Lapham Peak: Original Weather Station

A Wisconsin State Marker at Lapham Peak reads:

"In 1870, on top of Lapham Peak, then known as Government Hill, the United States Army Signal Corps established one of its original National Weather Service signal stations. Read more . . .

Weather data was received here from Pikes Peak, Colorado, and relayed to the United States Weather Bureau headquarters in Chicago. Lapham Peak . . . is named for Wisconsin's premier 19th century naturalist, archeologist and scholar.

From this peak, Lapham recorded many weather observations for his pioneering work in meteorology, which included publishing isothermal maps of Wisconsin . . . Lapham wrote the proposal for a national weather service, which was approved by Congress on February 9, 1870. On November 8th, working as the assistant to the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Lapham recorded the first published national weather forecast...."