Tag Archives: Wisconsin

Country Motel, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

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This card features the modest but well tended Country Motel, a typical accommodation for the era. Lake Geneva gained some fame for being the city where the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game was invented and the company, TSR, which operated out of there until 1997.

Pub. by Latimer Studio, 419 Benton St., Aurora, Ill.


The description is a long one, typical of these marketing post cards:
COUNTRY MOTEL
R.R.2 — Box 117
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin 53147
Phone Area Code 414 CIrcle 5-6115
On Highway 50, 3 Mi. West of Lake Geneva
11 Beautiful Units — Free Coffee — TV, FM Radio — Individual Heating and Air Conditioning — Heated Outdoor Pool. Moderate Rates — in heart of Lake region.
— The pool has a diving board, which have pretty universally disappeared from hotel and motel pools due to liability issues. It’s hard to see the board itself, but you can clearly see the rectangular reflection in the water at the far end of the pool.
The hotel no longer exists, but there appear to be others which have taken its place. The photo likely dates from the 1960s, based on the use of ZIP codes but the retention of the older phone numbering system.

Exit Hall, Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin

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Today wraps up the exploration of the Cave of the Mounds with an image of the exit area just before ascending from the cave.
This image shows the extent of modifications made to the cave for safe tourist access. Not only are there permanent concrete stairs and handrails, but the image shows a larger floor area that is likely also poured concrete over the cave floor. In other pictures there is a visible wooden floor, which may have been cheaper or simply more practical given the conditions of the floor in that part of the cave.

Photo by Diemer, Madison, Wisconsin


The description states:
Exit Hall — North Cave, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin
The photo is part of a larger series which dates from the 1940s.

Ribbons in Stone, Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin

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This image, of an apparently large domed room in the Cave of the Mounds, shows significant color streaking in the stone itself, instead of simple staining on the surface. To the far left, up on the ledge, are two dark formations styled Black Knights.

Photo by Diemer, Madison, Wisconsin


The description states:
Rare ribbons in stone with black and white stripes showing twin Black Knights at left. Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wis.
Unfortunately, there is no way to determine the scale of the picture, so it is not clear if the room is very large, or only slightly higer than human scale or not.
This photo like the others shown in this series, dates from the 1940s.

Cathedral Hall, Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin

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This area, styled the Cathedral Hall, shows evidence of the changes required to make the cave safe and traversable by tourists. Such modifications are common in these privately owned cave sites.

Photo by Diemer, Madison, Wisconsin


The description states simply:
Cathedral Hall, North Section, Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin
The picture is part of a larger collection which have indications that they date from the 1940s.

The Chapel, Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin

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We have another person in this photo of the room styled the Chapel, presumably to add some point of reference for size and orientation. The image shows dramatic stalactites and more modest stalagmites throughout the image.

Photo by Diemer, Madison, Wisconsin


The description states:
Stalactites on the ceiling and dome-shaped stalagmites on the floor of the Chapel, Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin
The woman’s attire indicates the photo is from the 1940’s.

Hall of Statuary, Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin

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Returning to the Cave of the Mounds, this image shows some perspective on the size of the formation though the inclusion of the woman standing along the walkway. The distance recedes into darkness from the absence of lighting further down the pathway.

Photo by Diemer, Madison, Wisconsin


The simple description states:
The Hall of Statuary in the South Section at Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin
The primitive handrail shown here, made out of plumbing pipe and connections, is typical of the kinds of safety provisions present in public access caves of that era.
The woman’s apparel is consistent with indications in other photos that this picture dates from the 1940s.

Dreamland Motel, Fish Creek, Wisconsin

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Now a bit of a break from cave exploration with this image of the Dreamland Motel, located in Door County, Wisconsin, in the unincorporated village called Fish Creek.

Wyman Post Card Co., Wausau, Wis.


The description is extensive, as is typical of motel postcards, which were intended as marketing materials:
Open year around
1-1/2 Miles from Ski Hill
DREAMLAND MOTEL, FISH CREEK, WISCONSIN
In Air-Conditioned Door County
Highway 42
12 Ultramodern heated units, with tile baths, sitting room, choice of one or two bedrooms, carpeting throughout. Located at the entrance to Peninsula State Park.
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Seitz – Phone 2281
–The motel design far exceeds the norm for these days where a typical rental has a single modest room, a table or desk and chair, chest of drawers, a closet and a bathroom. This example is more like the suites we know now, but likely were priced much more modestly than suites are today, even accounting for inflation.
The car visible at the right side of the image indicates that this photo is from the 1950s.
 

Totem Pole Room, Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin

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Much like the previous image, this one also has an ambiguity of orientation from the lighting and symmetrical nature of many cave formations. In this case, the room is decorated with stalactites and stalagmites which have merged back into solid columns like the one shown here.

Photo by Diemer, Madison, Wisconsin


It is possible to determine orientation again by the flooring provided for tourists at the lower left of the image.
The description simply states: The Totem Pole Room at Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wis.
This photo, like the others in this series, dates from the 1940s.

The Narrows, Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin

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This photo shows a small section of the Cave of the Mounds called the Narrows. It’s not clear from the photo why this is so as only one side of this passage is shown here.

Photo by Diemer, Madison, Wisconsin


This photo nicely demonstrates the difficulty in identifying up and down in many cave photos. The area is lit from several sources to highlight different features of the cave floor, walls and ceiling. As a result, the picture can almost be displayed inverted from the correct orientation shown here, and be acceptable to the human eye. Only the presence of the small floor area makes it clear ‘which way is up.’
The description simply states: The Narrows, Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin
This is part of a larger series of photos that date from the 1940s.

Stalagmite “Parrot”, Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin

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This rather cryptic photo is of a stalagmite formation (one that forms from the cave floor upwards) that the cave owner identifies as a parrot. With a little imagination, one can see, in the left side white formation, the flat top of a parrot’s head, followed downward by the swelling body that forms the area around the wings, then tapers to the smaller portion making the tail.

Photo by Diemer, Madison, Wisconsin


The description on the card is significantly less detailed:
The parrot, a stalagmite formation at the entrance to the Narrows in the Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wis.
The photos in this series date from the 1940s.