Heritage

Stories and archival features focused on New Glarus history, from early settlement and Swiss heritage to long-forgotten events, buildings, and people. This section preserves the community’s past while connecting it to the present.

82 posts
Heritage
Paid

A 5-Cent Token from a Larger Life

An old drink chip from a place called Walt’s Tavern points back to Walt Wenger, a New Glarus businessman and World War II B-24 pilot who was shot down in Europe after giving his crew the order to bailout over enemy territory 82 years ago today on July 7, 1944.

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6 Min
Edited by Todd Klassy
Paid

Historic Photo: Depot Between Two Eras in New Glarus

Before yellow paint, visitor maps and landmark status, the New Glarus depot was still finding its place after the railroad era. A 1984 image shows a quieter building whose survival was tied to trail users, DNR staff and a changing downtown.

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2 Min
Edited by Todd Klassy
Paid

The Fire That Nearly Took New Glarus

A 1926 fire at the Streiff and Dumholdt Livery barn sent burning shingles across New Glarus, destroyed buildings, lit roofs blocks away and brought crews from neighboring towns preventing a larger disaster.

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6 Min
Edited by Todd Klassy
Paid

What Wisconsin Lost When the Elms Fell

For generations, elm trees shaped Wisconsin streets, rural woods and village life before Dutch elm disease erased much of that canopy. What followed changed places like New Glarus and left lessons that still shape how communities plant trees today.

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5 Min
Edited by Todd Klassy
Paid

Why Is It Called That? The Stories Behind Every Green County Community

From New Glarus and Monroe to Juda, Exeter, and Decatur, every city, village and town in Green County has a story behind its name. Discover the history, people and places that inspired the names of all 21 municipalities, along with a surprising fun fact about each one.

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6 Min
Edited by Todd Klassy
Paid

America's 250th Has a Hidden Green County Connection

Nearly 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the only known Revolutionary War veteran buried in Green County offers a remarkable local connection to America's founding, just minutes west of New Glarus.

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3 Min
Edited by Todd Klassy
Paid

Historic Photo: A Lost View of Swiss Church and Village Park

A 1951 Kodachrome slide preserves a wide-open view of Village Park, a more ornate Swiss United Church of Christ and several long-disappeared features of New Glarus that few residents would recognize today.

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3 Min
Edited by Todd Klassy, Staff
Members

The Heavy Burden of Johannes Luchsinger: A Father’s Global Journey

A Swiss immigrant crossed an ocean, endured factory life, spent four years in California's goldfields and sacrificed his health to secure a future for his children. Nearly two centuries later, his story still echoes beneath the lawn of the Swiss Church.

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6 Min
Edited by Todd Klassy, Staff
Paid

New Glarus Inventors Left Their Mark

From door bolts and cheese-making tools to medical technology and speaker design, patent records show New Glarus residents have been solving practical problems for generations.

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3 Min
Edited by Todd Klassy, Staff
Paid

Historic Photo: Swiss Embroidery Factory Linked New Glarus to the World

This postcard image of Upright Swiss Embroideries on 2nd Street captures a time when New Glarus was exporting Swiss-inspired textiles nationwide, welcoming tourists and contributing to America’s wartime manufacturing effort.

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2 Min
Edited by Todd Klassy, Staff
Paid

Common New Glarus Surnames Tell an Interesting Story

Common New Glarus surnames such as Streiff, Duerst, Hoesly, Stuessy, Hefty and Zweifel still carry clues about Swiss roots, family trades, village origins and the spelling changes that came with immigration to Wisconsin.

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7 Min
Edited by Todd Klassy, Staff
Paid

Historic Photo: Before Spotted Cow, There Was Pet Milk

A circa 1910s photograph captures milk cans lined up outside the Helvetia Milk Condensing Company plant in New Glarus, a dairy-processing giant that later became Pet Milk and remained a cornerstone employer until 1962.

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2 Min
Edited by Todd Klassy, Staff

Showing 12 of 82 total posts

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