Wisconsin

Also see Specific Destinations, Travel and Location Humor.

Page Toppers

Beautiful Wisconsin
Up in Wisconsin
Welcome to Wisconsin
Winter in Wisconsin
Wisconsin Dawn
Wisconsin Skies
Milwaukee Nights
Stay Just a Little Bit Longer

Quotes

As I've often said, Wisconsin's greatest strength continues to be the dedicated, hardworking people of our state. They go to work everyday, pay their taxes, and raise their kids with good, Midwestern values. (Jim Doyle)
My brother Jim and I spent many wonderful summers working on dairy farms in Wisconsin owned by Mom's cousins, and as members of our local Boy Scout troop. (Peter Agre)
Other than motherhood, the eight years that I spent at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, I have incredibly fond memories of. It's a beautiful place, with four seasons up in Wisconsin. And really wonderful people. (Laurel Clark )
Wisconsin is very proud of the career and technical college system that we have back home. (Ron Kind)

Wisconsin Symbols

Nicknames: The Badger State; America's Dairyland; Cheese State; The Copper state
Slogan: Stay Just a Little Bit Longer
Motto: Forward
Song: On, Wisconsin (words by J. S. Hubbard and Charles D. Rosa, music by William T. Purdy)
Ballad: Oh Wisconsin, Land of My Dreams
Dance: Polka
Waltz: The Wisconsin Waltz
Musical Instrument (unofficial): Accordion
Animal: Badger
Domestic Animal: Dairy Cow
Wild Animal: White-tailed Deer
Dog: American Water Spaniel
Bird: Robin
Symbol of Peace: Mourning Dove
Fish: Muskellunge
Insect: Honeybee
Tree: Sugar Maple
Flower: Wood Violet
Grain: Corn
Fossil: Trilobite
Mineral: Galena (lead)
Rock: Red Granite
Beverage: Milk
Pro Sports Teams: Milwaukee Brewers (baseball); Milwaukee Bucks (basketball); Green Bay Packers (football)

Facts About Wisconsin

Capital: Madison
Residents: Wisconsinites
State Name Origin: from a Chippewa word meaning "grassy place"
Admitted to Statehood: 29 May 1848
Order of Admission: 30th state
Coastline/Shoreline: 0/950 miles (Great Lakes)
Length: 310 miles
Width: 260 miles
Area: 65,498 square miles
Size Rank: 23
Number of Counties: 72
Lakes: 14,927
Streams and Rivers: 57,698 miles
Geographic Center: 9 miles SE of Marshfield (aka Hub City) in Wood Co.
Mean Elevation: 1,050 feet
Highest Point: Timms Hill, 1,951 feet
Lowest Point: Shore of Lake Michigan, 581 feet
Agricultural Products: dairy products (produces more milk than any other state), food products, corn, hay, vegetables
Commercial Products: paper products, non-electric machinery (engines, turbines, farm machinery, etc.), printing, motor vehicles and equipment, medical instruments and supplies, plastics
Average Annual Rainfall: 30.9 inches
Average Winter High Temperature: 15 degrees
Record Low Temperature: -55 degrees (4 Feb 1996 Couderay)
Average Summer High Temperature: over 75 degrees
Record High Temperature: 114 degrees (13 Jul 1936 Wisconsin Dells)
Official Language: English
More information about Wisconsin

Items of Interest

In 1882 the first hydroelectric plant in the United States was built at Fox River.
The first practical typewriter was designed in Milwaukee in 1867.
The American Birkebeiner, a 52K cross-country ski race between Cable and Hayward, is the largest in North American.
The nation's first kindergarten was started in Watertown in 1856.
Milwaukee is home of Harley Davidson Motorcycles.
The Republican Party was founded in Ripon in 1854.
The Ringling Brothers held their first circus in their hometown of Baraboo in 1884.
The Hamburger hall of fame is located in Seymour.
The first ice cream sundaes were served in 1851 in the towns of Manitowoe and Two Rivers.

Notable Natives

Some of these were born here, others just lived a while in the state.

Don Ameche (1908-1993) - actor (Kenosha)
Roy Chapman Andrews - naturalist and explorer (Beloit)
Richard Bong (1920-1945) - WWII hero (Superior)
Carrie Catt - woman suffragist (Ripon)
Seymour Cray (1925-1996) - developed the super-computer (Chippewa Falls)
Ellen Corby - actress (Racine)
Tyne Daly - actress (Madison)
William DeFoe - actor (Appleton)
August Derleth (1909-1971) - author (Sauk City)
Jeanne Dixon - psychic (Medford)
Chris Farley - actor (Madison)
Zona Gale - author (Portage)
Hamlin Garland - author
King Camp Gillette - industrialist
Eric Heiden (1958- ) - Olympic speed skater (Madison)
Woody Herman - band leader (Milwaukee)
Loretta Sell Hildegarde - singer (Adell)
Harry Houdini (1874-1926) - magician, escape artist (Appleton)
Vinnie Hoxie - sculptor
Thomas Hulce - actor (Whitewater)
Pee Wee King (1914-2000) - country singer (Abrams)
George F. Kennan - diplomat (Milwaukee)
Robert La Follette - political leader (Primrose)
Liberace (1919-1987) - entertainer pianist (West Allis)
Allen Ludden - television host (Mineral Point)
Alfred Lunt - actor (Milwaukee)
Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) - WWII and Korean war general (lived in Milwaukee)
Frederic March - actor (Racine)
Jackie Mason - comedian (Sheboygan)
Golda Meir (1898-1978) - Israel's first woman prime minister (raised in Milwaukee)
John Oscar Moen III - cartographer
Oscar Moen - industrialist
Pat O'Brien - actor (Milwaukee)
Georgia O'Keefe - artist (Sun Prairie)
Les Paul - musician (Waukesha)
Amy Pietz - actress (Oak Creek)
Charlotte Rae - actress (Milwaukee)
William H. Rehnquist - Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (Milwaukee)
Charles and John Ringling - circus entrepreneurs (Baraboo)
Gena Rowlands - actress (Cambria)
Tom Snyder (1936- ) - newscaster (Milwaukee)
Spencer Tracy - actor (Milwaukee)
Bob Uecker - baseball player (Milwaukee)
Thorstein Veblen - economist (Cato Township)
Orson Welles - actor, director, producer (Kenosha)
Gene Wilder (1935- ) - actor (Milwaukee)
Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) - author (Pepin)
Thornton Wilder - novelist, playwright (Madison)
Charles Winninger - actor (Athen)
Tom Wopat (1951- ) - actor (Lodi)
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) - architect (Richland Center)

