The Ripon Historical Society thanks Sweet 'n Saulty Ice Cream for bringing their service to provide treats for last week's Ripon College Student Intern Event and Ice Cream Social held at the Pedrick-Lawson House!
This past week the Ripon Historical Society hosted Ripon College students and staff to an ice cream social! This event was to thank the college and share the work completed by three college interns who selected artifacts, researched archives and stories plus staged a curated exhibit in the Historical Society's Pedrick-Lawson House and Pickard House museums.
The student interns are part of Ripon College's SOAR (Summer Opportunities for Advanced Research) program. To see their exhibits visit the Ripon Historical Society at 508 Watson Street Fridays and Saturdays from 10AM-1PM. Also, the Pedrick-Lawson House will be open from 10-2PM during Ripon's Septemberfest on September 18.
Thank You Ripon College for partnering with the Ripon Historical Society for this internship program!
Check your address, did you mean Watson st,?
Such a wonderful idea! My mother, a Ripon College alum and staunch supporter would be so impressed!
Throwback Thursday: Ripon’s Sam Pedrick’s work still accessed today
Throwback Thursday: Ripon’s Sam Pedrick’s work still accessed today
www.riponpress.com
This week's Ripon historical feature examines the legacy of Sam Pedrick and his importance in documenting the city's history.Trivia Tuesday ~ what is this, and what was it used for? Answer will be published on Friday!
ANSWER: It is a compass for drawing on a chalkboard - a piece of chalk fits into one end and the width/circumference of the circle can be manually adjusted
Looks like olds chalk and is used for drawing circles or perhaps parallel lines?
Compass for chalkboard
Replacement elbow joint for a robot?
To take clothes out of hot water in the wringer washer!
Fence stretcher
compass
There are people who state there have never been any tornados in the Ripon and Green Lake area due to geological and topographical positioning. However, tornados have been reported in Fond du Lac and Green Lake County.
Here’s a write-up about a tornado in the local area during the month of July 1873.
The day shone bright and sunny - people rushed about preparing to cross Green Lake in various boats and vessels.
At approximately 10AM, the sailing yacht “H.B. Harshaw” commanded by Captain Pierce sailed from Dartford with 22 people aboard. About this same time the yacht “Ripon Girl” led by Captain Norman Warner left the landing with seventeen persons. Many other small boats were already on the lake — some midway and others farther along as they crossed while other boats were just starting. As these yachts left the northern shore the wind calmed and their sails left without air, had them fall behind faster steam-powered boats and small rowboats. The movement of the yachts became so slow one passenger actually left to join in a rowboat thinking they could arrive on the opposite shore much sooner.
Suddenly a half a mile out onto the lake the air freshened and a dark ominous cloud appeared in the sky moving rapidly toward the area of the smaller boats. TORNADO! The Harshaw started heading toward Horner’s Landing using only the mainsail — all other sails lowered due to the pending and furious storm. The lake swelled into waves and the mainsail was thrown upward into what appeared to be a “cloth bag” that captured air and tossed the boat onto its end ejecting all 22 passengers into the lake. In their long Victorian-era clothes, many people remained underwater for a long period of time, surfacing to catch hold of any part of the boat that might keep them afloat. Elderly and young alike tried to hang onto each other and pull people above the water to the best of their abilities.
A steamship named “Rustic Belle” was on the lake and rushed toward the “Harshaw” as soon as the wind passed over them, noting there were sixteen survivors on the shoreline in various stages of condition. Those included Captain Pierce who was noted for his calmness and keeping everyone together during the disaster. There is some discrepancy as to the amount of time people actually were in the water but one of the boat’s passenger’s watch that had stopped showed this may have been just short of 30 minutes.
The yacht “Ripon Girl” saw the weather strike and prepared to be hit by the storm, having everyone aboard lay down in the bottom (or lower deck) and it eventually arrived ashore without casualties.
Meantime, one rowboat arrived ashore empty without any passengers or signs of life. Another rowboat holding a mother and child plus single woman were almost swamped with the first wave and reached out hanging onto a large log to stabilize their boat until they reached the shoreline. Notably, one of the passengers aboard the “Rustic Belle” felt imminent danger when the storm blew in so he cut a lifeboat loose, placed his wife and child inside, and paddled to seek shelter on their own. The first large wave of the storm tossed his boat over forcing all three into the water causing him to swim to shore while his wife held onto the capsized boat with her child.
A gentleman, who was ashore, launched a rowboat to paddle out to help the woman and child and he, too, was thrown from his boat and washed back ashore. Eventually, the mother and child floated to land.
Many lives were lost.
Mrs. M.E. Carman, age 36
Mrs. Lizzie C. Russell, age 30
Mary F. Russell, age 7
Mantle Allen, age 5
Jennie Olin, age 14
Mrs. Nellie Harding, age 25
Mrs. Mary Ann Baird, age 50
Mr. William Bloxham, age 29
Mrs. William Bloxham, age 22
Mr. Charles Bloxham, age 3
Funerals and mourning touched local towns including Dartford, Berlin, Ripon and Princeton.
Also, there are no geological features in Wisconsin that affect weather or "protect" areas from tornadoes. Lake Michigan can affect temps, though.
Thanks for sharing!!!! I never heard about this one until now!!
How about the tornadoes in 1992, or was it 1993? I think 1993. I stood outside my apartment and watched them form.
Funny how they listed property loss over lives lost .
