The Marquette County Historical Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and sharing the rich history of Marquette County, Wisconsin. As an all-volunteer organization, we operate through the generous donations of our community members. Our museum and office are located in Westfield, but we serve the entire Marquette County region.
Our grounds include the Nelson/Cochrane house, pictured here, the restored Riverside Schoolhouse, and the Kerst research building and museum. We recently acquired the old blacksmith shop located two doors to the north of the Nelson/Cochrane house.
ANNUAL COOKIE WALK
in conjunction with
Westfield Taste N Tour
November 29 - 29
The Marquette County Historical Society, annually selects a Hero of History based on contributions that varying candidates have made to our cause. 2024 saw the addition of Daryl Christensen (Left in photo) as our latest inductee. Daryl was also inducted into the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame on March 8, 2025
The Board of Directors for the Marquette County Historical Society meets the second Thursday of each month at 3 p.m. at the Museum.
Any other meetings will be announced here.
2025
President - Norm Barnard
Vice President - Rich Faltz
Secretary - Jeanne Metcalf
Treasurer - Gary Sorenson
Directors - Sue Standke
Carol Claesges
Chuck Shultz
Pam Iruk
Norma Weisbrod
Todd Kruger
The Marquette County Historical Society has an extensive database of obituaries. We try to maintain this database on a quarterly basis. We currently have over 17,000 obituaries in our files.
Click on the picture above to access a link that will enable you to download the most recently updated spreadsheet containing all of our recorded obituaries.
by Norm Barnard
At the urging of a friend, the summer of 2022 found me momentarily hanging up retirement and mowing grass for the Westfield School District. It was nice to have some additional cash added to the retirement flow but it did nip into my leisure time.
It is amazing how one’s mind works on occasion. It has been my experience that you get a lot of “think” time when you spend most of your day on a riding mower. I’ll get to that in a bit. The impetus for this particular episode is the result of one of those “amazing” incidences when sleeplessness overtook me at around 12:30 a.m. and all sorts of things began creeping out of my already muddled thoughts. Since sleep wasn’t forthcoming, I left the comfort of my bed and tiptoed down to the computer and made some hasty notes, knowing that some of the finer points would elude me on the morrow.
I will focus on one particular day towards the end of the summer. It was probably August or maybe into September. Anyway, it was the end of the season and I had already made up my mind that I would not pursue employment during the next summer. Having made that decision, I was busy working on the baseball field at the county fairgrounds. Just so you know, athletic fields get attention reserved for scientific research. They need to be borderline perfection as appearances are everything. Foul ball territory is mowed the long way and the outfield follows the outside curve of the infield.
It was while mowing the outfield. I was suddenly transformed into Sam Beckett of the TV series Quantum Leap and it was the mid 1950’s when I was 7 to 10 years old. The old grandstand was there as well as the raised concrete stage area for various performances during the county fair. Because baseball was probably the sole source of weekend entertainment during that time period, there was the ever present beer stand for liquid refreshment during those sometimes scorching Sunday afternoon ball games.
Memories came flooding back from those early years as the sun shone down on me mowing row after row utilizing the width of the mower deck to its fullest advantage. I could see people enjoying a similar day back in that time when baseball was king. World War II was over and people were prospering and allowed to enjoy their leisure time. A constant banter arose from the ball field as the players kept a constant “chatter” to encourage their pitcher or perhaps the star hitter for the team. Spectators cheering (or jeering) local ball players. Some of us young lads had more of an entrepreneurial interest in those Sunday afternoons. We would be “hired” by the purveyors of liquid refreshment to scrounge the spectator areas and retrieve empty beer and soda bottles for during that time period, not only was recycling a thing, those bottles were actually returned to the bottler and reused. Payment was usually a free bottle of soda or two for our efforts.
As I continued, row after row, I had a not totally obstructed view of the hill to the east of the fairgrounds. The location of Westfield’s south cemetery where my dad, Ed Barnard now lies. Thoughts of those bygone days included dad and somewhere in the middle of that outfield, I stopped and just took in all in. I half expected to see dad walk out onto that field for a quick visit, but alas it was only a vision conjured up in my mind. Perhaps just a wish. But I am reminded of a song from the old Disney movie, Cinderella. “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes”. That, dear friends, was my dream for that day.
Perhaps, someday, Dad and I will sit together on that hill and look down at future county fairs and watch a ballgame together.
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Phone
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$15/yr. INDIVIDUAL
$25/yr. Sustaining
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$30/yr. FAMILY
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$225/LIFETIME
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Mail to:
Marquette County Historical Society
125 Lawrence St. Box 172
Westfield, WI 53964