In January 1986, Denmark State Bank announced its intent to acquire the Maribel-Whitelaw Bank. At the time of the acquisition, Denmark State Bank had two branches, one in Denmark and one in Bellevue, while Maribel-Whitelaw Bank had branches in Maribel and Whitelaw. 

World War I represented a turning point in war and military tactics. As new technologies developed in society, technologies also developed in war. At the beginning of World War I, horses were still used extensively. However, as the war went on, each country reduced their utilization of cavalry units due to the vulnerability of horses to modern machine gun fire, artillery fire, and tanks. 

In 1964, the world’s largest cheese was en route to New York. Steve Suidzinski and his team of cheesemakers crafted a block of cheese that weighed over 17 tons which was going to be on display at the New York World’s Fair.  The Wisconsin Cheese Foundation helped coordinate the effort and helped plan the route and stops along the way to ensure the cheese made it safely to New York.

In the late 1800s, Charles Steinbrecher immigrated to the United States from Austria. He had a dream of constructing a hotel-health spa similar to those he saw back home in Innsbruck, Austria. Unfortunately, he was never able to bring his hotel designs to life before he passed away in 1892. Charles’s son, Father Francis Steinbrecher, was able to fully realize his father’s dream when he built the Maribel Caves Hotel in Cooperstown.

With the recent world record set by Dufeck Wood Products, it’s interesting to note this is not the only world record that was set by a Denmark area company. In 1964, Steve Suidzinski of Steve’s Cheese crafted a behemoth 34,591-pound block of cheese that was displayed at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York.

When All Saints Catholic Church was founded, it was not founded as a full-fledged parish as it is today. All Saints was originally a mission church of St. James Parish in Cooperstown. A mission church is usually a smaller church that does not have a full parish status and is supported by
another parish.

In 1891, Pastor Peter J. Østergaard arrived in New Denmark to begin his new post as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church. Pastor Østergaard graduated from Augsburg Seminary in 1884, and he was ordained on June 15, 1884 in Westbrook, Minnesota. He had previously served a congregation in Mankato before coming to New Denmark.

During World War I, young men from across the country joined the armed forces to help with the war effort. Large recruitment efforts were undertaken, even in small communities like Denmark.

In the early 1900s, as cars began to increase in popularity and populations continued to grow, Wisconsin began to formalize and build out their road network across the state.

In 1910, Father John Rohlinger was appointed pastor at St. James Parish in Cooperstown. As the Catholic priest for the area, he clearly saw a need for a new church in the growing Village of Denmark. Early Catholic residents of Denmark were forced to travel long distances to churches in the outlying communities.

From its earliest days over 100 years ago, the Denmark Fire Department has been ready to serve residents in the village of Denmark and surrounding communities. In 1916, the village made several large purchases of fire equipment.

By: Chris C. Nelson, Publisher and Owner

Photographic postcard view of the Main Street commercial district, with automobiles and trucks parked at the curbs. Signs are on the buildings for Dinner's Hotel Tavern, Collard's Bar and Denmark Bakery. Caption reads: "Main Street, Denmark, Wis."

This was taken in the 1930s. Courtesy: Wisconsin Historical Society

A long-time staple in church music is the pipe organ. When All Saints was built from 1932-1933, finding a pipe organ was important to the congregation. Father John Gehl decided to purchase a rebuilt Maxcy-Barton pipe organ at a cost of $1,508.50.

In January 1942, the United States was in the midst of World War II. The war being fought on two fronts drastically affected the lives of everyone in the country. Even rural communities like Denmark were affected, and they stepped up to do their part in order to support the war effort.

In the early days of the Denmark Library, the library was located in the basement of the Denmark State Bank building. It was a great benefit for the village residents to have a local library, but a big issue arose in 1941.