Oshkosh - Wisconsin - Culture

Oshkosh city, seat (1847) of Winnebago county, east-central Wisconsin, U.S., lies on the west shore of Lake Winnebago at the mouth of the upper Fox River, 80 miles (130 km) north-northwest of Milwaukee. The lake and river forms an important link in a main route from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River.

Oshkosh’s population is predominantly of Northern European origin. However, today, the majority has become a blend of different national ancestries.

The city's industries are now primarily service-oriented, although manufacturing is important. Its products include trucks and transportation equipment, plastic packaging, paper products, and apparel. It is also famous as a woodworking centre.

Each summer the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), headquartered in Oshkosh, hosts the EAA Fly-In Convention at Wittman Regional Airport. The EAA also maintains an aviation museum. The near perfect weather attracts a record crowd.  Informally known as Oshkosh 97, some of the rarer birds on display are an SR-71 Blackbird and a U-2 spy plane, which are now operated by NASA.

The Oshkosh Public Museum, located in an English style residence built in 1907, houses various exhibits of Oshkosh history. The first exhibit, Memories and Dreams, illustrates some of the outstanding artefacts in the collection and the stories associated with them pertaining to the history of Oshkosh region. The second exhibit, Communities, shows how towns, neighbourhoods, ethnicity, religious affiliation and clubs make up the Oshkosh community. The Resource & Discovery Room provides visitors a wide variety of activities: hand-on discovery kits, photo albums, computer catalogue access to the museums collections, access to the Internet and world wide web site. The third exhibit, Waterways, discusses plants, animals and people. Lastly, two exhibits in its galleries showcase the museum’s rich folk art and decorative arts collections. 

The highlights and collections at the museum include

·        The 1895 Apostles Clock

·        Striking on the hour

·        1st Floor Sawyer Home

·        1908 Edgar P. Sawyer Home,

Adjacent Galleries and Exhibit Halls.

The Tudor Revival Mansion and its garden designed in the 1920s is also worth visiting for it captures the splendour and elegance of a bygone era. The galleries showcase an ever-changing travelling exhibition and the Paine's renowned permanent collection of 19th century French and American paintings, prints, sculpture, oriental rugs and decorative arts.

The Grand Opera House is located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. This restored Victorian theater is owned by the City of Oshkosh and is managed by the Oshkosh Opera House foundation.