|
Pre-Settlement Years |
|
1828 |
First non-Indian residents arrive in the
region, setting up a trading house and mining lead at the
Sugar River diggings. Many of the men were transients.
|
|
1829 |
Ho-Chunk tribe cedes land south of the
Wisconsin River to the United States in a treaty signed at
Prairie du Chien.
|
|
1833 |
The General Land Office completes surveys of
townships.
[Link to original survey notes]
|
A
detailed account of the early days of Green County
and Southwestern Wisconsin can be found
in Butterfield's 1887 History of Green County |
|
(map original is very faded, so little
detail can be emphasized):
The original surveyor's sketch of what became the Town of
New Glarus shows various streams meandering through the
sections of land.
[Link to digital version] |
|
1835 |
Land sales begin in
southwestern Wisconsin. While there were land sales in the
region, only “squatters” were in what became the Town of New
Glarus.
|
|
Beginning of New Glarus |
|
1845 |
Appeals
Judge Niklaus Dürst and blacksmith Fridolin Streiff, sent by
the Emigration
Society of Canton Glarus, Switzerland,
search for land in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and
Wisconsin. They purchase 1,200 acres in Green County on
July 17.
In August, 131 of the 193
colonists who left Glarus in April arrive at
“New” Glarus. An additional 80 acres of woodland are
purchased for the colony.
|
|
1846 |
John Jacob
Tschudy arrives from Glarus to help Fridolin Streiff manage
the colony.
The
community’s first school is set up by Jacob Ernst, who asks
for help from Switzerland.
A
territorial census is completed in preparation for
statehood, showing only 13 homes and about 85 people
remaining in the colony.
|
|
1847 |
A second
group of settlers, from the Canton Glarus village of Bilten,
arrives in July and settles on land purchased south of New
Glarus in what is now the Town of Washington. The area
became known as the Biltental (Bilten Valley).
Many of the
Swiss go to the courthouse at Monroe to file their
declarations of intention to become citizens, since
Wisconsin will allow immigrants to vote.
|
|
1848 |
Wisconsin
becomes the 30th state and in Green County town governments
are organized in every township except New Glarus.
|
|
1849 |
A log
schoolhouse is built for the New Glarus School District.
|
|
1850 |
After
residents petition for their own government, the Town of New
Glarus is organized at a meeting in the log schoolhouse.
Rev. Wilhelm
Streissguth arrives from Switzerland and organizes
a Reformed Church congregation, using the log schoolhouse as
the first church building.
Immigrants from other parts of Switzerland, especially
Canton Bern, begin settling in the central part of Green
County. One area begins to be called the Bernertal [Berner
valley].
|
|
1851 |
The first
general store (including the first post office) is opened in
New Glarus by brothers George, James and Conrad Ott, but
they soon sell out and leave the colony because they were
not from Canton Glarus.
After
protracted negotiations for colony land, Joshua Wild builds
a sawmill and mill pond at the northern edge of New Glarus.
As other businesses begin to cluster in the area of the
mill, three distinct parts of the village emerge: the
Vorderstätli (the “front town” or downtown area), the
Hinterstätli (the “back town” area including the mill),
and the Schönengrund (the “good land”, the savannah
land south of today’s 6th Ave. where much of the
first farming was done). The “backtown” label continues to
be used.
A
12-block village is platted in the area where the Swiss
colony began. The streets bear the names of villages in
Canton Glarus and today those labels appear along with
numbered street signs. The same surveyor soon lays out
the nearby Village of Monticello, begun by Swiss immigrants
Jacob and Mathias Marty.
[Link
to Monticello Historical Society]
|
|
1852 |
John Jacob
Tschudy resigns as lead Emigration Society agent and is
eventually replaced by Fridolin Egger.
A scarlet
fever epidemic ravages the community and 17 children die.
|
|
1853 |
The New
Glarus Haus, the village’s first hotel, opens for business
and quickly becomes the center for many activities (it’s now
known as the New Glarus Hotel).
A large
number of immigrants receive their citizenship papers at
Monroe. The court clerk provides apples to the group and
some save the seeds, sprout them and plant the resulting
trees which become known as “citizenship trees.”
|
|
1854 |
The
community is again ravaged by an epidemic, with 22 adults
dying from cholera.
|
|
Control by Switzerland Ends |
|
1855 |
The initial
10-year emigration agreement comes to an end and the colony
agents complete sales of all of the land, with the last deed
issued in January of 1856.
|
|
1858 |
The Reformed
Church congregation builds its first permanent church
building on land reserved in the center of the village.
