New Upsala, Wisconsin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids New Upsala, Wisconsin
Ghost Town
New Upsala, Wisconsin Location in Wisconsin
Country	United States
State	Wisconsin

New Upsala (which in Swedish is Nya Uppsala) was an early Swedish-American community in Wisconsin. It was also known as the Pine Lake Settlement. This short-lived town was started by Swedish immigrants. It was founded by a person named Gustaf Unonius. New Upsala was located in the north-central part of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. It was near the town of Merton and outside Delafield. Today, this area is part of the villages of Chenequa and Nashotah.

Starting New Upsala

Gustaf Unonius was an immigrant from Sweden. He had a big dream. He wanted to create a Swedish cultural and learning center in the American frontier. He chose a spot on the east shore of Pine Lake. He named it New Upsala after the famous university city of Uppsala in Sweden.

By 1842, Unonius and some friends started building the new settlement. By 1848, several families had moved to the community. They even finished building a log cabin to serve as a church for the Scandinavian people at Pine Lake.

Soon after, Unonius moved to Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. There, he became an Episcopalian priest. After he left, much of the community broke apart. Unonius had attracted many different kinds of people. These included nobles, religious leaders, merchants, teachers, and military officers. However, the land they chose was not good for a settlement. The lake shore was very stony, and the soil was not fertile. Because of these problems, the colony failed almost as soon as it began.

The Pine Lake Church

The Scandinavian church at Pine Lake officially started on March 3, 1844. On that day, the Holy Innocents Cemetery was dedicated. The church's log cabin building was finished and dedicated in 1848.

In 1850, the church congregation split into two groups. One group formed St. John's English Lutheran Church of Stone Bank in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. The other group stayed at the original log church and cemetery. In 1864, this original church became known as Holy Innocents Episcopal Church, Nashotah.

In 1895, the last person who was part of the original Scandinavian church legally gave the land to Holy Innocents. In 1962, Holy Innocents joined with Grace-Holy Innocents Episcopal Church in Hartland, Wisconsin. Then, in 1975, the church's name changed again to St. Anskar’s Episcopal Church.

Today, there is still an active Holy Innocents cemetery. It is located on the west side of Highway C. This is about 1½ miles north of the Nashotah exit off of Highway 16.

The United States Ambassador to Sweden asked for a history of the New Upsala settlement. So, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin asked Filip A. Forsbeck to write it. His history was published in 1936. It used a lot of information from Unonius's own memories.