Muskego Historical Society
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Bliffert Lumber delivers materials to reside the Wollman House June 30th
Mission
The Muskego Historical Society is a not-for-profit educational entity dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting and promoting the records, objects and structures relating to the history of Muskego, for the benefit of the citizens of Muskego, Waukesha County, WI.​
Eagle Scout,
Elliot Bognar has completed his project of re-siding and painting the trim of the Wollman House.What do you think? Don't you agree he did a remarkable job! Please consider a contribution to his fund raising efforts, via GoFundMe.com
or
a direct contribution to
Muskego Historical Society, c/o Elliot's Eagle Scout Project, P.O. Box 137, Muskego, WI 53150
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Check out the completed work of Eagle Scout, Elliot Bognar. He and his crew have re-sided and painted the entire Wollman House exhibit building.
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The Pub Crawl this past Saturday, May 5th was again another SOLD OUT event. Our bus load of 45 departed from Marx Pioneer Inn and visited four historic Muskego bars on Cinco de Mayo! Thank You to those who participated in and supported this event!
What's New?
Elliot Bognar is a candidate for Eagle Scout! As his community service project he took on the task of restoring
the Wollman House. The project has now been completed...come check it out. Great job Elliot!
Please consider helping raise the funds needed for materials required to complete this project.
https://www.gofundme.com/ElliotEagleMuskego
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Looking for something else?
Support Us!
Next Meeting is Feb. 20th...
Next General Meeting,
​Wed. Feb. 20th 6:30pm (as of 01/16/19)
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Open Houses: Let us know if you want the Open House program to resume in the Spring of 2019. In the meantime...call Gary at (262) 227-3552 to schedule a tour and depending on the weather, the buildings could be opened for you and/or your group.
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Making News...
Only one Jammin'on janesville event this year...
Friday, June 7tH, 2019
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The new restaurant under construction at the former Parkland Mall site is...
OUTSIDE Inn with bacon
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The other tenant on the east end of that building is...
PILATES
fitness-longevity-lifestyle
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As more information becomes available,
we will share it with you here.
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PIZZA HUT has closed!
Should the Open House program at the Muskego Settlement Centre return again for the summer of 2018? (We ask, because nobody visited us in 2017! Okay, maybe one family!)
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There could have been FREE Admission
The 3rd Saturday of May-June-July
9am - Noon
...and before the Community Festival Parade on the last Sunday in August. The buildings will NOT be open during the 2018 festival without an appointment, so please call!
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(As always...buildings open at your convenience by appointment, just call and make an appointment.
Small fee charged)
For the remainder of 2018..The Settlement Buildings will no longer be open to
the public every 3rd Saturday
from 9am - Noon
Starting May 19th and continuing June 16th,
July 21st, and, as well as Sunday, August 26th before the Community Festival Parade.
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Captured a beautiful sunset behind the illuminated Wollman House in late November
Meeting Announcement:
Feb. 20th, 2019 (As of 12/20/2018)
The next monthly meeting of Muskego Historical Society will be Wednesday, Feb. 20th 6:30 in the lower level of the Old Town Hall.
All are welcome!
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(The meetings are held the 3rd Wednesday of each month.)
Current research projects
Little Muskego Lake islands
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Photo research being done to enhance and decorate the lobby of the new Landmark Cr.Union
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Any contributions to these projects in the form of stories & photos is welcome!
Some details about the Old Settelment Centre
The Old Settlement Centre is on a 3 ½ acre site of the Hohensee Farm.
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The barn was the first building built at The Old Settlement Centre, in 1978.
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The World War I monument replica was built in 1981. The original was on the traffic island at Pioneer & Janesville Roads in front of the old Triangle Inn, now site of Forward Dental.
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The Wollman House was reassembled on the site in 1982, having been moved from the north side of Janesville Road and the present location of Kohl's Dept. Store, as a gift from the Harold Diekfuss family.* (See photo of farm below)
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The Kearney Log House
built by John & Julia Kearney near Lake Denoon. It was moved here in May of 1997.
This Veterans Memorial is the 1984 Eagle Scout project of William Sharrock. The three-sided column lists the names of those who served in WWI. It is a replica of the one that originally stood outside of The Triangle Inn* on Janesville at Pioneer. *See original above.
Who owned Muskego?
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Spain 122 yrs. 1512-1634
France 129 yrs. 1634-1763
England 31 yrs. 1763-1794
Virginia & Ohio 6 yrs. 1794-1800
Indiana 9 yrs. 1800-1809
Illinois 9 yrs. 1809-1818
Michigan Terr. 18 yrs. 1818-1836
(used to be Brown County up to 1836)
Divided into townships 1838
In 1839 Muskego township was divided into Waukesha, Vernon, Muskego & Mentor.
(Mentor changed name to New Berlin in 1840).
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Wisconsin became the 30th state in 1848.
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All are welcome...
All Muskego Area Scout groups, school classrooms and any study groups are
welcome to take advantage of these
great resources for learning about their
community's history. Give us a call to arrange for your tour or research study today!
The original WWI Veterans Memorial
was located out front of
Jordan & Reich's Triangle Bar. It
became the site of a National Savings & Loan office, then Thomas Jewelers
and now Forward Dental.
Here is the last harvest of 2017 season, taken to Muskego Food Pantry on Oct. 5th. Could have used some help with the garden again this year. Please consider helping so this project which benefits the Muskego Food Pantry can continue.
Call Gary at
(262) 227-3552
Up coming events...
Job well done!
Thank You Elliot Bognar
NEW! Sign up to volunteer at the community victory garden online!
The link is now working. Check it out at Garden 2018 link above and sign up let us know when you can help in the garden!
Now activated...
A link to Garden 2018
is now functioning!
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Historic bar at
Durham Hill
has reopened and will be featured on the May 5th Historic Pub Crawl event!
Get your tickets at Marx Pioneer Inn!
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Board of Directors
Jerry Hulbert, President 262-679-1173
Jill Wauer, Vice-President
Patty Hulbert, Treasurer 262-679-1173
Elaine Cannistra, Secretary 414-333-7314
Joan Bauman, Historian 414-422-9993
Becky Dublinski, Curator 414-425-5986
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Native American Village (Prior to 1835)
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Fur Trading Post
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Established as a Town in 1838
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Log Cabin Settlement
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Farm Community
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Lake Resorts (such as Kingston's)
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Amusement Park
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Suburb of Milwaukee
From the State Historical Society
October, 1974 publication Wisconsin Then and Now
"Traffic on a Plank Road "
An artist, drawing for an early Wisconsin newspaper, caught a typical late summer scene on a plank road. East bound vehicles had the right-of-way, and anything coming the other way had to turn off the road. (Here the two horse empty wagon pulled off to allow the full wagon to head into the city.) During the brief period of plank road popularity (1850's), more than 135 companies built 2,000 miles of wooden highways. (One of the earliest plank roads was the Lisbon to Milwaukee. Another that still kept it's name to this day was the Watertown Plank Road to Milwaukee. Muskego had two plank roads, the Janesville Plank Road and the Waterford Plank Road.)
What did the farm look like that stood where the Kohl's Dept. Store is today on Janesville Road, did you ever wonder?
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The Wollman House was reassembled on the Muskego Settlement site in 1982, having been moved from the north side of Janesville Road and the present location of Kohl's Dept. Store, as a gift from the Harold Dickfuss family.
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