[Link to Swiss Church]
John Jacob
Tschudy becomes active in the new Republican Party and is
elected Green County Register of Deeds.
|
|
1859 |
The German
Methodists organize a congregation and build their first
church southwest of the village.
Mathias
Marty, who lives in the Town of Mt. Pleasant, is elected
county clerk and the Swiss now hold two of the county’s
eight elective offices.
|
|
1860 |
A vineyard,
begun by Michael North and located west of today’s New
Glarus Woods State Park, provides wine for the community for
many years before the land is used for other purposes. (In
more modern times the Primrose Winery bottles their vintages
with New Glarus names.)
|
|
1860 |
The sawmill,
now owned by David Klassy, is converted to a grist mill.
|
|
1861 |
After word is received here that much of the
community’s home capital city of Glarus, Switzerland, was
destroyed by fire, residents send $1,250 to help with the
rebuilding. The fire, on May 10 and 11, was fanned by the
föhn wind that at times comes down out of the Alps.
About 40 immigrant Swiss quickly answer the call for
volunteers as the Civil War begins. They join the
German-speaking 9th Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
Others continue to volunteer as the war years grind on.
[Link
to Civil War Veterans]
|
|
1862 |
Gust Alder
builds a store building that several years later is turned
into New Glarus’ second hotel -- the Wisconsin House. The
structure is still in use as a residence and office
building.
|
|
1865 |
The German
Methodist church building is moved into the village.
|
|
1866 |
A new
schoolhouse – a frame building that still stands – is
constructed in the center of the village on land that was
reserved for a school.
|
|
1867 |
New Glarus’
first brewery is established and continues to quench the
community’s thirst until Prohibition.
|
|
1868 |
The Swiss in
the Monroe area contribute significantly to the building of
that city’s first Turner Hall for gymnastics and cultural
events. The original building, destroyed by fire in 1936,
is immediately replaced and that building still serves as a
cultural center for the Swiss in Green County.
[Link to Turner Hall]
|
|
The Dairy Industry Takes Root |
|
1868 |
Niklaus Gerber develops the area’s first
cheese factory southwest of New Glarus, making limburger
cheese. The following year he starts manufacturing
Emmentaler-style cheese (Swiss cheese) on the Nic Freitag
farm between New Glarus and Monticello.
[Link to National Historic Cheese making Center at Monroe]
|
|
1870 |
What may
have been the first official celebration of the founding of
New Glarus, marking its 25th anniversary,
features speeches and historical papers. |
|
1872 |
John Luchsinger, a young farmer and lawyer,
is elected to the Wisconsin Assembly as a Republican,
becoming the first person from Green County’s Swiss colony
in the Legislature. He served several terms, although not
consecutively.
[Digital copy of Luchsinger’s History of New Glarus]
|
|
1873 |
A cheese
factory, manufacturing cheddar cheese, is established in
the village.
The Swiss Reformed Church builds a second building for
education purposes, including a German language school
taught by Fabian Knobel.
|
|
1874 |
With little
space remaining in the pioneer cemetery, the Swiss Church
congregation purchases land at the western edge of the
village for a new cemetery. The site is still in use for
burials.
|
|
1877 |
The
History of Green County is issued, written by Helen M.
Bingham, containing the first English language account of
the founding of New Glarus.
[Digital copy of Bingham’s book]
|
|
1878 |
The unique history of New Glarus draws the
attention of James D. Butler, a former University of
Wisconsin professor and noted lecturer, marking the
beginning of ongoing media attention to the Swiss colony.
[Link to clipping of Butler’s story in Chicago Times]
|
|
1879 |
A
Swiss-style sharp-shooting club purchases land for a
shooting range at the northern edge of the village and the
Schuetzen Verein holds competitions there for many years
|
|
1881 |
The
community is deeply saddened when word arrives of a horrific landslide in the Canton Glarus village of Elm on Sept.
11. Relatives of many of the immigrants were among the
114 people who died. Cash donations are quickly sent to aid in
the recovery.
