Search the Wisconsin Historical Society's collections
Filter: Categories of Odd Wisconsin Stories
Filter: Year of 1800-1899
| The Rise and Fall of Private Currencies |
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| Discover the history of currency in Wisconsin, and how paper money led the state to adopt a new constitution in 1848. |
| The Midwestern Heritage of One of the 20th Century's Greatest Poetic Innovators |
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| Discover literary giant Ezra Pound's connection to the frontier wilds of Wisconsin. |
| The Printer and the Priest |
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| Discover how Wisconsin got its first printing press, and the impact that a Catholic priest would have on Ho-Chunk literacy. |
| From Sacred Calumets to Ashtrays |
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| Discover the important role that tobacco and the Peace Pipe have played throughout Wisconsin's history. |
| An Old Man's Tall Tale |
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| Wisconsin pioneer Joseph Crelie was said to be 139 years old when he was exhibited to spectators in 1864. But how old was he really? |
| The Capital's First Drunkard |
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| Read the story of Madison's first and most beloved drunkard, Pinneo. |
| The Story of Lost Bird |
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| Discover this harrowing story that brings together a feminist pioneer and the infant her husband found in the aftermath of Wounded Knee. |
| A Popular Swindler |
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| Read about John Till and the miraculous "medical" plaster treatment that led to his arrest by the State Medical Board. |
| The Antiquated Belief of a Chief Justice |
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| Discover Wisconsin Chief Justice Edward G. Ryan's opinion on women and court |
| From Whaling to Coal Burning |
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| Discover how man-made lighting has become a common part of our everyday lives. |
| How One Woman Changed Wisconsin During the Civil War |
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| Discover how Cordelia Harvey's mission to reform hospitals during the Civil War would change Wisconsin forever. |
| A Bizarre Story of Land Prospecting Gone Awry |
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| Read the amazing story of a man who watched his potential 10,000-square-mile northern Wisconsin empire disappear into thin air. |
| The Rise and Fall of Isaac Walker |
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| Discover the story of Isaac P. Walker, the first Wisconsin presidential contender in 1850. |
| Buffalo and O-Sho-Ga Protest Forced Removal |
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| Discover how two Ojibwe chiefs traveled to Washington DC and negotiated with President Millard Fillmore to keep rights to their land. |
| The Virgin Mary Appears to an Illiterate Peasant Girl |
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| Learn about the first and only manifestation of the Virgin Mary in the United States near Green Bay, confirmed by the Vatican. |
| A Warrior Prepared to Die is Disappointed |
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| Discover the story of a Ho-Chunk warrior who surrenders and is grieved at receiving a fair trial. |
| A Fortification That may not Have Existed |
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| Learn the story surrounding the building of Fort Koshkonong by General Henry Atkinson. |
| A History of Disease in Wisconsin |
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| Read this informative collection of all the outbreaks and epidemics in Wisconsin's history. |
| Where Exactly did it Start? |
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| When and where did The Gideons International really begin? There are more answers then you would think. Give this a read and decide for yourself. |
| Some Interesting Stories of the Winnebago Chief |
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| Read about Ho-Chunk Chief Dandy's interesting and friendly interactions with white settlers in Wisconsin, even while he was a fugitive. |
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