H.H. Bennett Studio

More than a photographer, Henry Hamilton Bennett (1843-1908) was an inventive visual historian. His pioneering use of technology, combined with exquisite composition skills, created an enduring legacy for Wisconsin Dells. His stereoscopic views of the dells of the Wisconsin River attracted visitors from across the country and truly made him the man who made Wisconsin Dells famous. Pioneering, Inventive Photojournalist H.H. Bennett embarked on his life as a photographer after an injury sustained in the Civil War permanently crippled his right hand, preventing him from becoming a carpenter. He did use carpentry skills, however, as he began a career as a photographer. Purchasing a tintype studio in Wisconsin Dells (then Kilbourn City), he took his first stereographic landscape photographs of the rugged Wisconsin River dells in 1868. Constructing all aspects of the camera except for the lenses, he ventured out into the wooded landscape of the Dells and captured the area on film. He was one of the first photojournalists, using photographs to tell a story.