Increase Lapham

 Guest Post by Henry Wehrs

Increase A. Lapham (1811 - 1875) is the central figure of this Twitter reenactment. He is a real historical figure, and he will be represented by the Twitter handle @IncreaseLapham. 

An engineer by trade, Lapham was also a self-taught geologist, botanist, cartographer, naturalist, and writer. He was a key figure in the development of natural sciences of the growing “western” frontier, especially in Wisconsin. Brought to Milwaukee in 1836 by the notorious capitalist Byron Kilbourn, Lapham played an important role in the development of the city. Initially working on development efforts with Kilbourn, Lapham built a career for himself as a scientist, writing the first thorough works on Wisconsin botany, geography, and American Indian effigy mounds in the state. 

Increase Lapham is also regarded as a founding father of the National Weather Service. Along with colleagues in across the U.S., Lapham pushed for a storm warning system that could serve the public, and especially commerce on the Great Lakes. After the end of the Civil War, Lapham’s efforts paid off. On November 8th, 1870, Lapham was appointed Assistant to the Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army, and he delivered the first official weather forecast in Chicago, Illinois.