Museum Exhibits

CU 8057

Limited-time ‘Signature Quilt Exhibition’ 

October 14-31

Signature Quilts dating from 1916 to 2008 will be on display throughout the museum for three weeks including the 'Bicentennial Signature Quilt' (pictured here) where triangles were sold to community members at the 1975 Centennial Arts Fair in Forester Hall. Also featured is the 'Log Cabin' Signature Quilt made by the German Methodist Ladies Aid Society in 1920 who raised money by selling signature space for only ten cents. 

Assisted and advised by Klaudeen Hansen, a local quilting expert and organizer of the Prairie Heritage Quilt Show (1974-2019), the Museum will proudly display winners of their 2020 Georgia O’Keeffe Block Challenge. Inspired by the art of Sun Prairie’s most famous resident, designs were judged in three categories; cityscapes, large flowers and southwest landscapes.


Bird Home BW

Exhibits of the Historical Museum & the Bird Family

The Charles H. Bird home (shown here) was donated to the village of Sun Prairie in the 1922 as a memorial to the first settler and his family.  Due to the weak condition of the home, the donor agreed to its removal, and the replacement by the current building. Learn more about this remarkable family and the Museum, founded in 1968.

Porcelain Employees 1921-1923

Exhibit on the WI Porcelain Company

The Wisconsin Porcelain Company was Sun Prairie's largest employer from 1940-1963. Started in 1920 and managed by Ludwig A. Stohl, the company produced up to 600,000 fuses per day and shipped them by rail to a supplier in St. Louis. Hiring men and women equally, this company is often credited for saving the city during the Great Depression, by employing citizens in menial jobs to keep them from leaving to find work elsewhere.
red-canna-by-georgia-okeefe-1924

Georgia O'Keeffe Room

Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (1887-1986) was a world-renowned artist born in Sun Prairie, who leaned on her Wisconsin upbringing and strength to make her way in a predominately male art world. Known as "The Mother of American Modernism" she is remembered with an historical marker where her house once stood and a dedicated room in our museum.
SP Train Station (640x446)

Exhibit on the Sun Prairie Train Depot

Arguably the most important factor in growing Sun Prairie from a small agricultural community to a bustling village, this little depot was a center of commerce competing with Madison for agricultural produce. Visit the Museum to see a beautiful display of traveling trunks used by our citizens over the last 100 years.