Wisconsin is a state in the north of America’s Midwest. It has coastlines on two of the Great Lakes, namely Lake Michigan (to the east) and Lake Superior (to the west). Referred to as the “Badger State”, it has no official nickname and is also commonly known as the self-proclaimed “America's Dairyland”. It is for the latter name, as one of the nation's leading dairy producers; known to many as a primary producer of cheese. Wisconsin is also associated with beer, by many Americans, due to the many historic breweries from the state’s largest city, Milwaukee. Whilst these images may be accurate, this predominantly agricultural state is the Midwest’s premier vacation destination.
The land is marked by rolling plain that slopes gradually down from the north. As well as farmland, it has an interior of forests. There are some 15,000 lakes within the state, the largest of which is Lake Winnebago. The principal crops grown in the state are hay, corn, oats, fruit and vegetables. One of the most valuable resources is timber, whilst mineral deposits include sand and gravel, and metals, such as zinc, lead, copper and iron. As well as tourism, main industries include food processing, the manufacture of farm machinery and, as mentioned, brewing. Wisconsin’s state capital, and second-largest city by population, is Madison.
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Above: Dairy Farms. Wisconsin is one of the leading American producers of milk and cheese and ranks second in terms of the state with the most dairy cows (after California).
In terms of Wisconsin’s history, since the arrival of the Europeans, the French claimed the region in 1634, Great Britain took it in 1763, and it was ceded to the United States in 1783. Settlement of the region was slow. Lead deposits were exploited in the southwest and more land was obtained after the elimination of hostile Indians. The territory of Wisconsin was established in 1836 and admitted to the Union in 1848. The state, whose Ojibwe name means “gathering of the waters”, has an area of 65,498.37 square miles (169,640km²), making it the 23rd largest in America. In terms of population (5.81 million in 2018), it ranks 20th nationwide.
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Above: Lake Winnebago, from its western shoreline.
A trip to Wisconsin in September 2018 is featured on this website and for the purpose of minimising page sizes, photographs and accompanying text about the places visited are subdivided into separate pages; these may be viewed by clicking on the links below:
Wisconsin Pages:
Milwaukee
Madison
Appleton
Circus World Museum, Baraboo
Lambeau Field, Green Bay
Little White Schoolhouse, Ripon
Peshtigo Fire
Museum
Wisconsin Dells
The list above reflects the limited time available during the trip to Wisconsin and the state has many more sites which attract visitors here. This includes the scenic Apostle Islands on its northern Lake Superior coast, dozens of state parks, forests and trails, including the 1,000-mile (1,600km) Ice Age National Scenic Trail. Door County, with its pretty port villages, and the historic city of La Crosse are also popular destinations for visitors to the state. Spring Green is noted for the architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s estate and studio, Taliesin, and the nearby House on the Rock (an eccentric resort complex with a home built on top of a 60-foot/18m chimney rock). There are several other sites associated with Frank Lloyd Wright in Wisconsin and some of these are featured on a separate page on this website dedicated to this famous architect. These are (with bookmark links to each) the S. C. Johnson and Son Inc. (Johnson Wax) Administration Building (Here) and Research Tower (Here) in the city of Racine, Wingspread (Here), just north of Racine, the Meeting House for the First Unitarian Society of Madison (Here) and Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center (Here), the latter two being located in Madison.
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