Wisconsin became the 30th State admitted to the Union on May 29, 1848. “”Wisconsin” means “grassy place” in the Chippewa language. Wisconsin was named from the wisconsin River and formed from the Northwest teritories.  The nickname “badgers originally referred to the lead miners of the 1830s, who worked at the Galena lead mines in Illinois close to the borders of Wisconsin and Iowa. The Wisconsin miners lived, not in houses, but in temporary caves cut into the hillsides. The caves were described as badger dens and, the miners who lived in them, as badgers. The miners brought the nickname back to Wisconsin.  The Badger was adopted as the State aminal in 1957.