historians in the State
Historical Society iconographic collection. Future articles will explore
other ways to use this rich source of visual history.

- 6 -

F~om

Exchange

Vol. 35, No. 2

1993

5"'-- CVVisconsin Community q{jstory
Resources at the State Historical Society
This is the sixteenth in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It was written by
Tom McKay and Beth Boland of the Office of Local History.

Wisconsin Place Name Books
An interest in local history frequently leads to an interest in learning how
local places received their names. Villages, towns, counties, rivers, and a
host of other places need names, and the origins of those names are often unknown to today's residents. To help trace some of those origins, the library
of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin lists in its card catalog, more
than fifty publications devoted to place names in the state.
Some of the available place name publications treat specific communities or
counties. Others trace names along a specific feature such as a railroad line
or investigate names related to a specific subject such as Native American names.
Some books offer a wider look at interesting place names from throughout Wisconsin. A few of these statewide studies present only lists of names without
origins, but they still represent starting places for research.
People have named places after military and political figures, geographical
features, former homes, railroad officials, Native American designations, and
many other sources. The inspiration for some names came from unique events that
make a good story. In turn, some of those stories grow more from myth and legend
than from history. A careful researcher will check the details of place name
origins in written publications against other sources. For example, a check of
census records might determine whether a town founder, said to have named the
community after his favorite daughter, ever had any daughters.
Local historians should find in the selected sources below useful starting points
for place name research. Inquiries to the library at the State Historical Society
can determine which are reference books available only for use only in the library
reading room and which can be borrowed through interlibrary loan.
"A Gal Whose Name Went Down in History."
September 18, 1969.

Oconto County Reporter,

\];
\

~

Allen, Mary Moore. "Origins of Names of Army and Air Corps Posts, Camps and
Stations in World War II in Wisconsin." ( type>vritten manuscript)
Goldsboro, N.C.

- 10 -

ft~t

Branch of Geographic Names. Wisconsin Geographic Names.
u.s. Geological Survey, 1981.
Butteres, Virgil A. "History of Names:
Wisconsin." 1971.

Reston, VA:

Etymology of Crawford County,

Carufel, Robin. Names and Maps Tell a Story of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 1990.
Cassidy, Frederic Gomes. Dane County Place-Names.
of Wisconsin Press, 1968.

Madison, WI:

Madison, WI:

Christiansen, Ruth Bunker. Polk County Place Names and Fact Booko
Wisconsin:
Christiansen, 1975.

University
Frederic,

Cole, Henry Ellsworth. Baraboo and Other Place Names in Sauk County,
Wisconsin. Baraboo, Wisconsin: Baraboo News Publishing Company, 1912.
Decisions on Names in Wisconsin.
Geographic Board.

Madison, Wisconsin:

"Early History of Lafayette County."

~.Jisconsin

Wisconsin State

Magazine of History, 2:329-330.

Engel, Harold A. Wisconsin Place Names: A Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin, 1968.

Madison,

Gard, Robert Edward, and Sorden, Leland George. The Romance of Wisconsin
Place Names. Minocqua, Wisconsin: Heartland Press, 1988.
Hale, James B.
Wisconsin:

Wisconsin Post Office Handbook. Bulletin No. 20.
Wisconsin Postal History Society, 1988.

"How Our Towns Were Named."

Algoma Record-Herald, July 20, 1967.

"How The Towns Were Named."

Kewaunee Enterprise, April 20, 1967.

Madison,

Kellogg, Louise Phelps. "Organization, Boundaries and Names of Wisconsin
Counties." In Proceedings at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin
for 1909, pp. 184-231. Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society of
Wisconsin, 1910.
Kuhn, Herbert W. Indian Place-Names in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Archeological Survey, 1952.
Lang, Milton E.
June, 1980.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin:

"Discourse on How Wabeno Got it's Name:

Leader, W. J. "Some Local Names and Their Derivations."
~isconsin Official Directory, 1914-1915, pp, 11-16.

~.

Also Others."
In Douglas County,

Legler, Henry Eduard. Origin and Meaning of Wisconsin Place-Names: With
Special Reference to Indian Nomenclature. Madison, Wisconsin: 1903.
Master Waterbody Listing.
Natural Resources.

