MENUWeekly Column
Each week a small segment of Vernon County history is published in the county papers.
For the week of 7/5/2026
by Kristen Parrott, curator
As part of our summer celebration of the U.S. 250th, the Vernon County Historical Society is hosting a public reading of the Declaration of Independence on Wednesday, July 8, at 5PM. This event will commemorate the first public reading of the Declaration, 250 years ago on July 8, 1776, in Philadelphia. Americans in all 50 states and 16 territories of the United States will be reading the Declaration of Independence “together” at the same time on July 8 this year.
Our reading will take place outside at the Vernon County Museum and History Center, located at the corner of S. Main St. and E. South St. in Viroqua. Many readers from the community will take part, each reading a different portion from the Declaration. Everyone is welcome to attend. In case of rain, the event will move inside to the conference room.
Gravestones will be the topic of the next genealogy class, which will be held at the history center on Thursday, July 9, at 10AM. Teacher Karen Sherry will talk about the symbols found on historic gravestones. Weeping willows, pointing or clasping hands, urns, and angels are just a few of the designs and figures found on old stones in cemeteries. Family history buffs love to wander through old cemeteries looking for ancestors, and the graves of unrelated people can be just as interesting.
New students are always welcome to join the class. Vernon County Historical Society members attend for free, and non-members are asked to pay $5 per session. Classes are held in the first-floor, wheelchair-accessible, air-conditioned conference room.
One all-American story that you can read this summer of the 250th is that of lifelong Vernon County resident Duane Hoff. His autobiography, Never Enough Wheels, has just been published this year, 2026, four years after his death in 2022. The book has been edited and distributed by family and friends. It’s arranged by decades, the 1930’s into the 2000’s, and is full of family photos and stories of local people. Duane and his wife Dana owned Hoff’s Mobil Service Station on Viroqua’s Main Street for nearly 40 years. The slim softcover book costs $10, and you purchase it at our museum’s gift shop.
Duane Hoff’s just-published autobiography Never Enough Wheels
is available for purchase at the museum’s gift shop.
For the week of 6/28/2026
by Kristen Parrott, curator
This is it, the moment we’ve been waiting for! July 2026 has arrived, when we officially commemorate the 250th birthday of the United States. History organizations have been planning for this anniversary for several years now, hoping to make it meaningful for everyone.
July 4, 1776, was the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and is considered the day when the United States was founded. The American Association for State and Local History has suggested several themes for the 250th, including We the People, Power of Place, American Experiment, Unfinished Revolutions, and Doing History, and we are using these to guide our work.
Although Wisconsin was not one of the original 13 colonies, we can still examine the Revolutionary period and these themes. We can think about what this place was like in 1776, and how the U.S. form of government has worked here over the years, who has lived here and what it means to belong to a place, and many other ideas.
July will be the big month of celebration, but the U.S. 250th will continue to be marked for several months to come. On Saturday, July 4, the official birthday, we will host the annual Strawberry Shortcake Social at the historic Sherry-Butt House, 795 N. Main St., Viroqua, from 1 to 5PM. On Wednesday, July 8, at 5PM, we will host a public reading of the Declaration of Independence outside at the history center, to commemorate the first public reading of the Declaration on July 8, 1776, in Philadelphia. And on Tuesday, July 21, UW Madison Prof. Daniel Kapust will speak on “The Idea of America and the Constitutional Debates” at the history center at 6PM.
Then in August, because several branches of the military are also commemorating their 250th birthdays, we will host a traveling exhibit from the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison. The “Fur, Feathers and Fidelity: Military Mascots” traveling exhibit features mascots and their important service in the military. Whether a lion, a monkey, or a dog, military mascots are a source of pride and morale for troops. The exhibit will be at the museum and history center from Saturday, August 1, through Thursday, August 27.
Our public hours in the summer are Monday through Friday, 11AM to 4PM, and Saturday, 10AM to 2PM. Exhibits throughout the museum touch on the themes of the U.S. 250th. Stop by for a visit this summer to learn more about this important moment in history!
Homemakers club marching in the bicentennial parade in Ontario in 1976, with Phyllis Benck in the middle row, left. Photo contributed by Eric Gebert, Phyllis’ grandson.
The previous two articles: