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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: Aug. 25 – Sept. 1

    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 Independent, August 27, 1886 Mr. Beaumont, a gentleman from St. Louis, is at Geo. Pinney’s Evergreen Nurseries, superintending the manufacture of immense wreaths to be used […]

  • Valmy Thresheree Puts Antique Massey-Harris Tractors in Spotlight

    Fields in harvest season have become home to some pretty big, fancy machines in the past 20 years. Not even 60 years ago, though, farm equipment was being developed that made just as big of an impact on how farmers went about their work. The 35th annual Valmy Thresheree this weekend brings these old dinos […]

  • News From This Week’s Past: Aug. 18 -25

    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 Weekly Expositor Independent, August 20, 1880 Sturgeon Bay, though not an exceedingly large place as yet, can boast of having three harness shops in her midst, […]

  • A Link to Our Wartime Heroes at Corner Of the Past

    “The place where the old buildings are” had a few visitors just show up, and they’ve got stories to tell. For the month of August, the traveling exhibit Working Warriors: Life Beyond Combat presents life in foreign wars for those service men and women from Wisconsin who weren’t actively involved in combat, while stories of […]

  • News from this Week’s Past: Aug. 11 – 18

    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 Weekly Expositor Independent, August 9, 1878 Some persons abused a horse of J. Leatham’s last Sunday, by stabbing it with a pitch-fork, inflicting fourteen or fifteen […]

  • Liberty Grove Historical Society Saves Town’s Stories

    Just south of Ellison Bay, a 37-acre plot of land on the top of the hill has become a gathering place. A sign denotes the area as the Liberty Grove Historical Society, but the buildings aren’t connected by paths or signs; rather, they stand alone in a sea of manicured lawn. These buildings are part […]

  • News From This Week’s Past: Aug. 4 – 11

    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 Weekly Expositor Independent, August 6, 1880 Pier Burned. Mr. A. Anderson’s pier at Ephraim, burned last Monday night at 12 o’clock. The pier was one of […]

  • News From This Week’s Past

    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, July 31, 1874 Mr. Dill Kimber’s twin daughters, whose birth we announced some four or five weeks ago, both died last Friday morning. Both were […]

  • Egg Harbor’s Library Through History

    Egg Harbor’s library is moving on. For the past 32 years, the Paul J. Bertschinger Community Center has been home to its media collection, serving patrons year round. By January 1, 2018, the Donald and Carol Kress Pavilion and Egg Harbor Library will handle that foot traffic, in addition to vastly expanded programming and community […]

  • Learn about Brann Family at July 26 Baileys Harbor Historical Society Meeting

    The Baileys Harbor Historical Society will present the program, “The Branns, a Family in Early Baileys Harbor,” July 26 at the Baileys Harbor Town Hall at 7 pm. Leann Despotes, great granddaughter of Jacob Brann and historical society president, will share Brann family stories of boats, burials, businesses, triumphs and tragedies in early Baileys Harbor.

  • News From This Week’s Past: July 21 – 28

    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.   Weekly Expositor Independent, July 16, 1880 Canal superintendent, Mr. G.H. Sager, informs us that it is his intention to use the “Modoc whistle” – a terrible screacher […]

  • State Archeologist Coming to Gills Rock to Assess Rock Art

    It was announced at the monthly meeting of the Door County Parks & Airport Committee on July 12 that State Archeologist John Broihahn plans a fact-finding visit to Gills Rock next month in connection with an Indian rock painting on a bluff on the northern end of the peninsula. The rock painting recently came to […]

  • This Week In Door County History: July 14 – 21

    The Expositor, July 10, 1874 STURGEON BAY is getting to be quite a resort for pleasure seekers. Several are now stopping here spending their time fishing and boating upon our bay, and are enjoying it hugely.   Weekly Expositor Independent, July 10, 1885 L.M. Washburn’s little boy, Georgie, met with an accident while helping celebrate […]

  • VIDEO: Door County Bookmobile Could Get New Life

    For decades, the Door County Bookmobile connected local residents and adults to the world outside the county. The Egg Harbor Historical Society purchased the bookmobile from local historian John Enigl with hopes of restoring it into a new Door County Historymobile. The bookmobile needs a new engine, transmission and gas tank, but the historical society […]

  • News From This Week’s Past: July 7 – 14

    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, July 3, 1874 Dead-beats and sneak thieves are around, get your shot guns ready.   The Independent, July 2, 1886 Mr. Corson of the Wisconsin Telephone […]

  • Trout Boil at Belgian Heritage Center July 15

    There will be a traditional Door County trout boil at the Belgian Heritage Center on July 15, with the first boil at 5 pm and the last at 6:30 pm. Proceeds from this event will help support the Belgian Heritage Center and its mission of preserving and promoting the unique history of the area. This […]

  • Inside the Dunes Dwelling: Door County’s Hobbit Home

    On South Cave Point and Glidden drives, there are dueling stretches, both lake and woodside, of homes and cottages that all have unique stories. One home in particular sits on a two-acre plot on South Cave Point Drive. This home had acquired several nicknames through the years, such as “The Dome” and “Mushroom House.” It […]

  • How Gardner Got Its Name

    If you were to page through the 1896 edition of the Commemorative Biographical Records of the West Shore of Green Bay, you would find that many of those listed as natives of the region worked at one time for lumber baron Freeland B. Gardner at the lumber yard he opened in Pensaukee in 1850, or […]

  • News From This Week’s Past: June 30 – July 7

    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, June 25, 1875 The crop of mosquitoes promises to be good in this county. From present indications the average yield throughout the county will be about […]

  • Traditional Fish Boil at Jacksonport Historical Society’s Annual Meeting

    The Jacksonport Historical Society’s Annual Dinner Meeting is scheduled for July 19 at Lakeside Park, Hwy. 57, Jacksonport. The meeting is open to the public. The dinner, a traditional Door County fish boil, will celebrate Jacksonport’s storied fishing history. Live music starts at 5 pm provided by Dale Graf. The Jacksonport Historical Society (JHS) will […]