“History is who we are and why we are the way we are.” — American historian David McCullough (1933- )
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This 1996 Wisconsin Historical Marker on South Lakeshore Drive in the Town of Linn, 3.5 miles south of Lake Geneva, recounts the Oct. 30, 1914 founding of Wisconsin’s first 4-H Club at the Hatch Farm in the Town of Linn. The Wisconsin Historical Society marker is one of nine to be placed since 1969 in various locales across Walworth County, including Allen Grove, Delavan, Genoa City, Linn, Whitewater and Williams Bay.
This Wisconsin Historical Marker, placed in 2000 at 218 S. 7th St. in Delavan, explores the 1871 founding of what would become the traveling Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, feted as “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Since 1951, the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Historical Marker Program has placed 598 historical markers across the state recounting the historical stories about events, individuals, buildings or sites of local, state or national significance that contribute to the rich historical heritage of Wisconsin.
This Wisconsin Historical Society marker at unincorporated Allens Grove, three miles southwest of Darien, details the history of the founding Allen Family, recounting how Revolutionary War veteran Philip Allen and his family traveled west and settled today's Allens Grove in May 1845. The marker, erected in 1976, is located on north end of Village Union Park on Clinton Street between Foot and Main streets, 0.1 miles north of County Hwy. X.
Erected in 1969, the Wisconsin Historical Society marker at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf, 309 W. Walworth Ave. (State Hwy. 11) in Delavan, was the first Wisconsin Historical Marker in Walworth County. The marker records the history of the school, founded April 19, 1852 and today the only residential school for deaf and hard of hearing students in Wisconsin. An additional eight Wisconsin Historical Markers have been placed in Walworth County over the years, including three in Delavan. Two of the four markers in Delavan are currently being refurbished by the City of Delavan.
The Wisconsin Historical Marker at the East Troy Electric Railroad & Museum, placed in 1971, was the second Wisconsin Historical Society marker to be placed in Walworth County. The East Troy marker details the history of The Milwaukee Electric Light and Railway Company’s 1907-1939 electric interurban streetcar line between Milwaukee and East Troy, once part of TMER&L’s vast interurban network across southeastern Wisconsin. A seven-mile stretch of track between East Troy and Mukwonago is still used today by the nonprofit East Troy Electric Railway & Museum, an interurban heritage railroad that runs passenger excursions on a fleet of historic railroad cars each weekend from April through October.
Housed in a scenic pavilion at Veterans Memorial Park, 700 Fellows Road in Genoa City, the Wisconsin Historical Society’s “First Swedish Settlers in Wisconsin” marker was erected by the sponsoring Swedish-American Historical Society of Wisconsin and the Genoa City Lions Club in 1988. The plaque recounts how Carl Friman (1781-1862) emigrated from Sweden with five sons in 1838, purchasing 80 acres near Genoa City. The Friman family are regarded as the first Swedes to settle permanently in Wisconsin.
This two-sided Wisconsin Historical Society marker recounts the history of the Cold War-era Williams Bay Air Force Radar Station and the 755th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, part of a nationwide effort to defend the continent from a possible airborne attack from the Soviet Union in the years after World War II. Erected in 2006, the Wisconsin Historical Marker is located just off the highway at N3440 State Hwy. 67 in the Town of Geneva, ¼-mile south of Palmer Road.
In 57 Photos: Scenes along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Bumble bee feeds on Dame's Rocket along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Black Raspberry along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Black Walnut along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Box Elder along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Overgrown Milwaukee Road concrete electrical box base along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Canadian Anemone along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Carolina Rose along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Cleavers (Catchweed bedstraw, stickyweed) along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Common Burdock (Cuckoo-button) along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Common Milkweed along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Common Yarrow along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Cow Parley (Wild Chervil) along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Dame's Rocket along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Eastern Daisy Fleabane along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Eastern Trailhead signs at Farmer's Gateway Park in downtown Clinton
Milwaukee Road electrical box along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
American elm along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
End of the line at the western trailhead of the Pelishek-Tiffany nature trail at North Road at Allens Grove near Darien
Lingering vestiges of the old Milwaukee Road railway, such as this enduring steel rail west of North Road, endure along the 5.8-mile rails-to-trails Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail in Walworth and Rock Counties between Allens Grove and Clinton.