Madison, Wisconsin:
- 11 -

Wisconsin Department of

~

,.

Meyer, Orrin W. Se Souvenir = To Remember: Calumet County, Wisconsin,
The Milk Vein of the World. Calumet County, Wisconsin: Meyer, 1964.
"The Names of Green Bay, Wisconsin."
Pierce County's Heritage.
1971'

Names, September 1973, 168-178.

River Falls, Wisconsin:

Rudolph, Robert S. Wood County Place Names.
of Wisconsin Press, 1970.

University of Wisconsin,

Madison,

Wisconsin:

University

Sander, Philip. "Notes Concerning the Origin of Names of Lakes in Kenosha
County." Photocopy, November 1, 1983.
Spohn, William H. Madison's Memorials: Street and Place Names.
copy. Madison, Wisconsin: Madison Literary Society, 1950.

Microfilm

Stennett, W. H.~A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected
with the Chicago & Northwestern and Chicago,St. Paul, Minneapolis
and Omaha Railways. Chicago, 1908.
Townships in Wisconsin Counties
1978.

West Allis, Wisconsin:

Janlen Enterprises,

Verwyst, Chrysostom Adrian. "Geographical Names in Wisconsin, Minnesota,
and Michigan Having ·Chippewa Origin." In.Collections, val. 12,
edited by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, pp. 390-398.
Vogel, Virgil J. Indian Names on Wisconsin's Map.
University of Wisconsin Press, 1991.
"What's in a Name."

Madison, Wisconsin:

Wisconsin Tales and Trails, 1(2):21

Wisconsin Geographic Names Council and US Board on Geographical Names.
Decision on Names in Wisconsin. Madison, Wisconsin: Department
of Natural Resources, 1975.
"Wisconsin Names:

Their Origin and Meanings.

Reedsburg

Ti~es,

April 2, 1915.

Worthing, Ruth Shaw. The &story of Fond du Lac County as Told by Its
Place Names. Fond du Lac, Wisconsin: Worthing, 1976.

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- 12 -

.

..,

~,.cParching
CVVtsconsin Community q[jstory
Resources at the State Historical Society
This is the eighteenth in a series of articles on resources available to local
historians at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It was written by
Deborah Kmetz~ Local History Specialist.

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. survey Plat Maps
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During the period 1833-1866, draftsmen, first in Cincinnati and later in Dubuque, created plat maps for almost every portion of Wisconsin.
These plats,
produced as part of the federal government's land survey, represent some of the
earliest attempts at mapping Wisconsin land at a local level.
Copies of the
plat maps, some as beautifully hand-drawn renderings and others as photostatic
reversals, can be found at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Archives.
The plat copies exist for virtually every area of the state and contain fascinating information about the nineteenth-century landscape.
Each map allows
significant detail and many maps note the locations of individual cabins,
springs, millsites and landings as well as trails, rivers, streams and villages.
The clerks and draftsmen who produced these maps probably never saw the land
and instead created the plats using information contained in the field notebooks of contract surveyors.
These surveyors, hired by the federal government,
walked the land marking and measuring the township boundaries, and then further
subdivided each township into thirty-six sections. As they walked these measured lines, the surveyors also recorded their observations about the landscape,
noting natural features and evidence of human habitation.
The surveyors drew
sketch maps of each township in their notebooks and marked the major features
of the land.
These sketch maps served as a basis for the plat maps.
The program of surveying, called the U.S. Rectangular Land Survey, began in
Ohio and proceeded westward.
It advanced two purposes, both related to the
sale of land. One purpose was to explore and describe the land, then regarded
by the federal government as a source of income but also a virtually unknown
frontier wilderness. The second purpose involved parcelling the land into manageable pieces for relatively efficient and quick sale to a growing number of
European Americans eager to settle.

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Federal land offices used the plat maps to provide information about the land
to prospective buyers.
The interested parties could presumably go to a land
office, look at the plat maps created from the surveyors' field notebooks,
and get a sufficient idea of the quality and type of land available for sale.

- 10 -

Since each plat map covered only a six-mile square of land, they provided
enough suitable detail for an informed purchase. The first U.S. government
land offices in Wisconsin Territory opened in Mineral Point and Green Bay in
1834. An office opened in Milwaukee in 1836, and twelve more would follow
throughout the state. A list appears below.

