2. Old World Wisconsin Galleries

Crossroads Village at OWW

Old World Wisconsin, the Midwest's largest outdoor living history museum, showcases the life of immigrants to the State of Wisconsin in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is owned and operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society and occupies nearly 600 acres in the rolling hills of the Kettle Moraine area of Southeast Wisconsin near the small village of Eagle. It includes nine ethnic farms plus a village with a blacksmith, cobbler, general store, church, inn, shoe shop, and several residences. Interpreters dress in period clothing and go about their daily chores of farming, cooking, laundry, shoe making, blacksmithing, etc. The 40 some odd historic builldings on the site were moved to Old World from various locations in the early 1970s. The museum was opened to the public as the bicentennial project of the State of Wisconsin in 1976.
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The bar in the Four Mile Inn in Crossroads village.
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The bar in the Four Mile Inn in Crossroads village.

Four Mile InnOWWVillage

  • Parlor in the Sanford Civil War era home in Crossroads village. The Sanfords ran a successful grain farm and were considered a well to do family by 1860 standards.
  • The praire in front of the Mary Hafford house is ablaze with color in late summer. The Thomas general store is in the background.
  • Alter in St. Peter's church in Crossroads village. St. Peter's church built around 1839 was the first Catholic church in Milwaukee.
  • An organist plays the pump organ in St. Peter' church in Crossroads village.
  • Oil lamp and bible in the bedroom of the Sisel shoe shop in Crossroads village.
  • Late summer in Crossroads village. Mary Hafford's laundry tubs are in the foreground and the Thomas general store is in the background.
  • The Sanford house in Crossroads village. This house is typical of Greek Revival architecture brought to Wisconsin from Eastern US by wealthy immigrants.
  • The bar in the Four Mile Inn in Crossroads village.
  • Autumn brings beautiful colors to Wisconsin prairies. This shot was taken from Mary Hafford's house in October looking toward the Thomas general store in Crossroads village.
  • Autumn brings beautiful colors to Wisconsin prairies. This shot was taken from Mary Hafford's house in October looking toward the Thomas general store in Crossroads village.
  • Prairie Bob, dressed in a buffalo skin coat and skunk skin hat, is a well known expert on Wisconsin native prairies. Standing in front of the Mary Hafford house in Crossroads Village he chats with visitors as they enter the museum.
  • Thomas general store in Crossroads village in the spring. Peterson wagon shop is on the right.
  • An interpreter in the Thomas general store tries to sell a customer Benzine, a highly flammable solvent.
  • Interpreters meet on the porch of the Four Mile Inn in Crossroads village for their daily briefing before the museum opens for the day.
  • Springtime at the Thomas general store in Crossroads village.
  • A blacksmith wraps molten metal around the nose of his anvil to make a hook in the Grotelueschen blacksmith shop in Crossroads village..
  • An interpreter in the Mary Hafford house in Crossroads village talks to a visitor while working on a rag rug.
  • Interior of the Grotelueschen blacksmith shop in Crossroads village.
  • Mixing batter in the kitchen of the Four Mile Inn
  • St. Peter's church in Crossroads Village
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