by Steve Tesmer | Apr 21, 2012 | Historic People
Date in History: 1836 The first white family to settle in what is now Fort Atkinson was the Dwight Foster family. Dwight Foster was born in Connecticut in 1801 and grew up in upstate New York. In the 1830s, he headed west to join the Rock River Land and Claim Company,...
by Steve Tesmer | Apr 21, 2012 | Historic People
Date in History: 1832 The city of Fort Atkinson takes its name from the General who led the US forces during the 1832 Black Hawk War. Headquartered in St. Louis at the Jefferson Barracks, General Henry Atkinson was in charge of the Western Department of the Army. In...
by Steve Tesmer | Apr 21, 2012 | Historic People
Date in History: July 11, 1944 On July 11th, 1944 Staff Sergeant Gerald Endl of Fort Atkinson had to make a difficult decision and he had to make it fast. His platoon in the jungles of New Guinea had run into heavy enemy fire and twelve men in his unit- including the...
by Steve Tesmer | Apr 21, 2012 | Historic People
Date in History: c. 1850 – 1914 In Fort Atkinson’s Evergreen Cemetery, a simple gravestone notes the lives of James E. Ellis (1849 – 1911), and his wife Ann (1857-1914). Nothing sets it apart from its neighbors—just ordinary names and dates. But as a young black...
by Steve Tesmer | Apr 21, 2012 | Historic People
Date in History: early 20th century The Hoard Museum has over 300 dolls – many of them from Fort Atkinson resident Jane Curtis who began collecting at a young age and under difficult circumstances. Born in 1900, Jane contracted polio at age 10. Unable to play...
