Wisconsin

Frozen custard is more than a dessert in Milwaukee. It's a culture, a lifestyle and a passion. Find the stories behind your favorite flavor at local festivals and homegrown neighborhood stands.

From the stand that inspired television's Happy Days to the big three - Gilles, Leon's and Kopp's - take a tour through the history of this guilty pleasure. Learn about its humble origins as an unexpected rival to ice cream and its phenomenal success as a concession at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933 that made the snack famous. Milwaukee authors and editors Kathleen McCann and Robert Tanzilo launch a celebration of custard lore, featuring a stand guide and much more. Dig into what makes Milwaukee the Frozen Custard Capital of the World.

For a medium-size Rust Belt city with German Protestant roots, Milwaukee was an unlikely place for gay and lesbian culture to bloom before the Stonewall Riots.

However, Milwaukee eventually had as many--if not more--known LGBTQ+ gathering places as Minneapolis or Chicago, ranging from the back rooms of bars in the 1960s to the video bars of the 1980s to the openly gay bars and Pride Festivals of today. Over the past 75 years, LGBTQ+ people have experienced tremendous social change in America, and Milwaukee is a shining example of how a city of "traditional values'? embraced its brothers and sisters to make the city a safe place for them to live; in 2001, Milwaukee was even named the ,1 city for lesbians.

Watertown: A History is the story of how a serene village became a center for industry, shopping, and recreation while focusing on its best asset-the energetic and hardworking people who lived the Watertown story. Readers will discover how riots broke out when politics took center stage just before the Civil War due to strong anti-Republican sentiments. The bond scandal only decades later is highlighted as the event that plunged Watertown into her darkest days. This volume recounts these stories and more through both images and narrative, fostering a deep respect for the commitments and sacrifices made by its residents of today and yesterday.

Although often overshadowed by Milwaukee's brewing reputation, Green Bay has its own rich and proud brewing heritage.

Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Blesch, Rahr, Hochgreve, Hagemeister and Van Dycke pioneered the art of brewing and brought the love of beer to the city and beyond. When Prohibition struck, some breweries couldn't make it, others could and some pushed the limits of the law to bring people the beer they wanted.Today, Green Bay is a thriving beer city once more. The names are different--Titletown, Hinterland, Badger State and more--but the love and passion for tasty suds remain the same. Grab a pint and join author Cameron Teske on his beer journey from 1850 through today.

Beyond the stunning beauty of Wisconsin's Sturgeon Baylies a hidden past of colorful characters, tragic shipwrecks and compelling community achievements.

Arriving as an immigrant to the town, Joseph Harris Sr. became a founding father, creating the Door County Advocatenewspaper and leading a campaign to construct the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal. More than one hundred local volunteers formed the ranks of Company F, nicknamed Les Terriblesby the French for their bravery and sacrifice in World War I. After surviving the Civil War, former slave Peter Custis endured unimaginable tragedy while forging a life in the city.

Authors Heidi Hodges and Kathy Steebs expose the forgotten history of Sturgeon Bay. It's a story of dogged perseverance.

Milwaukee loves the Oak Leaf Trail, a 125-mile path connecting the major Milwaukee County parks. But many don't know the history behind the trail.

Believing parks to be the "lungs of the people," long-range thinkers like Charles Whitnall advocated for the verdant spaces the trail would later snake through. To promote biking as an alternative to precious gasoline during wartime, Harold "Zip" Morgan designed a route that 1960s riders built on. Years later, bicycling enthusiasts worked overtime with local leadership to get a 76-mile route ready for the country's bicentennial, creating the beloved 76 Bike Trail. Join local author Jill Rothenbueler Maher as she uncovers the previously untold stories of a Milwaukee County treasure.

Drawing on never-before-seen materials, author John E. Kinville unfolds the complex legacy of Women's Klan no.14 aka the Grey Eagles of Chippewa Falls.

In the xenophobic atmosphere of the 1920s and 1930s, Ku Klux Klan activity spiked in Wisconsin and gave rise to Women's Klan no. 14, also known as the Grey Eagles of Chippewa Falls. Against a national backdrop that saw the male and female Klan hurl its collective might into influencing presidential elections and federal legislation, quotidian matters often stole the attention of the Grey Eagles. For every minute spent upholding Prohibition and blocking Catholic Al Smith's path to the White House, they spent two raising funds for their order and helping neighbors in need. What unfolds in Kinville's work is the complex legacy of these Chippewa Falls women who struggled to balance their noble intentions against the malicious ideology of the Klan.

An overview of Lake Geneva's rich history.

Lake Geneva was originally called Kishwauketoe by the Oneota tribe, a name meaning clear or sparkling water. Carved out by a glacier, this same crystal water has attracted residents and tourists for centuries, and continues to be a retreat for many in every season. Through a collection of vivid vintage postcards, authors Carolyn Hope Smeltzer and Martha Kiefer Cucco provide an inside look of Lake Geneva's past, rendered in views of mansions, cottages, and camps, and in images of recreation, the surrounding towns, and, of course, Lake Geneva itself.

Join OnMilwaukee.com's Bobby Tanzilo for an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of Milwaukee's incredible past.

Sail out to the Breakwater Lighthouse, scramble up the wings of the Milwaukee Art Museum and dig up the city's roots on the corner of Water Street and Wisconsin Avenue. Seize the chance to do a little urban spelunking and explore basilicas, burial grounds and breweries. Ring the bell in the city hall tower, and take a turn around the secret indoor track at a Montessori school. No space is off limits in these untold stories of the Cream City's most familiar places and celebrated landmarks.

The untold stories of the tranquil town of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, that have been swept under the rug or lost over the years.

Sheboygan deserves its reputation as a conservative city clean, quiet and law-abiding. But here are some stories that have been swept under the rug or lost overboard. Venture into the mists of the ""Lake Michigan Triangle"" that have swallowed boats, planes and entire tribes. Investigate speakeasy shootings, safes burgled by a fly swatter, poisoned Christmas candy, flaming shipwrecks and the hoax that had militiamen firing on their own cattle. Or just sit down with some bizarre anecdotes about a hometown you thought you knew, from the town's first baseball game to the man freed from jail by a jug of whiskey to the deputy sheriff who had to enforce Nicholas Hoffman's first bath in 50 years.

Green Bay has always been a city with a fierce sense of tradition complemented by a friendly atmosphere. Those qualities seem to attract not only living visitors but also spirits of the dead.

Tour the city's haunted past with Tim Freiss as he follows the trail of the tragic, the inexplicable and the just plain spooky. From the desecration of the father of Wisconsin's burial spot to the winery that was a stop on the Underground Railroad to the nightclub haunted by a bullet-riddled love triangle, Haunted Green Bay stirs up the kind of history that keeps us awake a little bit longer once the lights are out.

Milwaukee, the Beer Capital of the World, has a long and ""spirited"" history.

Crack open the first complete history of Brew City booze. Discover how Milwaukee's ""rum holes"" weathered Prohibition and which Jones Island barkeep owned the longest mustaches. Copy down the best recipe involving Sprecher Special Amber, Rainbow Trout and sauerkraut. Sample the rich heritage of Pabst, Schlitz, Gettleman and Miller: the folk who turned Milwaukee into the Beer Capital of the World. And save some room for the more recent contributions of distillers and craft-brewers that continue to make the city an exciting place for the thoughtful drinker.