New Stuff Tuesday – March 14

Place Names of Wisconsin book jacket

Place Names of Wisconsin
by Edward Callary
F579 .C35 2016
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

When you’ve read Callary’s fascinating book you’ll know all there is to know about Wisconsin place names. Although some or our names are so obscure that information is unreliable or unavailable, another 2,000+ are listed here.

This book provides names of places in Wisconsin and information about them. Toponyms (Greek for place name) include the names of landforms, such as mountains and rivers, and political divisions, such as cities and counties, although Callary primarily focuses on political divisions here. For example, the town of Whitewater was founded in 1840, the same year the post office was established here, and the city of Whitewater was founded in 1885. Our community was named after Whitewater Creek, which is a translation of the Menominee words wapeskiw (it is white) and nepew (water). This creek was the source of white clay used to make pottery and bricks by the local settlers. Also our home, Walworth County was established in 1838. The name was originally suggested by abolitionist Samuel F. Phoenix, the founder of Delavan, after another abolitionist, Reuben H. Walworth, a high ranking judicial official in New York.

Want to know what “Wisconsin” means? It’s introduction to this book. Search and ye shall find.

A fun and informative read that can be absorbed piecemeal and in any order, I recommend it to all of you.

About Martha

Martha is a Reference & Instruction Librarian and the liaison to the Biological Sciences, Computer Science, Languages and Literatures, Mathematics, and Physics Departments
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One Response to New Stuff Tuesday – March 14

  1. De says:

    Cool facts about the area. Thanks for sharing.

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