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How a Wisconsin Schoolhouse Launched the GOP in 1854
About 30 people attended the 1854 meeting that formed the party, and officials are working to preserve the schoolhouse’s landmark status after its recent move.
- As Americans prepare to celebrate the country's 250th birthday, the Little White Schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin, remains recognized as the birthplace of the Republican Party, standing 873 miles from the nation's capital.
- The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 prompted meetings across the North, where Whigs, Democrats, and Free Soilers gathered and emerged that day as Republicans united against slavery's westward expansion.
- Amid a blizzard on the 20th of March, about 30 people attended the meeting, interim director Ellen Sorensen said, while radical Republicans declared, "No, slavery is evil, it needs to end right now."
- Officials are working to retain the schoolhouse's national landmark designation after moving the building to a more commercial location in Ripon, with plans for a new visitors center spanning the next 250 years.
- Other locations, including Michigan, Iowa, and New Hampshire, also claim to be the birthplace, Sorensen noted, adding, "There's a few places like in Iowa or New Hampshire" that make competing claims.
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