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Photos and information on both to help you plan a visit. You are greeted with life as it was, just prior to the 1871 fire, through home, school and display rooms filled with actual items used in that time. Volunteers are ready to answer your questions. Admission is free. The cemetery is immediately adjacent to the museum building. Donations are welcomed by this local volunteer organization that lovingly cares for both. There were 11,555 visitors in the year 2000, representing all 50 U.S. States, Washington, D.C. and 22 Foreign Countries, and 31 group tours were conducted.
for a larger view please click HERE |
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 Photos courtesy of Pat Drees - descendant of survivors. |
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ADMISSION IS FREE.
DONATIONS ARE MOST WELCOMED.
PESHTIGO
FIRE MUSEUM
400
OCONTO
AVE.
PESHTIGO,WI
54157
Phone:
715-582-3244
One
block
off Highway 41
at
the
corner of French Street and Ellis Ave.
The museum is housed in the former Congregational Church building in the Village of Peshtigo. The building was the first church to be rebuilt after the fire of October 8, 1871. Large mural depictions, recreated home and school rooms, display rooms are filled with items common to life in Peshtigo at the time of the fire.
CEMETERY
For a transcription of the grave stones in this cemetery please click HERE.
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 Mass Grave |
The last burial was in 1916.
The mass grave contains the remains of up to 350 unidentified fire victims.
This
cemetery was established years before the fire
for the members of the Congregational Church in Peshtigo. The church
was
gone in the fire, but the surviving congregation members decided to
open
the cemetery to all people who needed a grave site. Eye witness
accounts
by volunteer rescue workers, after the fire, document wagons carrying
human
remains lined up as far as three miles, awaiting a chance to put the
victims
to rest. Some waited with the remains of neighbors, friends and loved
ones,
while others accompanied unidentified remains to their final resting
place.
Many were burned beyond recognition and their names will never be known.
Back to Peshtigo Fire Home Page