In 1926 at the Convention of Fair Board in Milwaukee, F.C. Borcherdt declared that Manitowoc’s fair was the “blue ribbon fair of Wisconsin” because more registered cattle were exhibited at the Manitowoc fair than at any other county fair in Wisconsin. The Manitowoc County Fair continues to hold the title of the “blue ribbon fair of Wisconsin.”

When one thinks of an alligator, you probably picture the Everglades in Florida or an alligator encaged at a zoo. You probably wouldn’t think of coming across an alligator in the wild in Wisconsin. In 1966 however, residents of Clarks Mills were convinced an alligator was among them and just a year later that fear would resurface with reports of another in Door County.

General stores were the center of economic activity in many small communities in the late 1890s and early 1900s. They were place where seed and crops were bartered or sold and everything people were not able to make or raise at home or on the farm could be found. Storekeepers were leading citizens of their communities, and that was very much true for early Clarks Mills General Store proprietors Richard and Elizabeth (Hammond) Burke.

General stores were the center of economic activity in many small communities in the late 1890s and early 1900s, a place where seed and crops were bartered or sold and everything people were not able to make or raise at home or on the farm could be found. The general store was the place to purchase a bar of soap, nails and hardware, thread or broad cloth for making clothes for the family, hats and hat pins, candies, toys and other treasures. Storekeepers were leading citizens of their communities. They extended and denied credit for food, supplies, and other goods against farmers’ next crop. No rural community could hope to become a village without a general store.