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Wisconsin is a state located near the center of the North American continent. It touches two of the five Great Lakes and is one of the fifty states that constitute the United States of America. Wisconsin's capital is Madison, and its largest city is Milwaukee.
Wisconsin Territory was created by an act of the United States Congress on April 20, 1836. The first territorial governor of Wisconsin was Henry Dodge. He and other territorial lawmakers were initially busied by organizing the territory’s government and selecting a capital city. The selection of a location to build a capitol caused a heated debate among the territorial politicians. At first Governor Dodge selected Belmont, located in the heavily populated lead mining district, to be capital. Shortly after the new legislature convened there, however, it became obvious that Wisconsin's first capitol was inadequate. Numerous other suggestions for the location of the capital were given. The legislature accepted a proposal by James Duane Doty to build a new city named Madison on an isthmus between lakes Mendota and Monona and put the territory’s permanent capital there.
Madison is also home to companies such as Broadcast Interactive Media, as well as the North American division of Spectrum Brands (formerly Rayovac), Alliant Energy, American Family Insurance, the Credit Union National Association, CUNA Mutual Group, University of Wisconsin Credit Union. Technology companies in the area include Netconcepts, Telephone and Data Systems, TomoTherapy, Broadjam, Sonic Foundry, Raven Software, Human Head Studios, Renaissance Learning, Flame Front Software, Epic Systems Corporation, and Berbee Information Networks. Many biotech firms exist here as well, including PanVera, now part of Invitrogen, Promega, Third Wave Technologies and the Iceland-based Nimblegen.
Oscar Mayer has been a Madison fixture for decades, and was a family business for many years before being sold to Kraft Foods. The pizza chains Rocky Rococo and Pizza Pit both began in Madison.
The University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics is an important regional teaching hospital and regional trauma center, with notable strengths in nephrology, oncology, digestive disorders, and endocrinology. Other Madison hospitals include St. Mary's Hospital, Meriter Hospital and the VA Medical Center.
Besides Miller and the heavily-automated Leinenkugel's brewery in the old Blatz 10th Street plant, the only other currently operating stand-alone brewery in Milwaukee is Lakefront Brewery, a microbrewery located in Riverwest. The suburb of Glendale is home to Sprecher Brewery, another locally popular microbrew. Various brewpubs can also be found throughout the Milwaukee area.
