2. Old World Wisconsin Galleries

German Area of 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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Pleasant Ridge church was unusual because of the fact that it had a mixed race congregation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The original structure was torn down after a storm in 1921 but this replica was constructed for Old World Wisconsin. It is unique at Old World; all the other historic structures in the museum are originals moved there from various locations in Wisconsin.
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Pleasant Ridge church was unusual because of the fact that it had a mixed race congregation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The original structure was torn down after a storm in 1921 but this replica was constructed for Old World Wisconsin. It is unique at Old World; all the other historic structures in the museum are originals moved there from various locations in Wisconsin.

GermanOWWPleasant Ridge

  • An interpreter relaxes on the front porch of the 1860 Schulz farmhouse. Note the twig fence that protects the garden area. Fences were needed to keep wild animals from damaging the plants and twigs were plentiful in the New World.
  • Crucifix at the Kruza (Polish) home.
  • Pleasant Ridge church was unusual because of the fact that it had a mixed race congregation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The original structure was torn down after a storm in 1921 but this replica was constructed for Old World Wisconsin. It is unique at Old World; all the other historic structures in the museum are originals moved there from various locations in Wisconsin.
  • A beautiful warm summer day in the German area with Grube barn at the Schulz farm in the foreground and the Koepsell farmhouse in the background.
  • Wooden toys that Adam Schottler made for his grandchildren.
  • Interior of Grube barn on the Schottler farm.
  • Self portrait of Loyd Heath photographing chickens at the 1900 Kruza (Polish) house. Chickens were housed in one end of the house while the family lived in the other end.
  • Details of stairs in the Koepsell farmhouse. Fredrich Koepsell, a carpenter and master builder used this house to show off his construction skills to potential clients.
  • An interpreter greets young students on a school field trip before inviting them in and showing them the 1875 Schottler farmhouse.
  • An interpreter relaxes while sewing on the front porch of the Schottler farmhouse. The device on the left is a stove dolly that was used to move the cast iron cookstove from the farmhouse interior kitchen to the summer kitchen each spring, then back again in the fall.
  • An interpreter prepares dinner in the 1860 Schulz kitchen.
  • Hop field in spring on the 1860 Schottler farm.
  • Kitchen table with cooking utensils at the Schulz farm.
  • Students on a field trip are awed by the sheaves of straw hanging in the Grube barn at the 1860 Schulz farm in the German area.
  • Hay wagon and sheaves of straw hanging in the Grube barn on the Schulz farm. The straw was used for the thatched roof of the barn.
  • An interpreter is seen entering the pig barn at the 1875 Schottler farm.
  • An interpreter in the Schulz farm washes cucumbers she will serve for dinner.
  • The Koepsells had a pleasant walk through the garden to their outhouse.
  • Each year a pig is butchered at the Schottler farm during the Autumn on the Farms special event held in October.
  • Schoolchildren follow Teddy and Bear, Old World oxen, through the pasture at the 1875 Schottler farm.
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