Books

Since 1961, Mayors of Sheboygan have been elected to four-year terms and considered full-time mayors. Prior to 1961, Mayors were considered part-time mayors because the men had other jobs, while also serving as mayor. Starting in 1853, the men who ran for mayor were nominated by local political parties which many times made things interesting. There were times when the man nominated for mayor did not want the job. In the 165 year history of Sheboygan, little has been done to honor the men who served as mayor. This book is an effort to pay tribute to them and accurately, yet simply, document their political tenure. The vignettes that follow are in alphabetical order for ease of organization. Filled with photos this includes biographies of all of the city of Sheboygan’s part-time and full-time mayors.

By Arthur G. Kroos, Jr This is the story of one Sheboygan County soldier, Arthur G. Kroos, Jr., from his enlistment in Company F, 127th Regiment, 32nd Division in the fall of 1940, until release in 1945. Mr. Kroos was chosen to serve a stint as Aide-de-Camp to General Matthew Ridgway. He was trained as a paratrooper seeing service in Northern Ireland, North Africa, Sicily, Italy and on D-Day in France. His final military foray took place in a glider as part of Operation Market-Garden. He was shot down over the Dutch island of Schouwen and spent eight months as a POW at Luft Stalag 1 in Barth, Germany. This book contains his own diary from Luft Stalag 1 and entries from a scrapbook created by his wife, Patty. This is not your average WWII story. It is local history at its best.

By Richard A. Dykstra Here are thirty additional stories about growing up in rural Sheboygan County. Two favorite chapters are “The Airport” and “The Ice Box.” In the first you will appreciate the gullibility of children and in the second you will want to check Dykstra’s nose to see, if like Pinocchio, it has grown a foot or two. Besides the silly and nonsensical stories there are those with a much deeper meaning as in “Revisiting the Gift,” “Three Conversations with Dad” and “Grandma’s Quiet Life.” Dykstra's appreciation of family shines through the pages of all of his books.

This publication is a chronological account of the sister city relationship between Sheboygan, a city in the state of Wisconsin, and Esslingen am Neckar of Germany. These articles span the years 1967 to 2017. The stories are told by actual headlines, story excerpts, photographs, and informational pieces gathered through articles in the Sheboygan Press, publications in the archives of the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center and Mead Public Library. The articles selected are meant to include a brief history and highlights of special visits and envoys. It is impossible to include everything. Many photos were available, but individuals and dates were not identified so they were not chosen. In a world that began with cablegrams, western union, letters, then phone and fax, communication evolved with the technology of cell phones, emails, the internet and FaceTime. In the beginning, travelers’ postcards and letters often arrived after they returned home. The bulk of the written material was found before all of this new technology replaced the newspaper stories. Some years there was more material than others. During the 1990s and beyond information was in the hands of individuals, not printed publications.