Author: LeeAnne Bulman
Source: Groundglass, November 2003

(Tom Pahs talked about this at the September meeting and suggested members take a visit. Here is a more detailed account.)

The man who did the most to put Kilbourn City, now known as Wisconsin Dells, on the map was a little known pioneer photographer named Henry Hamilton Bennett. He did not intend on being a photographer, but came upon his vocation through an accident.

Bennett learned to be a carpenter and planned to continue this line of work throughout his life. However, an unintentional gunshot wound during the Civil War left him permanently injured and unable to saw wood and pound nails as a full time job. As a native of the Dells area, he returned from the war and started shooting pictures as a way to support his family.

His primary business was as a portrait photographer. He had a skylight lit studio (remember, this was before electricity) and expressed his dissatisfaction with this form of work when he said, “It is easier to pose nature, and less trouble to please.” Even though portraiture was not his favorite form of the art, his images of the Ho Chunk Indians remain prime examples of this type of work as well as a historical record of the tribe from that era.

Bennett’s biggest interest was in shooting stereoscope pictures of the surrounding Dells area. He took his photos before the building of the Kilbourn Dam in 1909, which he staunchly opposed. Contemporary visitors to the area get a different look than what Bennett saw and photographed. Shooting those photos was no easy task. He carried with him several cameras, his tripod, plates (film wasn’t invented yet), and a portable darkroom along with the needed chemicals. Despite his handicapped right hand, Bennett built a lot of his own equipment because he needed portable, lightweight, and tough tools for his many treks to shoot the landscape.

Another area where he was a pioneer was in the art of stop action photography. He used a rubber band powered shutter that he called the “snapper” to shoot his famous photo of his son jumping between overhanging cliffs. He is also credited with shooting the first photo of fireworks while in St. Paul in 1887.

Bennett’s most popular photos and the ones that drew tourists to the Dells area were his stereoscope images. Stereo views are created by shooting two photos of the same subject but at slightly different angles. These 3-D images need a good foreground, background and mid range to make the objects stand out and work well. To achieve the desired results, Bennett made cameras of cigar boxes with two lenses

Because he had no electricity, Bennett was dependent on natural light for printing his photos. To achieve a consistent amount of light, he built a small house mounted on rollers which sat on a circular track with a cable from the track to a wheel. The wheel was manually turned every 30 minutes so the cabin could follow the sun's movement across the sky. This cabin he built is now owned by the Smithsonian Institute.

Bennett also used his entrepreneurial skills in selling souvenir photos to the increasing number of Dells tourists his photos attracted. He would hang out at the boat dock and take pictures of those boarding, returning later in the day with the prints.

Although Bennett was a good photographer and a pioneer in the field, he did not acquire the notoriety that other photographers of his time achieved. This is attributed to his reluctance to travel west and shoot the amazing sights waiting there. He preferred to stay home and shoot his own area. He eventually bought 1200 acres of land and kept it undeveloped. This land was later donated to the state by his descendants.

Bennett died in 1908, yet his offspring kept the studio as a business until 1998 when his granddaughter donated it to the state historical society. It was then restored to what it was like in 1908. It is now a museum which features Mars Pathfinder technology to display his stereoscope images on a computer screen.

In 2002, the museum was open May 15 through September 15 from 10 am to 5 pm. It is located at 215 Broadway, Wisconsin Dells. Because of impending budget cuts, it would be well to call the museum to check on times and dates for the 2003 season. Their phone number is 608-253-3523. The toll free number for all the state historical sites is 866-944-7483 or they can be found on the Internet at http://hhbennett.wisconsinhistory.org. Admission is charged.

For anyone planning an overnight stay in the Dells, another piece of Bennett history is a block from the studio where the 1863 home of H.H. Bennett now serves as a bed and breakfast.