Historic Photo: Downtown New Glarus Takes Shape

A look back at early 1900s New Glarus, where street markers, hanging lights, and growing traffic reflected a village adapting to a new era.

Todd Klassy
by Todd Klassy
Historic Photo: Downtown New Glarus Takes Shape

This historic image captures a quiet but telling moment in downtown New Glarus, likely in the early 1900s, after the construction of the Swiss United Church of Christ in 1900. The church’s steeple rises prominently in the background, anchoring a streetscape that was beginning to modernize.

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Historic Photo: Downtown New Glarus in 1973
Heritage

Historic Photo: Downtown New Glarus in 1973

A 1973 view up First Street captures New Glarus before today’s streetscape took shape, with Highway 39 traffic, giant American cars, tavern signs and the Swiss Church anchoring a downtown already balancing daily life with its Swiss identity.

by Todd Klassy
When New Glarus Built Its Own Haunted Houses
Heritage

When New Glarus Built Its Own Haunted Houses

Before professional haunted attractions, New Glarus organizations built their own scares from empty buildings, cardboard boxes, volunteers and imagination — raising money for the community while creating October memories that lasted for decades.

by Todd Klassy
Historic Photo: Downtown New Glarus from Above in 1957
Heritage

Historic Photo: Downtown New Glarus from Above in 1957

A 1957 aerial view captures much of downtown New Glarus before several familiar buildings disappeared or changed uses, while the railroad, swimming pool and old commercial blocks offer plenty of clues — and a few mysteries for readers to solve.

by Todd Klassy
Harvest: How Farming Reshaped the Hills Around New Glarus
Heritage

Harvest: How Farming Reshaped the Hills Around New Glarus

Long before combines rolled across fields of corn and soybeans, harvest around New Glarus meant wheat, barley, hand-cut grain, corn shocks, mill ponds and hard lessons about erosion — a story still visible in the shape of the countryside nearly two centuries later.

by Todd Klassy

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