Pierce County Historical Association, Pierce County Wisconsin

05/30/2026

We posted this picture of an unknown creamery back in 2020 and no one was able to identify which one it was. Going to try again, I feel this one is possible to figure out, we should have enough clues. There's a house right next to it and a church across the street, likely on a corner.

(It isn't Ono, their steeple is different and their creamery was a bit further from the church than this)

1895 and 1908 plat maps would prove helpful if someone wants to review those for this scenario. Unless this rings a bell for someone.

05/29/2026

We had such a fun day yesterday at our Elmwood location, the town's 4th graders came down to our office for a little local history field trip. Since it was such a nice day, we took a history walking tour on Main Street. A wonderfully engaged group! So many questions! The class was split into two groups, they learned a bit about what the town's Main Street looked like and what types of business used to be there. They were very curious about the train having run through town and the flood that took it out. We were able to reenact a few of the old photos, thanks to the folks at the hardware store for being so welcoming! Once back at the history center, the first group enjoyed looking at some of the photos again on the big screen and talking about them, the second group was very curious about our military display and spent time viewing what we have.

05/28/2026

It's so wonderful to see schools and students so involved with the community. Many thanks to Jackson for building us a rack to hold newsletters and training materials at our Elmwood location.

05/28/2026

Photo of the repair shop in Beldenville in the 1920's. On left, Victor Gilbertson and on right, Floyd "Shorty" Morrow. Per the book we published on Beldenville (Volume 9), this building was built for the Beldenville Band in 1910. These two men started a repair shop here in the lower level of the Beldenville Pavilion in November of 1925. Shorty would operate it alone starting in 1929 and continue operation until 1939. Thank you Brian Gilbertson for donating this and more photos of Beldenville and it's families.

This book, Pierce County's Heritage, Volume 9 on Beldenville is for purchase at our Bay City (Tues 10-3) and Elmwood (Thurs 12-4) offices as well as from our website.

05/26/2026

As part of the project to add the map kiosks at the Poplar Hill Cemetery, our volunteers worked closely with their cemetery association. They let us scan their cemetery records and then we were able to use them to make sure everyone in there was included on the Findagrave website. Researchers and genealogists have been using this website for many years. I encourage everyone to go look up a family member and see what information you can gain from it. It's all user entered, so the information for each person can vary, but you will likely find a photo of their headstone, and then for some you can find a photo of them, a copy of their obituary (either a photo or transcribed), links to their spouse, parents, siblings, and children. So much helpful information when researching ancestry, it's the first place I look just to figure out where a family lived and then learn what I can before going to other sites. Findagrave is a completely FREE site!

Are you on a local cemetery association? We would love to be able to scan your cemetery records. Even if you don't have us do it, I encourage them to all have a backup digital copy in case something happens to the original. We hear this sad story all too often. But if we can help, please reach out!

Here's a link to Rock Elm's Poplar Hill Cemetery on Findagrave.

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/88761/poplar-hill-cemetery?

Find 1976 memorial records at the Poplar Hill Cemetery cemetery in Elmwood, Wisconsin. Add a memorial, flowers or photo.

05/24/2026

Pictured here is a Pierce County school directory from the 1936-37 school year. It lists each country school by township open at that time with teacher, school board clerk/director/treasurer with teacher salary even included. You will see some schools list "transported" instead of listing a teacher, this means the school board decided there weren't enough students to justify hiring a teacher and would pay a nearby district to take on the students at their location. There seems to be at least one page missing since Rock Elm had more schools than what is listed, I think we have another copy of this, we will need to verify. Thank you to Brenda Kado for donating.

05/23/2026

In time for Memorial Day weekend, there has been two kiosks installed at Rock Elm's Poplar Hill Cemetery (one on each end) due to its size. This cemetery is the 3rd largest cemetery in Pierce County. This project was sponsored by our Rock Elm Old Settlers group in cooperation with the Poplar Hill Cemetery Association. There is an alphabetized burial list at each kiosk and you can also search for your loved one on the Findagrave.com website to see their lot number there as well. Then, the map will help you find their burial plots. This project was researched and designed by our volunteers.

05/21/2026

Earlier this year, we were able to add an old ledger book of school board minutes from the Brasington Country School from 1890-1920 to our collection. Brasington was district #5 of Salem Township. Brasington was in the general area of County Rd. A, near where the ice sculptures are each winter.

If you have country school meeting minutes ledgers or grade books, we would love to be able to scan and then return these back to you if desired. These often are in possession of a family that had someone serving on the school board when they closed. We've had many from around the county donated or people allowing us to scan copies. This helps us piece together the history of a country school. We do hope to do a book on our county's country schools and having this sort of resource is very valuable to us.

05/20/2026

We were able to digitize a member's 35mm slides from his 1958 wedding, he said he hasn't seen the photos in years. We recently had a generous donation of a scanner that can digitize 35mm slides and film.

Who recognizes this adorable couple?