10 Unusual Facts About Wisconsin

Don’t get me wrong – Wisconsin teachers are great. But you may have missed some key info about our state when you were in school. Here are 10 things about Wisconsin a lot of people don’t learn in school.

America’s first kindergarten was founded in Watertown, Wisconsin in 1856.

Navy Hale Keiki School/Flickr

Wisconsin was the first state that implemented a state income tax.

401(K) 2012/Flickr

Wisconsin repealed its Prohibition laws four years before the rest of the nation.

Kevin Burkett/Flickr

The phrase “On Wisconsin” was first uttered at the battle of Missionary Ridge during the Civil War.

mrenner34/Flickr

Wisconsin has more effigy mounds than any other region in North America.

Richard Hurd/Flickr

Wisconsin was the first to have unemployment compensation benefits (1932).

bytemarks/Flickr

“Badgers” became a thing not so much because of the animal, but because miners who settled Wisconsin would burrow into hills, resembling the creatures.

Jon Nelson/Flickr

The typewriter was invented in Milwaukee in 1869.

nicoleleec/Flickr

The first Flag Day was celebrated in Ozaukee County in 1785.

Julian Carvajal/Flickr

In 1919, Wisconsin was the first state to ratify the women’s suffrage amendment.

Kelly Garbato/Flickr

Those are some crazy facts about our state!