In the mid-1950s, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church was in the midst of a building campaign to build a new church building. The building they were in at the time was far too small to meet the needs of the growing congregation.

The first Danish settlers, and the second settlers overall, in what would become the Town of New Denmark were Niels and Laurentine Gotfredsen. They were the pioneers of what would become one of the first large-scale Danish settlements in the United States. Because of this, the couple was referred to as the “King and Queen of Denmark”.

In the very early days of the New Denmark settlement, life was not easy. Without easy access to large towns or modern conveniences, the early immigrants had to make do with what they had.

Denmark State Bank was founded in 1909 to provide banking services to the growing community of Denmark. They completed their first permanent building in November 1909 on Main Street. 

In 1932, construction on the new All Saints Church was well under way. Plans had been drawn up in 1912 for a complete church for the new congregation, which had been founded the year prior, but due to a lack of funds, just the basement had been completed. The congregation worshiped in the basement church for 20 years before deciding to construct a complete church.

This week, The Denmark News would like to introduce a new series entitled the “Historical Question of the Week”. We have teamed up with the experts at the Denmark Historical Society to find puzzling mysteries within their extensive collection and attempt to find the answers.

In the early 1900s, medical treatment was severely lacking compared to the present day, and unsanitary practices did not help in many situations.  

For the first few years after immigrants began settling in the Denmark area, there was no school. In 1854, that changed with the creation of District No. 5 of the town of De Pere.

In the 1950s, many one- and two-room schoolhouses still operated throughout the state.  However, many people were beginning to see the benefits of consolidating into larger school districts with the ability to share a larger high school.

Father Chester Dionne, a longtime pastor at All Saints and Holy Trinity Congregations, celebrated 25 years of service to the Denmark community with a celebration in 1969. On May 18, 1969, the congregation held a Mass of Thanksgiving at 8:15 a.m. followed by an open house from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

As immigrants began settling in the vicinity of Cooperstown, the need arose for a church.  With many of the immigrants coming from Catholic strongholds of Ireland, Bohemia, and Germany, it was natural that a Catholic church would be the first to serve the community.

Today, we take for granted the abundant number of churches in our area. However, this was not the case when immigrants first began to settle in the New Denmark area in the mid-1800s. At the time, the population was very small and could not support a formal church with a resident pastor.

In 1985, St. John Lutheran Church in Maribel was celebrating several milestones. The year marked 130 years since the church’s founding, 60 years in their present church building, and the recent completion of a large renovation project at their school.

In 1966, a new, modern grocery store opened in downtown Denmark. Known as Larry’s Town and Country Super Market, it was owned by Larry George.

In 1926, businessmen in the growing Village of Denmark decided the village could benefit from a second banking option. Since it was founded in 1909, Denmark State Bank was the only financial institution in the village, so a group of local businessmen came together and formed Badger State Bank.