Museum - Hales Corners Historical Society in Hales Corners, Wisconsin

11 years ago the Palmersheim house and barn still stood at the corner of Hwy 100 and College Ave. They were built in in 1916 and 1914, resepectively. The house was taken down by the HC fire department with a planned burn in December of 2011. Joseph Palmersheim (grandson of the final owner, and Managing Editor of the Sun Current in the Edina, MN area) wrote a column about it in 2013, which I’ll link in the comments. I highly recommend it.. I’ll also post a link to the HCFD photos of the burn in the comments.

Today we see a couple of Poets of Hales Corners. First we have Forence Slicting’s poem about the Hales Corners Fair, published in the August 30th, 1947 Capital Times. It’s a glowing testimonial of the Fair. I’d wager that Madison to Hales Corners tourist traffic picked up after this one was published! Next up is Howie Gordon of Gordon’s Texaco. His 1957 rhyme might have grabbed some business from those same tourists when they came to town. Anybody have a modern poem to compete? Let’s see... There was an old man from Hales Corners....

Schill’s Hales Corners Bowl? (1957) Whitnall Center Lanes? (1957) Tri-City Lanes? (1966) The options were plentiful when bowling was the topic under discussion!

Did you know? The area now encompassed by Hales Corners was technically a part of the Plymouth colony at the time of the First Thanksgiving in 1621? (It’s true!) Things seem to have changed pretty fast back then, with our part of the world later being a part of The Northwest Territories(1787), then Indiana (1800), Illinois (1809), and Michigan (1818) Territories before Wisconsin Territory was finally created in 1836. We started out (like all of Eastern Wisconsin) as part... of Brown county. But then the southern part of the county was detached from Brown County to form Milwaukee County in 1835, and over the following years it lost pieces here and there to settle into its current size in 1847. Meanwhile, the Hale Brothers (William and Seneca) had claimed their land in the region in 1837, in the beautiful town of Lake (which had once been the southern part of the town of Milwaukee). In 1839, the Town of Lake split in two, leaving them in the Town of Kinnikinneck. Franklin was broken off in 1840, and in 1841, the remaining town was renamed Greenfield. Hale’s Corners was first the name of the post office (1854) but its boundaries were a pretty vague concept in those days. Defined borders didn’t come along until Hales Corners became an official unincorporated place in 1924. And until incorporation as a village in 1952, those borders didn’t mean much! After a couple of annexations in 1955 and 1957, the current village borders were set! What a long strange trip it’s been! See more

It’s 1957, and the TriTown news seems a little irritated! It seems that Hales Corners hasn’t updated the location of its boundary signs after the annexations that brough the village to its current shape and size. This is supposed to be the corner of Forest Home and Grange, although I can’t for the life of me place it with regards to the current layout of that intersection. Is this looking south on Forest Home?

From the Dreyfus Collection: This funeral card marks the death of Joseph Dreyfuss on this day in 1910. This December will mark the 200th anniversary of his birth in Germany. These news clippings are from the Racine Journal. Not all the details in the clippings match those known to the HCHS! But, we can agree that in his late 20's he immigrated to New Orleans, then came to Hales Corners in the 1860s, where he later operated the Dreyfuss Hotel and served as Postmaster.

Prefer Instagram to Facebook? Good news! We're now crossposting many things at halescornershistory on Instagram, too!

Seems like an election may have been brewing in this 1913 postcard of the Hales Corners Stock Fair. Note the notices plastered up on the Drefuss barn at left, and literally covering the end of the hitching shed across the street! The same face appears again and again. And is that a podium set up in front of the hitching shed? I wonder who was running for office? With the crowds attracted by the Stock Fair, it must have been a great place for political speeches! For those interested, the hitching shed seems to have been associated with the Siegel general store and saloon (later the Schubring grocery and tavern. I'm not sure who operated it at the time of this photo)

Check out this gorgeous color photo! Hales Corners Community Channel posted this one on facebook a few years back, and I keep going back to look at it. The combination of the interurban train and old-school Standard station is just amazing. Standard stopped officially using the Red Crown name (seen on the sign to the right) in the early 1930s, but maybe the sign was kept in use for a while? Anyone care to weigh in on the timing or location of this one? I feel like I somehow recognize something about this intersection, but I can’t put my finger on it.

