The Dairy Shrine
Visitors will also enjoy The National Dairy Shrine’s Museum, which features a multimedia show that captures the sights and sounds of dairy farming: past, present, and future.
Lorine Niedecker Room
Visit the room devoted to Lorine on the second floor of the Frank and Luella Hoard House at the Hoard Historical Museum. Learn why Niedecker’s international reputation continues to grow and why her poetry is now ranked among the finest of the twentieth century. Her precise and spare use of words in the Objectivist style…
Bird Room
Approximately 500 birds peer back at you when you enter this unusual room on the second floor of the Frank and Luella Hoard House at the Hoard Historical Museum. This includes birds mounted by famed naturalist Thure Kumlein and taxidermist Walter Pelzer. Also included in this display is a beautiful example of the extinct passenger…
Mysteries of the Mounds Gallery
Step into our immersive Mysteries of the Mounds gallery to explore the history and culture of the Native Americans of the late Woodland period. Take a peek inside a replica keyhole pit house to see how they survived and thrived in Wisconsin. This gallery opened in April, 2009, and contains a diorama of a Late…
Lincoln Era Library and Exhibit
Here you can relive the 1832 Black Hawk War and learn about General Henry Atkinson and the Sauk Warrior, Black Hawk. In the Lincoln Era Exhibit, you can discover Abraham Lincoln’s involvement in the Black Hawk War and learn about his only military experience before becoming Commander-in-Chief. The Abraham Lincoln Exhibit explores both Abraham Lincoln’s…
2025 Fort Atkinson Historical Society Board of Directors
Board Officers Lori Bocher, President Angela Nelson, Vice President Josh Kline, Treasurer Ross Hipp, Secretary Elected Board Members Bonnie Geyer Nick Hamele Jenny Kalvaitis Marie Nelson Chris Rodgers Gary Thom Standing Members Bruce Johnson, City Council Representative Steve Larson, National Dairy Shrine Representative Merrilee Lee, Museum Director Rebecca Houseman, City Manager
The Origins of The Hoard Historical Museum
The Hoard Historical Museum started as a project of the Fort Atkinson chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1933. The ladies met in the home of Luella Hoard with the goal of celebrating the city’s centennial in 1936. The DAR collected historic artifacts and stored them in a basement room of the…
Women among voting pioneers of Fort Atkinson
Article Written By Daily Jefferson County Union In 1920, following the passage of the 19th Amendment, women in Fort Atkinson participated in their first full election during the Sept. 7 presidential primary. Records from the Hoard Historical Museum reveal that 302 women cast ballots, and the Jefferson County Union documented the names of the first…
Fort Atkinson Historical Society purchases building adjacent to Hoard Museum
Article Written By Fort Atkinson Online The Fort Atkinson Historical Society has purchased a property adjacent to the Hoard Historical Museum and National Dairy Shrine Museum, located at 423 Whitewater Avenue. The acquisition was made possible by society funds, after the previous owners approached the museum offering the property for sale. According to Museum Director…
Discover Wisconsin: Fort Atkinson
Article Written By Discover Wisconsin In this episode of Discover Wisconsin, host Mariah Haberman takes us to a city rich in history and full of surprises: Fort Atkinson. Located in Jefferson County, less than an hour from Madison and Janesville, Fort Atkinson offers visitors a charming, small-town atmosphere, and lots of options when it comes…