This was the site of the 1904 Wisconsin Republican Convention, a seminal event in the history of the Progressive Movement. At this convention, Robert M. La Follette's Progressives defeated the Stalwarts for control of the Wisconsin Republican Party. Widespread favorable publicity launched La Follette on the national scene. The controversy and legal suit engendered by the "Gymnasium Convention" and La Follette's subsequent vindication by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin led the Progressives to victory that November, giving them a majority in the state legislature the following year. This allowed the enactment of substantial reforms, many of which were subsequently adopted by many states across the Nation.

Image: Wisconsin Historical Society (DHP Photo)

Information provided by the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Park Service.