George E. Hall's A History of Oconto
The soft cover edition is here!
The OCHS has undertaken the reprinting of George E. "Jimmie" Hall's book A History of Oconto. The first printing came out in 1969 as part of Oconto's Tri-Centennial celebration and was met with wide acceptance and popular demand.
Since it's first printing, the Society has received numerous requests from persons wishing to purchase a copy of the book. Since no copies were available from the one time printing, the Society decided a reprinting was in order.
Pamela Loberger, OCHS Board member undertook the monumental task of retyping and editing the book. Duane F. Ebert, Director Emeritus, assisted Pam with proofreading.
The fifty hard cover limited editions of A History of Oconto were quickly spoken for. The soft cover edition is here! The price is $25.00.
An order form is available here.
The Oconto County Historical Society (OCHS), which was founded in 1940, is based in Oconto, the county seat.
It maintains three buildings: the historic Beyer Home Museum, a restored and completely refurnished 1890s northern mansion; the George E. Hall Annex which contains permanent exhibits on Old Main Street-Oconto, "County Waterways", and temporary exhibits, research files, photos, and artifacts in storage; and an urban barn.
A gazebo was moved onto the property in 1998 and an 1870s log house has been moved to the site and restored.
The OCHS also helps administer the First Church of Christ, Scientist, the Copper Culture State Park, and the Holt & Balcom Logging Camp.
OCHS is an affiliate of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Oconto [origin of place name]
Definition: As is often the case, conflicting explanations have been given. 1) Oconto takes its name from its chief river. The significance of this word is variously given as "red ground" or "the place of the pickerel" or the Menominee word for "black bass." The latter would seem to be correct, since upon many of the early maps (1820-50) the stream is noted as Black Bass River. 2) From Chippewa word uh-cun-do-win, meaning "a watching outpost" (against hostile forces). "It seems that when Green Bay was a trading center all tribes resorted to the locality including tribes hostile to each other. At the Oconto river the Chippewa kept a small settlement to keep their people informed of the movements of enemy Indians." Oconto, in Chippewa, is "Okando" (he watches, lies in ambush, lurks).