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Fun facts and trivia about Manitowoc & Two Rivers
Did you know that the ice cream sundae was invented in Two Rivers? Or that a Soviet satellite once crashed on the lawn of Manitowoc’s art museum? Here’s a look at some more off-the-wall facts and fun trivia about Manitowoc and Two Rivers on Wisconsin’s east coast.
- Manitowoc’s name comes from the Native American “Mundeowk,” which means “home of the good spirit”
- Manitowoc was officially founded in 1836, but the Northwest Fur Company established a post here nearly 50 years earlier in 1795
- Two Rivers was originally known as “Neshotah”—a Native American word meaning “twin rivers”—because it is located at the meeting of the East and West Twin Rivers
- Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company built 28 submarines for the U.S. Navy—the company holds the distinction of being the only inland shipyard to build submarines
- Visitors to Manitowoc’s Wisconsin Maritime Museum can tour the USS Cobia, a decommissioned World War II submarine that has been restored to its 1945 appearance
- Two Rivers is the home of the ice cream sundae—this tasty treat dates to 1881, when Edward C. Berner, the owner of a soda fountain on 15th Street, topped a dish of ice cream with chocolate sauce that was originally used for ice cream sodas
- You can still get a classic ice cream sundae at the ice cream parlor in the historic Washington House Museum & Visitor Center in Two Rivers
- A piece of space history crashed in Manitowoc in 1962: A 20 pound-chunk of metal from Sputnik IV, launched by the Soviet Union two years earlier, landed in the front yard of the Rahr-West Art Museum; a replica of the piece (which was returned to the Soviet Union) is on display at the museum to this day
- Manitowoc is the sole Wisconsin port for the S.S. Badger, a historic passenger steamship that travels between the Dairy State and Michigan from May through October
- Manitowoc and Two Rivers are located along the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, which is home to 36 shipwreck sites from maritime accidents from the 1830s to the 1930s
Learn more about Manitowoc and Two Rivers with these resources:
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