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- Horicon’s First SettlerIn December 1845, carpenter Joel Doolittle built a log shanty at the Rock River rapids and became Horicon, Wisconsin's first permanent settler.
- Atwater, Wisconsin: The Day the Whole Town Raised a GlassAtwater, Wisconsin: Before it was Atwater, it was Mill Creek. The place sits in the Town of Chester, five miles down the tracks from…
- A Fortune on Four Legs:The Rise and Strange Death of Horicon’s prize-winning horse –‘Ripon Boy’ On a Tuesday morning in December 1873, a groom at George W. Van…
- The Old Stone ShopThe Building That Would Not Sit Still: Horicon’s Old Stone Shop Today, at the corner of Mill and Vine streets sits nothing more dramatic…
- The Town That Almost Was: Rolling Prairie, WisconsinDrive the back road between Horicon and Beaver Dam today and you could pass through Rolling Prairie without ever knowing you’d been there. It’s…
Horicon History
The people, businesses, buildings, and everyday life of Horicon, Wisconsin, from the first cabin on the rapids to the 20th century.
- Horicon’s First SettlerIn December 1845, carpenter Joel Doolittle built a log shanty at the Rock River rapids and became Horicon, Wisconsin's first permanent settler.
- A Fortune on Four Legs:The Rise and Strange Death of Horicon’s prize-winning horse –‘Ripon Boy’ On a Tuesday morning in December 1873, a groom at George W. Van…
- The Old Stone ShopThe Building That Would Not Sit Still: Horicon’s Old Stone Shop Today, at the corner of Mill and Vine streets sits nothing more dramatic…
- The Duck War of Horicon MarshThe Marsh the Rich Guys Tried to Own Before it was a national wildlife refuge with a visitor center and a gift shop, Horicon…
- Blankets, Nitro, and a Borrowed BuggyBlankets, Nitro, and a Borrowed Buggy The Great Horicon Post Office Job of 1913 Picture Horicon in the second week of June, 1913. The…
- From the Front to Home: Horicon’s Civil War StoryDuring the Civil War, they answered the call. Most came home. All left something behind. Part One of Five A Town Answers the Call…
- Bowling Green Park’s Silent Sentinel: Horicon’s World War I MK1 Artillery PieceNestled within the peaceful confines of Bowling Green Park in Horicon, Wisconsin, stands a historic relic: a World War I MK1 60-pounder artillery piece.…
- Horicon’s First Casualty of World War IIPrivate First Class Thomas F. Philipsky 1938 Horicon High School Graduate Private First Class Thomas F. Philipsky of Horicon, Wisconsin, is honored as the…
- 1882 Murder of Marshal William GibsonOLD COLD CASE Horicon City Marshal William Gibson — Civil War veteran, father of four, a man his community trusted with their safety —…
- Where Water Shapes Memory: Horicon’s Boathouses through Time.Where Water Shapes Memory: Horicon’s Boathouses through Time. The history of boathouses in Horicon, Wisconsin, is deeply intertwined with the evolution of Horicon Marsh.…
- S.S. Rich: Horicon’s Man with the TeamS.S. Rich: Horicon’s Man with the Team Long before trucks and delivery vans crowded Horicon’s streets, Selby Simeon Rich was already doing the town’s…
- The Murder of City Marshal William GibsonHoricon, Dodge County, Wisconsin · October 19–20, 1882 Carl G. Reinemann, Author Author’s Note: This is also available as a podcast, The Old Cold…
- Barrels, Barbers, and Brawls:Horicon’s Early Liquor and Lager Trade, 1850–1900 Long before temperance reformers arrived to spoil the fun, the citizens of Horicon, Wisconsin, kept themselves well…
- Smallpox in a small town in Wisconsin144 Years Ago… When Smallpox Came to Horicon — April 28, 1882 Smallpox had a devastating effect on Native Americans when Europeans arrived on…
Horicon Marsh & Nature
The marsh, its wildlife, and the glacial landscape that shaped it — plus the hunters, conservationists, and boathouses along the way.
- The Passenger Pigeon HypothesisOrigins, Archaeology, the Horicon/Van Brunt Connection, and the “de-extinction’ Plan to Bring It Back Did you know Wisconsin once hosted billions of passenger pigeons?…
- The Duck War of Horicon MarshThe Marsh the Rich Guys Tried to Own Before it was a national wildlife refuge with a visitor center and a gift shop, Horicon…
- Before the Lake: Horicon Through a Settler’s Eyes: Part 1Elmina L. Clinton was born on September 3, 1823, in Canaan, Connecticut. She married George Beers on June 21, 1846, in Ithaca, New York…
- FROM GLACIAL LAKE TO LIVING MARSHA History of Tourism at Horicon and Horicon Marsh Long before Horicon was a city — before the dam, the ducks, the duck hunters,…
- Where Water Shapes Memory: Horicon’s Boathouses through Time.Where Water Shapes Memory: Horicon’s Boathouses through Time. The history of boathouses in Horicon, Wisconsin, is deeply intertwined with the evolution of Horicon Marsh.…
Dodge County & Wisconsin
Stories from beyond Horicon’s city limits: Dodge County towns, railroad crossroads, and Wisconsin history further afield.
