Greetings from Wisconsin

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Greetings from Wisconsin
Greetings from Wisconsin!
Wisconsin
W
isconsin achieved statehood in 1848 and is called the Badger State
because some of the state’s original settlers were lead miners who
burrowed holes into the ground, like badgers, to serve as makeshift homes.
1848
Helpful Contacts:
The State of Wisconsin
www.wisconsin.gov
Wisconsin Manufacturers
& Commerce
www.wmc.org
Wisconsin Department
of Tourism
PO Box 7976
Madison, WI 53707-7976
From within the state of Wisconsin,
call: 1-800-372-2737
From outside the state of
Wisconsin, call: 1-800-432-8747
Email: [email protected]
www.tourism.state.wi.us -ORwww.travelwisconsin.com
Wisconsin Historical Society
816 State Street
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: 608-264-6400
www.wisconsinhistory.org
“Bucky Badger” is also the name of the mascot for the University of WisconsinMadison, the state’s flagship university and one of the top research universities in
the world. Madison is Wisconsin’s capital, but Milwaukee is the largest city. Scott
Walker is Wisconsin’s governor.
The majority of Wisconsin’s 5.7 million people live in the southern part of the
state, with the heaviest concentration along the southeastern corridor, including
Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine and Kenosha Counties.
Wisconsin is called “America’s Dairyland” because of the dairy industry. Wisconsin
is second in the U.S. in total cow milk production behind California, but produces
more whey and cheese than any other state, which is why Wisconsinites are
sometimes called “Cheeseheads.” Wisconsin is also number one in goat milk
production, mink pelts, corn for silage, cranberries, ginseng and snap beans.
Wisconsin is also a leader in green beans, carrots, potatoes, peas, onions and
cabbage production.
But agriculture is not Wisconsin’s number one industry; manufacturing is. In fact,
Wisconsin has the most manufacturing jobs in the nation on a per capita basis.
Among many other things, Wisconsin companies make motorcycles (Harley
Davidson), dolls (American Girl), bicycles (Trek), ships and yachts (Marinette
Marine, Bay Shipbuilding, Palmer Johnson), boat engines (Mercury, Evinrude), snow
blowers (Ariens), lawn mowers (Briggs & Stratton), military vehicles (Oshkosh),
mining equipment (Caterpillar, P&H), fire trucks (Pierce, Seagrave, Marion Body
Works, Custom Fire Apparatus), tractors (J. I. Case, John Deere), bathroom fixtures
(Kohler), household consumer products (S.C. Johnson Wax), soy sauce (Kikkoman)
and shoes (Allen-Edmonds).
Our third largest industry is tourism. People come to Wisconsin primarily from
around the American Midwest to enjoy more than 12,000 lakes and many other
attractions. Wisconsin’s most popular tourist destination is the Wisconsin Dells,
which calls itself the Water Park Capital of the World. Door County (the “thumb”
of the state) is also very popular. It has more shoreline than any other county
in the U.S.
Wisconsin Department
of Agriculture
PO Box 8934
Madison, WI 53708
Phone: 1-800-789-9277
www.datcp.state.wi.us
Bucky
Badger
Wheel of Cheese
State Capitol Building
Apostle Islands
Famous Wisconsinites
Wisconsin boasts many famous Americans in multiple fields, including the arts, science, architecture, politics and the military.
Military
Entertainers
ü Richard Bong was known as the greatest fighter ace of
World War II. Bong shot down 40 Japanese planes in
his P-38 Lighting.
ü John Bradley was a U.S. Navy corpsman who helped
erect the American Flag on Mt. Suribachi during the
battle for Iwo Jima during World War II.
ü James Lovell was born in Ohio, but grew up in Milwaukee.
Lovell is best known for commanding the Apollo 13 lunar
mission in 1970 that overcame a major malfunction.
ü Admiral Daniel Leahy was born in Iowa, but grew up
Wisconsin. He became the first Five-Star Fleet Admiral in
the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, Leahy
served as the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
ü General William “Billy” Mitchell is considered the father
of the U.S. Air Force. He pioneered the use of aircraft as
bombers, particularly against naval targets.
ü Donald “Deke” Slayton was one of America’s original
Mercury astronauts.
ü Don Ameche, Oscar winning actor
ü Willem Dafoe, actor
ü Heather Graham, actor
ü Chris Farley, comedian
ü Harry Houdini, magician (born in Hungary)
ü Liberace, musician
ü Jackie Mason, comedian
ü Steve Miller, musician
ü Spencer Tracy, Oscar winning actor
ü Les Paul, musician
ü Charles and John Ringling, circus entrepreneurs
ü Tony Shalhoub, actor
ü Gene Wilder, actor
ü Orson Welles, actor/director
Government Officials
ü Les Aspin was a congressman and served as Secretary
of Defense from 1993-1994.
ü Lawrence Eagleburger served as U.S. Secretary of State
from 1992-1993.
ü George F. Kennan is credited with establishing the
American Cold War policy of “containment.”
