- Historian and author Dick Wagner said that,
"We define ourselves as a society by the stories we tell."
When it comes to Wisconsin's LGBTQ+ history,
that story has long been hidden.
But not anymore.
PBS Wisconsin has produced
an extraordinary two-hour documentary
revealing the larger tapestry of our state's collective past,
featuring remarkable people
and social change that once seemed impossible.
Here's a preview.
- In this same era, another Wisconsin man
found his solution to living freely
by building his own personal oasis,
removed from society and even time.
- Dick Wagner: Ralph Warner of Cooksville,
I call Wisconsin's first out gay man.
[acoustic guitar]
- An eccentric,
living a lifestyle from a century before his time,
Ralph Warner entertained guests
at his home and personal preservation project,
which he named 'The House Next Door.'
The old building on a small plot in rural Wisconsin
was Warner's very own gateway,
transporting him from the 1920s back to the mid-1800s.
- Larry Reed: He was an unusual character
and doing an unusual thing,
sort of liking old stuff.
People were tossing that stuff away.
- Warner's interests ran counter to the mood of his times,
as 1920s America became more urban and less rural.
His deliberate effort to slow
the increasingly frenetic pace of life
caught the attention of magazines and newspapers.
- Larry Reed: The word was out.
Good Housekeeping,
House and Garden.
Ralph Warner put Cooksville on the map.
- Warner's land of long ago
promised more than a collection of antiques
and old-fashioned meals.
It was a place where one could live a different life.
- Will Fellows: Warner was really, in some ways,
ministering to certain people
who were looking for something to soothe their angst
about the ways
in which American life was changing.
[engine rumbles]
But then, ironically, the automobile,
which in some ways was the bane of preservation,
was also the lifeline that brought people to Cooksville
to find their hours of respite
in Warner's creation of The House Next Door.
*
- Watch Wisconsin Pride online
or on the free PBS app.