Sheboygan County Historical Museum facts for kids
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| Established | 1923 |
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| Location | 3110 Erie Avenue Sheboygan, Wisconsin  United States |
| Type | Historical museum |
| Collection size | 30,000+ artifacts |
| Visitors | 12,000 annually |
| Owner | Sheboygan County |
| Public transit access |  Shoreline Metro |
The Sheboygan County Historical Museum is a fun place to explore the past! It's located in Taylor Park in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. This museum helps you discover what life was like long ago in Sheboygan County.
The museum has several cool buildings to explore. You can visit the old David Taylor House and the Weinhold Family Homestead, which was built in 1864. There's also the Schuchardt Barn from the 1890s, full of old farm tools. Don't miss the Bodenstab Cheese Factory from 1867, where you can see how cheese was made a long time ago!
The museum also has special exhibits that change throughout the year. These exhibits cover interesting topics like Native American history, how people used to harvest ice, and stories about ships and the circus. You can also learn about local sports and early farming.
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Exploring the Museum Buildings
The Sheboygan County Historical Museum is more than just one building. It's a whole group of historic places! Each building shows a different part of life from the past.
The David Taylor House
The David Taylor House is a very old and important building at the museum. It was built in the early 1850s by a man named David Taylor. He was a judge and a very important person in Sheboygan's early days.
For a while, around 1900, the house became property of Sheboygan County. From 1915 to 1936, it was even used as the Sheboygan County Sheriff's Office and the county jail! Imagine that, a house that was once a jail.
Later, the house was used by the park caretaker. In 1949, the Sheboygan County Historical Society started using it. The museum first opened on the first floor of the David Taylor House. In the early 1970s, the museum grew to fill the whole house. The Taylor House was the main museum building until a new, bigger museum opened nearby in 1997.
Weinhold Family Homestead
Step back in time at the 1864 Weinhold Family Homestead. This old house shows you what a family home looked like over 150 years ago. You can imagine how families lived, cooked, and spent their days without modern technology.
Schuchardt Barn
The Schuchardt Barn dates back to the 1890s. Inside, you'll find displays about farming life in the past. You can see old tools and equipment that farmers used to grow crops and take care of animals. It's a great way to learn about how food was produced long ago.
Bodenstab Cheese Factory
Wisconsin is famous for cheese, and the 1867 Bodenstab Cheese Factory shows you why! This building has old tools and machines used for making cheese. You can learn about the early days of commercial cheese making and how this important food was made before big factories existed.
