Category: History
Door County is rich in history, from its most prominent founding citizens to the business leaders who embraced tourism to make it the destination it is today. It’s a history of orchards, farming, and fishermen, but also of potters, artists, and writers. But more than anything, it’s a history told in the lives of the remarkable people who’ve called it home for a spell or a lifetime. Door County Pulse tells them all.
-
News From This Week’s Past: Dynamite Suits and Ephraim’s School
All items are from the Door County Library’s newspaper archives, and they appear in the same form as they were first published, including misspellings and grammatical errors. The Expositor Independent September 28, 1877 During the thunder storm last evening, the lightning followed the wire into the telegraph office in this place, and broke three […]
-
Nonprofit Formed to Preserve Horseshoe Bay Farms
For more than a century the barns of Horseshoe Bay Farms have been an imposing presence on Bayshore Drive near Murphy Park. Thanks to the work of two generous families those barns will stand for decades to come. Lori and David Nicholas have entered into an agreement to purchase the farm from Glenn and Barbara […]
-
National Novena Held at National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help
The National Novena to Our Lady of Good Help at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion is Oct. 1-9. This year marks the beginning of the celebration of the 160th anniversary of Mother Mary appearing to Adele Brise at Champion. The National Novena begins Oct. 1 and includes Family Day […]
-
Immanuel Lutheran Celebrates 125 Years
Immanuel Lutheran Church celebrates 125 years on Sept. 30 with a “Celebration of Blessings.” The community is invited to join the celebration, starting with a Celebration of Worship at 10 am, then a box lunch and fellowship at 11:30 am, with a Celebration of Remembrance ending the afternoon at 1 pm. Reservations are needed for […]
-
News From This Week’s Past: Apples, Iron and a Visit from the Governor
All items are from the Door County Library’s newspaper archives, and they appear in the same form as they were first published, including misspellings and grammatical errors. The Expositor September 18, 1874 Mr. Chancey Barnette has discovered a bed of Iron Ore about one and one-half miles from the village. The specimens we have […]
-
News From This Week’s Past: Vicious Mules and Movie Stars
All items are from the Door County Library’s newspaper archives, and they appear in the same form as they were first published, including misspellings and grammatical errors. The Expositor September 11, 1874 Mr. Sawyer has contributed $25 toward building a Methodist parsonage in this village. Every Methodist is now expected to vote as Sawyer […]
-
Capt. Robert Desh Brings Ship Canal History to Life
For anyone born after 1882, the ship canal has been a familiar part of Door County’s landscape. But it’s difficult to imagine how it – officially the Sturgeon Bay and Lake Michigan Ship Canal – could have been created nearly 14 decades ago in an era that was just beginning to put steam power to […]
-
Historical Society Names New Executive Director
The Door County Historical Society has a new executive director. Bailey Koepsel will take the reins from retiring director Trudy Herbst. In a press release the society said that its board believes now is the time to hire a full-time executive director “so the organization may continue to flourish and continue preserving Door County’s rich […]
-
EHHS Discusses Bertschinger Family at Annual Dinner
The Egg Harbor Historical Society will present a discussion of the Bertschinger family’s long history in Egg Harbor at its annual dinner at the Alpine Resort Sept. 20. With the resort now offered for sale, this could be among the final opportunities to tour the grounds and soak in a century of history on the […]
-
News From This Week’s Past: What Happened to Tipler?
All items are from the Door County Library’s newspaper archives, and they appear in the same form as they were first published, including misspellings and grammatical errors. The Expositor September 4, 1874 The clerk has just completed the census of this school district. He finds between the ages of 4 and 21 – males, […]
-
News From This Week’s Past: A Fish Car and a Dead Man
All items are from the Door County Library’s newspaper archives, and they appear in the same form as they were first published, including misspellings and grammatical errors. The Expositor Independent August 28, 1874 We met a dead man on the walk this morning. He was one of our merchants and said he was dead […]
-
Door Historical Museum Displays Sidewalk Block Project
The sidewalk block project being undertaken by the Door County Historical Museum staff is ready to be displayed. Past press releases asking for help locating the remaining cornerstones with the pre-1943 street names stamped into them, or local resident’s names on them, have produced some results. Eighteen stones have been located and photographed, research has […]
-
The Door County Historical Society will host its yesteryear program “Congressman Minor,” presented by Society Member Joe Knaapen on Aug. 25, 1 pm in the Vignes School in the Heritage Village at Big Creek. Edward S. Minor was the only Door County man ever elected to Congress. Knaapen’s program will feature Minor’s Civil War experience […]
-
News From This Week’s Past: Splendid Roads, Poor Mr. Musgaller
All items are from the Door County Library’s newspaper archives, and they appear in the same form as they were first published, including misspellings and grammatical errors. The Expositor Independent August 25, 1876 Sevastopol is doing a splendid job of work on the road. Egg Harbor has done a splendid job of grading for […]
-
Pulse Podcast: Egg Harbor Tornado 20 Years Later
20 years ago today (August 23rd, 1998) a Tornado ripped through Egg Harbor. Myles Dannhausen talks with Sarah Sawyer about her experience with the tornado, which passed through her home on August 23rd, 1998, with her children in the basement below.
-
News From This Week’s Past: Charleston Contest, Sober as a Judge
All items are from the Door County Library’s newspaper archives, and they appear in the same form as they were first published, including misspellings and grammatical errors. The Expositor Independent August 14, 1874 Judge Wright was evidently sober when he wrote that long communication in the Advocate yesterday opposing the village incorporation, as he […]
-
Have ‘An Evening with Jens Jensen’
On Aug. 29 Roger Kuhns will present “An Evening with Jens Jensen” at the Baileys Harbor Town Hall. The program begins at 7 pm and is hosted by the Baileys Harbor Historical Society, the Ridges Sanctuary, and the Friends of Toft Point. Jensen was the founder of The Clearing in Ellison Bay when in his […]
-
Door County’s Final Civil War Veteran Remembered
“Comrades! Attend to this at once, or we shall not know whether you are dead, proud or gone to Texas.” That was the rallying cry for a meeting to be held in June 1880 for a meeting in Milwaukee of Wisconsin members of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a fraternal organization formed shortly […]
-
The Door County Historical Society will host its monthly dinner program, “Digging of the Sturgeon Bay and Lake Michigan Ship Canal,” presented by Captain Robert (Bob) Desh, on Aug. 27, 6 pm at the Landmark Resort in Egg Harbor. The program focuses on the creation of the Sturgeon Bay and Lake Michigan Ship Canal. The […]
-
Egg Harbor Historical Society Hosts “Door County Stories”
On Aug. 15 the Egg Harbor Historical Society will present its free program, History Hour, in the Egg Harbor Library’s History Center at 3:30 pm. The video presentation, “Door County Stories,” is from the Wisconsin’s Historical Society’s Hometown Series. A prelude to the video is a presentation on some of the 36 earliest shoreline settlements […]