In the mid-1800s, immigrants from the country of Denmark began immigrating to the Wisconsin countryside. They found a land ripe for farming, at least once the trees were cleared. Many of the immigrants were dairy farmers and were attracted to the area by its proximity to large bodies of water and the climatic conditions which largely resembled those of their homeland. 

In Denmark's early days, milk was not able to be transported nearly as easily as it is today. Since there was the need to process milk locally, many cheese factories popped up throughout the countryside. In those days, farms were miniscule compared to today’s factory farms or even compared to our local family farms. Many farms only had 8-10 cows on 60-80 acres of farmland.

In 1953, Frank and Agnes Wood purchased The Denmark Press for $17,460 marking the beginning of their newspaper publishing career. This was a big jump for them at the time since Frank was only 24 years old and didn’t even own a car.

As World War II raged, the war needs of the country increased rapidly. Denmark was working hard to contribute its share to the war effort. One of the biggest contributors was the Pet Milk Company who produced evaporated milk. The Pet Milk Company occupied what was most recently the Land O’ Lakes factory.

Trinity Lutheran Church was the main Lutheran church in the Denmark area for decades.  When it was built, it was built near the first school in New Denmark, being a central location in the new community. However, the village of Denmark grew a few miles to the west leaving the village itself without a Lutheran church.

In the midst of the expansion of Denmark High School in 1957, the school district was also in negotiation to purchase additional property adjoining the school.

In 1957, the General Telephone Company made several large improvements which helped to modernize the area’s telephone system.

In 1957, the Denmark School District was in the midst of constructing a large addition to the then-high school which still serves the district as the Early Childhood Center today. The cornerstone laying ceremony for the new addition was held on October 8, 1957.

On May 9, 1914, tragedy struck the local community. St. James Catholic Church and School caught on fire, totally destroying them.

On March 5, 1958, a fire in downtown Denmark claimed a local landmark. In the early morning hours, a fire was started by a cooler unit located in the first floor barroom resulting in a burnt out barroom, a gutted adjoining dining room, and two gaping holes in the floor of the second floor hallway.

Over the years, Lake to Lake Cooperative made large investments into the Denmark plant to modernize it and update production capabilities to respond to changing market demands. A large renovation was completed in 1960 providing new capabilities to produce butter and powdered milk.

In 1983, as technology continued to develop, Denmark was about to get cable television. A new startup company known as Denmark Cablevision was working with the village to build cable television infrastructure throughout the village to provide this new, modern convenience to village residents.

With Presidents’ Day coming this Monday, The Denmark News thought it would be appropriate to highlight a little known connection between our community and one of the nation’s greatest presidents. To do this, we partnered with Mike Albers of the Denmark Historical Society to learn more about Knud Olsen and his relationship with both New Denmark and President Abraham Lincoln.

Stained glass has a long history in churches going back at least to the 7th Century in what is today England. There are excellent examples of stained glass in the great cathedrals of Europe that are still in place around 900-1,000 years later.

Throughout the 20th Century, the Denmark School District experienced a lot of growth as the village and surrounding communities increased in population.