CALEDONIA, back when.....

Welcome to the new blog of the Caledonia Historical Society. Readers will learn interesting facts about Caledonia's history; how and why we became the community that exists today. They will also be informed about what the Society is doing now and in the near future. But let's begin with how the Caledonia Historical Society came to be.

Back in the late 1990's when most people were worrying about the great Y2K hype, former town chairman, the late Dennis Kornwolf, had his eyes on something much less glamorous. A dilapidated  old building sat in a farm field off of Hwy 38. It was the original Caledonia Town Hall and had been built in 1877. The building was no longer used for anything more than a junk storage barn and its owner was contemplating destroying the structure.

Dennis convinced the Caledonia Town board to acquire the building. A small group of people formed a committee to plan the purchase, move and restoration of the building. That group became the nucleus of the Caledonia Historical Society. In 2001 the building was moved from Hwy 38 to it's present site in Linwood Park. The Village of Caledonia and the Caledonia Historical Society jointly own the building and artifacts. The restoration of the building took several years and is an ongoing task.

This year the entrance door will be replaced with a custom made door and transom that will retain the look of the original.

The Society has grown to over eighty members and we are always ready to welcome new members to our group. Anyone interested in membership can call me at 262-758-2131, drop me an email at CHS1877@yahoo.com or just drop by one of our meetings. We meet the third Thursday of the month at 6:30PM. Our meetings are held in the Old Town Hall unless announced otherwise.

We have plenty of things for new members to get involved in. The 1902 Milwaukee Road Depot, acquired and moved to our site in 2009, is being restored; at least one and possibly two cabooses will be on site in the near future; we will be hosting school days later in May and in the fall we are planning the first annual Caledonia Homecoming.

Enough about us, in my next blog I will tell you about Root River, Venetian Nights and the summer camps.

Michael Michna, President

Caledonia Historical Society