Mineral Point
Green Bay
Milwaukee
Muscoda
St. Croix River
Falls
Hudson
Menasha

1834
1834
1836
1841
1848
1849
1852

La Crosse
Stevens Point
Superior
Eau Claire
Bayfield
St. Croix Falls
Wausau
Ashland

1852
1852
1855
1857
1860
1860
1872
1886

Using the plat maps, the federal government sold the land by section (640
acres) or by subdivisions of a section: half sections (320 acres), quarter
sections (160 acres) and quarter-quarter sections (40 acres). The plat maps
clearly delineated the 36 sections and the quarter sections for prospective
buyers. The local land agents could further subdivide the sections on the
maps into smaller acreages for smaller land sales. By looking at the maps,
prospective buyers could also see the locations of rivers, streams, lakes,
springs,. mineral outcroppings, bluffs, salt licks and other elements of the
natural landscape which had been recorded in the field notebooks. The surveyors also noted vegetation, and the plat maps showed the location and extent
of different kinds of land cover including prairie, groves, openings, sugar
bushes, windfalls, marshes, tamarack swamps and cranberry bogs. In their
notes, surveyors made efforts to distinguish between high and low ground and
rated the land as 1st, 2nd or 3rd rate for agricultural use or other economic
purposes such as logging. The ratings sometimes appeared on the plat maps.

A look at an individual plat map, that for Township 1 North, Range 2 East,
suggests some of the things a nineteenth-century land purchaser or a
twentieth-century researcher might find when using the maps.
(See illustration
on page 13.) This township is located on land in present-day southwest
Lafayette County. Lucius Lyon completed the interior survey for the township
on April 8, 1833. This particular map is quite beautiful, hand drawn on a
beige paper backed with muslin. The markings appear in black, brown, red,
green and blue ink. The square township outline measures 12" x 12". Black
ink lines divide the township into 36 sections and red ink lines subdivide it
into quarter sections. This visually creates the "rectangular" grid for
which the survey is named. Looking at the map reinforces the image of an
abstract measurement overlaying the land. Each section in the grid contains
a number which identifies it, beginning with Section 1 in the upper righthand corner and ending with Section 36 in the lower right-hand corner.

--

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The square township outline represents the major east-west and north-south
boundary lines which define the township itself. The sections running

- 11 -

immediately inside of the outline's top edge (an east-west line) and its lefthand edge (a north-south line) are further subdivided into half-quarter
sections and quarter-quarter sections. The true acreage of each of these
parcels is noted within the subdivision itself, for example, "A80" or
"A41.29." These quarter-quarter sections immediately adjacent to the top
and left-hand township boundary lines vary from the standard forty acres
because of adjustments made to compensate for the earth's curvature.
Within this grid of 36 sections, the mapmaker drew in symbols for elements
of the natural landscape. On this map brown ink marks the natural watercourses which are all fairly small creeks with tight meanders. The lines
appear almost as "squiggles." On other maps, where the watercourses are
wider, shorelines are drawn, and blue shading represents the water itself.
The mapmaker also noted vegetation. An irregular and continuous line begins
in Section 35 and moves to the northwest, loops back to the southeast, and
reaches out again to the northwest. The line is accompanied by the mark
••
, appearing at intervals along one edge. This same edge is shaded
green on the map in the Archives collection. The area within the marked and
shaded side of the line represents prairie; the area on the other side of the
line stands for a mixture of prairie and groves of oak trees.
(Though somewhat difficult to see at the reduced scale in the accompanying illustration,
the symbols appear clearly on the maps themselves.)
In addition to these natural features, the map also offers evidence of human
habitation. The mapmakers used brown ink to indicate transportation routes
which the field surveyors had seen. These are marked by a line accompanied by
a series of small dots which appear at intervals
• • •··• •
. On this map the
routes may be Indian trails, wagon roads, or both.
Often early wagon roads
followed pre-existing Indian trails.
Several routes converge in Section 32 at
"White Oak Spring." The route which runs to the southwest eventually reaches
Galena, Illinois. At the time Lucius Lyon surveyed this township, these routes
probably served as wagon roads along which teamsters hauled lead, smelted in
the township's furnaces, to Galena for transportation down the Mississippi
River.