[Link
to Elm History – in German]
|
|
1885 |
The 40th anniversary of the founding of New Glarus is
celebrated in a grove at the western edge of the village.
|
|
1886 |
A permanent
two-story Town Hall is built in the village in cooperation
with the fraternal Ancient Order of United
Workmen. The building serves the community for government and
social uses for more than 100 years and still is the site of
some events. The local lodge, which had been organized in 1883,
paid for the second story of the building.
|
|
1887 |
The
Milwaukee and Saint Paul Railroad extends its Albany branch
line to New Glarus, finally providing a convenient passenger
and freight connection to the rest of the country. Over time it
becomes one of the railroad’s most profitable branch
lines due to milk shipments. In 1887, the Illinois
Central was also completing its line from Freeport, Ill., to Madison and area passengers could board at Monticello or the Exeter Crossing.
|
|
The Golden Jubilee years |
|
1891 |
Switzerland
celebrates the 600th anniversary of its
founding and a huge crowd – estimated at 6,000 – comes to New
Glarus in September for a special program to mark the
event.
|
|
1892 |
Daniel Dürst, son of the man who selected the site for New Glarus,
pays an extended visit to the Swiss colony. On his return to
Switzerland he writes about his trip, providing a fascinating look
at the Swiss colony in the 1890s.
|
|
1893 |
The
community finally gets its own bank when local investors
open the Bank of New Glarus.
|
|
1895 |
The Golden
Jubilee of the founding of New Glarus is observed with a parade and speeches. Thousands visit the community for the celebration, which was recorded by newspapers here and abroad.
About 30 of the original colonists are still living.
|
|
1896 |
The growing community builds a new schoolhouse, which
was twice added onto in later years. The original building and the
additions are now used as an apartment building.
|
|
1897 |
Although
there was a German-language newspaper in Monroe, John Theiler begins a weekly newspaper in New Glarus, the
New Glarus Bote [Messenger]. He soon changes the name to
Deutsch- Schweizerischer Courier [German-Swiss
Courier] and prints news of Switzerland as well as of the
community.
|
|
1900 |
The
Swiss Reformed congregation, having outgrown its stone
church building, replaces it with an imposing red-brick sanctuary.
The building, dedicated on March 24, 1901, continues to be a
focal point for the downtown.
[Link to Swiss Church]
|
|
1901 |
Residents of the village portion of the Town of New Glarus vote to incorporate and S.A. Schindler is elected as the first president of
the Village of New Glarus.
The outside world gets a look at a traditional Kilby weekend dance in New Glarus, when a
writer for Century Magazine visits the community. Kilby, still observed in a more modest fashion on the last weekend of
September, is a combination
homecoming/thanksgiving/church rededication event. For
many years the weekend features
sermons, speeches, processions, shooting
matches and -- on Monday -- the all - night Kilby
Dance.
|
|
1902 |
The village
begins development of a municipal water system, which prompts the organization of the New Glarus Fire
Department. An electrical production plant is developed and plans
begin for telephone wiring.
|
|
1904 |
The village
decides to give up on board sidewalks and starts installing concrete walkways.
|
|
1905 |
The 60th anniversary celebration features a mock
Landsgemeinde -- the annual outdoor meeting of the voters of
Glarus, which is that Canton’s highest authority.
[Link to English account of
Glarus Landsgemeinde]
|
|
1907 |
The sharp-shooting club builds and dedicates a Schuetzen Haus
(shooting house) and target structure in the shooting park
at the north edge of the village.
|
|
Peak Economic Years |
|
1908 |
The popular Engler’s department store opens in the “backtown” area
of the village and continues operations into the second half of the
century.
|
|
1910 |
The Helvetia
Milk Co., based in the Swiss community of Highland, Ill., opens a condensing plant in the village and becomes the
community’s largest employer for many years. Using milk
produced by farmers throughout the area, the operation
quickly causes the closing of most of the neighboring small cheese
factories including the one in the village.
|
|
1912 |
While there
had been informal men’s singing groups in the community for a long time, the New Glarus Maennerchor is
officially organized.
John Theiler, publisher of the German-language Courier, begins a second weekly
newspaper -- the English language New Glarus Post -- as a
Democratic Party organ. He also has an active business in selling
steamship tickets to Europe for the Swiss who wish to visit their
homeland.
|
|
1915 |
An imposing monument to the original settlers of New Glarus
is dedicated as part of the 70th
anniversary of the founding of the Swiss colony. The principal
speaker is Gov. Emmanuel Phillipp, a Baraboo native whose parents
were from Switzerland. He spoke in English and Swiss-German.
A University of Wisconsin study shows that farmers in
Green County are earning a full thousand dollars a year more
than the average farmer in the rest of the state – perhaps
marking the high point of the dairy industry here.
|
|
1917 |
World War I
has a demoralizing effect on the continued use of the German
language among immigrants and their descendants.
