In 1891, Pastor Peter J. Østergaard arrived in New Denmark to begin his new post as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church. Pastor Østergaard graduated from Augsburg Seminary in 1884, and he was ordained on June 15, 1884 in Westbrook, Minnesota. He had previously served a congregation in Mankato before coming to New Denmark.

During World War I, young men from across the country joined the armed forces to help with the war effort. Large recruitment efforts were undertaken, even in small communities like Denmark.

In the early 1900s, as cars began to increase in popularity and populations continued to grow, Wisconsin began to formalize and build out their road network across the state.

In 1910, Father John Rohlinger was appointed pastor at St. James Parish in Cooperstown. As the Catholic priest for the area, he clearly saw a need for a new church in the growing Village of Denmark. Early Catholic residents of Denmark were forced to travel long distances to churches in the outlying communities.

From its earliest days over 100 years ago, the Denmark Fire Department has been ready to serve residents in the village of Denmark and surrounding communities. In 1916, the village made several large purchases of fire equipment.

By: Chris C. Nelson, Publisher and Owner

Photographic postcard view of the Main Street commercial district, with automobiles and trucks parked at the curbs. Signs are on the buildings for Dinner's Hotel Tavern, Collard's Bar and Denmark Bakery. Caption reads: "Main Street, Denmark, Wis."

This was taken in the 1930s. Courtesy: Wisconsin Historical Society

A long-time staple in church music is the pipe organ. When All Saints was built from 1932-1933, finding a pipe organ was important to the congregation. Father John Gehl decided to purchase a rebuilt Maxcy-Barton pipe organ at a cost of $1,508.50.

In January 1942, the United States was in the midst of World War II. The war being fought on two fronts drastically affected the lives of everyone in the country. Even rural communities like Denmark were affected, and they stepped up to do their part in order to support the war effort.

In the early days of the Denmark Library, the library was located in the basement of the Denmark State Bank building. It was a great benefit for the village residents to have a local library, but a big issue arose in 1941.

The first parsonage built at Trinity Lutheran Church was built in 1882, soon after the arrival of the first resident pastor of the new congregation, Rasmus Nielsen, in 1881. This parsonage served the congregation well for 32 years. However, in 1914, the congregation decided to build a new parsonage.

On Tuesday, December 9, 1941, Holy Trinity Parish in New Denmark held a large celebration for their Diamond Jubilee. Holy Trinity was founded on December 9, 1866, by fifteen families of Bohemian immigrants. Two acres of land were purchased from Franz Kozlovsky for $30, which the church still occupies today. Prior to the founding of Holy Trinity, members had to travel about nine miles to St.

In the early days of Denmark, there were an abundance of Lutheran churches. The first Lutheran church in the area, the Danish-Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Congregation, was organized in 1861. Due to theological disagreements, a breakaway congregation called the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Congregation was formed in 1866.

In 1967, Wisconsin voters passed an amendment to the state constitution that allowed the state legislature to provide for the use of public school transportation for students to private schools. This created large ramifications for public school districts, requiring them to transport many additional students.

In the fall of 1920, milk prices began to fall. As a result, the Danish Pride Milk Products Company was forced to divert their milk supply to cream for butter and ice cream, causing a large drop in price paid to farmers for their milk.

The first business in Denmark, a general store and cheese factory owned by Hans Beyer, was started in 1875. Beyer’s store was located on the corner of Main Street and North Wall Street, where Subway is today. Since Denmark was, at that time anyway, so far from Green Bay, Beyer’s store served as an important place for the community to purchase supplies without always needing to travel to Green Bay.