Langlade County Historical Society

Antigo’s 107th Trench Mortar Battery Company in World War I

Photographs by William Wessa of Antigo documenting the 107th Trench Mortar Battery Company during World War I. The images include the company’s first drills in Antigo; training at Camp Douglas, Wisconsin and Camp McArthur, Texas; action in the Alsace region of France and the Argonne offensive; and their return to Antigo in 1919.

Civil War Diary of Ruben Sweet

Ruben Sweet of Manitowoc, Wisconsin kept a diary of his experiences in the Civil War from November 1863-February 1865. The diary was transcribed by the Langlade County Historical Society in 2004.

Deleglise Documents

Letters written to family members by Francis Deleglise, founder of the city of Antigo, during his service with Wisconsin’s famed Iron Brigade during the Civil War. Letters describe training activities at Camp Randall and experiences at a field hospital while recovering from wounds inflicted at Gettysburg.

Elcho CCC Camp Collection

Civilian Conservation Corps Camp 657 was established in Elcho, Langlade County, Wisconsin in 1933. The digital collection includes photos of barracks and work activities taken by CCC recruits Edward Drab, Alois Fisher and Warren Schabell as well as ephemera collected by recruit Ken Eliot, including newsletters published by the camp, menus, badges and a federally-published handbook for CCC enrollees.

Langlade County Historical Society Photos

Several towns and villages in Langlade County thrived during the heyday of logging and the timber industry but have declined in recent years. A few have virtually become ghost towns while some still exist. Langlade County, in more recent years, has marketed itself as the “Gateway to the Northwoods” and, more recently, the “The County of Trails.” This collection shows many resorts and recreational venues in Langlade County and other Northwoods destinations.

Langlade County Logging Photographs

The logging photographs in the collection of the Langlade County Historical Society document work crews, logging camps, sawmills and other aspects of Wisconsin’s logging industry from the 19th century to the 1990s. Some photographs were taken by Arthur J. Kingsbury for his picture postcard business, but many are by anonymous photographers.

Langlade County Railroad Photographs

The railroad photographs in the collection of the Langlade County Historical Society depict depots, rail yards, rail crews, locomotives and train wrecks in the Antigo area from the late 19th century to the 1990s. Some photographs were taken by Arthur J. Kingsbury for his picture post card business, but many are by anonymous photographers.

Listening to War

The Listening to War digital collection brings together first-person accounts of veterans and civilians in Wisconsin during World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War. These stories of everyday life during wartime come from men and women who served on the battlefront; nurses, journalists, shipbuilders, and others who contributed to wartime work at home and abroad; Holocaust survivors who immigrated from Europe to Wisconsin after World War II; and Hmong refugees from Laos who were resettled in the state following the Vietnam War.

Views of Antigo and Surrounding Langlade County

This collection of views of Antigo, the county seat of Langlade County, shows businesses, homes, schools, and street scenes of downtown Antigo throughout the 20th century. Antigo’s first home was built in 1878. It was incorporated as a city and made the county seat of New County (later renamed Langlade County) in the 1880s. The city was originally named Springbrook but was renamed Antigo using the middle word of an Ojibwe phrase Nequi-Antigo-Seebeh, which means “Where the river flows past evergreens.”  The collection also contains some scenes of towns and villages of Langlade County as well as resorts and towns in other regions of northern Wisconsin.