Although Swiss-German is widely used in homes, businesses
and churches, the war marks the beginning of a rapid
decline. Many German-language books are destroyed.
About 73 men from the immediate New Glarus area are
involved in World War I. Two die in the war, including
Walter Stuessy, whose name lives on in
the name of the local American Legion post.
The emerging change in language use prompts Arthur
Theiler, who had taken over production of the weekly
newspapers from his father, to combine the papers under
the name New Glarus Post. The new paper is almost
entirely in English, with occasional items and a popular small-town humor column by John Theiler continuing in German.
|
|
1918 |
At least a dozen
people in the New Glarus community die during the influenza
epidemic that sweeps the nation.
|
|
1924 |
The old
education building, across from Swiss Church, is torn down
and replaced by a new Sunday School and social building –
the Zwingli House.
|
|
1925 |
Local and Chicago investors begin a Swiss-style embroidery
factory, but it struggles to succeed and closes
temporarily in 1932.
The 80th anniversary of the
Swiss colony is noted in subdued fashion, with program
organizers fearing that too many people will flood the village now that many have automobiles. Two of the original 1845 colonists
survive -- both were children at the time of the immigration.
|
|
1926 |
When fire
breaks out in the Streiff and Dumholt livery barn,
probably caused by sparks from a train engine, high winds
carry burning shingles and debris throughout the village
raising fears of major destruction. Fire departments from
neighboring communities help the local department control the numerous fires and limit the damage.
|
|
1927 |
Oswald Babler, the last male survivor of the original colonists,
dies at age 92. He was 10 years old when he immigrated
with his parents.
[Link
to clipping of interview with the pioneer]
|
|
1928 |
A second
ethnic singing group – the New Glarus Yodel Club – is organized and still entertains at many Swiss events.
|
|
Depression and World War II |
|
1930 |
In the wake
of the stock market crash, the two New Glarus banks merge (a second bank, the Citizens Bank, had opened in 1910). The consolidated bank stays open through the Depression years
without any government capital.
|
|
1931 |
A
monument marking the Old Lead Trail is dedicated at New
Glarus Woods State Park. The park, along the route of the
primitive road that was once used for hauling lead ore to
Mineral Point, is also the site of the colony’s second 80-acre
timber lot that had been purchased by the Emigration
Society in 1847.
[Link to New Glarus Woods]
|
|
1934 |
The Village
of New Glarus provides room at the Village Hall for development of a public library.
|
|
1935 |
Swiss immigrant Arnold Weiser takes over the idle embroidery factory
and develops it into a unique enterprise that draws lots
of attention to New Glarus.
The 90th anniversary
celebration is a gala affair – including the premiere of a
pageant about the founding of New Glarus, written by prominent
doctor John Schindler. Speakers include Gov. Phillip LaFollette and State Treasurer Sol Levitan, who
previously was in business in New Glarus.
Anna Engler, last survivor of the 1845
colonists, dies at age 95. She was 5 years old when she
came to New Glarus with her parents.
|
|
1936 |
Bigler’s Tavern -- the first of what was to be many Swiss-style
buildings in New Glarus – is built (now known as the Ott
Haus). Today many commercial buildings have faux Swiss
fronts.
|
|
1937 |
Edwin Barlow
completes the Bernise-style Chalet of the Golden Fleece
as a home and to house his unique and valuable collection
of antiques and historical pieces. Later he gives the
chalet and collection to the community for use as a
museum.
|
|
1938 |
The Swiss
community presents the first in a continuous annual series
of outdoor pageant productions of Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell.
The New
Glarus Historical Society begins as an outgrowth of the
Green County Historical Society. Its purpose is to develop a
historical village museum to preserve items from the Swiss
colony.
|
|
1941 |
About 200
area men and women serve in the military during World War
II, including many descendants of the Swiss immigrants. A
few who were stationed in Europe at war’s end manage to
visit their Glarus homeland, using the Swiss-German that
they had learned from their parents and grandparents.
Among the soldiers who died in the war was Otto Kuenzi, whose name
also lives on in the name of the local American Legion Post.
|
|
1942 |
A cabin is
built with donated logs and labor, becoming the first of
what will eventually be 14 buildings comprising the Swiss
Historical Village.
|
|
1945 |
New Glarus
quietly marks its Centennial in deference to the war effort.
