September 2008 Odd Wisconsin
If you're interested in our new book about the Milwaukee Braves, you might also want to read about the minor league Milwaukee Brewers, the hometown favorites from 1902-1952. They started when a group of Midwestern players, unhappy with the National and American Leagues, set up their own "American Association." They played in a bizarre, rectangular wooden park at Chambers and...
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Posted in Curiosities on September 30, 2008
The past week has brought the most alarming economic news of our generation, as one pillar of the banking industry after another crumbled. Something similar happened 170 years ago when nearly half the banks in the country collapsed, business ground to a halt, and unemployment reached record levels. Here's what happened, and how it affected Wisconsin, during the so-called Panic...
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Posted in Curiosities on September 27, 2008
That's what the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center recently called the antique bookcase in the Society's library lobby -- "the 'Holy Grail' of Wisconsin library artifacts. The WHS Library has grown from this small beginning to be one of the world's greatest historical libraries." Whether this 1840s bookcase is, in fact, the Holy Grail of Wisconsin library history is a matter...
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Posted in Curiosities on September 23, 2008
Recent media coverage of flooding from hurricane Ike evokes memories of some of Wisconsin's own floods. One of the most dramatic in living memory was the deluge that nearly swept away the village of Spring Valley, 66 years ago this week. The 973 residents of the little Pierce Co. town were used to floods. Their village, strung out lazily...
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Posted in Bizarre Events on September 18, 2008
This weekend marks the anniversary of Gov. William A. Barstow's birth. Barstow (1813-1865) was the only Wisconsin governor thrown out of office for election tampering, in 1856. Unfortunately his challenger and successor, Coles Bashford, was little better. The scandal unfolded this way. Democrats had controlled the state for years, and when incumbent Democrat William Barstow ran for re-election as governor...
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Posted in Odd Lives on September 11, 2008
170 years ago this week, James Duane Doty (1799-1865) was elected by Wisconsin voters to represent them in Washington. Doty had already served in the Michigan territorial legislature (1833-35) and finagled having Madison chosen the territorial capital. He went to Washington in 1838 to represent not only the voters but also absentee landowners, Eastern speculators, and capitalists trying to exploit...
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Posted in Odd Lives on September 8, 2008
We're deluged at the moment by media coverage of the major parties' national conventions. Like everything else, these rituals possess a rich and colorful heritage. For an example, let's go back almost a century and half to the convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln – a meeting whose political chicanery we don't usually associate with "Honest Abe." Lincoln was a dark...
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Posted in Curiosities on September 3, 2008
Did You Know?
The Wisconsin Historical Museum is currently featuring Odd Wisconsin objects in the latest exhibit: Odd Wisconsin. And don't miss the Odd Wisconsin book by author Erika Janik published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.
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