The map also shows "Gratiot's Grove," a settlement in Sections 22 and 23,
located near the words "Furnace" and "H. Gratiot's," each accompanied by the

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symbol
On survey maps this symbol can represent a variety of structures
ranging from cabins to inns, lead furnaces to fur trading posts. Here the
symbol probably marks a lead smelting furnace and H. Gratiot's residence.
Shullsburg, another settlement located in Sections 3 and 10, is marked by a
different symbol
JUL
representing several blocks in a street layout.
JOL

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The mapmaker noted additional single dwellings or furnaces along various
trails or roads, including "McGoon's Furnace," in Section 25, "N. Davis" in
Section 34, "Berry's" in Section 22 and a "Furnace" in Section 31. The plat
also includes several unidentified structures marked with the symbol

- 12 -

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Survey plat map for Towmhip I North, Range 2 East, located in present-day Lafayette County.
Lucius Lyon surveyed this townshitJ in 1832 and 1833.

- 13 -

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How does the information contained in this map correspond to the written observations made by surveyor Lucius Lyon? In Lyon's 1833 written summary of
this township (reprinted in Article 17 of this series; see Exchange Vol. 36,
No. 3) he notes, "The afore described township, embracing as it does, some of
the oldest wrought and richest mines in the country; is generally rolling, 1st
rate land, about half prairie and half thinly timbered with oak, with an
undergrowth of hazel." The map does not locate any of the mines.
It does
however, offer the location and range of the prairie and oak savannahs. The
written summary underscores the land's value as 1st rate land and gives a
sense of the topography with the word "rolling." In the written summary Lyon
names all three settlements marked on the map:
"Shullsburg," "Gratiot's
Grove," and "White Oak Spring" and adds "each of which settlements now contain
about five or six families, but the two former, in the most prosperous days of
the mining business, have heretofore at one time, contained not less than
forty families each ••• " Lyon also mentions abandoned mines, "The mines which
have heretofore been very productive are situated principally on sections 2,
3, 10, 11, and 14 but are now many abandoned as they are thought not to be
worth working." Although the mines do not appear on the map, the section numbers do. Locating the numbers on the map reveals that the sections containing
the abandoned mines are clustered together in an area around Shullsburg.
The summary and the map convey different kinds of information. The written
word provides descriptive information such as the number of families living in
a settlement or the status of the mines.
It also provides evaluative information where Lyon perceived a mining operation past its prime, The plat map, on
the other hand, provides spatial information - specific locations, sizes and
shapes of natural or man-made features, and distances such as a settlement's
proximity to a transportation route. Either source provides valuable information, but used together the written summary and the plat map produce a fuller
picture of the township landscape at the time of the survey.
Sometimes it
is vital to use the two sources together, as in the case of the vegetation.
The written field notes identify the exact nature of the vegetation which is
not apparent from the map symbols.
Lucius Lyon initiated Wisconsin's rectangular survey in 1832 with his work on
townships in today's Grant and Lafayette Counties.
That same year George
Harrison, J.W. Stephenson, Robert Clark, Jr., Harvey Parke and Sylvester Sibley
surveyed townships in present-day Green, Rock, Iowa and Sauk Counties. John
Mullet and Henry S. Howell surveyed two townships in Columbia County and two
in Marquette County. Mullet and Ira Cook surveyed two townships in Marquette
County and one in Marquette and Green Lake Counties. All of Mullet's surveys
involved land along the strategic transportation route between Fort Winnebago
and Fort Howard.
By 1836, the year the federal government established Wisconsin Territory, surveying had begun on selected townships in another twentyone present-day counties.
The surveying continued at a steady pace through
1866, when surveyors completed work in the northern interior of the state.
~,

~

Two factors intertwined in the timing of the surveying and mapping: Native
American land ownership and desire on the part of European Americans for land
to settle. As late as 1825, the federal government formally recognized that
virtually all of the land in what would become Wisconsin was owned by Native

- 14 -

0

10

20

30
Mi .

40

50

..
~Certain Chippewa,Ottawa,
~and Potawatom1

mWinnebago

~

F7l Menominee cessions to
li22J the Un1ted States

D

Menominee cession to the
eastern tribes, chiefly the
Oneida

[TI .