- Atwater, Wisconsin: The Day the Whole Town Raised a GlassAtwater, Wisconsin: Before it was Atwater, it was Mill Creek. The place sits in the Town of Chester, five miles down the tracks from…
- The Town That Almost Was: Rolling Prairie, WisconsinDrive the back road between Horicon and Beaver Dam today and you could pass through Rolling Prairie without ever knowing you’d been there. It’s…
- MINNESOTA JUNCTIONThirty Trains a Day, a Wreck in the Dark, and the Hotel at the Crossing Sometime before dawn on the morning of July 12,…
- Dodge County PioneersDodge County Pioneers Before the railroads. Before the courthouses. Before Dodge County looked anything like it does today, this land was already home. The…
- Lost on SuperiorOn a bitter November day in 1914, the C.F. Curtis, the Selden E. Marvin, and the Annie M. Peterson headed out onto Lake Superior…
Pioneers & Settlement
First settlers, early families, and the paper trail they left behind — a good place to start for genealogy.
- Horicon’s First SettlerIn December 1845, carpenter Joel Doolittle built a log shanty at the Rock River rapids and became Horicon, Wisconsin's first permanent settler.
- The Town That Almost Was: Rolling Prairie, WisconsinDrive the back road between Horicon and Beaver Dam today and you could pass through Rolling Prairie without ever knowing you’d been there. It’s…
- Three Revolutionary War Veterans ~ From Connecticut to Dodge County:Three Revolutionary War Veterans Who Shaped Wisconsin’s Early Frontier Historical Horicon Wisconsin As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, three…
- Dodge County PioneersDodge County Pioneers Before the railroads. Before the courthouses. Before Dodge County looked anything like it does today, this land was already home. The…
- S.S. Rich: Horicon’s Man with the TeamS.S. Rich: Horicon’s Man with the Team Long before trucks and delivery vans crowded Horicon’s streets, Selby Simeon Rich was already doing the town’s…
Native History
Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi history, treaties and land cessions, effigy mounds, and oral tradition along the Rock River.
- Horicon’s First SettlerIn December 1845, carpenter Joel Doolittle built a log shanty at the Rock River rapids and became Horicon, Wisconsin's first permanent settler.
- 1776- Two Revolutions: What Was Happening in Wisconsin While the Declaration Was SignedA Different Revolution: Horicon Marsh and the Native World of 1776 Long before the Van Brunt Factory, the dam that created Lake Horicon, the…
- The Terror of the Rock RiverThe Terror of the Rock River An Ancient Legend of the Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi Peoples ©Carl G. Reinemann, One Shot at History Long before…
War & Military
Local men and women in America’s wars, from the Revolution through the Civil War, the World Wars, and the Cold War.
- Confederates RestMadison, Wisconsin’s Civil War Cemetery 1862 – Present How the survivors of a Mississippi River battle came to rest in Wisconsin soil, and the…
- Three Revolutionary War Veterans ~ From Connecticut to Dodge County:Three Revolutionary War Veterans Who Shaped Wisconsin’s Early Frontier Historical Horicon Wisconsin As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, three…
- From the Front to Home: Horicon’s Civil War StoryDuring the Civil War, they answered the call. Most came home. All left something behind. Part One of Five A Town Answers the Call…
- 1776- Two Revolutions: What Was Happening in Wisconsin While the Declaration Was SignedA Different Revolution: Horicon Marsh and the Native World of 1776 Long before the Van Brunt Factory, the dam that created Lake Horicon, the…
- Bowling Green Park’s Silent Sentinel: Horicon’s World War I MK1 Artillery PieceNestled within the peaceful confines of Bowling Green Park in Horicon, Wisconsin, stands a historic relic: a World War I MK1 60-pounder artillery piece.…
- Horicon’s First Casualty of World War IIPrivate First Class Thomas F. Philipsky 1938 Horicon High School Graduate Private First Class Thomas F. Philipsky of Horicon, Wisconsin, is honored as the…
- W.T.F Clam Lake, Wisconsin’s Cold War SecretWhat happens when the U.S. Navy, Cold War paranoia, and a quiet patch of northern Wisconsin collide? You get one of the weirdest stories…
- Steal, Smuggle, SurviveForget everything you think you know about spies. James Bond had an Aston Martin and the full backing of British intelligence. Jason Bourne had…
Crime & Justice
Murders, thefts, cold cases, and courtrooms — small-town crime and the lawmen who handled it.
