Local History Expo slated for May 3

The Sheboygan County Area Historical Community is sponsoring the second Local History Expo at Range Line Inn, at 170 Range Line Road, Kohler, from 3-7 p.m. Monday, May 3, as a fundraiser for each of the co-hosting organizations. This event will highlight special guests and local history with each organization having a display of their accomplishments and current projects.

From the 2009 Local History Expo, Rick Bernstein from the Wisconsin Historical Society, wrote these comments. This event “was by far the best history fair I have ever attended.”

Special guests this year include Ellsworth Brown, the director of the Wisconsin Historical Society; John Broihahn, Wisconsin state archeologist; Lance Herdegen, Civil War author and speaker; Jerry Apps, popular author and speaker about Wisconsin history; and music provided by the Sheboygan-based Michael Lee Ammons and the Water Street Hot Shots.

Brown, director of the Wisconsin Historical Society since 2004, will attend for the afternoon. He enjoys the grassroots efforts of local historical societies, meeting the people involved and is looking forward to seeing the progress of local projects.

Broihahn, Wisconsin state archeologist since 2004, will be hosting a display and making a presentation at 4 p.m. He has taken part in many research projects across the state, including explorations of Wisconsin’s earliest residents, investigations into the state’s lead and zinc mining and more recently explorations of farmsteads and homesteads in Wisconsin’s northern forests. Broihahn will be discussing the Wisconsin Historical Society’s recent investigations at several sites including cutting-edge research on Wisconsin’s historic shipwrecks.

Herdegen is the recognized expert as speaker, author and editor of many books on Wisconsin’s Civil War Brigade. His latest book, Those Damned Black Hats! The Iron brigade in the Gettysburg Campaign, has won an Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award. He is the former director of the Institute for Civil War Studies at Carroll University and presently works as historical consultant for the Civil War Museum of the Upper Middle West at Kenosha. He will be hosting a display, have books for sale and be making a presentation at 5 p.m.

Apps, born and raised on a Wisconsin farm, is professor emeritus at University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of more than 25 books. He is a popular speaker with endless stories of Wisconsin farm life, cheese factories, one-room country schools, Ringling Brothers Circus, Wisconsin breweries and much more. He will be hosting a display, selling his books and making a presentation at 6 p.m.

Michael Lee Ammons and The Water Street Hot Shots are a hardworking traditional blues string band. They draw from the acoustic musical styles of the 1920s and 1930s with a repertoire that includes old-time blues, ragtime, novelty and “hokum” party music. They will be playing form 4:30-6:30 p.m.

The co-hosting local historical community provides a wide spectrum of collection, preservation and public programming activities. From the major development being planned for the Wade House Historic Site to the unique challenges of Centreville Settlement’s Lutze Housebarn to the innovative “Third Saturday” programs of the Sheboygan County Historical Society, there will be much to see and learn at this year’s Local History Expo.

Wade House Historic Site, one of 10 sites operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society, will highlight the programs, summer camps and major events on their schedule. The Lutze Housebarn restoration and the community oral history project, both projects of Centreville Settlement, are some of the most unique projects in Wisconsin.

The Sheboygan County Historical Research Center archives are an incredible resource for family genealogy and other local history resources that includes an estimated 500,000-plus photos. Plymouth Historical Society has in recent years restored an historic building, continues to install new exhibits and has a full schedule of events during the year. Random Lake has restored the Nowak House and rents additional space for museum exhibits and monthly programs. The New Holstein Historical Society has recently completed the excellent restoration of the Timm House and has developed a number of events in their season.

Each of the participating organizations is dedicated to collecting and preserving local history and educating the families of today and the future. The total membership of co-hosting organizations is estimated to be well over 2,700 members. Members support their organizations with time, talent and financial resources.

Area historical societies, over the course of a year, provide tours and full-day student education programs creating unforgettable learning experiences for many thousands of area students. Societies provide summer and seasonal events, programs, historic trades training, historic games and sports opportunities, presentations, summer camps, volunteer opportunities, historic archives, collect oral and video histories, support numerous historic preservation projects, historic reenactments, demonstrations, historic meals that guests prepare and enjoy, historic movies, hands-on opportunities of all kinds, special events too numerous to mention and much more.

Other displays will include Rick Bernstein of the Wisconsin Historical Society. He will host a display featuring the work of other local history organizations across the state and major projects within the historic sites and other society divisions. Scott Lewandoske will host the Sheboygan Preservation Committee display as they continue their work to identify historic properties in Sheboygan.

Range Line Inn will provide a tasty buffet meal from 4:30-6:30 as part of the ticket price to attend this event.

To attend this event, purchase tickets in advance from one of the co-sponsoring organizations listed here before April 24. Tickets include admission to the Local History Expo exhibits and programs, the opportunity to meet the special guests, a tasty buffet ham dinner with dessert and four hours of period music.

The co-hosting organizations include:

Aviation Heritage Center (920-467-2043); Centreville Settlement Inc. (920-693-8525); ethnicwisconsin.org (920- 565-2565); Heritage School (920-452-9943); Kiel Historical Society (920-894-2607); Manitowoc Civil War Roundtable (920-682-5478); Manitowoc County Historical Society (920-355-5758); New Holstein Historical Society (920-948-7748); Oostburg Historical Society (920-564-3148); Plymouth Historical Society (920-892-6228); Random Lake Area Historical Society (920-994-4194); Sheboygan County Historical Society (920-458-1103); Sheboygan County Historical Research Center (920-467-4667); Wade House Historic Site (920-526-3271).