Anton Sarocka, known as Tony, was a standout football player for Rhinelander High School. Born in Port Washington on October 11, 1910, Tony graduated in 1928.By Kerry Bloedorn

Sunday, September 21st, 1924 is listed on the Wisconsin Watch website as the third worst day of tornadoes in state history.Few single communities were impacted that day as much as Three Lakes, Wisconsin, which suffered the worst tornado in it’s historyBy Kerry Bloedorn

Few people know that the Northwoods was once exposed to intense radiation for scientific research amid fears of nuclear war. Fifty-one years ago, a site near Rhinelander, Wisconsin, was developed to study radiation’s effects on northern forest ecosystems, known as the Enterprise Radiation Forest Project.…

Whenever talk turns to military tanks in the Northwoods, one story still echoes through the forest: the time a mighty tank was swallowed by the infamous McNaughton Swamp, some 65 years ago.By Kerry Bloedorn

“Massive Human Bones and Indian Relics Unearthed near Pelican Lake” read a Rhinelander New North newspaper headline on July 28th , 1908. The sensationalist commentary that followed was all the “proof” the unidentified writer needed to confirm that giant people once lived and were buried in the vicinity of Pelican Lake, Wisconsin.…

In the fall of 1895, a team from the University of Wisconsin school of agriculture, including Dean William A. Henry, Madison photographer Harvey J. Perkins, and others, traveled to every county north of a line drawn from Green Bay to Hudson. They compiled information and photographs from cutover lands, and already existing farms, in an attempt to s…

Fifty-one years ago, the United States left Vietnam on March 29th, 1973, after 8 years of fighting. The conflict left a lasting impact on our country, including the Northwoods, where it forever changed the lives of the service members involved and their families. This is one of those stories.By Kerry Bloedorn

Kids corner Pizza in Rhinelander is located in one of the oldest frame buildings in downtown Rhinelander. Kerry Bloedorn – Northwoods Historian, shares the history of that building, The Martin Flat, on this installment of A Northwoods Moment in History on WXPRBy Kerry Bloedorn

In 1926, Three Lakes Wisconsin held a winter sports carnival on a big hill at what is now Camp Luther, and on the ice of Range Line Lake below. A number of winter sporting events were organized, including toboggan races, hockey games, and Wisconsin’s first ever snowmobile race.By Kerry Bloedorn

Prohibition began in 1920, banning all sales of alcoholic beverages, as defined by the Volstead Act. The quiet Northwood’s of Wisconsin became a haven for big city black market liquor production and smuggling.By Kerry Bloedorn

In the weeks leading up to Christmas 1944, Americans were tuned into newspaper headlines about a German offensive in the Ardenne forest of Belgium between Germany and France. One young soldier from Pelican Lake, would earn a bronze star in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge.By Kerry Bloedorn

One of the many construction projects in Rhinelander that was completed this year was a water main repair, causing the closure of the Phillip Street Bridge, located behind the Rhinelander Paper Mill. This bridge has collapsed not once, but twice in its history.By Kerry Bloedorn

At the end of the famous book, Tarzan of the apes swoops in to rescue his beloved Jane Porter in the Northern Forests of Wisconsin. This part in the closing chapters of the book never made it into the dozen film adaptations produced over the decades, which is why most Northwoods folk aren’t quite familiar with that part of the adventure.…

With the return of school comes the return of Friday Night Football.One of the biggest rivalries in the Northwoods is between Rhinelander and Antigo.Local historian and director of the Pioneer Park Historical Complex Kerry Bloedorn shares the story of the Bell Game in this episode of A Northwoods Moment in History.…

Today, Rhinelander seems like an unlikely place for a presidential hopeful to campaign, but at one time, it was a must stop on the road to the Whitehouse. So it was during a campaign tour in 1959 for a young Senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy. Learn about his visit on A Northwoods Moment in History…

As the famous dairy state of the U.S., cheese is no doubt a staple in Wisconsin. As such it seems only fit that we have an official state cheese. Efforts by law makers in recent years have pushed to make Colby cheese the official state cheese.By Sydney Kuckkan

The Northwoods has seen its fair share of extreme weather, from blizzards to tornados, but one storm on Independence Day in 1977 swept across the region with such ferocity, it is still remembered vividly today.By Kerry Bloedorn

The Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport has been fielding planes at its current location just west of Rhinelander since the early 40s. But Rhinelander’s aeronautical history goes all the way back to a flight that occurred in 1912.By Kerry Bloedorn

One day in 1986, dubbed Black Tuesday, went down in History as the most wildland fires fought in a single day in Northern Wisconsin. By the end of that Tuesday, 64 fires would burn hundreds of acres.By Kerry Bloedorn

Rivers and Lakes are beginning to open up in the Northwoods. During the logging boom in Northern Wisconsin, that meant it was time to start the river drive. Moving tens of thousands of logs by water to sawmill towns was a deadly business. And so it was on the first log drive north of Grandfather Falls on the Wisconsin River, 165 years ago.…