Historical Society to close on firehouse this week

The sale of the historic Saukville fire station on Mill Street to the Ozaukee County Historical Society is scheduled to close on Friday, Nov. 14, but moving the front of the firehouse to Pioneer Village at Hawthorne Hills County Park won’t happen until next year, society officials say.

Plans had been to move the front third of the building this month, but the society has not yet received a cost estimate or clearances from We Energies, Society President Mary Ann Velnetske said.

Moving the historic landmark is part of an arrangement between the Saukville and Ozaukee County historical societies after the Saukville group dissolved and turned its assets and collections over to the Ozaukee County Historical Society.

The back two-thirds of the building, which served as headquarters of the Saukville Historical Society, has been purchased by village resident Dieter Zenikel for $120,000. 

The proceeds of the sale will go toward the cost of moving the 25-foot-tall building, transporting it the four miles to Pioneer Village and laying the foundation there, Velnetske said. 

“We still do not have an estimate from We Energies, so we do not know the final budget or cost,” she said.

Transporting the building will require We Energies to take down power lines along Highway O out to Hawthorne Hills.

Fundraising continues in case the sale proceeds do not cover the entire cost of the move and set up, she said. 

“We have received several donations and had a Dine to Donate event on Saturday at Toast in Cedarburg and raised quite a bit of money due to the generosity of Gordon Goggin and his establishment.”

There have been other private donations and a grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation totaling about $15,000, she said.

“We will continue to raise funds throughout the winter months,” she said.

Plans call for setting the fire station on a foundation at the east end of Pioneer Village near the 1912 train station and 1940s-era caboose, she said.

Earlier this year, the Saukville Village Board gave up its right of first refusal on the historic firehouse at 200 Mill St., opening the way for it to be sold.

Zenikel told the village he hopes to store his collection of cars there.

The site is currently zoned for institutional use. Some residents in August objected when it was proposed to change the zoning to industrial. But village officials later decided no change in zoning was necessary.

The back two-thirds of the building was built in the 1940s. The historical society took it over in 1988 and from there operated the annual Crossroads Rendezvous for many years beginning in 1991 to celebrate Saukville’s history as a gathering spot for pioneers, explorers and Native Americans. It brought thousands of people to the village each year but ended in 2006.

The event was resurrected by a group of re-enactors in 2018 but fell victim to the pandemic and was canceled in 2020.

The county historical society opted to not take over the building.

“We have three properties and don’t have the volunteers to operate another,” Velnetske said last summer. “We have limits. We just could not see taking on another property. The best way to preserve it and show it would be to move it to Pioneer Village.”

The 7.5-acre Pioneer Village living history museum consists of more than 24 buildings dating from the 1840s to early 1900s. They include a one-room schoolhouse and a blacksmith shop as well as the train depot and pioneer cabins.

The group leases the Pioneer Village property from Ozaukee County. Its other properties are Stony Hill School in Waubeka and the Hazel Wirth Archives and Research Center in downtown Cedarburg.

The lack of volunteers is what led to the demise of the Saukville group, Saukville Historical Society President Nola Scherer-Luft said.

“Like many organizations, there just aren’t enough volunteers,” she said. “There are only five or six of us and we’re getting to that age where we just can’t do it all.

“It is sad for all the people who have been involved and put so much time and effort into it and the fundraising that’s gone on since 1988,” she said.

The Ozaukee County Historical Society has offered to accept material, picture or other items related to Saukville history.

Pioneer Village is open from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays from May 21 through Oct. 30 and for special events.

For more information, visit www.ozaukeecounty.gov/657/Pioneer-Village