Historical society to unveil photo exhibit

The history of Wittenberg will on display for visitors at the WOWSPACE this summer.

The Wittenberg Historical Society is currently in the process of collecting pictures, postcards and other artifacts to showcase the evolution of the village in an exhibit on July 21 from 4-8 p.m. The hours will also extend to July 22 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., as well as July 23 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“We have been working all winter on putting together an event about the evolution of small business in Wittenberg and the outlying areas,” said Wittenberg Historical Society president Carla Strassburg. “We have been going through old newspapers and collecting information, taking pictures of ads and photocopying them. We are going to hang up all of that stuff.”

Wittenberg Historical Society member John Powers said the goal of the historical society is to expand upon the already written history of Wittenberg, while updating it with more information.

“It is mostly in terms of the business that made up Wittenberg,” said Powers. “It is about the downtown area for the most part.”

On the historical society’s Facebook page, Wittenberg Historical Society, members have been posting pictures asking residents for their help in trying to identify buildings and streets.

“Some of these ads and pictures go all the way back to the 1800s,” said Strassburg. “Some stuff is available on online. Some of the stuff is coming from the Wittenberg Enterprise and Birnamwood News papers. We went through those and tried to pick out stuff that seemed appropriate. A lot of the pictures we have at the museum.”

She said that the goal of the historical society’s in doing this is to be able to present more information to residents and visitors.

“One of the issues that we have at our historical society is a lack of space and that we are kind of off of the beating path,” said Strassburg. “We have been offered this opportunity by the WOWSPACE — they want their building utilized more. We decided that we would set up an exhibit and it should be a good weekend.”

When looking through the history of the Wittenberg, one thing that stood out to Strassburg was how much more self-efficient the village used to be.

“You went to the blacksmith if you needed a part fixed,” said Strassburg. “There were like five grocery stores downtown in Wittenberg. There were general merchandise, lumber mills and the railroad — everything was just hopping. Now, with every small town, everybody goes somewhere else to buy stuff or buys it online. It is just kind of amazing to see what these people before us were able to accomplish.”

Powers added that what stood out to him was that a lot of the early business were ran by people in the area.

“A lot of them knew each other before coming to Wittenberg,” said Powers. “When you get a look at blacksmiths, there were a bunch of blacksmiths in the community. It makes sense because that is what they needed for the rail industry, logging and oxen and horses.”

Strassburg said keeping local history alive is one key to a sense of community.

“It is very important for a community to thrive,” said Strassburg. “I think that the more you know about the history of your community, the more you think about what it takes to really have a healthy place to live and work. History is important, because it shows us that those things are important and we don’t want to lose that.”

In regards of what she wants people to learn, Strassburg said that she wants visitors to enjoy the exhibit while bonding over their own history.

“Maybe we will learn something for the museum too,” said Strassburg. “We are just trying to be as active as we can. This is just a way to keep our society active.”

The Wittenberg Historical Society is still in the process of collecting artifacts to showcase in the exhibit. If anyone has anything they want to show, they can contact the Wittenberg Historical Society on its Facebook page, as well as over the phone at 715-881-0326.

lreimer@newmedia-wi.com