Wisconsin Events

1829 Davis Takes First Assignment on the Banks of the Red Cedar River
Davis was assigned to the 1st Infantry Regiment and was stationed at Fort Crawford, Wisconsin. His first assignment, in 1829, was to supervise the cutting of timber on the banks of the Re...
1847 Nov 21 Fire Aboard the Steamship Phoenix
This terrible accident occurred about four o'clock on the morning of the 21st of November, 1847, on Lake Michigan, within seventeen miles of Sheboygan. The fire was first discovered under...
1848 May 29 Wisconsin is the 30th State Admitted to the Union
On May 29, 1848, Wisconsin became the thirtieth state admitted to the Union. The "Badger State" was the last state formed in its entirety from the Northwest Territory. Textured with beaut...
1871 P. T. Barnum Establishes Traveling Circus
Barnum did not enter the circus business until late in his career (he was 61). In Delavan, Wisconsin in 1871 with William Cameron Coup, he established "P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Muse...
1880 Weiss Family Moves to Appleton, Wisconsin
At first, the Weiss family lived in Appleton, Wisconsin, where Ehrich's father served as Rabbi of the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation. In 1880, the family was living on Appleton Street. O...
1903 Hillside Home School Completed
The Lloyd Jones family are Wright's maternal ancestors. Aunts, Ellen (1845-1919) and Jane (1847/8-1917) received formal college training. Ellen taught at River Falls Normal School and...
1911 Taliesin Constructed
Taliesin, near Spring Green, Wisconsin, was the summer home of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright began the home in 1911 after leaving his first wife, Catherine Tobin, and his ...
1940 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Founded
In 1940, Frank Lloyd Wright and his third wife, Olgivanna (December 27, 1898 - March 1, 1985), formed the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which still exists. Upon Wright's death in 1959, o...
2011 Feb 16 Thousands of Protesters Descend on Madison, WI to Oppose Anti-Union Bill
Thousands of teachers, prison guards, and students descended on the Wisconsin Capitol for a second day today to fight a move to take union rights away from government workers. The Stateho...
2011 Feb 17 14 Democratic Wisconsin Legislators Leave State to Prevent Vote
A group of Democratic lawmakers blocked passage of a sweeping anti-union bill Thursday, refusing to show up for a vote and then abruptly leaving the state in an effort to force Republican...
2011 Feb 23 Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Duped by Prank Caller
Scott Walker won’t take a call from the Democratic minority leader, but he’ll gladly make time for uber-fundraiser David Koch—or at least, someone he thinks is David Koch. Ian Murphy, edi...
2011 Feb 25 Wisconsin Assembly Approves Controversial Anti-Union Bill
Wisconsin's assembly approved a controversial bill stripping public sector workers of collective bargaining rights early Friday morning after a grueling 61-hour debate. Just after 1am, Re...
2011 Mar 1 Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Reveals Deep Spending Cuts With New Budget
Gov. Scott Walker unveiled a budget plan Tuesday that balances the Wisconsin's budget by cutting more than $1 billion in state aid to schools and local governments. The Republican said th...
2011 Mar 3 Protesters Leave Madison
The final group of pro-union protesters left Wisconsin's Capitol peacefully late Thursday night, after a judge ordered their removal. The judge ruled that activists could not stay in the ...
2011 Mar 3 Wisconsin Senate Orders Arrest of Absent Democrats
This is way more serious than yanking their photocopying privileges. Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate today declared the missing Democrats in contempt and ordered their arrest, reports...
2011 Mar 4 Wisconsin Governor Walker Begins Layoff Process for State Workers
Some 1,500 Wisconsin residents may not have slept so well last night. Gov. Scott Walker yesterday set the ball in motion to lay off a horde of state employees by sending letters to state ...
2011 Mar 5 Documentarist Michael Moore Speaks at Protests in Front of Wisconsin's State Capitol
"America is not broke ... Wisconsin is not broke," said liberal filmmaker Michael Moore to more than 30,000 cheering protesters in Wisconsin yesterday, adding, "The only thing that's brok...
2011 Mar 9 Wisconsin Senate Passes Anti-Union Bill
Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate voted today to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers after discovering a way to bypass the chamber's missing Democrats. The...
2011 Mar 12 Wisconsin Democratic Senators Return Home, Join Protests
The 14 Democratic state senators who fled Wisconsin nearly a month ago returned from Illinois today, reports the Wisconsin State Journal. They were given a heroes' welcome by tens of thou...
2011 Aug 9 Wisconsin Holds State Recall Elections
Never before in American politics have voters recalled more than two state legislators in a single year. That record could be broken on Tuesday, when Wisconsinites vote to decide the fate...
2011 Oct 14 Wisconsin Labor Activists and Democrats Begin Campaign to Recall Governor Walker
At midnight Monday night, Wisconsin Democrats and labor activists kicked off their campaign to recall Gov. Scott Walker (R). Petitions were also filed to recall the lieutenant governor...