A Wisconsin icon is celebrating a major milestone. Old World Wisconsin is celebrating its 50th anniversary. It opened up back in 1976.
Going to Old World Wisconsin is like traveling in a time machine to the 1800s. You’ve got blacksmiths, general stores, or even the first-ever church in Milwaukee County. And yes, this is the actual first church, not a replica. They moved it from its original location to Eagle, Waukesha County. In fact, that’s the case for almost all the buildings here.
Old World Wisconsin is living history. The goal is to help people connect with the past by telling interactive stories.
“Sometimes there’s just this moment where, in their eyes, I could just see their face light up, and suddenly a new connection is made as they think my grandfather might have been doing this,” Kathleen Ernst, a former employee with Old World Wisconsin, said…