- Blankets, Nitro, and a Borrowed BuggyBlankets, Nitro, and a Borrowed Buggy The Great Horicon Post Office Job of 1913 Picture Horicon in the second week of June, 1913. The…
- The Axe and the Immigrant: The Dejanovich Case of 1914It’s July 1914 in Horicon, Wisconsin. A Croatian laborer named Joseph Dejanovich wakes up in the middle of the night to the blow of…
- 1882 Murder of Marshal William GibsonOLD COLD CASE Horicon City Marshal William Gibson — Civil War veteran, father of four, a man his community trusted with their safety —…
- The Murder of City Marshal William GibsonHoricon, Dodge County, Wisconsin · October 19–20, 1882 Carl G. Reinemann, Author Author’s Note: This is also available as a podcast, The Old Cold…
Railroads & Transportation
Rail lines, depots, junctions, and bridges that put Dodge County on the map.
- Atwater, Wisconsin: The Day the Whole Town Raised a GlassAtwater, Wisconsin: Before it was Atwater, it was Mill Creek. The place sits in the Town of Chester, five miles down the tracks from…
- MINNESOTA JUNCTIONThirty Trains a Day, a Wreck in the Dark, and the Hotel at the Crossing Sometime before dawn on the morning of July 12,…
Folklore & the Unexplained
Legends, mysteries, and the downright strange.
- Arkansas FolkloreThis week on One Shot at History, we’re trading Wisconsin weather for Arkansas weirdness — and there is a lot of it. We start…
- The Terror of the Rock RiverThe Terror of the Rock River An Ancient Legend of the Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi Peoples ©Carl G. Reinemann, One Shot at History Long before…
- Crop Circles of Mayville WisconsinOn the morning of July 4th, 2003, a retired truck driver named Art Rantala was in his workshop outside Mayville, Wisconsin when he watched…
- Laura Ingalls Wilder, Skeleton in the ClosetMurder in the Big Woods Generations of Americans grew up with Laura Ingalls Wilder’s version of frontier life — and it’s a beautiful one.…
Research Methods
How to find, research, and tell local history — archives, newspapers, film, and community stories.
- Restored Films from the pastSometimes the archive surprises you. A digitized film reel surfaces online. A few minutes of footage that should have been lost turns out not…
- Find A StoryNot sure where to start? Pick something that sounds interesting and just dive in — that’s how Carl does it too. Browse the podcast…
- The Importance of Community StoriesCommunity stories are vital to understanding our history. Discover how they shape our identity and connect us to the past.
- Archival Research TechniquesLearn effective archival research techniques to uncover forgotten stories and enhance your understanding of local history.
- Exploring Local HistoryDive into the rich tapestry of local history with our podcast, uncovering forgotten stories and hometown moments.
Podcast Episodes
Every One Shot at History podcast episode, with show notes and links.
- W.T.F Clam Lake, Wisconsin’s Cold War SecretWhat happens when the U.S. Navy, Cold War paranoia, and a quiet patch of northern Wisconsin collide? You get one of the weirdest stories…
- The Axe and the Immigrant: The Dejanovich Case of 1914It’s July 1914 in Horicon, Wisconsin. A Croatian laborer named Joseph Dejanovich wakes up in the middle of the night to the blow of…
- Lost on SuperiorOn a bitter November day in 1914, the C.F. Curtis, the Selden E. Marvin, and the Annie M. Peterson headed out onto Lake Superior…
- 1882 Murder of Marshal William GibsonOLD COLD CASE Horicon City Marshal William Gibson — Civil War veteran, father of four, a man his community trusted with their safety —…
- Steal, Smuggle, SurviveForget everything you think you know about spies. James Bond had an Aston Martin and the full backing of British intelligence. Jason Bourne had…
- Arkansas FolkloreThis week on One Shot at History, we’re trading Wisconsin weather for Arkansas weirdness — and there is a lot of it. We start…
- Crop Circles of Mayville WisconsinOn the morning of July 4th, 2003, a retired truck driver named Art Rantala was in his workshop outside Mayville, Wisconsin when he watched…
- Laura Ingalls Wilder, Skeleton in the ClosetMurder in the Big Woods Generations of Americans grew up with Laura Ingalls Wilder’s version of frontier life — and it’s a beautiful one.…