SIOUX

'

Chippewa

"Principal Indian Cessions. The area comprised in the state of Wisconsin was acquired from various Indian tribes by
eleven treaties of cession . ... By the time Wisconsin had become a state, Indian title was extin?,uished to all land
except what the Menominee retained in the east-central part of the state. The cession of this soon followed, at Lake
Pow-aw-hay-Kcu-nay (Lake Poygan)."

Map and caption reprinted from Robert C. Nesbit's Wisconsin: A History, Second Edition. Revised and
updated by William F. Thompson.© 1973, 1989. (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.) Reprinted
by permission of The University of Wisconsin Press.

15 -

Americans. By 1848, only twenty-three years later, Indian land titles for all
of this land, except the small Oneida Reserve, had been transferred to the
United States government in exchange for payments of cash and goods, and
sometimes with the retention of hunting and fishing rights. The land cessions
took place between the United States government and individual tribes and
affected different parcels of land at different times.
The cessions began
with land in the south owned by certain Ojibway (Chippewa), Ottawa, Potawatomi
and Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) groups. The cessions continued with land owned by
the Menominee on the shores of Lake Michigan and Green Bay and moved northward
to include land held by the Sioux and the Ojibway. Menominee Indians retained
the last land tract to be transferred to the U.S. government in the state,
a tract located in east-central Wisconsin and ceded at Lake Pow-aw-hay-Kou-nay
(Lake Poygan) in 1848.
Generally, the surveyors did not begin their measurements until the U.S. government secured title to the land. The map on page 15, reprinted from Robert
C. Nesbit's Wisconsin: A History, shows the dates and extent of the eleven
principal treaties of cession.
It can be very instructive to parallel that
map with the path of the rectangular survey across the state. Comparing the
two helps explain the timing of the surveying, underscoring the fact that the
exchange of land title was supposed to occur before the survey could proceed
and the government could sell the land to the new European American settlers.
European Americans did not always wait for the official land transfer or the
surveying to occur. Settlers squatted on Native American land and engaged
themselves in mining, farming and trading.
In fact, the incursion of
European American settlement precipitated tensions with resident Native
Americans and sometimes accelerated a land cession. The survey plat maps Inay
record the locations of early European American settlement, but other research
sources must be used in order to determine whether the settlements pre-date
treaties.

s:

Evidence of Native American habitation varies from map to map, depending on the
date of the survey and the nature of the settlement. Although a hunting camp
probably would not appear on a survey map, a maple sugar camp or a permanent
village might be recorded. The survey plat for Township 26 North, Range 16
East in present-day Shawano County provides a rich source of information about
resident Native Americans in 1845.
(See accompanying illustration.) The
symbols AA6A
denote an Indian village, probably Menominee, along the west
bank of the Wolf River in Section 29. Directly across the river, on the east
bank, a trail leads to two sugar camps, one located a mile and a half away and
another about two miles farther. Approximately two miles north of the village,
along the river in Section 16, a "Trail to Green Bay" begins at an "Indian
Landing." It proceeds to the southeast and intersects the sugar camp trail
at the border of Sections 22 and 23. Theodore Conkey completed the interior
survey for the land east of the Wolf River in this township in 1845.
When using the map in conjuction with Conkey's field notes, a researcher finds
the land is composed primarily of wetlands and a mixture of deciduous and
coniferous forests. A line with the marking
~
accompanying it at intervals creates three irregular shapes on the ~' one in the southeast, one
in the center and one in the north center. The area within the marked side of

- 16 -

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Detail of the survey plat map for Township 26 North, Range 16 East, located in present-day Shawano County.
Surveyors measured and described the land east of the Wolf River in 1845; west of the Wolf River in 1851 .

