Hard Cover Publications

The Jewish Community of Stevens Point
by
Mark Seiler

Stevens Point once had a large and vibrant Jewish population. Published to coincide with the dedication of the Beth Israel Synagogue, this book covers the arrival and eventual decline of this community centered around the Synagogue.

Land & Lumber, a History of Portage County
by
Michael Goc

The history of any place is the story of people, ideas and resources. It tells how the people of a community used the resources present to realize their ideas. In Portage County the key resources were--and still are--water, land and lumber. They were used by native people to build a culture, much of which is lost today, but whose remnants give evidence of a people of spirit and Imagination. The white pioneers of the county came here specifically because of its resources of water power and lumber that they would use to establish a 19th Century industrial center. Along with the lumbermen came those for whom the land was enough and who built an agriculture based on the distinctive nature of the county’s soil and water resources.

Native Realm
by
Michael Goc

Portage County, Wisconsin, is the home of one of the oldest Polish-American communities in the United States. Polish immigrants settled here, built solid farming communities and contributed mightily to the growth of the city of Stevens Point. In the course of nearly a century and a half, they created a unique community -- American as any other, but also well aware of and proud of its Polish heritage.

This book chronicles the development of the community, from the arrival of its first settlers in 1857 to the present.

Portage County of Place and Time
by
Prof. Maurice Perret

Who is John Baptiste Dubay, and, why is his name attached to the largest lake in Portage County? Just how did an insurance company like Sentry come to be based in Stevens Point? What did the county look like thirty million years ago? Maurice Perret takes you on a journey into the past of central Wisconsin. Be a spectator at the first automobile race in the United States. (They drove 200 miles and it took just under 34 hours!) Meet George Stevens, the founder of Stevens Point. Watch as the glaciers plow past the central part of Wisconsin. It's all here. Historical figures and colorful stories mixed with facts and scientific data to give a multifaceted view of this corner of central Wisconsin. There's something for every reader.