Edgar Wilson Nye - 1850-1896
Posted by: 
frankhj
N 44° 54.703 W 092° 33.509
15T E 534851 N 4973238
Edgar Wilson Nye Marker on Hwy 65, 3 mi. S of I-94 in St. Croix County.
Waymark Code: WM4CP0
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 08/06/2008
Views: 31
"Bill" Nye, journalist, lecturer, author, and humorist, grew to manhood in this quiet valley of the Kinnickinnic, which flows south-westerly through River Falls. The tall-tales of frontier humor were popular regionally before 1860. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and Bill Nye widely popularized similar exaggerations until they were considered typically American. In the country church, three-fourths mile eastward, Bill Nye practiced public speaking to empty pews. He was then a student at River Falls Academy, now State University. The family homestead is three-fourths mile south of the church. He delighted his audiences by referring to it as "a hundred and sixty acres of beautiful ferns and bright young rattlesnakes". Ferns are few, and the snakes are gone if they were ever there.
Erected 1968
County: St. Croix
Location: Other
MarkerID: 165
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