Anyone familiar with New Glarus knows the hill south of the village today. It is where New Glarus Brewing Company built its sprawling hilltop brewery, a destination that annually brings visitors from throughout Wisconsin and far beyond.

But go back more than half a century, and a man named Robbie Schneider was standing on that same property holding plans for an entirely different attraction.

Schneider envisioned something called Swiss Village — but the name barely captured the scale or strangeness of what he had in mind. It was to be part resort, part working village and part Swiss fantasyland, with lodging, restaurants, shops, craftsmen, recreation and a functioning cheese factory. Depending on which version of the plans one reads, visitors might also have encountered honeymoon cabins, a crossbow range, traditional artisans at work and, rising above it all, a two-story reproduction of the Matterhorn. 

For several years during the 1970s, this was not merely somebody’s daydream. Schneider bought the property, commissioned extensive studies, sought millions of dollars in financing and came surprisingly close to turning the hill into one of Wisconsin’s most unusual tourist destinations.