Patrick Heaney posted this great color pic on I'm a FAN of Hales Corners Speedway recently. I hope he won't mind if I share it here. It almost feels like you could step out onto the track!

The hotel on the left of this picture was well known as the Neussel Hotel or Schubring’s Triangle Inn. (The photo seems to have been taken from a location near the current roundabout, looking west down Janesville Road.) But this postcard, postmarked in 1915 shows a sign on the building that reads "Callahan Hotel". According to the Village History, we don’t have any record of that name. So what gives? This mention in the June 30th, 1915 Burlington Free Press may shed a ray of light. John Callahan had apparently been managing the hotel in that timeframe.

What catches your eye in this picture of the mantle at the W.Ben Hunt Cabin? Is it the head dress? Or maybe the many wood carvings - including birds, neckerchief slides, and Native American inspired carvings (and a couple of step-by step examples)? Is it the bison head? (I wonder if it has a name?) For me, the most interesting thing is the motto: We canna be both comfortable and grand. It’s based on a quote by Scottish author James Barrie (creator of Peter Pan), and it strikes me that there's something to it! Due to the current situation, it may still be a while before we are able to allow visitors into cabin. So, for now, this photo of the mantle will have to tide us over.

Very excited about a recent find - this little ashtray! It has three ‘C’s (as in Civilian Conservation Corps) each curved to nestle a cigarette. It’s also marked 1935 and CO. 636 WHITNALL PARK HALES CORNERS WISCONSIN, matching the sign in Whitnall Park that marks the camp’s former location. Perhaps it was once used in the CCC barracks (pictured) one of which could until recently be found near the Boerner Botanical Gardens entrance. (Have a piece of local history? Send a message to this page. We'd love to see it, and maybe I'll do a post about it!)

Check out these ads for the Boggess Pharmacy! Dated from 1957 to 1961. Many of the items listed for sale are seriously old school. With offerings including camphorated oil, magnesia tablets, tincture of merthiolate and pints of Beef, Iron &Wine (2 for $1.98), our younger generations might be seriously confused about how to proceed with treatment! Also note the phone number in one ad is given as HA5-4848, on the old Hales Corners exchange.

From the Dreyfuss Collection... A rare photo of the back of the Western Hotel / Dreyfuss Hotel. Here we see a teenaged Gladys Dreyfuss holding baby sister Harriet. This places the picture around 1910. Leaning against the back of the building is a sign advertising the Hale’s Corners Post Office. It seems like the post office was still in the hotel at that point, so perhaps the sign was relegated to the back because the apostrophe had been dropped from the village name by then?

61 years ago today (well, ok... tomorrow - September 13th, 1959) The Hales Park Civic Association had their annual picnic! I’m told their bylaws state that their mission was: Discuss and bring forward all facts and information which vitally affect or hold great interest for the majority of the members, such as: A. Work for civic improvements. B. Promote an interest in local municipal government and social districts.... C. Be of service to the community And it sounds like they were of great service to the community, helping with mowing and pruning and maintaining the Hale Park signage, as well as supporting little league teams, the HC Blood Bank and Boy Scouts. Sounds like a very nice organization!

Students seemed divided on the question of being photographed upon their return to school in this 1972 Whitnall Middle School photo . In the time of COVID-19, it’s not just the clothes and hair that make this photo seem like it was taken a million years ago.

Here’s a rare opportunity to see the bar of the Western Hotel in 3D! Of course, you need to have the knack... or a special viewer. As noted in the caption, the men shown are Julius Dreyfus, Mr. Cobb, Adolph Dreyfuss, and Joseph Dreyfuss. Julius and Adolph were sons of Joseph Drefuss. The mirror advertizes H.F. Fischedick a Milwaukee cigar manufacturer of the 19th century. (If you’d like to try 3-D viewing this image without a viewer, you may be able to pick up the knack here: https://www.vision3d.com/3views.html Good luck!).

From the Whitnall School District page

Gardening is experiencing a surge in popularity this year. So, some of us may identify with this local 4H member putting up her harvest of beans. Is it just me, or does that pressure canner look a little menacing to anyone else?