Faded yellow siding, peeling red doors and a barely legible company name give this photograph of the former New Glarus Lumber Co. the appearance of a building nearing the end of its useful life.

Instead, the structure at 106 3rd Avenue was preparing for another chapter in a history that had already included a move across the street, decades as a lumberyard and a later transformation into the New Glarus Fest Haus.

The New Glarus Lumber Co. originally operated on property that is now part of Village Park. Advertisements from the 1920s promoted the company as a dealer in lumber, lath, shingles and other building materials, serving a growing community in an era when lumberyards were commonly located near downtown businesses and railroad lines.