Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Wisconsin's most famous poet, who wrote “Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone,” grew up on a Town of Westport farm on the south side of Easy Street east of County I. She attended a one-room country school a half-mile east of that intersection, and from 1917 to 1962 an elementary school at that site bore her name. Two of her essays appeared in the New York Mercury when she was only fourteen. Her prolific writing produced forty books, numerous magazine articles, and a nationally syndicated advice column. She became a world traveler, patroness of aspiring young writers, and internationally acclaimed celebrity. Her poetry's sentimental appeal touched millions of hearts, and no other Wisconsin poet has commanded such a large audience.

Westport, Wisconsin · United States