Thank you for your service!
We’re so grateful to the group of students from Portage High School who created our newest permanent exhibit – MILITARY HEROES. We have artifacts, personal histories, and photographs of Portage men and women who have served in the military to ensure our freedom from the Civil War to present. Every one to two year, we will emphasize a different war, military branch, etc.
ROLL OF HONOR
In December 1942, a campaign for funds was established for an outdoor Roll of Honor because the community wanted to honor the soldiers serving in World War II. The memorial was dedicated on Memorial Day in 1943. When changes to the road structure on West Wisconsin Street, the Roll of Honor was disassembled in September 1997 with the thought that it would later be resurrected in a different location. Unfortunately, there was a problem in trying to move it – the stone disintegrated in the workers’ hands while trying to take it apart and the whole thing crumbled. A new monument was not built.
Where did the 976 name plaques go? Many of the leather name plates were in disrepair, as they had been in the elements for so many years. We have now brought them out of the basement and many of the name tags are now on display at the museum.
Military Heroes
Military Heroes
Military Heroes
Military Heroes
OTHER EXHIBITS
Our exhibits tell our stories
Step into the past to learn about our history: the American Indians who lived here for thousands of years, the explorers who visited, the settlers who moved here in the early 1800’s, followed by the entrepreneurs who saw opportunity, and the men and women who built homes, schools, stores and churches. Most of the artifacts in our exhibits came from Portage residents who lived ordinary lives in this small town on the big river.
