Perhaps no American historian stirs a more impassioned response than Frederick Jackson Turner. His ideas about the western frontier were both admired and maligned, sparking controversy across decades. He wasn’t the first American to call attention to the frontier, but he was the first to say outright that the frontier explained America.
Turner was born in Portage in 1861. His father was a journalist and an amateur local historian, inspiring his son’s interest in history. After earning his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins, Turner began teaching at the University of Wisconsin in 1889. Only four years later, he delivered the paper that would make his name.