- 17 -

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the line represents wetlands and swamp conifers, including white cedar, black
spruce, tamarack and hemlock. The others contain a mixture of deciduous and
coniferous forests including sugar maple, basswood and oaks; pines, birch and
beech. The sugar maples are concentrated in the areas marked "sugar camps,"
where the Indians probably tapped maple sap in the spring.
The approach developed through the rectangular survey for organizing the land
has continued to exercise influence well past the survey's completion. The
plat maps created by the Cincinnati and Dubuque mapmakers have been used as
base maps for subsequent endeavors including later nineteenth-century county
atlases. The divisions of section, half section, quarter section and quarterquarter section, along with the township coordinates, still form the fundamental basis of legally identifying parcels of land in Wisconsin.
The survey plats, as examples of cartography, also offer insight into
nineteenth-century aesthetics and technology.
The maps were drawn on sturdy,
fine quality papers. Their fiber-based content has preserved them well. Mapmakers used hand held pens that they dipped into a variety of inks, made from
minerals and organic materials.
The delicacy and deftness of the drawing
offers a tactile and visual beauty that differs from the standards of twentiethcentury mechanical and electronic uniformity and regularity.
The maps, as
well as the field notes themselves, vary in detail and presentation, revealing
the skill of the mapmaker as well as the surveyor.
The United States General Land Office survey plat maps comprise Archives Series
698 at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Twenty-one bound volumes
contain hand drawn plat maps for townships in township tiers 1-30. These
tiers cover approximately two-thirds of the state from the Wisconsin-Illinois
border to an east-west line running through Medford. Photostatic reversals of
the maps are available for townships north of this line. The maps are also
available on reels of microfilm, through interlibrary loan.
In order to identify the appropriate volume, photostat or microfilm reel, researchers will
need to know the township and range coordinates of the township in which they
are interested.
(See Article 17 of this series for instructions). The Board
of Commissioners of Public Lands in Madison holds the set of original plat
maps used at the land offices in Wisconsin.
The maps in Archives Series 698
are certified nineteenth-century copies of the original maps, signed by the
U.S. Surveyor General.

A
~­

c;;e____

Sources used for this article include "A Guide to the Land Records at the State
Historical Society of Wisconsin," by Michael Edmonds; Order Upon the Land: The
U.S. Rectangular Land Survey and the Upper Mississippi Country (1976) by
Hildegard Binder Johnson; Wisconsin: A History (1973) by Robert C. Nesbit;
and "Wisconsin: A Natural Laboratory for North -American Indian Studies" by
Nancy Oestreich Lurie,which appeared in the Wisconsin Magazine of History,
Vol. 53, No. 1, Autumn 1969. Local historians may obtain the 11-page guide to
land records by writing to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Archives.
Order Upon the Land, Wisconsin: A History and articles appearing in the
Wisconsin Magazine of History may be ordered through interlibrary loan. The
author would like to thank Gerry Strey, SHSW Map Curator, for her assistance
in preparing this article.

- 18 -

A;n<earching

1~ CWisconsin Community q{istory

L

Resources at the State Historical Society
This is the twentieth in a series of articles on resources available to local historians at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It was written by Tom McKay, Local History Coordinator.

Annual Reports of
County Superintendents of Common Schools
The last half of the twentieth century witnessed many areas of rapid change on the local, state and
national levels. Schools are among the most important institutions in any community's history, and the
consolidation of schools brought great change to Wisconsin communities. Local historians can establish
a baseline of information about elementary school education prior to consolidation and elimination of
one-room schools through research in the Annual Reports of County Superintendents of Common
Schools. These reports are found in the archives at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin as Series
675. The reports cover the years 1940-1965.
County superintendents of schools gathered data from each individual school district in their respective
counties and compiled the information in summary fashion on the annual report forms provided by the
state government. As a result, the reports offer an overview of education in one-room schools and
graded schools in a particular county rather than a profile of any individual school. The reports focus
largely on a tabulation of numbers of school-age children in a county; statistics describing teacher
preparation and experience; and financial data summarizing receipt of public monies and disbursements
for expenses such as teacher salaries, transportation costs, maintenance, utilities, capital expenditures
and operations.
The superintendents' reports can help establish a context for major changes in education at the local
level. Each report indicates, for its county, the number of: one-room school districts; state graded
school districts without a high school; and districts with both high school and elementary school grades.
Researchers might be surprised to learn that in 1941 an area such as Green County had 103 one-room
schools. Two state graded schools, one union high school, and four districts with high school and
elementary grades comprised the remainder of the county's schools.

