November 2010

The Museum of the Soldier is gaining recognition, and its dreams to expand the military history within the museum are currently being explored. Long range plans for the museum include permanent exhibits highlighting local military history and a large flexible main gallery space with changing exhibits, a multi-purpose area for lectures, banquets and similar dioramas. Plans also include focusing on the local Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) program of the later 1930’s and the early 1940’s, one of only two black CCC camps in Indiana.

Historic Prophetstown interprets a unique Indiana story on the history of the Wabash River Valley region. Visitors are invited to discover a three way mirror to the past that reflects the prairie, the Native American Settlement, and the 1920s Farmstead. The land holds valuable lessons about those people who hunted, farmed, loved, lost, and changed the land over the last 200 years.

For 40 miles the Middle Delaware River passes between low forested mountains with barely a house in sight. Then the river cuts through the mountain ridge to form the famed "Water Gap." Exiting the park, the river will run 200 miles more to Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean at Wilmington, Delaware.

Home to the Historical Society, this elaborately detailed neoclassical revival structure was completed in 1913 after two years of construction for the Second Ward Savings Bank on the corner of West Kilbourn Avenue and North Third Street. An early financial institution, the bank was reorganized in 1866, eleven years after its incorporation. Among its board members were the famous brewers, Phillip Best, Valentine Blatz, and Joseph Schlitz which led to its moniker, the “Brewers’ Bank.” In addition to being a City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County Landmark, the Milwaukee County Historical Center has also been listed on the prestigious National Register of Historic Places.

NOTE: The Historic Center is currently under renovation and is expected to reopen in May of 2009.

Delve into Victorian-era industry, reminisce about 19th century farm life, and witness Wisconsin culture come to life as embodied by the immigrant entrepreneur Werner Trimborn, his family and his employees.

The nine buildings that comprise Trimborn Farm include two large barns. One of the barns is one of the last and largest stone barns in the state. There is also a restored Greek Revival-style farmhouse that dates back to the early 1860s. The most unusual of the existing structures is a group of lime kilns, which produced high quality lime mortar and plaster that were used in the construction of early buildings throughout metropolitan Milwaukee from about 1850 to 1900. Other buildings with interesting architectural features are the granary, a structure with a wood-exterior and a brick-interior, and a barrel-vaulted root cellar, and the farmhouse, constructed in the 1850s in the Greek Revival-style using Milwaukee cream city brick. All of these structures supported the manufacture of lime and contributed to the industrial nature of the property.

Pioneer, Joseph Goodrich, came to Prairie du Lac, as Milton was called then, in 1838, looking for a better place for his family to live.  He chose prairie land at the intersection of two Indian trails and built a small frame home.  In the years to come, this prairie crossroads became heavily traveled and this seemed a good place for an inn.  All were welcome under Joseph's roof, but not all of his guests traveled by stagecoach or train. Some were spirited into his care by the Underground Railroad.

Milton's underground tunnel is unique in the nation for being the only segment of the Underground Railroad that was actually underground and has retained its identity and is open to the public.

Over the years, the society has added to its collection of rolling stock, laid new track, and constructed shops and display sheds in an effort to create a reputable railroad museum. The members have maintained a very narrow scope in their purpose statement to focus on those railroads that operated in the upper Midwest during what is popularly called the "Golden Age of Railroading." This has given the museum a unique look so that a visitor today feels like they have stepped back in time.

The highlight of the museum is a memorable, seven-mile, 50-minute round-trip ride on a former branch line of the Chicago & North Western Railway through the scenic Baraboo Hills. Passengers ride in restored steel coaches built in 1915. An authentically-attired conductor will call "all aboard!" before the train leaves from an historic wooden depot built in 1894. Train fare includes admission to our Coach Shed filled with restored wooden passenger, freight cars and displays from the turn of the century.

The house was built in 1900 - 1901 in the Classical Revival style for Cyrus and Alice Yawkey. Designed by the Milwaukee architects Henry Van Ryn and Gerrit de Gelleke, it features large ionic columns and a pedimented portico. Only eight years after the house was built, the Yawkeys hired George W. Maher to remodel. The first floor was completely remodeled, a two story addition was added to the back, and a sun porch was added to the east side of the house. In 1974, the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Visitors can get a close look at the wonderful world of nature, a taste of life in Japan, and the excitement in the Survive Alive fire safety training house. Every exhibit presents something fascinating to observe.

The museum houses over 10,000 photographs, documents, and other various artifacts relating to the region’s past and present. Many of the museum’s unique artifacts are used throughout exhibits and help to enhance programs. In addition, an array of antique farm machinery is housed at Sawmill Barn in Johnson County Park. The genealogy and local history library contains a wealth of research materials, many of which are original documents, relating to Johnson County and surrounding regions.