Ripon (Wisconsin)
Ripon is a town in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States.
Ripon is a town steeped in history. It is the official birthplace of the Republican Party in the United States, and was a hot bed of idealistic thought in the 19th Century. The nearby settlement of Ceresco was a communal experiment that ultimately failed, leading to Ceresco being absorbed by the town of Ripon in 1851. Unsurprisingly, Ripon was a strongly abolitionist enclave.
These days, Ripon hosts both Ripon College and the Little White Schoolhouse, the latter of which is the exact place where the Republican Party was created.
Get in
By car
Ripon is fortunate in that it is quite close to the city of Oshkosh. As a result, one may take US 41 North or South to reach Oshkosh and then take the smaller county roads to Ripon itself.
See
- The Little White Schoolhouse. Open 10AM-4PM every day from Memorial Day through Labor Day; weekends in September and October. Over 150 years old itself, this small building is where the Republican Party was formed in March of 1854. The volume of the visitors it has seen in the century and a half since then, plus the fact that it has been moved at least six times, has created some wear-and-tear on the facility. It has recently undergone renovation, though it seems to have been completed. It costs $1 for adults to enter the building; children 12 and under are free.
Do
Buy
Eat
Drink
Sleep
- Best Western Welcome Inn, 240 E Fond Du Lac Street, ☎ +1 920 748-2821, fax: +1 920 748-2821.
Go next
| Routes through Ripon |
| Wisconsin Dells ← Green Lake ← | W  |
→ Fond du Lac → Sheboygan |