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Each week a small segment of Vernon County history is published in the county papers.
For the week of 12/1/2024
by Kristen Parrott, curator
During the first three weeks of December, the Vernon County Museum and History Center will be open to the public during our regular winter hours of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 11AM to 4PM, or by appointment. We will be closed the week of Christmas and the week of New Year’s, but re-open again on Tuesday, January 7.
Get ready for the holidays by attending our annual Holiday History Tour from 12:30 to 4PM on Sunday, December 8! Start at the Vernon County Museum and History Center, located at the corner of S. Main and E. South Sts., to enjoy holiday treats and to purchase tickets. Ticket prices are $10 for an adult and $5 for a child, with a household maximum of $20.
Local actor Evan Blattner will entertain at the museum with a portrayal of Albert Parkinson (1870-1952), architect of the museum building and many other buildings in this region. These dramatic presentations will be offered at 12:45, 1:45, and 2:45. The museum’s exhibit halls will also be open throughout the afternoon for self-guided tours. And remember to stop by the museum gift shop, specializing in new and used books on local history topics.
Then follow the map to the other four historic sites on the Holiday History Tour, which can be visited in any order. The sites, all in Viroqua, are the Hotel Fortney Lounge, 100 N. Main St.; the Foreaker School and the old St Mary’s Church, 606 W. Broadway; and the Jarman family home, 305 E. Jefferson St. We are lucky to have so many older buildings in our area, representing so much history. In some places, the built environment is all new construction, but in Vernon County we can find pieces of the past everywhere.
The grand house at 305 E. Jefferson is known variously as the Proctor home, the McIntosh home, the Menn home, or the Jarman home, all families who have lived there during the past century. Enjoy the original woodwork and other vintage details as you take a self-guided tour.
At the Hotel Fortney Lounge, entertainment will include accordion music with Bob Solverson at 1, 2, and 3PM. Local actor Karen Innis will portray Elizabeth (Harris) Stoda, Hotel Fortney cook of 100 years ago, at 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30. Holiday foods and drinks will also be available here throughout the afternoon.
At the Foreaker School, you will have the opportunity to sit and write a memory or two from your own days in a country school. The schoolhouse is decorated with paperchains, paper snowflakes, and other ornaments made by students at the Viroqua Area Schools. Also at the Foreaker you can purchase a copy of our book, Country Schoolhouses of Vernon County, Wisconsin, filled with pictures of the many schools that once dotted the countryside around here.
The historic St. Mary’s Church next door has been decorated with colorful nutcrackers large and small, from the collection of Dian Krause. Stop by the hot chocolate bar to pick up a cup of something warm, and sit in the pews to listen to the entertainment at this venue. Chris Clemens will tell Christmas stories at 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30. Local high school student Frances Levin will sing and play guitar from 2 to 2:30, and local musicians Marcia Dooley and Barb Casper will play and sing Christmas favorites from 3 to 3:30.
Should be fun! Hope to see you there!
The beautiful house at 305 E. Jefferson St. in Viroqua
is on this year’s Holiday History Tour.
For the week of 11/24/2024
by Kristen Parrott, curator
Coming up soon is the Vernon County Historical Society’s annual Holiday History Tour, on Sunday, December 8, from 12:30 to 4PM. The tour features five historic buildings around Viroqua, all decorated for the holidays, with food, music, drama, and storytelling throughout the afternoon.
Each of the five buildings is over 100 years old. The tour starts at the Vernon County Museum and History Center, which is housed inside the old Vernon County Normal School building at the corner of E. South and S. Main Streets. The Normal School was constructed in 1918 and 1919, during a world war, a global pandemic, and the resulting shortages of labor and goods. It was built of brick and concrete in order to be “fireproof”, with a clay tile roof. Interior details include original woodwork and chalkboards and terrazzo flooring. The Vernon County Historical Society purchased the building in 1989.
The first-floor lounge at the Hotel Fortney will also be featured on the tour. The hotel was built at 100 N. Main St. in 1899 by Torger and Hannah Fortney. Previously, that same lot had been home to the North Star Hotel, built in 1850, and then the Tremont House, built in 1874, so the corner has been the site of a hotel for nearly 175 years. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when tobacco was big business in Vernon County, many tobacco buyers stayed at the Fortney. The Wrobel family purchased the hotel in 2020 and completely renovated it.
The church and school at 606 W. Broadway are additional tour stops. The original Foreaker School was a log structure built in the late 1860’s at the bottom of Pea Vine Hill in the Town of Liberty. That was replaced by the current frame school, built in 1888 at the top of the hill. It was used as a school until 1960. After that the building was purchased by Vernon County and moved to its current location in Viroqua. It is now operated as a country schools museum by the Vernon County Historical Society.
Next door to the school is the historic St. Mary’s Catholic Church, built on location in 1907. St. Mary's was a mission church attached to the Rising Sun - St. James parish for forty years. In 1947, it became an independent parish, and in 1959, a new church was built nearby on Congress Street. Vernon County then purchased the old church, which is now operated by the Vernon County Historical Society as a museum of church life. The sanctuary of the small white frame building features beautiful stained glass windows, a balcony, and furnishings from a number of area congregations, some thriving and others now gone.
And the Jarman family home at 305 E. Jefferson will be on this year’s tour. This beautiful house was built for Harlan and Augusta Proctor in 1907. The exterior of the house features Spanish Revival details, such as prominent arches and stucco walls, and the interior has Craftsman details including dark woodwork and leaded-glass windows. Older residents might remember this as the Don and Bev McIntosh family home, or more recently as the Dr. Jeff and Paula Menn home.
Five historic places to visit on December 8! Tickets will be available that day at the museum at $10 for an adult and $5 for a child, with a household maximum of $20. Learn more at our website, vernoncountyhistory.org.
The Hotel Fortney, pictured here shortly after it was built in 1899,
will be on this year’s Holiday History Tour.
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