Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Wisconsin's most famous poet, who penned the lines “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. Two of her essays appeared in the New York Mercury when she was only fourteen. Her prolific pen 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 had a sentimental appeal that touched millions of hearts, and no other Wisconsin poet commanded such a large audience.

Westport, Wisconsin · United States