Wisconsin Territorial Centennial – 1936

100 Years of the Wisconsin Territory

At the end of the Revolutionary War, in 1783, Great Britain ceded the Northwest Territory to the United States. The Wisconsin Territory was part of this land and by 1836 it had been settled enough to become its own separate Territory. As 1936 approached, the Centennial of the Wisconsin Territory also approached.  

The legislation for a coin celebrating this Centennial Year was bundled together with two other proposals and Congress approved all three and they were signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt. The legislation for the Wisconsin Territorial Centennial coin called for a minimum of 25,000 coins to be minted but there was no upper limit.

Now that the coin was approved, a designer had to be selected and a design approved. David Parsons was a Wisconsin art student and he designed the Pick Axe and Badger designs. Parsons’ designs were struck in very high relief so they were sent to Benjamin Hawkins, a New York artist, to lower the relief and to agree to the technical specifications that the Commission of Fine Arts was requiring.

The approved design has an arm holding a pick ax on the obverse, and a mound of lead ore. Around the periphery are “WISCONSIN TERRITORIAL CENTENNIAL” and the date “1936” with a five-pointed star before it and one after it. Below the Pick Axe and mound is the date “4^TH DAY OF JULY / ANNO DOMINI / 1836”.

The reverse depicts a badger on a log, arrows behind, olive branch behind, with “IN GOD WE TRUST” between the arrows and Olive Branch. Around the periphery are “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and the denomination “HALF DOLLAR.” The word “LIBERTY” is above the denomination and “E PLURIBUS UNUM” is beneath the country.  

A total of 25,015 coins were struck at the Philadelphia Mint and were then quickly shipped to the Wisconsin Territorial Centennial Committee for distribution. The coins did not arrive during the celebration but were sold through the mail and at banks in Madison, Wisconsin. Most were sold at $1.50 each. They continued to be sold for 16 years, until 1952, at the slightly reduced price of $1.25 each.

They were sold in plain cardboard holders and shipped through the mail in simple Kraft envelopes.

Expand your collection today and shop for a 1936 Wisconsin Territorial Centennial Half Dollar BU.