On This Day in Wisconsin History: 1931 Prohibition Bust
Driving down I-94 with a a few hundred cases of Spotted Cow in the trunk is just a normal gameday for any Wisconsinite in 2021. But in the depths of Prohibition that wasn’t exactly welcomed by local authorities. Alcohol was banned across the country for 13 years from 1920-1933. They really expected Americans to go […]
Wisconsin’s First Doctor: Mary Anne Menard
Did you know that Wisconsin’s first doctor was a Black woman? She settled in Prairie Du Chien after leaving Louisiana around the turn of the 19th century. Her name was Mary Anne Menard. …or Mary Ann Lebuche? …or Mary Ann Lebuche Menard? Apparently, historians aren’t actually sure how to spell her name. She had two husbands […]
Wisconsin Can Predict the Future
What? What do you mean Wisconsin can predict the future? Today, we’re talking about how Wisconsin is the most influential state in the country, because as the name says ‘As goes Wisconsin, so it goes the nation.’ Which I know is a reference to swinging presidential elections! But what happens here is usually also a […]
Red, White, and Waubeka
Question: What does an unincorporated community less than three miles in size with a population of fewer than 700 have to do with a national holiday? Answer: It’s the birthplace of Flag Day. If you haven’t heard of Waubeka, located about 40 minutes north of Milwaukee, you probably are not alone. Back in 1916, President […]
Prohibition of… Margarine?
Wisconsin is known as “America’s Dairyland,” but that wasn’t always its bread and “butter.” Yes, we know Badgers love dairy, but maybe not so much. Margarine Ban Believe it or not, from 1895 to 1967, it was illegal to sell and use margarine in Wisconsin. Not on your bread, not in your cakes, and never […]