How a Tintype Photographer Put the Dells on the Map | The Look Back

How did early photography by H. H. Bennett contribute to the growth of the Wisconsin Dells as a popular destination?

H. H. (Henry Hamilton) Bennett was an important figure in the history of photography and the Wisconsin Dells. He started his photography business in 1865, after serving in the Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. By 1868, his wife Francis (Frankie) was mostly running his portrait studio. H. H. Bennett was free to travel and photograph the Wisconsin Dells area. The landscape photos Bennett made included widely popular stereoscopic images that promoted Wisconsin as a tourist attraction. Though the photography business declined after Kodak introduced an easy-to-use hand camera in 1888 (making photography accessible to more people), Bennett’s studio remained active into the 1990s. Today, it is a museum and historical site open to the public.

NOTE: The closed captions and the Transcript are also available in Spanish.