ü Melvin Laird was a congressman and served as
Secretary of Defense from 1969-1973.
ü William Rehnquist served as Chief Justice of the U.S.
Supreme Court from 1986-2005.
ü Tommy Thompson is Wisconsin’s longest serving
governor (1987-2001) who also served as U.S. Secretary
of the Department of Health and Human Services from
2001-2005.
Cranberries
Milwaukee
Others
ü Stephen Ambrose, historian
ü Jeanne Dixon, psychic
ü Eric Heiden, Five-time Olympic gold medalist speed skater
ü Aldo Leopold, author
ü John Muir, naturalist (born in Scotland)
ü Georgia O’Keeffe, artist
ü Laura Ingalls Wilder, author
ü Thornton Wilder, author
ü Frank Lloyd Wright, architect
ABOUT WMC
Founded in 1911, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce
(WMC) is a combination of the state Chamber of
Commerce, state Manufacturers Association and Wisconsin
Safety Council. WMC is the Wisconsin’s largest business
association representing nearly 3,500 employers of all sizes
and from every sector of the economy.
Lambeau Field
Home of the Green Bay Packers
Great Lakes Freighter
A Summary of Wisconsin History
P
rior to the arrival of Europeans, Wisconsin was
inhabited by various Indian tribes, including the
Menominee, Kickapoo, Miami, Winnebago,
Dakota (Sioux), Iowa, Fox, Sauk, Potawatomi and
Ojibewa (Chippewa).
In 1634, Frenchman Jean Nicolet was the first
European explorer to reach Wisconsin via Green
Bay. France lost control of Wisconsin after its defeat
1910 painting of Jean Nicolet’s 1634 arrival in Wisconsin.
to Great Britain in the French and Indian War (17541763). Wisconsin officially became part of the United
States after the British surrender at the Battle of
Yorktown (1781), which ended the American Revolutionary War.
Most of Wisconsin’s white settlers were fur traders until the 1820s when lead miners came to what
is now the southwestern part of the state. These miners built makeshift homes by burrowing into the
ground and were nicknamed “badgers.” The miners displaced native Sauk Indians who eventually
attempted to return to their lands sparking the Black Hawk War in 1832. The war ended with a crushing
Indian defeat at the Battle of Bad Axe.
Wisconsin became the 30th state on May 29, 1848.
In the early 1840s, Norwegian immigrants settled in
central Wisconsin. By the late 1840s, large numbers
of German immigrants made their way to the state,
many settling in Milwaukee.
Wisconsin lead miners,
nicknamed “badgers,” in the 1800s.
Prior to the American Civil War, Wisconsin was a
hotbed of the anti-slave or abolitionist movement,
which led to the founding of the Republican Party in
Ripon in 1854.
The Civil War began in 1861. Many Wisconsin units served with distinction,
including the 2nd, 6th and 7th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiments
that, along with the 19th Indiana and 24th Michigan Regiments, formed
the famous “Iron Brigade” or “Black Hat Brigade.” By war’s end, more than
90,000 Wisconsinites fought for the Union.
During the Battle of Chattanooga in 1863, 18-year-old Lieutenant Arthur
MacArthur, Jr. of the 24th Wisconsin Regiment rallied his troops during a
charge up Missionary Ridge by crying “On Wisconsin!” MacArthur, who
was the son of Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor and the future father of
Five Star General Douglas MacArthur of World War II fame, was awarded
the Medal of Honor for his heroics.
After the war, logging dominated the economy of northern Wisconsin,
while Milwaukee was fast becoming a manufacturing center that would
eventually be dubbed the “machine tool capital of the world.” In much of
the rest of the state dairy overtook wheat as the state’s primary agricultural product.
Member of the
“Black Hat Brigade.”
~ continued ~
Wisconsin championed the
Progressive Era at the beginning of the
20th century. Under Governor Robert
“Fighting Bob” La Follette, Wisconsin
became the first state to enact a
statewide primary election system, the
first workers compensation law and
the first state-level income tax. In 1932,
Wisconsin was the first state to enact
unemployment compensation law.
Former American Motors Lake Front Plant, Kenosha.
Wisconsin’s manufacturing sector continued to grow
leading up to the beginning of World War I. Factories in
Beloit, Milwaukee and Racine recruited large numbers of
African American workers from the American South as
part of the Great Migration.
When war was declared with Germany, Wisconsin
became the first state to meet its draft requirement. More
than 120,000 Wisconsinites served in the military during
the “Great War.”
The “Dow Day Protests” at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, October 1967.
Wisconsin continued its patriotic reputation during World
War II by sending more than 332,000 soldiers, sailors,
airmen and marines to fight in the European and Pacific
theatres.
In the late 1960s, the University of Wisconsin-Madison
became one of the centers of the anti-Vietnam War
movement, which culminated with the bombing of the
Army Math Research Center (Sterling Hall) on campus in
1970. One graduate student was killed in the blast, which
was the largest act of domestic terror in the U.S. until
Oklahoma City in 1995.
