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Each week a small segment of Vernon County history is published in the county papers.
For the week of 5/12/2024
by Kristen Parrott, curator
May is Historic Preservation Month, when we celebrate the historic places that help us understand our past. We usually think of historic sites as buildings, structures that humans have built, but they can also be landscapes where historic events happened.
The historic building at 202 N. Main St. in Viroqua, at the northwest corner of Main and Decker, was recently torn down. This building opened as a Farmers Bank in October of 1917. The bank operated until forced to close during the Great Depression. In December of 1933, the city bought the building for $10,000 and moved Viroqua City Hall’s offices into it, where they stayed until 2022.
The building’s shape was nearly a mirror image of 201 N. Main across the street. These two corner blocks once formed the north end of Viroqua’s business district. A small, temporary exhibit in the conference room at the Vernon County Museum and History Center displays items from the Farmers Bank.
Another new exhibit about historic buildings, “small scale: Model Buildings”, has also just been installed at the museum. This display showcases several scale models representing buildings found around Viroqua and Vernon County. The exhibit is on the third floor of the history center, accessible by elevator or stairs.
We have had these models on display separately in various other exhibits for some years now, but this is the first time we have brought them all together into one exhibit. Come view models of a tobacco shed and a country school, the Vernon County Courthouse and the Sherry-Butt House, and more.
Speaking of the Sherry-Butt House, it will be opening for the summer season on Memorial Day weekend. This historic house museum is located at 795 N. Main St. in Viroqua. It is furnished primarily in the style of the 1890’s, and features stories about the Butt and Sherry families as well as other local people. The house is open for tours on Saturdays and Sundays in the summer from 1 to 5PM, plus Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day.
Thank you to everyone who came to our recent history program about the KKK in Vernon County in the 1920’s. It was a standing-room-only crowd for a thoughtful discussion of a difficult topic. The program was recorded and is now available for viewing on our website.
A drawing of the Farmers Bank building in downtown Viroqua
For the week of 5/5/2024
by Carol Krogan, assistant curator
A new exhibit has recently been completed entitled Civil Defense in Vernon County. It is located on the third floor of the Vernon County Museum & History Center.
The United States Government created the Office of Civil Defense in 1941, during the time of World War II. At that time, the U.S. was fearful of air and sea attacks from those countries in Europe with which they were at war. Procedures were developed to assist local governments in defense, preparedness and post-attack care in the event of a disaster.
During the 1950s, the real possibility of nuclear war was on the mind of the entire nation. This was an entirely different disaster to prepare for after the first successful nuclear bomb test took place in August, 1949. The threat of nuclear attack prompted the realization by the U.S. Government that it was necessary to prepare for survival, not only the prevention of an attack.
Shelter, evacuation and training programs were developed for state and local governments. That included instructional films, pamphlets and booklets which were distributed to local Civil Defense organizations for the general public and schools. The goal was to educate Americans on ways to protect themselves in the event of a nuclear attack.
The exhibit includes the history of Civil Defense in Vernon County along with some objects from the 1950s including clothing, medical supplies and communication devices. You may also be interested in the exhibit Nuclear Power in Vernon County, also located on the third floor. Items in this exhibit were donated by Dairyland Power and were used at the nuclear reactor facility that once stood there. Both the second and third floors of the History Center are handicapped accessible.
The Vernon County Historical Society will be holding its first Brat grill out on Saturday, May 11th, from 10 to 2 at Nelson Agri Center in Viroqua. Please join us for a delicious lunch and help support our mission – to preserve and promote Vernon County history for the education and enjoyment of all.
Civil Defense in Vernon County
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