WITTENBERG, WI – Plans to transform Wittenberg’s former drugstore and bakery building into a new Heritage Center are gaining momentum, and local historians say the effort began with a desire to preserve the community’s past before it disappeared. John Powers with the Wittenberg Historical Society says the project took shape after the passing of Bob Nueske, when the long-vacant building left the family unsure what to do next. “Family said, well, what do we do with that? And eventually they came to us because at that time, just a little over a year ago, we were thinking of building onto the museum we have on the other edge of town,” Powers said.
He says the goal of the new Heritage Center is to honor and protect the stories of the families who built the Wittenberg community. Many residents have approached the society with boxes of old letters, photos, and documents, unsure what to do with them. “I have all these family papers and I don’t know what to do with them. And there’s no one in the family who wants them, who’s interested in that kind of stuff anymore,” Powers explained.
A Minneapolis-based architect is now assisting the Historical Society, with hopes of opening the museum portion of the Heritage Center within the next year. Once that phase is complete, work will begin on cataloging and preserving the community’s historical records, giving Wittenberg a dedicated space to safeguard its heritage for future generations.
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