For more than 100 years, Wisconsin’s official highway maps have helped motorists, and likely a few horse-drawn wagons, get from Westfield to Florence, Brodhead to La Crosse and Montello to Bayfield.
The back of the 1935 official state highway map is worthy of framing and includes drawings of historic and geographic points throughout Wisconsin.
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Despite GPS on phones and in vehicles, the state Department of Transportation continues to see demand for its folded, paper state highway map. More than 600,000 copies of the 2023 version are likely to be printed before the next map is released in 2025.
Christine Koeller, left, a cartologist, and David Layton, section chief of surveying and mapping, both with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, show off some of the state highway maps stored in the DOT archives on Madison's East Side. An online database has been created that allows visitors to view the maps, first created in 1918.
Christine Koeller points out some of the historic maps in the state Department of Transportation's archives. The 1935 map had a handy guide to explain stop signs and had six paragraphs on the "rules of the road," including tips on passing a slower motorist. "There is no speed limit on rural highways," the state Highway Commission wrote 88 years ago. "Be reasonable and drive carefully."
These maps from the 1960s are among those in the archives at the state Department of Transportation.
This is a brittle copy of the first official state highway map created in 1918. The state highway map program was created after the formation of the Wisconsin State Highway Commission in 1911. Six years later, in 1917, the state legislature passed a law that required the state to print and distribute highway service maps for 10 cents each.
There was no Beltline nor an Interstate highway system on the 1927 official Wisconsin state highway map, just a network of two-lane roads. Highway 30 was the main route between Madison and Milwaukee, while Highway 11, now Highway 14, connected motorists between Madison and La Crosse. What is now Highway 11 that runs through Monroe was known back then as Highway 20.
The back of the 1934 official state highway map was a work of art and provided a pictorial history of the state.
Photos: Ed the Diver and his fishing lures
Ed the Diver
Ed Bieber is seen here in 2021 during one of his dives in the Menominee River near his home in Marinette. He uses a kayak to hold what he finds, but at other times will use a boogie board with a plastic bib on top.
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Ed Bieber tries on a pair of sunglasses he retrieved during a river dive near his home in Marinette, Wis. Tuesday, April 25, 2023. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
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Artifacts retrieved during one of Ed Bieber’s river dives are displayed at his home in Marinette, Wis. Tuesday, April 25, 2023. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Ed the Diver
Ed Bieber sorts through scuba gear at his home in Marinette. He began diving about five years ago with just a mask on his face and tennis shoes on his feet, but is now a certified diver who has amassed a room full of scuba gear.
Ed the Diver
Anglers are good at losing not just fishing lures, as this tangle of rods and reels demonstrates. It sits in a pile in Ed Bieber's backyard in Marinette.
Ed the Diver
Anchors retrieved during river dives by Ed Bieber share space in the yard of his Marinette home. He once found 28 anchors in a single dive.
Ed the Diver
Glass bottles retrieved during river dives by Ed Bieber, right, and Jason Younk fill a table on Bieber's back porch. The round object in the middle is the top of an Evinrude motor found while diving in Oshkosh.
Ed the Diver
Lettering on the travel trailer of Ed Bieber echoes his perspective on river diving.
Ed the Diver
Fishing lures amassed by Ed Bieber, many retrieved from his dives into the Menominee and Fox Rivers, fill the walls of the dining room of his Marinette home. Known as "Ed the Diver," Bieber is making a full-time living off finding, refurbishing and reselling lures.
Ed the Diver
Ed Bieber, right, and Jason Younk sort through a collection of fishing lures they retrieved during a recent dive in Oshkosh. This ball of nearly 200 baits was estimated to be worth about $1,800 new, but once Bieber and Younk clean them up and, in some cases, replace the hooks, they can get $5 per bait.
Ed the Diver
Ed Bieber will likely never buy a pair of sunglasses again. This is just a portion of the eyewear he has found while diving.
Ed the Diver
"The Young Swimmers,” sculpted by James F. Hopfensperger, shares the shoreline of Stephenson Island in the Menominee River near the home of Ed Bieber. The island has been productive for Bieber in his quest for lures since it is a popular spot for walleye anglers.
Barry Adams covers regional news for the Wisconsin State Journal. Send him ideas for On Wisconsin at 608-252-6148 or by email at badams@madison.com.