~~

~~.

The number of rural schools gradually declined during the 1940s and 1950s, but eighty-one one-room
schools remained in Green County in 1959. The decline in the number of rural schools reflected changing attitudes about education and changing school populations as farms grew larger and the number of
families in a rural area grew smaller. In 1954, two of Lafayette County's eighty-three one-room schools
had only four pupils each. Closings of such schools happened throughout Wisconsin every year.
While information about students from the superintendents' reports address in general terms the
- 21 -

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VILLAGE

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1-1--1-------------1---J---J---•---u---•---•-.--o---•---•--- ..---•---•---•-•---•--•--------------1---~---J---•---u---•---•---•---•---•--- ..---•---•---•-•---•--•--------------I---1---J---J---u---•---•---•---•---•---"---•---•---•-•---•--•-------------1

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Page 2 from the Annual Report of the County Superintendent of Common Schools for the County of
Buffalo, State of Wisconsin, for the Year Ending June 30, 1941. State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Archives.
- 22-

8

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TABLE m. NO. OF TEACHERS EMPLOYED AT THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

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Totals MU3t be Same aa Tablee VII, X and XVIII.

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Number of children between 4 and 20
reported by clerks whose school
houses sre in this county. (Summsry
p. 5. Clerk's Report.)

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a. Boys

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Districts that are joint with other
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107 this county who reside in
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Age in Yesrs

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12
14

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r. Total No. reported by
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(Sumof -q).
A .33
CENSUS

7

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(Nos. 56, 57)

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School Census Statistics

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Must be same as column 1, page 2.

Page 3 from the Annual Report of the County Superintendent of Common Schools for the County of
Buffalo, State ofWisconsin, for the Year Ending June 30, 1941. State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Archives.
-23-

number of pupils in county schools, a more detailed picture of teachers emerges from the documents.
The reports recorded the length of time teachers had served their present schools. The 1941 data for
Burnett County reveals that seventeen of forty- four rural school teachers were in their first year at their
present schools, eleven were in their second year, and eight in their third year. However, this revealed
mobility among teaching positions rather than a corps of new teachers. In this same group of forty-four
teachers, the majority had more than five years of teaching experience and nine of the forty-four had ten
years or more in the classroom.
In addition to teacher tenure, the annual reports offer information about teacher salaries and preparation.
In Burnett County, nearly all of the elementary school teachers in the early 1940s made less than $100
per month. During the same time period, almost all of Milwaukee County's teachers made more than
$1 00 per month with some paid more than $250 per month. In the early 1940s, superintendents' annual
reports included a table charting the numbers of years of education beyond the eighth grade completed
by teachers in rural and graded schools. By far the greatest number had training that encompassed one
or two years of education at a county normal school for teachers. However, virtually every county had
exceptions. In 1941, Marquette County had fifty-one rural school teachers including one with four full
years of college and one with only one year of high school. By the 1950s, the reports follow changing
expectations for teachers and record how many years of education teachers had beyond high school.
The reports hold a variety of clues about the day-to-day business of education in one-room and graded
schools. For example, in 1941, Marquette County's fifty-one rural schools had an average of 380 books
in their libraries, included sixteen schools with no playground equipment, and numbered fourteen
schools with radios. Any local historical society conducting an oral history project about rural schools
could find this type of information useful in formulating interview questions about day-to-day activities
in a one-room school. The reports also give hints about special events. The 1941 reports for their
respective counties show that all eleven rural schools in Forest County sponsored school fairs while
none of the thirty rural schools in neighboring Oneida County held school fairs.
The Annual Reports of the County Superintendents of Common Schools are filed in alphabetical order
by year. This means that the reports for any given county are spread throughout the thirty-one archives
boxes that house this record series. The organization of Series 675 means that researchers wishing to
access all of the reports for a given county from 1940 through 1965 would need to do so by using them
at the State Historical Society in Madison. Historians interested in reviewing a county's reports for
selective years could request to have those records transfered for use to one of the thirteen Area Research Centers throughout the state. While the reports cannot provide in-depth pictures of any individual school, they do offer an excellent context for understanding change in one-room and graded
elementary school education on the local level during the middle of the twentieth century.
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