Bessie Hooker grinding poppy seeds, Hillsboro, Wisconsin, 1945. Naval hero Marc Mitscher’s visit to his hometown of Hillsboro—another Wisconsin community with a substantial Czech population—made the front page of the Wisconsin State Journal on July 12, 1945. The caption that accompanied this photograph by Arthur M. Vinje read: With all Hillsboro striving to honor Vice-Admiral Marc A. Mitscher today, Bessie Hooker, maid in the Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Hart home, baked him a poppy seed kolache, a favorite Bohemian dish for which she is famous. The dish looks like pie and raises like bread, and ground poppy seed is what gives it its distinctive flavor. It was to be a surprise for the admiral, who was lucky that Mrs. Hart happened to have some hard-to-get poppy seed in the house. via: Wisconsin Historical Images WHi-43133, Wisconsin Historical Society This recipe for kolache published in the Milwaukee Journal in 1962 offers three options for filling: prune, apricot, or poppy seed. via: Historic Recipe File, Milwaukee Public Library
View Separately

Bessie Hooker grinding poppy seeds, Hillsboro, Wisconsin, 1945.

Naval hero Marc Mitscher’s visit to his hometown of Hillsboro—another Wisconsin community with a substantial Czech population—made the front page of the Wisconsin State Journal on July 12, 1945. The caption that accompanied this photograph by Arthur M. Vinje read:

With all Hillsboro striving to honor Vice-Admiral Marc A. Mitscher today, Bessie Hooker, maid in the Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Hart home, baked him a poppy seed kolache, a favorite Bohemian dish for which she is famous. The dish looks like pie and raises like bread, and ground poppy seed is what gives it its distinctive flavor. It was to be a surprise for the admiral, who was lucky that Mrs. Hart happened to have some hard-to-get poppy seed in the house.

via: Wisconsin Historical Images WHi-43133, Wisconsin Historical Society


This recipe for kolache published in the Milwaukee Journal in 1962 offers three options for filling: prune, apricot, or poppy seed.

via: Historic Recipe File, Milwaukee Public Library

Portrait of Vojta Naprstek published in the Milwaukee Sentinel, May 28, 1892. Progressive politician and journalist Vojta Naprstek is one of the most famous Czechs to have lived in Wisconsin. He fled Prague after the political upheavals of 1848 and came to Milwaukee. According to George Kovtun’s “Czechs in America” chronology for the Library of Congress, Naprstek, considered to be the spiritual father of Czech journalism in America, lived for about a decade in the United States. He published the freethinking Milwaukee Flug-Blatter, the first periodical publication of a Czech in America; although a German-language paper, the Flug-Blatter was read largely by Czechs … After his return to Bohemia he familiarized his country with American ideas, institutions, and methods. His efforts, experiences, and collections became the basis of the present Naprstek Museum of Asian, African, and American cultures in Prague. via: Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles, Wisconsin Historical Society; George Kovtun, “The Czechs in America,” European Reading Room, Library of Congress
View Separately

Portrait of Vojta Naprstek published in the Milwaukee Sentinel, May 28, 1892.

Progressive politician and journalist Vojta Naprstek is one of the most famous Czechs to have lived in Wisconsin. He fled Prague after the political upheavals of 1848 and came to Milwaukee. According to George Kovtun’s “Czechs in America” chronology for the Library of Congress,

Naprstek, considered to be the spiritual father of Czech journalism in America, lived for about a decade in the United States. He published the freethinking Milwaukee Flug-Blatter, the first periodical publication of a Czech in America; although a German-language paper, the Flug-Blatter was read largely by Czechs … After his return to Bohemia he familiarized his country with American ideas, institutions, and methods. His efforts, experiences, and collections became the basis of the present Naprstek Museum of Asian, African, and American cultures in Prague.

via: Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles, Wisconsin Historical Society; George Kovtun, “The Czechs in America,” European Reading Room, Library of Congress

Wardrobe used by the Polark family, Caledonia, Racine County, Wisconsin, 1860-1865. One of the earliest Czech settlements in Wisconsin was the community of Caledonia, near the city of Racine in the southeast part of the state. This painted wardrobe or armoire was used by the Polark family, who came to Caledonia from Bohemia in the 1850s. In 1865, eleven-year-old Frances Polark signed his name, the location and the date on the inside of the wardrobe’s right-hand door.  via: Old World Wisconsin by way of Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database
Pop-upView Separately

Wardrobe used by the Polark family, Caledonia, Racine County, Wisconsin, 1860-1865.

One of the earliest Czech settlements in Wisconsin was the community of Caledonia, near the city of Racine in the southeast part of the state. This painted wardrobe or armoire was used by the Polark family, who came to Caledonia from Bohemia in the 1850s. In 1865, eleven-year-old Frances Polark signed his name, the location and the date on the inside of the wardrobe’s right-hand door. 

via: Old World Wisconsin by way of Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database

Czechs (Bohemians) in Wisconsin according to the 1900 federal census. A small but significant number of Czech immigrants settled in Wisconsin beginning in the late 1840s. Early documents refer to these settlers as “Bohemians” due to their origin in Bohemia, a historical region in central Europe that is today part of the Czech Republic. This map illustrates the scattered distribution of Czech settlements in Wisconsin including the southeast (Racine County), the eastern lakeshore (Manitowoc and Kewaunee counties), and the coulee region of the southwest (La Crosse, Vernon and Grant counties). via: Historical Maps Collection, Wisconsin Historical Society read more: Karel D. Bicha, “The Czechs in Wisconsin History,” Wisconsin Magazine of History vol. 53, no. 3 (1970)
Pop-upView Separately

Czechs (Bohemians) in Wisconsin according to the 1900 federal census.

A small but significant number of Czech immigrants settled in Wisconsin beginning in the late 1840s. Early documents refer to these settlers as “Bohemians” due to their origin in Bohemia, a historical region in central Europe that is today part of the Czech Republic. This map illustrates the scattered distribution of Czech settlements in Wisconsin including the southeast (Racine County), the eastern lakeshore (Manitowoc and Kewaunee counties), and the coulee region of the southwest (La Crosse, Vernon and Grant counties).

via: Historical Maps Collection, Wisconsin Historical Society

read more: Karel D. Bicha, “The Czechs in Wisconsin History,” Wisconsin Magazine of History vol. 53, no. 3 (1970)

Top