The Wisconsin State Flag
The state coat of arms is centered on a dark blue background. At the top of a gold shield is the state motto ("Forward") and a badger (state animal). A sailor and miner represent people who work on water and land. The shield has symbols to represent support of the US and the states main industries: agriculture, mining, manufacturing and navigation. At the bottom is a cornucopia to represent farm products and lead to represent minerals. In 1979 the state name and date of statehood were added.

You know you are from Wisconsin when...

Your whole family wears green and gold to church on Sunday.
You define summer as three months of bad sledding.
Snow tires come standard on all cars.
You refer to the Packers as "we."
You have gotten frostbitten and sunburned in the same week.
You can identify an Illinois accent.
You know what cow-tipping is.
You learned to drive a tractor before the training wheels were off your bike.
Down South to you means Chicago.
Traveling coast-to-coast means going from La Crosse to Milwaukee.
A brat is something you eat.
You know that Eau Claire is not something you eat.
You have no problem spelling Milwaukee.
You consider Madison exotic.
You got a passport to go to Minnesota.
You can actually pronounce Oconomowoc.
You know what a bubbler is.
Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a cow next to your blue spruce.
Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new machine shed.
You go out for fish fry every Friday.
You can recognize someone from Illinois by their driving.
You know how to polka.
You drink soda and refer to your dad as "pop."
Formal wear is blue jeans and a baseball cap.
You were unaware there is a legal drinking age.
Your 4th of July family picnic was moved indoors due to frost.
You know where Waukesha is AND can pronounce it.
You decided to have a picnic this summer because it fell on a weekend.
You can visit Luxemburg, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Berlin, New London and Poland all in one afternoon.
You only know three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup.
You design your Halloween costumes to fit over a snowsuit.
You've seen mosquitoes with landing lights.
You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
You enjoy driving in the winter because the potholes fill up with snow.
Your sexy lingerie is tube socks and a flannel nightie.
You owe more money on your snowmobile than on your car.
The local paper covers major headlines on one page, but requires four pages for sports.
At least twice a year, your kitchen doubles as a meat processing plant.
Your snow-blower gets stuck on the roof.
You think the start of deer season is a national holiday.
You find 0 degrees a little chilly.
You know what to do with a Blatz.
You actually understand these jokes.
You forward them to all your Wisconsin friends.

Songs about Wisconsin

Beautiful Wisconsin - Ken Griffin (1949)
Dream on, Wisconsin - Alan Silva (2008)
Madison, Wisconsin - Lou and Peter Berryman (2007)
Missing Wisconsin - Rob Gonzalez (2008)
My Wisconsin - David Anthony Berg (2007)
On Wisconsin - 101 Strings (2007)
Up in Wisconsin - David Anthony Berg (2007)
Waiting in Wisconsin - Jacksonville (2009)
Welcome to Wisconsin - David Anthony Berg (2007)
Western Wisconsin - Rosebud (1971)
When it's Daylight Saving Time in Oshkosh - Ted Weems (1930)
Winter in Wisconsin - Mr. Billy (2003)
Wisconsin Dawn - Mark Bruland (2004)
Wisconsin Polka - Markic and Zagger Orchestra (2009)
Wisconsin Skies - Cedarwell (2006)
Wisconsin Waltz - Barefoot Becky and the Ivanhoe Dutchmen (2009)

Songs about Milwaukee

Back to Milwaukee - Tony Memmel (2008)
Going to Milwaukee - Cady Finlayson (2002)
Let's Go to Milwaukee - Dave Morehouse (2008)
Man From Milwaukee - Hanson (1997)
Milwaukee - Gentry Bronson (2004)
Milwaukee Blues - Bob and Lynn Dixon (2009)
Milwaukee, Here I Come - John Prine (1999)
Milwaukee Hunter - The Link Quartet (2004)
Milwaukee Nights - The Bill Holman Band (2007)
Milwaukee Road - David Berkeley (2008)
My Cousin in Milwaukee - Nancy Walker (2009)
Streets of Milwaukee - Mars Arizona (2005)
Till I Drink Milwaukee Dry - Billy Walker (1993)
Walkin' in Milwaukee - Bill Holloman (2004)
What Made Milwaukee Famous - Del McCoury (1992)