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“It doesn’t smell all that bad,” says Mike, a friend from work. We’re on a tour of the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) Nine Springs plant on Moorland Road in Madison. We’re standing next to the settling tanks, the first stage of treatment for raw sewage – called wastewater or influent – where solids are separated from liquids. Mike adds, “It helps that we’re outside.”

Our tour guide, Catherine, explains the treatment steps. First, the settling tanks, then the aeration tanks where...

The term “continental divide” conjures up images of a ragged line on a map, running down the spine of the Rocky Mountains. But Wisconsin has its own continental divide, near the city of Portage, where a narrow strip of land separates the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. Water in the Fox flows north into the Great Lakes and then into the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence River. The Wisconsin River runs west into the Mississippi, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico (now known officially in the US...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

The Great Pyramid of Giza. The Great Wall of China. The Roman aqueducts. How do we explain these historic marvels, built centuries ago when engineering and mathematical knowledge was less advanced than today? This question has led some to conclude these structures were built by advanced civilizations that have vanished, or even by aliens from other planets.

The 400 State Trail poses similar...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

The human landscape changes so quickly that it can sometimes be hard to imagine what a particular area looked like a hundred or more years ago. In a small, rather nondescript park in Waukesha – Waukesha Springs Park, part of the city park system – an octagonal building is all that remains of a once beautifully landscaped grounds catering to tourists who travelled to Waukesha to consume its...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

The Vulcan Street Hydroelectric Plant in Appleton, which opened in 1882, was one of the first commercial hydroelectric plants in the US, and one of the few to utilize Thomas Edison’s direct current generators. Edison ultimately failed to make direct current power generation a commercial success, due to the overwhelming advantages of alternating current. Edison’s battle with proponents of...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

The term “Point of Beginning” seems to convey something vaguely mystical. Is it the starting point for a religious pilgrimage? Or maybe it relates to cosmology. Perhaps it's the gravitational singularity associated with the Big Bang and the creation of the universe?

The reality is more mundane, although still quite fascinating. Wisconsin’s Point of Beginning is located along a rough dirt...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

All that remains of the Melchoir Brewery is the southeast corner of the building. There is no roof, nor any interior features. Three window openings with red brick arches peer out from the sandstone façade. To the left of the windows is half a doorway. Behind the building stand tall sandstone bluffs, into which caves were cut to provide a cool storage environment for the beer that was...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

During World War Two, the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, built 28 submarines for the United States Navy. The company, known for producing lake freighters, received an initial Navy submarine contract in 1940 – before the United States entered the war – due to increased demand for these vessels. The 28 boats were the only World War Two submarines built at a freshwater...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

All that remains of the Outagamie County Asylum are the stone bridge across an unnamed creek and the old cemetery.

The asylum opened near Appleton in 1890 as the Outagamie County Asylum for the Chronic Insane. It survived for over a century, with the number of patients peaking at about 250. It closed in 2000 and the asylum complex was razed. The bridge and cemetery are accessible to the...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

A century ago, tuberculosis sanatoriums could be found in every corner of the state. According to a 1900 estimate, tuberculosis (TB) killed over 2000 Wisconsin residents per year – about 1 in every 10 deaths. A 1911 Wisconsin law authorized counties to establish TB sanatoriums with a state appropriation of $20,000 per year and $3 per week per patient. By 1919, sanatoriums existed in at...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

It’s easy to miss the two piles of stone rubble in Prairie Moraine County Park in the Town of Verona (Dane County). The rubble piles don’t look like much and are surrounded by invasive plants and weeds. The only real clues that there’s something unusual here are the wire fencing surrounding the rubble and a sign saying “Historical Site.”

The site is the ruins of a house (or houses) for...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

St. Mary of the Oaks is a tiny chapel that sits on the crest of a hill in northwest Dane County, overlooking Indian Lake 200 feet below. The chapel, less than 10 feet on a side, was built in 1857. Today the property is owned by Dane County and is part of Indian Lake County Park. The hilltop is covered in old growth Oak-Hickory forest over 100 years old, and probably looks much like it did...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

A sprawling, eclectic collection of historic buildings lies on the eastern edge of the City of Jefferson, just south of Hwy 18. The site is the original home of the St. Coletta convent and school. The convent, built in 1868, sits to the east. Its north wing houses the original chapel. Further west is a plain, three-story administration building built in 1915. There are dozens of buildings...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

When Milton College finally closed its doors in 1982, it was the oldest institute of higher education in the state, beating the University of Wisconsin by 4 years. Milton College grew out of the Du Lac Academy, founded in 1844 by Joseph Goodrich, an early Milton settler. It became known as Milton Academy in 1854. The two earliest extant buildings on campus, Main Hall and Goodrich Hall –...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

Travelers along County Highway BB in Waupaca County will have noticed the imposing two-story historic brick building at the intersection of BB and Bear Lake Rd. What was this? A school? A hospital? There’s not much evidence, just the year “1895” chiseled into the stone of the Italianate-style central tower. There's a large historic plaque to the east...but it's completely blank.

This...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

Dane County Asylum and Home Cemetery is one of the state’s most unforgettable cemeteries. It lies sandwiched between two strip malls in Verona, just west of Madison, and contains the graves of former residents of the Dane County Poor Home and Asylum for the Chronic Insane.

The Poor Home was located south of East Verona Ave and west of Old County Road PB, near the Verona Park and Ride. A...

Oddsconsin...where we explore peculiar and sometimes mysterious features of Wisconsin’s human landscape.

The First World War left many veterans suffering from severe psychological disorders, including shell-shock, also known at the time as neurasthenia, but now usually called PTSD. When the war ended in 1918, Wisconsin began to look for ways to treat these veterans. This led to the establishment of Memorial Hospital at Farwell’s Point, in Madison, on the grounds of the State Hospital for the...

As the State Cartographer of Wisconsin, Veregin blogs about the cartography and geography of the state. Find blog posts here!

Some recent blogs of general interest are listed below.

Renaming Denali and the Gulf of Mexico
"A (very) brief interpretation of President Trump’s recent Executive Order."

The Strange Case of the Galena and Fever Rivers
"One river. Two different names."

How Long is the Coastline of Wisconsin?
"The answer is surprisingly elusive."

Is the Wisconsin-Illinois Boundary a Straight...