Weekly Column
Each week a small segment of Vernon County history is published in the county papers.
For the week of 6/8/2025
by Kristen Parrott, curator
The Vernon County Museum and History Center is now on its summer hours. For the months of June through September, we will be open Monday through Friday, 11AM to 4PM, and Saturday, 10AM to 2PM, or by appointment. To make an appointment, call us at 608-637-7396, or email us at museum@vernoncountyhistory.org.
Summertime brings us a lot of out-of-town visitors, and we enjoy looking at the guest book to see where they come from. During the month of May, we had visitors from many other states including Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. Sometimes a visitor will note down what brought them to the museum. A recent guest wrote that he stopped at the Viroqua post office to see its New Deal-era mural, which depicts a scene from the Black Hawk War, and then went two blocks more to visit the museum and learn all that he could about Black Hawk.
Our nation’s newest holiday, Juneteenth, is coming up on Thursday, June 19, and a great way to celebrate local African-American history is by taking the Cheyenne Valley Heritage Road Tour. This self-guided driving tour takes you around portions of eastern Vernon County to learn more about the multi-racial community of Cheyenne Valley. The tour was created some years ago by the Cheyenne Valley Heritage Committee. Paper copies are available at the Vernon County Museum and History Center, and you can also find it on our website, https://www.vernoncountyhistory.org/. At the website, choose “Local History Topics”, and then “Cheyenne Valley”, to bring up the map.
You know that the summer will fly by, so here are some dates to put on your calendar now: the Vernon County Historical Society’s annual Strawberry Shortcake Social will be held on Friday, July 4, from 1 to 5PM at the historic Sherry-Butt House museum, located at 795 N. Main St. in Viroqua. And a week later, on Friday, July 11, the Vernon County Historical Society will be the featured non-profit at Sittin Pretty Farm’s pizza night from 5 to 8PM. The farm is located six miles out of Viroqua on County NN, at S5990 Chamberlain Ridge Ln. More details on both events coming soon.
For the week of 6/1/2025
by Kristen Parrott, curator
Summer is here, and the Vernon County Museum and History Center is now on its summer hours. For the months of June through September, we will be open Monday through Friday, 11AM to 4PM, and Saturday, 10AM to 2PM, or by appointment. To make an appointment, call us at 608-637-7396, or email us at museum@vernoncountyhistory.org.
June is the time to eat at Culver’s in Viroqua so you can participate in their community “Change for Change” campaign, which benefits the Vernon County Historical Society this month. Either leave coins in the jar on the counter at Culver’s, or round up your total at the end of your transaction. A little bit of spare change from each customer will hopefully amount to a large donation at the end of June, which will go into our HVAC fund. This money will be used to help install heating and air-conditioning on the upper floors of the museum, so the space will be more comfortable for everyone all year.
The next meeting of the genealogy class will be Thursday, June 12, when the students will take a road trip to Prairie du Chien to visit the public library and the courthouse. Contact us at 608-637-7396 if you’d like to join this outing. The Prairie du Chien library contains historical documents, and the Crawford County courthouse has birth, marriage, and death records. Genealogy visits to the courthouse are by appointment only, for which you will need to make arrangements.
“Norwegian Immigrants in Vernon County” is the name of a new exhibit at the museum. The exhibit is located on the second floor, in a room recently re-designed as a temporary exhibit space. This year, 2025, is the bicentennial of Norwegian immigration into the United States. Two hundred years ago, on July 4, 1825, a small boat called the Restauration left Norway for the U.S., with about 50 passengers and crew members. It arrived in New York in October, and marked the beginning of the large-scale movement of Norwegians emigrating from their old country to the U.S.
The exhibit features basic information about early Norwegian immigrants in Vernon County, and many pieces of art from 20th-century Norwegian immigrant artist Kristin Vigdahl. Also on display are a collection of Syttende Mai pins from Westby’s annual celebration, colorfully illustrating the importance of Norwegian language and music and food. These modern pins are complemented by a set of antique badges once worn by officers of the Viroqua lodge of the Sons of Norway. Come visit this new exhibit during the museum’s regular public hours.
The previous two articles: