EAGLE — A Wisconsin icon is celebrating a major milestone. Old World Wisconsin is celebrating its 50th anniversary. It opened up back in 1976.
Going to Old World Wisconsin is like traveling in a time machine to the 1800s. You've got blacksmiths, general stores, or even the first-ever church in Milwaukee County. And yes, this is the actual first church, not a replica. They moved it from its original location to Eagle, Waukesha County. In fact, that's the case for almost all the buildings here.
Old World Wisconsin is living history. The goal is to help people connect with the past by telling interactive stories.
“Sometimes there's just this moment where, in their eyes, I could just see their face light up, and suddenly a new connection is made as they think my grandfather might have been doing this," Kathleen Ernst, a former employee with Old World Wisconsin, said.
Ernst worked as one of the in-costume characters at Old World Wisconsin. She had stints in just about every building. Eventually, she was promoted to Curator of Interpretation as well as Curator of Collections. She worked there from 1992 to 1994.
“I loved interacting with visitors," she said.
Being a character in this living history museum was actually her dream job out of college.
“How to bake bread in a brick bake oven, and for me that just helped me think about the lady of the house in a whole new way," Ernst said.
Old World Wisconsin was founded by Hans Kuether and Richard Perrin, two people passionate about preserving Wisconsin's historic architecture.
“When Old World Wisconsin was thought about, it was to really save the ethnic architecture here across the state," Jennifer Melka, the Collections and Exhibit Coordinator at Old World Wisconsin, said.
She helped create the newest exhibit, which tells the story of Old World Wisconsin itself.
Watch the story on Old World Wisconsin's 50th Anniversary...
“We just wanted to give visitors an idea of how old world has grown, how old world has changed, some of their favorite things or memorable experiences," Melka said.
Over the course of the Fourth of July weekend, Old World Wisconsin is celebrating its 50th anniversary in a few ways. It's throwing a party for former employees and hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new 10,000 square foot welcome center. Plus, tying into the America 250 celebrations, the public is invited to join patriotic parades, historic baseball games, pie-eating contests, and more.
"Walk through the atrium onto the green, and they get an introduction into the site. So there's the brewhouse, tavern, Clausing Barn, which is our cafe and also event space, but they really get an opportunity to see what Old World is all about before they enter onto the rest of the site," Doug Raney, the Director of Old World Wisconsin, said about the new welcome center. It also includes a gift shop and more than a dozen bathrooms.
This 50th anniversary is a big deal for many history lovers in Wisconsin. Kathleen Ernst, who worked there in the '80s and '90s, loved it so much that she wrote a series of mystery novels largely set at Old World Wisconsin.
“So far, a 12-book series, and I'm starting to work on the 13th," she said.
For people like Ernst and the thousands of others who have walked these grounds, Old World Wisconsin has left a lasting mark, helping connect them with their past and understanding a little more about Wisconsin history.
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