
What Indian tribes came to Wisconsin first?
A teenager comes to Green Bay as a new bride in 1824. An early Yankee settler recalls Prairie du Chien's infancy. John Shaw recalls Tomah, Black Hawk, Keokuk, and other Indian leaders. A participant tells how the Oneida, Stockbridge, and Brothertown came to Wisconsin in the 1820s.
What two wars delayed settlement in Wisconsin?
Significant American settlement in Wisconsin, a part of Michigan Territory beginning in 1818, was delayed by two Indian wars, the minor Winnebago War of 1827 and the larger Black Hawk War of 1832.
What happened in Wisconsin in 1820s?
An early Yankee settler recalls Prairie du Chien's infancy. John Shaw recalls Tomah, Black Hawk, Keokuk, and other Indian leaders. A participant tells how the Oneida, Stockbridge, and Brothertown came to Wisconsin in the 1820s. An officer's daughter recalls her girlhood at Fort Howard, 1824-29. Recollections of Wisconsin slaves by pioneer settlers.
What is the history of the Wisconsin Timber industry?
The timber industry first set up along the Wisconsin River. Rivers were used to transport lumber from where the wood was being cut, to the sawmills. Sawmills in cities like Wausau and Stevens Point sawed the lumber into boards that were used for construction. The Wolf River also saw considerable logging by industrious Menominee.

What was the first settlement in Wisconsin?
Green Bay, located along the banks of the Fox River, is the oldest settlement in Wisconsin. Early French voyageurs and coureurs de bois probably knew about the site and named it Baye des Puants because the Puants, a Winnebago tribe, resided there.
Why is Black Earth Wisconsin called Black Earth?
In 1851, the town board renamed the town Farmersville, but the name Black Earth was readopted in 1857. In June 1984, the Barneveld Tornado ripped through part of Black Earth, damaging and destroying several buildings.
What is in Black Earth WI?
Things to Do and SeeBlack Earth Children's Museum - Opened in June 2017. ... Festge County Park - Located in the Driftless Area (unglaciated area) of Dane County and offers a scenic view 100 feet above the Black Earth Creek Valley in the Town of Berry -- one of the more spectacular views in the county.More items...
What county is Black Earth Wisconsin in?
Dane CountyBlack Earth / CountyDane County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 561,504, making it the second-most populous county in Wisconsin. The county seat is Madison, which is also the state capital. Wikipedia
When did Brothertown come to Wisconsin?
A participant tells how the Oneida, Stockbridge, and Brothertown came to Wisconsin in the 1820s.
Where were the three outposts in Wisconsin?
Shortly after the British withdrew from Prairie du Chien's Fort McKay in 1815, three permanent military outposts were established in Wisconsin: Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien (1816), Fort Howard at Green Bay (1816), and Fort Winnebago at the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers (1828).
When was motherhood on the Wisconsin frontier?
Girlhood and motherhood on the Wisconsin frontier, 1824-1860.
Where were the Garrisons built?
Garrisons were therefore posted and forts built at Detroit, Mackinac, Chicago, and elsewhere in the West, including at three crucial locations along the Fox-Wisconsin waterway.
What is the story of John Shaw?
A trader relates his family history and personal adventures, 1745-1857. A teenager comes to Green Bay as a new bride in 1824. An early Yankee settler recalls Prairie du Chien's infancy. John Shaw recalls Tomah, Black Hawk, Keokuk, and other Indian leaders. A participant tells how the Oneida, Stockbridge, and Brothertown came to Wisconsin in ...
What is the history of Wisconsin?
The history of Wisconsin encompasses the story not only of the people who have lived in Wisconsin since it became a state of the U.S., but also that of the Native American tribes who made their homeland in Wisconsin, the French and British colonists who were the first Europeans to live there, ...
Why did immigrants come to Wisconsin in the 1850s?
Many Irish and Norwegian immigrants also came to Wisconsin in the 1850s. Northern Europeans, many of whom were persecuted in their home countries because of their support for the failed bourgeois Revolutions of 1848, often chose Wisconsin because of the liberal constitution of human rights such as the state's unusual recognition of immigrants' right to vote and rights to citizenship.
How many people died in the Civil War in Wisconsin?
Wisconsin enrolled 91,379 men in the Union Army during the American Civil War. 272 of enlisted Wisconsin men were African American, and the rest were white. Of these, 3,794 were killed in action or mortally wounded, 8,022 died of disease, and 400 were killed in accidents. The total mortality was 12,216 men, about 13.4 percent of total enlistments. Many soldiers trained at Camp Randall currently the site of the University of Wisconsin's athletic stadium .
