Increase Allen Lapham (March 7, 1811 – September 14, 1875) was an American author, scientist, and naturalist, whose work focused primarily on the what is now the U.S. state of

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. He made maps of the area and published numerous books on the archaeology, biology, and geology of the region, and discovered both the Panther Intaglio Effigy Mound and Milwaukee Formation. He founded the Wisconsin Natural History Association, and served as the state's Chief Geologist for two years. He also lobbied Congress and the Smithsonian Institution to establish an agency to predict the weather around the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

and this became the

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...

Biography

Born in Palmyra, New York, his family moved to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, back to New York, to

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

then to

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

(1827–1830) then back to Ohio while his father, Seneca Lapham, worked on the

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

s in various locations. Lapham was of entirely English ancestry, all of which had been in what is now the United States since the early 1600s. His ancestors were among the first English colonists to establish Rhode Island. He displayed a talent for scientific observation early on while working on the canals and their

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

s, producing drawings that he could sell at the age of thirteen. In July 1836, Lapham moved to Kilbourntown (which soon incorporated into the city of

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

) and worked closely with

Byron Kilbourn Byron Kilbourn (September 8, 1801December 16, 1870) was an American surveyor, railroad executive, and politician who was an important figure in the founding of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the 3rd and 8th mayor of Milwaukee. Biography Kilbo ...

in his business and development endeavors. The two had worked together previously on the

Miami Canal The Miami Canal, or C-6 Canal, flows from Lake Okeechobee in the U.S. state of Florida to its terminus at the Miami River, which flows through downtown Miami. The canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered ch ...

and Lapham considered him a loyal friend and mentor. Before the end of the year, Lapham had published a ''Catalogue of Plants and Shells, Found in the vicinity of Milwaukee, on the West Side of Lake Michigan'', perhaps the first scientific work published west of the

. In 1848, Lapham founded the Wisconsin Natural History Association, a predecessor of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, of which he also was a charter member. Many of his works and early maps were used for various civil projects such as canal and railroad development. In 1844 Lapham published the first substantial book on the geography of the Wisconsin Territory. His first map of Wisconsin was made in 1846. He published many more papers and books through his life, particularly on geology,

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

and history, and

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...

and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...

, including publication by the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. In 1850, he discovered the Panther Intaglio Effigy Mound, which is now listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. Lapham was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society i ...

in 1853, and he was Chief Geologist of the State of Wisconsin from 1873 to 1875. He was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1874. Lapham was one of the first people to recognize the cement potential of certain rock strata seen along the banks of the Milwaukee River. Those strata, now known as belonging to the Milwaukee Formation, were later mined for high quality natural hydraulic cement. Milwaukee thus went on to become the country's leading producer of natural hydraulic cement from 1876 to 1910. He was buried at

Forest Home Cemetery Forest Home Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in the Lincoln Village neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is the final resting place of many of the city's famed beer barons, politicians and social elite. Both the cemetery and ...

in Milwaukee."Increase A. Lapham born March 7, 1811 died Sept. 14, 1875."
Find A Grave Photo. ''Accessed October 24, 2010.''

Honors

Lapham is considered "Wisconsin's first great scientist" and the "Father of the U.S Weather Service," based upon his lobbying to Congress and the Smithsonian Institution to create such an agency to forecast storms on the Great Lakes and both coasts. When the agency was created through the U.S. Secretary of War, Lapham made the first such accurate Great Lakes storm warning from Chicago. Since his death, numerous landmarks throughout the southeastern Wisconsin area have been named after him, including Lapham Peak, the highest point in

Waukesha County, Wisconsin Waukesha County () is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 406,978, making it the third-most populous county in Wisconsin. Its county seat and largest city is Waukesha. Waukesha C ...

, a major

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscon ...

building, and streets. In

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

, he currently has an elementary school named after him. A genus of North American plants, '' Laphamia'', was named for him by Asa Gray. Several species of

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s from the

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

rocks of Wisconsin, such as ''Nuculites laphami'' (Cleland, 1911) and ''Ekwanoscutellum laphami'' (Whitfield, 1877), were also named in honor of him. Certain markings found on iron meteors were designated by J. Lawrence Smith as ''Laphamite markings''. A formerly existing glacial lake was provisionally named ''Lake Lapham''. The Wisconsin Archeological Society awards the Lapham Research Medal, first doing so in 1926. The U.S. Navy named a ship SS Increase A. Lapham during World War II. The University of Wisconsin has an Increase A. Lapham Professorship. Lapham was inducted in 1992 into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame and in 2003 into the Wisconsin Forestry Hall of Fame. The centennial of Lapham's birth was celebrated in 1911. In 2011, celebration of the bicentennial was planned, including an Increase A. Lapham Day at

Aztalan State Park Aztalan State Park is a Wisconsin state park in the Town of Aztalan, Jefferson County. Established in 1952, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The park covers ...

. Lapham Junction () in Knapp, Jackson County,

, is now defunct railroad junction on the Goodyear branch of the Milwaukee Road which branch ran to Zeda, where lumbering operations took place, and was named for Lapham.

Selected works

Some works of Increase A. Lapham:

References

*Hawks, Graham P. (1960)
Increase A. Lapham, Wisconsin's first scientist
'. University of Wisconsin—Madison. *Thomas, Samuel W. & Conner, Eugene H. (1973)
The Journals of Increase Allen Lapham for 1827–1830
'. George Rogers Clark Press. *Berquist, Goodwin & Bowers, Paul C., Jr. (2001) ''Byron Kilbourn and the Development of Milwaukee''. Milwaukee County Historical Society.

External links

;General
Increase A. Lapham, 1836–1990
collection in the manuscript collection of the Milwaukee County Historical Society
Increase A. Lapham Papers, 1825–1930
in the archive an
Topics in Wisconsin History
at the Wisconsin Historical Society
Increase A. Lapham, Geologist
article in ''The Wisconsin Archeologist'', 1936
Increase A. Lapham and the Mapping of Wisconsin
article in the ''Wisconsin Magazine of History'', 1985
Lapham Peak
marker from 1995
Lapham Peak
marker from 1988 (with original 1916 marker) ;Works *
The Antiquities of Wisconsin
', Increase A. Lapham, 1855 – University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries *
A Geographical and Topographical Description of Wisconsin...
' (Milwaukee: P.C. Hale, 1844) online from the Wisconsin Historical Society *
Report on the Disastrous Effects of the Destruction of Forest Trees ...
' (Madison, Wis.: Atwood & Rublee, 1867) online from the Wisconsin Historical Society *
Selected letters on Indian Mounds, 1846–1852
' Unpublished manuscripts online from the Wisconsin Historical Society * ;Maps
Milwaukee
an
Wisconsin
maps at the American Geographical Society Library (AGSL) collection at UWM
18651866

Biography

Honors

Selected works

See also

References

Further reading

External links