Governor Scott Walker becomes the first
U.S. governor to win a recall election, June 2012.
In 2011, Madison was again the location of massive
protests, this time against Republican Governor Scott
Walker’s reforms to limit collective bargaining privileges for public employees.
The backlash led to an attempt to recall Walker. But in 2012, Walker became the first U.S. governor to
win a recall election. Walker followed that victory with another in 2014 and in doing so won his third
election for governor in four-years (2010, 2012, 2014).
Today, Wisconsin has a Republican governor (Walker) and a Republican controlled legislature. But the
state is far from dominated by the GOP. President Obama carried the state in 2012 despite having
Wisconsin Republican Congressman Paul Ryan on the GOP ticket (Romney-Ryan). The last Republican
presidential candidate to carry Wisconsin was Ronald Reagan in 1984.
Wisconsin Maps
Wisconsin Facts & Trivia
FACTS
TRIVIA
ü Population: 5,711,767 in 2011 (20th in the U.S.)
ü State Capital: Madison (population 568,593)
ü Largest City: Milwaukee (population 594,833)
ü Median Household Income: $47,220 (15th in the U.S.)
ü Governor: Scott Walker, Republican
ü U.S. Senators: Ron Johnson, Republican; Tammy Baldwin, Democrat
ü U.S. House Delegation: 5 Republicans, 3 Democrats
ü Electoral Votes: 10
ü Statehood: May 29, 1848 (30th State)
ü Nickname: Badger State, America’s Dairyland
ü Name Origin: Wisconsin is an Indian word, but the origins are
disputed. Some say it is an Algonquian word meaning “long river.”
Others say it is a Chippewa/Ojibwa word that means “grassy
place” or “gathering of the waters.”
ü Highest Point: Tim’s Hill; 1,952 ft, 595 m
ü Land Area: 65,497.82 sq. mi.; 169,639 km (23rd largest in U.S.)
ü Number of Counties: 72
ü Animal: Badger
ü Wild Life Animal: White-tailed deer
ü Domestic Animal: Dairy cow
ü Bird: Robin
ü Flower: Wood Violet
ü Tree: Sugar Maple
ü Song: “On Wisconsin”
ü Fish: Musky (muskellunge)
ü Beverage: Milk
ü Dance: Polka
ü Mineral: Galena
ü Rock: Red Granite
ü Insect: Honeybee
ü Grain: Corn
ü Wisconsin has more than 12,000 lakes and more
than 7,400 rivers and streams.
ü The first hydroelectric plant in the U.S. was built on
the Fox River near Appleton in 1882.
ü The first practical typewriter was designed in
Milwaukee in 1867.
ü Wausau is the Ginseng Capital of the World.
ü Wisconsin has more than 15,000 miles of
snowmobile trails.
ü The first kindergarten in the U.S. was established in
Watertown in 1856.
ü The National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in
Hayward is shaped like a Muskie.
ü The first ice cream sundae was made in Two Rivers
in 1881.
ü The Republican Party was founded in Ripon in 1854.
ü The Hamburger was first created in Seymour in 1885.
ü With an average of 2,500 performers, Milwaukee’s
Summerfest is the nation’s largest music festival.
ü Green Bay is Wisconsin’s oldest city and the smallest
city in the U.S. with a major professional sports
franchise, the Green Bay Packers.
ü The Packers have won more NFL championships
than any other team, including four Super Bowls.
ü Wisconsin has two national parks (Apostle Islands
National Lakeshore; St. Croix National Scenic
Riverway), two national forests, 13 state forests,
46 state parks and 11 recreation areas.
ü Wisconsin has 2,231 National Register of Historic
Places listings.
Wisconsin State Flag
Created during the American Civil War, Wisconsin’s state flag was officially adopted in 1913.
PLOW: The plow represents agriculture.
FORWARD: State motto.
BADGER: Wisconsin is
known as the “Badger State.”
PICK/SHOVEL: The pick and
shovel represent mining.
SAILOr: Wisconsin borders Lake Superior —
the largest of the Great Lakes — to the north
and Lake Michigan to the east. The Mississippi
River serves as Wisconsin’s western border.
These bodies of water are important for
transportation, fishing and recreation.
Miner: Early European settlers
were lead miners. Wisconsin has
other mineral resources, including
iron, zinc, copper and even gold.
e pluribus unum: The U.S.
arm/hammer: The arm and
hammer represent industry.
motto “Out of Many, One.”
ANCHOR: The anchor
represents shipping.
CORNUCOPIA: Cornucopia
symbolizes a bountiful harvest.
Center Shield:
U.S. Coat of Arms.
1848: Year Wisconsin
became a state.
501 East Washington Avenue, Madison, WI 53703 | 608.258.3400 | www.wmc.org |
WisconsinMC |
LEAD INGOTS: Lead ingots
represent Wisconsin’s mining
heritage.
WMC501 |
@WisconsinMC