Why is Wisconsin called the Badger State?
Wisconsin was dubbed the "Badger State" because of the lead miners who first settled there in the 1820s and 1830s.
Which state did the United States claim in the Treaty of Paris?
The territorial period. The United States acquired Wisconsin in the Treaty of Paris (1783). Massachusetts claimed the territory east of the Mississippi River between the present-day Wisconsin -Illinois border and present-day La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Where was Fort Beauharnois built?
In 1727, Fort Beauharnois was constructed on what is now the Minnesota side of Lake Pepin to replace the two previous forts. A fort and a Jesuit mission were also built on the shores of Lake Superior at La Pointe, in present-day Wisconsin, in 1693 and operated until 1698.
Who were the first Europeans to visit Wisconsin?
The Beaver Wars fought between the Iroquois and the French prevented French explorers from returning to Wisconsin until 1652–1654, when Pierre Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers arrived at La Baie des Puants to trade furs. They returned to Wisconsin in 1659–1660, this time at Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior. On their second voyage they found that the Ojibwe had expanded into northern Wisconsin, as they continued to prosper in the fur trade. They also were the first Europeans to contact the Santee Dakota. They built a trading post and wintered near Ashland, before returning to Montreal.
When was Wisconsin created?
The Wisconsin Territory (consisting of present-day Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and parts of North and South Dakota) was created in 1836.
Who was the first European to settle Wisconsin?
Early settlement. In 1634 French explorer Jean Nicolet was most likely the first European to enter what would become the state of Wisconsin. The area remained under French control until 1763, when it was acquired by the British. It was subsequently ceded to the United States by the Peace of Paris treaties in 1783.
How long did timber exploitation last in Wisconsin?
Timber exploitation continued for about 40 more years, leaving a devastated countryside that only since the mid-20th century has begun to recover through the regrowth of timber and ecofriendly tourism. Throughout the 1850s Wisconsin was a leader in the abolition of slavery.
What is the agricultural industry in Wisconsin?
Agriculture generally developed after mining and then mostly in the southern two-thirds of the state, where dairying became dominant. (Since 1920 Wisconsin has ranked first in the country in cheese production and at or near the top in the production of milk and other dairy products.) By the 1870s commercial lumbering reached Wisconsin’s northern forests. Timber exploitation continued for about 40 more years, leaving a devastated countryside that only since the mid-20th century has begun to recover through the regrowth of timber and ecofriendly tourism.
When was Wisconsin admitted to the Union?
Wisconsin was admitted to the union as the 30th state in 1848. By 1850 the population of Wisconsin had increased from about 30,000 to more than 300,000, and most of the agriculturally suitable areas had been occupied by 1880. In the 1880s iron ore was being mined in the north.
When did the Paleo Indians arrive in Wisconsin?
Paleo-Indians, the earliest ancestors of Native Americans, arrived in what is now Wisconsin during or after the retreat of the last continental glacier, about 12,000 years ago. They built effigy mounds, of which at least 20 remain in the Madison area alone.
How did the Native Americans dispossessed their land?
They quickly dispossessed the Native Americans of their land through treaties and overwhelming military defeats. They occupied the land, initially in the southwest, as lead miners and subsequently as pioneer farmers.
What was the purpose of the European settlement in Wisconsin?
European settlement brought the concept of private property to Wisconsin. People came to farm and start new lives. Before European settlement, there was no private ownership. In the late 18thCentury, the new US government began transferring ownership rights from the public domain to private ownership. Mapping the dates of those transfers give clues about original accessibility and value of land within each local community, the settlement of the land.
When was the PLSS survey of Wisconsin?
Surveyors traversed the landscape throughout the 19thCentury, delineating townships and sections. The PLSS survey of Wisconsin began in 1832 and continued until after the Civil War. It was a survey based on the Fourth Principal Meridian Extended, with a baseline on the Wisconsin-Illinois border and a Meridian that runs North/South from near the western end of that line, some 10-12 miles east of the Mississippi. Townships are numbered consecutively north from the baseline. Ranges are numbered East and West from that Meridian. See Figure 2. Washington Island sits in four townships.
Why did Europeans move to the Midwest?
