Westby Area Historical Society

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Westby Area Historical Society WAHS responsibly collects, preserves, promotes & communicates the history of the Westby, WI area.

We believe that the history of Westby, Wisconsin is important to preserve. The Westby Area Historical Society collects photographs, documents, artifacts and family histories that outline the history of the Westby area. Our Museum building, one of the community's historic homes, has an impressive pedigree. As an organization, we provide programming to members of the community, other organizations, nursing homes and schools to tell the stories about our area's history.

Churches have played a large role in the history of Westby. The first congregational meeting of Our Savior's Lutheran Ch...
10/23/2026

Churches have played a large role in the history of Westby. The first congregational meeting of Our Savior's Lutheran Church was held in November 1888. The first church was built in 1889 but was outgrown in 30 years, so at the Annual Meeting in January 1921, the congregation voted to build a new church. The congregation hired architects and builders from Eau Claire. Today, we celebrate the 105-year history and heritage of OSLC's building, whose cornerstone was laid on October 23, 1921. FYI – this beautiful church cost $84,615.67 to build in 1921 (approximately $1,583,000 today).

What do you remember about the Westby Rec Hall? The Grand Opening on October 10, 1964, was promoted on the front page of...
10/18/2026

What do you remember about the Westby Rec Hall? The Grand Opening on October 10, 1964, was promoted on the front page of the "Westby Times." The article said Walt Erlandson and Reuben Skundberg made it possible when they bought the building and remodeled it so Westby kids would have a place "to go."

It's National Dessert Day! In this heavily concentrated community of Norwegian descendants, do you vote for the All-Amer...
10/14/2026

It's National Dessert Day! In this heavily concentrated community of Norwegian descendants, do you vote for the All-American brownies, apple pie, and chocolate chip cookies, or the Norwegian rosettes, sandbakkels, and struell?

THANK YOU to WCCU Credit Union for a great Community Service Day! The best-ever team came to help us on this beautiful d...
10/13/2026

THANK YOU to WCCU Credit Union for a great Community Service Day! The best-ever team came to help us on this beautiful day with our fall cleanup, and we got so much more than our list accomplished!!!! They rock!!! Where can we sign up to get them back next year??? 🍁 🌞 🥰

The conversations are fun, the memories are priceless, and the Norwegian is an extra perk (for coffee - get it? 🤣). We h...
10/11/2026

The conversations are fun, the memories are priceless, and the Norwegian is an extra perk (for coffee - get it? 🤣). We hope you can join us on Tuesday, October 13, at 2:00!

We were privileged to decorate our neighbor, the Westby Stabbur Tourist Center, this afternoon! It was so much fun – do ...
10/08/2026

We were privileged to decorate our neighbor, the Westby Stabbur Tourist Center, this afternoon! It was so much fun – do you think we did a nice job? 🍂 🎃 🍁

Mayor Danny Helgerson has always been a strong supporter of the Norwegian history and heritage that are such an importan...
10/07/2026

Mayor Danny Helgerson has always been a strong supporter of the Norwegian history and heritage that are such an important part of the City of Westby. The City Council’s latest project—the refurbishment of Westby’s Stabbur Visitors’ Center—is another wonderful example of that commitment to honoring our Norwegian roots. Westby’s frequent Norwegian visitor, Siw Volden, recognized Mayor Danny’s efforts this morning when she met with him and presented him with a beautiful porcelain stabbur as a token of appreciation. She thanked him for helping maintain Westby’s deep-rooted connection to the homeland of our founder, Ole Westby, and the many other Norwegian immigrants to our city. Thank you, Mayor Danny, for helping keep Westby’s Norwegian heritage alive and visible for years to come! 🇳🇴❤️

Our blog, https://westbyhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=westby+high+scool, was started by Westby historian Eric Leum, a lo...
10/04/2026

Our blog, https://westbyhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=westby+high+scool, was started by Westby historian Eric Leum, a longtime member of WAHS, and we are honored that the executors of Eric's estate passed it on to WAHS, along with his extensive photo collection. We recently checked the blog stats and saw that you are looking at the photos and reading the content! We are happy you spend time reading about Westby history on the blog, and we especially want to thank those of you who credit this amazing source of information when you use photos or information from the blog on Facebook, in your family histories, or in your college papers – we love getting your emails about how helpful the blog is for you. Eric would be very proud to know his work is being followed. These are just some of the great old photos that have been viewed in our +300,000 views during this past year!

This was a very fun and special event! A tremendous afternoon of community and fellowship focused on Westby's Norwegian ...
10/04/2026

This was a very fun and special event! A tremendous afternoon of community and fellowship focused on Westby's Norwegian heritage. We can't wait to see what the 2027 Taste of Norway brings!!!

In the early 2000s, WAHS published calendars that were sold as fundraisers. This is one of the pages from the 2006 calen...
10/01/2026

In the early 2000s, WAHS published calendars that were sold as fundraisers.
This is one of the pages from the 2006 calendar that highlighted family farms. 20 years after this calendar was published, we congratulate our member, Cheryl and her husband, Bill, for still owning one of the longest-held family farms in Vernon County!

Address

111 N. Bekkedal Avenue ; Mail To: PO Box 42
Westby, WI
54667

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