Museum Exhibits

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.
History of Surveying

Exhibit on the History of Land Surveyors

On loan from the Society of Wisconsin Land Surveyors Foundation, this exhibit shows the evolution of tools used by these brave men who ventured into the unknown wilderness to map natural resources and boundary lines.
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.