Europeans moved into the American Midwest because they could acquire rights to the landfor farming and other purposes. The Land Ordinance of 1785 provided the mechanism to facilitate that transfer, including the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) that defined boundaries of land that could be acquired. Purchase, homestead, and a myriad of other vehicles were developed to allow people to acquire the rights to the land. Online records for most of those first transfers, the land patent, are available from federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), but a significant portion is only available from the state Board of Commissioners of Public Land (BCPL). This paper describes the process used to collect and map the dates of those initial land transfers on Washington Island, Wisconsin. It starts by describing the PLSS, because that defines the basemap. It documents the various ways that land was transferred from the public domain on Washington Island. It provides documentation on the two basic sources of data on land patents, BLM and BCPL, but also provides insights to other sources when those are inadequate. It closes by documenting the methodology used to transfer this information into map form using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology in the Washington Island case study.
What is a patent in land?
Patent is the name given to the first transfer of public land to private ownership. In today’s vernacular, the word is reserved for the government giving exclusive rights to the creator of inventions. Land Patents have the same meaning: giving a deed and ownership rights to the initial private land owner. The owner acquires rights to use the land, pass it on to heirs, or sell it to others.
Where was the PLSSAS operated?
4 Background material on the PLSSas it operated in Wisconsin is nicely documented on
Can multiple lots be created within a section?
Multiple government lots could be created within a section as shown in a zoomed-in example from Washington Island (

Overview
The history of Wisconsin encompasses the story not only of the people who have lived in Wisconsin since it became a state of the U.S., but also that of the Native American tribes who made their homeland in Wisconsin, the French and British colonists who were the first Europeans to live there, and the American settlers who lived in Wisconsin when it was a territory.
Since its admission to the Union on May 29, 1848 as 30th state, Wisconsin has been ethnically h…
Pre-Columbian history
The first known inhabitants of what is now Wisconsin were Paleo-Indians, who first arrived in the region in about 10,000 BC at the end of the Ice Age. The retreating glaciers left behind a tundra in Wisconsin inhabited by large animals, such as mammoths, mastodons, bison, giant beaver, and muskox. The Boaz mastodon and the Clovis artifacts discovered in Boaz, Wisconsin show that the Paleo-Indians hunted these large animals. They also gathered plants as conifer forests grew in t…
Exploration and colonization
The first European known to have landed in Wisconsin was Jean Nicolet. In 1634, Samuel de Champlain, governor of New France, sent Nicolet to contact the Ho-Chunk people, make peace between them and the Huron and expand the fur trade, and possibly to also find a water route to Asia. Accompanied by seven Huron guides, Nicolet left New France and canoed through Lake Huron and Lake Superior, and then became the first European known to have entered Lake Michig…
The territorial period
The United States acquired Wisconsin in the Treaty of Paris (1783). Massachusetts claimed the territory east of the Mississippi River between the present-day Wisconsin-Illinois border and present-day La Crosse, Wisconsin. Virginia claimed the territory north of La Crosse to Lake Superior and all of present-day Minnesota east of the Mississippi River. Shortly afterward, in 1787, the Americans made Wisconsin part of the new Northwest Territory. Later, in 1800, Wisconsin beca…
Statehood
By the mid-1840s, the population of Wisconsin Territory had exceeded 150,000, more than twice the number of people required for Wisconsin to become a state. In 1846, the territorial legislature voted to apply for statehood. That fall, 124 delegates debated the state constitution. The document produced by this convention was considered extremely progressive for its time. It banned commercial banking, granted married women the right to own property, and left the que…
Civil War and Gilded Age
Wisconsin enrolled 91,379 men in the Union Army during the American Civil War. 272 of enlisted Wisconsin men were African American, and the rest were white. Of these, 3,794 were killed in action or mortally wounded, 8,022 died of disease, and 400 were killed in accidents. The total mortality was 12,216 men, about 13.4 percent of total enlistments. Many soldiers trained at Camp Randall currently the site of the University of Wisconsin's athletic stadium.
20th century
The early 20th century was also notable for the emergence of progressive politics championed by Robert M. La Follette. Between 1901 and 1914, Progressive Republicans in Wisconsin created the nation's first comprehensive statewide primary election system, the first effective workplace injury compensation law, and the first state income tax, making taxation proportional to actual earnings. The progressive Wisconsin Idea also promoted the statewide expansion of the University of Wisc…
21st century
In 2011, Wisconsin became the focus of some controversy when newly elected governor Scott Walker proposed and then successfully passed and enacted 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, which made large changes in the areas of collective bargaining, compensation, retirement, health insurance, and sick leave of public sector employees, among other changes. A series of major protests by union supporters took place that year in protest to the changes, and Walker survived a recall elec…