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  • By Howards Grove Historical Research Group, Doris Henschel.

    Ada was one of four small trading places (Howard, Franklin, Edwards and Ada) in the township in 1912. Ada consisted of a hotel, cheese factory, store and blacksmith. The population of town Herman in 1910 was 1,913, the majority of whom were Germans. This hamlet, located on the old Calumet-Sheboygan Plank Road twelve miles northwest of Sheboygan has a name of unknown origin. The post office was established on January 13, 1868, with Anton Goepfert acting as the first postmaster. Operations were discontinued on November 18, 1873. It was re-established on August 31, 1877, and once again discontinued permanently on April 30, 1909. William Maurer was the last postmaster. The book is full of history and wonderful memories.

  • By Edgar Harvey Jr.

    This book deals with many of Ed Harvey’s predecessors as Sheboygan County Surveyors. Harvey, after years of research, found that they included men of great character, and others whom we could term “shysters”.  They included some pretty unremarkable individuals and others of great genius.  Although they were humble surveyors while they worked in Sheboygan County, some of these men invented great things, or were otherwise involved in major events which changed the history of the entire nation or the world.  One man worked on the Brooklyn Bridge project.  Another worked on the Panama Canal.  At least two of these men prepared maps which shaped the boundaries of nations.  With all the same care, the same men prepared surveys which depicted the boundaries of comparatively small, private properties in Sheboygan County; An interesting and fresh way of analyzing Sheboygan County History.

  • By Millersville Historical Research Group

    The history of the area dates back to 1846 when the first immigrants found their way along the Pigeon River and settled in the area. At first the two settlements were known as Howards and Mueller Villa, later becoming Howards Grove and Millersville.

    But in 1967, the two communities incorporated as Howards Grove-Millersville, becoming Sheboygan County’s 10th village, the fourth largest. It also brought the village fame with its cumbersome 24-letter title, the longest in the state. Eventually, the city dropped Millersville and took Howards Grove as its proper name. This book follows the history of just the Millersville portion of the area.

  • By Rich Dykstra Rich is back with another series of short stories about life in the 1950s and 1960s. Life in the Slow Lane deals with seemingly mundane but very memorable activities that Dykstra participated in as a child – shopping trips to Sheboygan when it took a week or more of planning, going to the outhouse, Friday nights in Sheboygan Falls capped off with a stop at Bob’s Lunch, a one-room school fair, Sundays at Grandma’s, the anxious anticipation of a first Milwaukee Braves game, life in the era of polio and something called Sunday Rules.
  • By Henry Dykstra This wonderful volume includes recollections of the author's childhood in Wood County, Wisconsin during the 1920s and 1930s. While the title sounds like a very long number from an old crank-style telephone, it actually refers to the two parents and ten children in the author's family. Henry Dykstra moved to Sheboygan County in 1941, and farmed there for over fifty years.
  • By Richard A. Dykstra Thirty-five heartwarming stories about growing up in rural Wisconsin during the 1950s and 1960s.
  • Mention the name Prange’s and no matter your age from 40 to 90 you probably have personal memories of the legendary Sheboygan department store. Whether those memories are of the annual animated Christmas window displays and caramel corn, the use of due bills, charge-a-plates, layaways, will-call, the x-ray machine in the shoe department or the escalators, they are shared by many and are part of the cherished collective history of the H.C. Prange Company. This publication is by no means a comprehensive history of the H.C. Prange Company. It is more a trip down memory lane, filled with images, stories and recipes submitted by former employees and loyal shoppers.
  • This collection of stories, images, ads, news articles and factoids  is designed to give you an introductory look at the local history of the 1920s and 1930s in Sheboygan County. It deals with vice- Prohibition, prostitution, gambling, raids on stills and crime over two decades.  It is by no means comprehensive and much of what has been collected is story. This is meant to be fun and informative  --  a great conversation starter.
  • Rebuilding a Railroad in the 21st Century: Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, documents the rebuilding of an 11-mile rail line in Sheboygan County, after being dormant for nearly 30 years.  This was more than just a fix-it-up job, but the replacement of the entire line from the ground up with new track built to modern standards to handle heavy loads.  It also required one trestle to be completely replaced and others reinforced.  Adding to the generous amount of photos, there are “before” and “after” photos taken at dozens of locations, and it won’t seem possible that these photos were taken at the same location. Also included is the history of this line from the pre-civil war era to current times.  Old rail dating back over 150 years was found and included is the story that these old rails tell.
  • Since 1953, August brings Bratwurst Day, a celebration of sausage and of our collective German heritage. The brat is a social food in Wisconsin where Germans first introduced it to the New World. We have brat fries on weekends like folks have BBQs in the south and Chicago has its deep dish pizza. It is part of a deep food tradition. Few things identify one’s German heritage more than making sausage. Sausage was a means of survival for our German ancestors during the winter months, as well as a way to use precious meat scraps and pay homage to their porcine good luck charm. This book documents the long and varied history of some of Sheboygan's nearly forty meat markets and sausage producers. We’ll revisit sausage-making in the county and remember the heyday of 1950s Bratwurst Days.
  • The story of the Milwaukee Northern . . . Sheboygan's interurban link to the rest of the world by Peter Fetterer. Available by about November 30, 2018.
  • Across time, cemeteries have acted as places of burial and remembrance, but they also provide vivid records of community history. Whether large or small, well maintained or neglected, historic cemeteries are an important part of our cultural landscape. The vast richness of expression through form, decoration and materials inform our understanding of the individuals buried in historic cemeteries and their cultural significance. The very stones that mark the graves form a museum of their own.

    A church’s stained glass windows, to some degree, play much the same role to a community. They tell the story of some element important to the life of parishioners. They uplift, beautify and instruct.

    This volume will introduce readers to some of the most interesting and beautiful stained glass windows and cemetery monuments in the county. We’ll discuss the background and history of each form of expression and much more. Consider this a primer to Sheboygan County’s treasures.

  • By Mary Risseeuw

    These letters, memoirs and travel journals span a hundred year period (1847-1959) and offer a fascinating view into the lives of the immigrants and their families.  Some provide remarkable detail about their journey to America and their struggles to establish a new life.  Others offer little beyond the basics: weather, health, crops, births and deaths. Most are grateful for the blessings of God and the fact that they are still ‘fresh and healthy’ (alive and well, in more modern terms!).  The criterion for selecting the contents of this book was to present an overview of different settlements in Wisconsin and to provide a glimpse into the differences and similarities between the various immigration waves.   There are vivid tales of crossing the Atlantic Ocean and personal glimpses into the Civil War, World War I and World War

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