Open Season Date and Office Hours
Starting June 2nd the South Wood County Historical Museum’s office hours will be running again! Below are the times staff are available-
Office Hours: Tuesday-Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Our tentative opening date for exhibits will be Sunday, June 14th. We apologize for opening later than the traditional “Memorial Day Weekend”. The staff is busy polishing the place up to be ready for visitors!
Exhibit Hours: Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Books by Wisconsin Rapids City Historian Dave Engel (LHS ’63)
We have made three of (Uncle) Dave’s books available for you to read, in full! Click the following titles to view these contributions to local history.
Ghost of Myself: River City Memoirs VII (2009)
Building for the Future: Mid-State Technical College, 1907-2010 (2010)
Penultimate Memoirs (2015)
Click here see a full list of Dave’s local history books.
Back-Issues of Artifacts
Check out some older issues of our history magazine Artifacts. For a subscription to the print copy, email lori@southwoodcountyhistory.org.
Lincoln High School Newsletter
Members of the Lincoln High School class of 1965 and others contribute their memories and perspectives to this Newsletter (see link here), which is curated by Kent Vasby (Fort Atkinson ’58). Vasby’s wife is a member of the class of 1965. In the Newsletter, Vasby suggests topics which the contributors then discuss, or they supply other news. Print copies of all the LHS Newsletters are stored in the Museum’s archives.
History of the Museum Building
On the site of Isaac’s boyhood home, Anton Billmeyer built Shadowlawn for Isaac Witter in 1907. The house was built on grounds consisting of 230 feet of frontage on Third Street and 230 feet of frontage on the Wisconsin River.
The house was built in the neoclassical style and consists of 23 rooms, not including the large halls and had a central vacuum system. An elevator was installed after Isaac became ill.
In 1947, Isaac’s brother-in-law, George W. Mead, purchased the Witter home and grounds for $15,000.00 and presented it to the city to house the T.B. Scott Public Library, which opened in 1948.
After the McMillan Memorial Library was built and opened in 1970, the building and land were deeded to the South Wood County Historical Corporation for the museum, which opened in 1972.
Board of Directors
Philip Brown, President
J. Marshall Buehler, Vice-President
Jack Wesley, Treasurer
Sarah Sigler, Secretary
Page Casey Clark
Andy Barnett
Robert Zimmerman
Pete Smart
Richard Bender
Kathy Daly
Nick Brazeau Sr.
Mary Anne Getzin
