Wisconsin History Day By Day

Related Web Sites:
Annual Address Before the Old Settler's Club of Milwaukee County

Old Plank Road Trail

Watertown Plank Road


Read More About It

"Wisconsin Territorial Days" Badger History Wisconsin Historical Society

"Wisconsin Lore and Legends" by Lou and John Russell

"The History of Wisconsin: The Civil War Era, 1848-1873" by Richard Current


Vocabulary:

chartered
plank


Interesting Fact:

The preferred wood for building plank roads was oak.


Study Questions:

  • Why were some of the early roads made out of wood? Why not some other material?
  • At its peak, by 1852-1853, how many miles of plank roads were there in Wisconsin?
  • What were the benefits of plank roads compared to normal roads? What were some of the problems with plank roads?


    Search these newspaper databases for additional stories about plank roads:

  • Wisconsin State Journal/The Capital Times
  • Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
  • BadgerLink Wisconsin Newsstand
  • Wisconsin Historical Society


    U.S. historical events that occurred on February 2:

    1848: The Mexican War officially ends with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
    1876: Baseball's National League is formed.



    • February 2

    February 2, 1846: The Legislative Assembly chartered a private corporation which proposed to build a plank road between Milwaukee and Lisbon (later extended to Watertown). The plank road was completed in 1847.

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