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.

125 posts

How Jim Zuber Helped Landjaegers Go Mainstream

A New Glarus sausage maker turned an old world Swiss snack into a familiar sight at checkout counters across Wisconsin, building Zuber’s Sausage Kitchen through ingenuity, endurance and a drive to make one niche product exceptionally well.

by Todd Klassy

Historic Photo: When Swiss Lanes Came Tumbling Down

The Swiss Lanes sign remained standing as demolition crews dismantled the bowling alley Clayton and Betty Engen built in 1959, closing the book on more than half a century of bowling, league nights and community memories in New Glarus.

by Todd Klassy

How New Glarus Helped Make “Uncle Sol”

Before Wisconsin knew him as “Uncle Sol,” Solomon Levitan walked Green County’s farm roads with merchandise on his back, built a New Glarus store and forged the relationships that carried him into statewide office. His rise began here.

by Todd Klassy

A New Clue in the Fabian Streiff Mystery

While researching an entirely different story, New Glarus 360 recently stumbled across an old Illinois newspaper article that adds a remarkable new layer to one of the strangest mysteries in New Glarus history.

by Todd Klassy

Historic Photo: The Lumberyard That Wouldn’t Disappear

A weathered New Glarus Lumber Co. building at 106 3rd Avenue connects the village’s railroad-era lumber trade to the Fest Haus years, the Dreger family’s preservation work and the property’s 2025 purchase by New Glarus Brewing Co.

by Todd Klassy

When Wolves Haunted the Hills of New Glarus

Long before coyotes stirred concern along the village’s wooded edges, wolves haunted the ridges of New Glarus, followed ox teams on the Old Lead Road and filled the night with a sound the first Swiss settlers had left behind in Europe.

by Todd Klassy

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.

by Todd Klassy

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.

by Todd Klassy

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.

by Todd Klassy

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.

by Todd Klassy

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.

by Todd Klassy

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.

by Todd Klassy

Showing 12 of 125 total posts

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