WXPR A Northwoods Moment In History

On Friday, March 12, 1920, the Rhinelander Woman’s Club gathered at the Teachers Training College in the old Oneida County Courthouse for a special “mock election.” This wasn’t just a simple exercise—it was the final exam for a citizenship class that aimed to prepare local women for their first opportunity to vote in a U.S. Presidential election.

Anton Sarocka, known as Tony, was a standout football player for Rhinelander High School. Born in Port Washington on October 11, 1910, Tony graduated in 1928.

Sunday, September 21st, 1924 is listed on the Wisconsin Watch website as the third worst day of tornadoes in state history.Few single communities were impacted that day as much as Three Lakes, Wisconsin, which suffered the worst tornado in it’s history

Few people know that the Northwoods was once exposed to intense radiation for scientific research amid fears of nuclear war. Fifty-one years ago, a site near Rhinelander, Wisconsin, was developed to study radiation’s effects on northern forest ecosystems, known as the Enterprise Radiation Forest Project.

Whenever talk turns to military tanks in the Northwoods, one story still echoes through the forest: the time a mighty tank was swallowed by the infamous McNaughton Swamp, some 65 years ago.

“Massive Human Bones and Indian Relics Unearthed near Pelican Lake” read a Rhinelander New North newspaper headline on July 28th , 1908. The sensationalist commentary that followed was all the “proof” the unidentified writer needed to confirm that giant people once lived and were buried in the vicinity of Pelican Lake, Wisconsin.

In the fall of 1895, a team from the University of Wisconsin school of agriculture, including Dean William A. Henry, Madison photographer Harvey J. Perkins, and others, traveled to every county north of a line drawn from Green Bay to Hudson. They compiled information and photographs from cutover lands, and already existing farms, in an attempt to showcase the potential of the area.All this work was put into a 200 page booklet titled “Northern Wisconsin: A Handbook for the Home Seeker”.

Fifty-one years ago, the United States left Vietnam on March 29th, 1973, after 8 years of fighting. The conflict left a lasting impact on our country, including the Northwoods, where it forever changed the lives of the service members involved and their families. This is one of those stories.

Kids corner Pizza in Rhinelander is located in one of the oldest frame buildings in downtown Rhinelander. Kerry Bloedorn – Northwoods Historian, shares the history of that building, The Martin Flat, on this installment of A Northwoods Moment in History on WXPR

In 1926, Three Lakes Wisconsin held a winter sports carnival on a big hill at what is now Camp Luther, and on the ice of Range Line Lake below. A number of winter sporting events were organized, including toboggan races, hockey games, and Wisconsin’s first ever snowmobile race.