Peshtigo Fire Museum

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Exterior

Sign

Back interior

Front interior

The Peshtigo Fire Museum is a museum in Peshtigo, Wisconsin pertaining to the 1871 Peshtigo Fire and to other local history. There were 11,555 visitors to the museum in 2000.^[1] The museum is located adjacent to the Peshtigo Fire Cemetery, where the charred remains of over 350 people were buried in a mass grave.^[2] The cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The memorial at the cemetery was the first official state historical marker authorized by the State Historic Society of Wisconsin.^[3]

[edit] Collection

Few items survived the fire, since only one house under construction using green wood survived the fire.^[4] A featured item in the museum's collection is the Church tabernacle that local Roman Catholic priest Father Peter Pernin saved by submerging in the Peshtigo River.^[1] ^[5] The tabernacle survived the fire unblemished. Pernin published a book called "The Great Peshtigo Fire: An Eyewitness Account", which was republished by the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1971. The book documents Pernin's account of the tabernacle submersion in the river, rescue, and horrific accounts of discoveries during and after the fire. Other Peshtigo fire items include a small burned Bible and a melted glass dish discovered by a construction worker in 1995.^[4] The Bible is open to Psalms 106 and 107.^[6] Several letters with first person accounts of the fire and cleanup are on display. One letter recently added to the collection describes burying nine to ten hundred (900 to 1000) dead. There are several maps of Peshtigo, one before the fire and another showing the extent of the fire. A mural depicts before, during, and after the fire.

Other items that the museum features include a collection of antique items showing the history of the area. All items in the museum were donated.^[4]

[edit] History

The museum is located on the site where the local Roman Catholic church stood before the fire.^[1] Pictures showing the former Congregational church being moved across the Peshtigo River after a rebuilt Catholic church was destroyed by fire in 1927.^[1] The museum acquired the property in 1963 when the Catholic parish built a new structure at a different location.^[1] The museum is open daily from May until October.^[1]