Lincoln at the State Fair - Milwaukee, WI - Abraham Lincoln on Waymarking.com

The Quick Description is from the Wisconsin's Civil War Memorials site at :
(visit link)

Marker text:
"At the State Fair on these grounds
in 1859
near this spot
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
made an address
This tablet as a reminder of that event
was erected
under the auspices of the Old Settlers Club
of Milwaukee County in 1928"

More details from the Lincoln Wisconsin Bicentennial Commission at (visit link)
"One of Milwaukee’s first historians reported that the fair was held at the old ”Brockway Fairgrounds”. This would be located in this area. Other reports state that it was on the Cold Spring Park Racetrack, which was west of 27th Street. Scheduled to speak at 10 a.m., Lincoln did not arrive until a little after noon on this windy and blustery day. Afterwards he walked through some of the fair exhibits before returning to the Newhall House.
Lincoln’s only speech on agriculture rambled over several themes after acknowledging himself a politician and not a farmer: thorough or deep cultivation of soil and increased productivity per acre; the development and application of machine labor for hand labor; hired labor and slave labor employed by capital entrepreneurs versus free labor, neither hired or enslaved, who work for themselves; free labor demands education and the field of agriculture is wide-open to advancing the thorough or deep cultivation of both soil and mind: “Every blade of grass is a study; and to produce two, where there was but one, is both a profit and a pleasure.”"

The entire text of the speech can be seen here (visit link) , where it also states "When Abraham Lincoln gave this speech at the Wisconsin fair, Americans knew him as the rising Republican politician who debated Stephen Douglas. One year later he would be elected president, and two years after that he signed the bill establishing the U.S. Department of Agriculture." as well as on the Dept of Agriculture's site at (visit link)

Parking on the street nearby. As often is the case, many people were scurrying by, but only one (me) stopped to look and learn.

Location Type: Historic Marker Property Type: Public Date of Event: September 30, 1859 Location Notes: At the southwest corner of 13th and Wells Streets. Street parking. URL for Additional Information: [Web Link]

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