A much larger celebration is held the following year and
includes the publication of Miriam Theiler’s New Glarus
First 100 Years.
|
|
The Post-war Years |
|
1955 |
New Glarus
native Dr. John Schindler, a co-founder of the Monroe
Clinic, achieves national best-seller status for his
positive-thinking health book “How to Live 365 Days a Year.”
Work begins on a major relocation of State Highway 69
through the middle of the Little Sugar River valley, bypassing the
village’s commercial area. The change leads to the
building of a variety of new attractions, including a floral clock
and the Chalet Landhaus hotel.
|
|
1956 |
Herbert Kubly, a journalist, author and playwright who grew up in
New Glarus, receives the National Book Award for his “American
in Italy.” His books “At Large” and “Native’s Return” include a
variety of stories about New Glarus and Switzerland.
|
|
1961 |
The last of
the one-room country schools close under state mandate, ending an era that enriched the Swiss community and included
some German language instruction in the early years of the
colony.
|
|
Tourism and the Bedroom Community |
|
1962 |
The Pet Milk
Co. closes its condensing plant, forever changing the pulse
of the community. The era marks the beginning of the decline
of dairy farming in the area and the gradual growth of
New Glarus as a commuting suburb of Madison. The closing also
spurs the development of a more comprehensive tourism industry
based on the ethnic history of the Swiss colony.
[Link for New Glarus tourism
information]
|
|
1964 |
A community of Amish
farmers begins to move into the area. The religious group
has its roots in 17the Century Switzerland. The group becomes embroiled in a landmark legal dispute over Wisconsin’s school attendance laws and the U.S. Supreme Court eventually
rules in their favor. Most of the Amish later move on to
other communities.
|
|
1965 |
A stage performance of Johanna Spyri’s Heidi is
presented as part of the community’s 120th anniversary. It was well received
and has been performed annually since.
|
|
1968 |
The New
Glarus Home, a senior citizen residence and nursing home complex, opens under the sponsorship of the United Church of
Christ. Expanded over the years, the facility enables many
elderly residents to remain in their hometown and attracts others
to “America’s Little Switzerland.”
|
|
1969 |
A Hall of History
building, a joint project with Switzerland, is dedicated at the
Swiss Historical Village and the first exhibit features a display of
the Glarus textile industry.
|
|
1970 |
The Swiss
colony celebrates its 125th anniversary. A
new, annotated version of Matthias Dürst’s emigration diary
is published.
[The
book, New Glarus 1845 – 1970, is available for purchase
through our online store]
|
|
1971 |
The first
group to participate in a long-running series of “Friends of
the Swiss” tours travels to Switzerland, with the highlight
always a visit to Canton Glarus.
|
|
1972 |
Train
service to New Glarus ends with the final run of what had
been locally nicknamed “the Limburger Special.” The Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources purchases the right of way and
turns it into a popular bicycle and hiking trail. A local
group forms to save the aging depot and restores it to
its former glory. It’s now in use as a trail and Chamber of Commerce office.
[Link
to Sugar River Trail]
|
|
1993 |
New Glarus again has a brewery when Dan and Deborah
Carey begin their international award-winning New Glarus Brewing Co. The
brewery, making a variety of specialty beers, expands with
a second production facility in 2008.
[Link to brewery]
|
|
1995 |
The
community, celebrating its Sesquicentennial with a parade,
concerts, and art and genealogical exhibits, hosts a
large group of visitors from Canton Glarus. A featured event is the
unveiling of a sculpture of Fridolin’s Starb
[Fridolin’s Stick], a gift from the Swiss in honor of the patron saint of Glarus who is believed to have converted
the land to Christianity.
|
|
1996 |
The many
women who once struggled and persevered in the settling of New Glarus finally get fully honored. Pauline Boss-Grossenbacher,
a university professor and New Glarus native, pays tribute to them
in her contribution to the collection of essays in the
Sesquicentennial book Amerikas Little
Switzerland erinnert sich [America’s Little Switzerland Remembers], published in Switzerland.
|
|
The 21st Century |
|
2000 |
Work begins
on gathering ideas for a national Swiss cultural center
after New Glarus is chosen as the site the previous year. A
state grant and donations from Switzerland help the dream
begin to become a reality. Gov. Tommy Thompson, on a
business development trip to Switzerland, helps win
backing there.
|
|
2002 |
The vintage
Town Hall is purchased by a restoration group which sets about repairing and updating the structure for continued use
as a community meeting place for non-profit groups and
a location for event displays.
|
|
2008 |
The new
Swiss Center of North America officially opens its remodeled
home.
[Link to
Swiss Center]
|
