Search the Wisconsin Historical Society's collections
Filter: Categories of Odd Wisconsin Stories
Filter: Year of 1800-1899
| A Strange Man's Strange Dwelling |
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| Discover the bizarre story of a castle built on the shore of Lake Mendota in the 1800's. |
| Spirits Lead a Woman to Fortune |
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| Morris Pratt was a well known psychic medium whose legacy is his eponymous spiritualist institution in Whitewater, known locally as "Pratt's Folly." |
| From Under a Tree to Madison's Most Popular Lodge |
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| Discover the story surrounding the planning and construction of the first building erected in Madison. |
| How Plans to Make Madison's First Home Went up in Flames |
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| Discover the Brief History and Tragic Ending of Madison's First Home |
| The Constitutional Convention's Influence on the City |
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| Find out where some of the most traveled streets of Madison got their names. |
| Speculating on a Dream |
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| Join cantankerous British geologist George Featherstonehaugh as he travels to Madison in 1837 and finds things not as he expected them to be. |
| Argument and an Unpopular Choice |
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| Discover how Madison became the capitol city during the first Wisconsin territorial convention |
| The First White Men in Madison |
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| The first white residents of Madison were fur traders Wallace Rowan, Olivier Ammel and Michel St. Cyr. |
| From Bear Hunting on the Capitol Square to a Fully-incorporated City |
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| Discover how Madison went from a small village in 1836 to being organized and governed as a city in 20 years time |
| An Ordinary Woman has an Extraordinary Encounter |
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| The story of Mary Hayes-Chynoweth, one of Wisconsin's most famous mystics who also predicted the future on a number of occasions. |
| First Woman Notary Public |
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| Discover the story of Wisconsin's first woman notary public Louise Williams who provided legal counsel for southern Wisconsin after the Civil War. |
| The Remarkable History of the Telephone |
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| Learn how Wisconsin resident Richard Valentine's invention would change the world |
| The Story of Jonathan Walker, Abolitionist |
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| Discover the story of Jonathan Walker, "Slave Stealer." |
| The Clash of U.S Law and Indian Legal Tradition |
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| Learn how the trial of Menominee Chief Oshkosh, one of the most famous in Wisconsin history, pitted Indian traditional justice against white man's law. |
| Two Lawyers Spur Abolitionist Reform and Universal Voting Rights |
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| Learn how Byron Paine and Halbert E. Paine used the power of law for radical abolitionist reform in mid-19th century Wisconsin. |
| Wisconsin's Brigham Young |
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| Discover the history of early Mormon leader James J. Strang, self-proclaimed successor to Joseph Smith. |
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