Scenic farm view along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Ground Ivy (Creeping Charlie) along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Hoary Alyssum patch along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
PT Looking south at the Milwaukee Road switching station at Bardwell rail line junction near Darien, June 1983..jpg
Looking south from the Milwaukee Road's diamond railway interchange at the Bardwell interlocking station in the Town of Darien in June 1983. The Milwaukee Road abandoned its 6.2-mile line southwest from Bardwell to Clinton a few months prior in February 1983. The section of tracks pictured here is now operated by the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad. The bankrupt Milwaukee Road's whitewashed clapboard interlocking station at Bardwell has since been razed.
Milwaukee Road freight train heading northeast on the Southwest Division toward the Bardwell junction near Darien, 1976..jpg
A Milwaukee Road freight train heads northeast on the Southwest Division line from Clinton toward the diamond interchange at unincorporated Bardwell near Allens Grove and Darien in 1976. The 6.2-mile line pictured here between Bardwell and Clinton was abandoned by the bankrupt Milwaukee Road in February 1983.
Multiflora Rose along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Nature overtakes old Milwaukee Road telegraph polealong the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Ohio Spiderwort along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Old Milwaukee Road concrete box drainage culvertalong the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Oxeye Daisies along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Old Milwaukee Road telegraph pole along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail between Allens Grove and Clinton still bears its "54" mile marker
Prickly Wild Rose.along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Patch of purple and white Dame's Rockets along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Circa-2000 Tiffany/Turner Memorial Rest Area along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
The 5.8-mile rails-to-trails Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail (PTNT) offers a number of rest areas, rest benches and rest shelters along the repurposed Milwaukee Road railway right-of-way between Allens Grove in Walworth County and Clinton in Rock County.
Riverbank Grape (Frost Grape) along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Milwaukee Road signal stand remnants hidden in the brush along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Abandoned remnants of an old Milwaukee Road signal stand lie hidden in Virginia creeper and cleavers along the 5.8-mile rails-to-trails Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail in Walworth and Rock counties between Allens Grove and Clinton.
Shaded trail section along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Abandoned Milwaukee Road signal control box hidden in undergrowth along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
The Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail's nearly 130-year legacy as a Milwaukee Road railway corridor is still evident here and there along the 5.8-mile multi-use recreation trail in a peek-a-boo fashion for the eagle-eyed. Here, an abandoned Milwaukee Road signal control box lies hidden in the trailside underbrush.
Sulphur Cinquefoil along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Telegraph pole with enduring wires and glass insulators along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Clues to the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail's former longtime use as a Milwaukee Road railway corridor have in many places been enveloped the nature since the line's February 1983 abandonment by the bankrupt railroad. Here, a telegraph pole hidden in the treeline along the mullti-use recreation trail still sports its wires and colorful glass insulators.
Traces of the old Milwaukee Road line along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail near Clinton in Rock County
Trail view along the rails-to-trails Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Trail view along the rails-to-trails Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
ABOVE: Seen near its western trailhead near North Road in the unincorporated Walworth County hamlet of Allens Grove, the 5.8-mile rails-to-trails Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail traverses former Milwaukee Road railroad right-of-way between Allens Grove and Clinton in Rock County. The 64.3-acre linear park, purchased by Rock County Parks in 1995, accommodates a variety of users year-round, including winter snowmobilers and cross-country skiers and warm-weather hikers, bikers, horseback riders, joggers and bird-watchers.
Trail view along the rails-to-trails Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Trail view along the rails-to-trails Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Treacle Mustard along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
White Campion along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Wild Asparagus along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Wild Four O'Clock along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Naturalized over the past four decades, the 5.8-mile, 64.3-acre Pelishek-Tiffany Trail Trail corridor on the old Milwaukee Road right-of-way between Allens Grove in Walworth County and Clinton in Rock County features a wide variety of trees, bushes and wildflowers, including Wild Four O’Clock as seen here.
Wild Parsnip along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Wild Parsnip along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Dames Rocket along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Discarded Milwaukee Road telegraph wire along the Peleshek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Paradise apple along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail main trailhead at Farmers Nature Trail Gateway in Clinton
The Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail's main trailhead on Mill Street in Clinton features a parking area, restroom facility, picnic tables, a gazebo-styled pavilion and a small covered bridge walkway connecting the parking lot to the multi-purpose recreational rail-trail on 5.8 miles of former Milwaukee Road corridor between Clinton in Rock County and Allens Grove in Walworth County.
Honey Locust along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
White Mulberry.along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Smooth Solomon's Seal along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
Farming scene along the Pelishek-Tiffany Nature Trail
