Until the nineteenth century, white settlement in Wisconsin was sparse and centered almost solely on the fur trade and military posts at Green Bay, LaPointe, and Prairie du Chien. With increased westward migration after the War of 1812, white settlers initially settled in two areas: the lead mining regions along the Mississippi and along the lakeshore in what later became the city of Milwaukee. Because water routes remained the only feasible means for travel and transporting goods in the early nineteenth century, towns and cities usually fanned out from rivers and lakes. Although the major lead mining towns of Platteville,... more...
| A teenager comes to Green Bay as a new bride in 1824. |
|
| An early Yankee settler recalls Prairie du Chien's infancy. |
|
| A Green Bay girlhood in the 1820s. |
|
| Madison is promoted as a tourist destination in 1877 |
|
| Quality of life in Madison in 1850 |
|
| A woman's memoir of the founding of Sheboygan |
|
| An Indian woman founds the town of Marinette |
|
| Recollections of Old Superior |
|
| A young boy's experience of Madison in the 1830's |
|
| The founding of Portage, by Frederick Jackson Turner (1883) |
|
| Memories of Milwaukee's first family |
|
| A journalist describes Ashland's premature demise, and its resurrection. |
|
| Letters from Milwaukee in its infancy, 1836-1846 |
|
| The Origin of Milwaukee's name |
| An early history of Madison illustrated with contemporary photographs |
|
| An Abolitionist Recalls Anti-Slavery Days in Wisconsin |
|
| A colorful and opinionated guide to Milwaukee businesses, 1877 |
|
| Promoters describe Superior in its infancy |
|
| Promoters try to entice settlers to Bayfield County |
| The Founding and Early History of Madison |
| The first house in Madison, built in 1837 |
|
| Madison's first white woman settler |
|
| Increase Lapham examining a meteorite, ca. 1868 |
|
| Prairie du Chien merchant and judge James H. Lockwood, 1856. |
|
| Bird's-eye views of Wisconsin cities and towns |
| An early Milwaukee settler recalls the city's infancy |
|
| A historian and old settler describes Milwaukee's origins, 1873. |
|
| Oral traditions about Milwaukee's founding |
| States and territories created under the Northwest Ordinance. |
|
| The imaginary capital city that its chief promoter envisioned, 1836. |
|
| Two founders of Milwaukee design its downtown in 1837. |
|
| A territorial leader lays out imaginary city blocks in Milwaukee (1835). |
|
| A historical, documentary, and descriptive history of Wisconsin to 1854 |
|
| The people and places of Fond du Lac County |
|
| Bizarre tales from La Crosse newspapers |
|
| A minister seeks to attract settlers to La Crosse in 1854 |
|
| Derivations of Indian Place Names around the Great Lakes |
|
| A narrative and documentary history of La Crosse county (1907) |
|
| Reminiscences of early La Crosse by L.H. Pammel |
|
| Wisconsin Blue Books |
|
| John Nolen envisions the future of Madison, 1911 |
|
| Biographical sketches and writings of some Wisconsin pioneer women |
|
| The Wisconsin State Journal looks at Madison from 1852 to 1902 |
|
| Images and maps of Milwaukee Neighborhoods, 1885-1992 |
|
| Historic postcards of Milwaukee |
|
| A bird's-eye view of Milwaukee in 1854 |
|
| Reminiscences of an early settler in Milwaukee, 1835 |
|
| An 1887 atlas of landownership maps of Racine and Kenosha counties |
