Amberg Historical Society President Ken Jones shows the original 1903 fire engine on display at the museum in Amberg, Wis. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo)

AMBERG, Wis. — Many interesting artifacts and the stories behind them can be found at the Amberg Historical Museum Complex.

The town of Amberg, which once encompassed areas all the way up to Niagara, was named after William Amberg of Chicago — but Amberg himself never lived in the area, historical society president Ken Jones said.

“He was in printing. Granite was an investment for him, on which he lost money,” Jones said. Amberg owned the Amberg Granite Company and had a large, 300-foot-long finishing shed constructed for the quarry.

The historical society formed in 1983 by people organizing for the town’s centennial celebration in 1990.

Mike Churchill, a native of Amberg and 20-year member of the society, said they formed the society at the right time. The 12 original members collected a lot of the pictures and artifacts.

“There were still some of the older families that still had things to contribute to the place. If you would have waited until now, you wouldn’t be able to collect much of anything,” Churchill said.

“Look at all the quarries. A lot of them are privately owned now; all the mine equipment is gone,” Jones added.

A fire in 1903 wiped out most of the town. “The fire occurred in July and they had the town rebuilt by November,” Jones said.

There is a humorous story about the first fire engine, purchased in 1903 after the fire. “The first fire call they had — when they got the engine — they got so excited they left the fire chief,” Jones said.

One of the first things on display when entering the main museum building is a player piano received a few years ago.

Churchill said he likes to ask kids when they come in, “Do you play piano?” And if they say no, “Well, come here, you can play this one.'” The piano plays a song by pushing the pedals.

Visitors can do a self-guided tour in the museum using the QR codes and interactive displays with recorded histories of some of the photos or artifacts.

The museum also has several “mystery boxes” for more hands-on interactions.

The main building is organized by categories. The business section has a display about the man the town was named for and other local businesses. It also explains the fire.

The farm area has an old generator that was operated by 16 batteries.

In the veterans area, people can listen to records veterans had made to send to their families. “They (the families) were excited to get something from them, so they would go buy a record player,” Jones said.

The quarry exhibit details how Amberg was founded from granite. “We were considered the leading producer of granite in the Midwest,” Jones said. “That’s what made the boom town.” Many of the towns in the region, he added, were named after the quarries.

Both were intrigued by an early photo in the logging area of a log jam being blown up.

“That’s at Dave’s Falls. How somebody got that picture — it’s amazing. He’s in a boat below there waiting for all those logs,” Churchill said.

“They didn’t have flash. The timing had to be perfect. That was a nervy thing to do,” Jones said.

The museum also has a blacksmith shop and an archive area. At the computer kiosk, visitors can listen to stories about the past.

Churchill designed the section dedicated to Native Americans. His great-grandfather, Warren Buckman, was one of the first residents of the area. He operated a trading post. He was married to Florence Hale, who had operated a trading post near Waubee Lake. The exhibit includes a display of native medicines with Latin, English and Potawatomi names and the use.

One item in the display, a small medicine bag, was found in Green Bay in the garbage and given to Churchill. While he was in Minnesota for college, he came across a black and white photograph of a women with the bag. Year’s later, he was a museum in Keshena, Wis., and they had a lot of photos of the bag and knew the identity of the woman.

“Some of her adult grandchildren came to see it and they never knew what color it was because they had only seen it in black and white,” Churchill said.

The original Town Hall next door includes a general store exhibit, a 1930 kitchen, a school room with items from the original Amberg School, as well as other items.

The upstairs community room has a display of models of 1890 pioneer buildings created by former resident Hal Loche. It was entered and displayed at the Marinette County Fair in Wausaukee and was later donated to the museum.

This once was a general purpose room used for town meetings, dances, parties — even basketball games. The stage was a venue for plays and musical performances. In a closet behind the stage, they discovered a lot of old legal records that included towns north of Amberg, because they had to come to Amberg to register births, deaths, marriages. They also found 100s of chattel mortgages.

“People, more often than not, instead of going to the bank to get money, went to their neighbor. You have to sign this note. That was early enough to include Niagara in there,” Churchill said.

“Mike went through a lot of the old town records that were in a huge pile in a closet,” Jones said. Niagara and Pembine became their own communities in 1914. Beecher also later became its own municipality.

But prior to that, they traveled to Amberg to vote.

“My grandmother, she was born here, and she remembered election day here and the people from the north would come in on the train to vote. When she was a little girl, she wasn’t allowed to go out of the house because of all these men around drinking,” Churchill said.

“People would hang lunches on the fence for them and the dogs would steal them,” Jones said.

“You had a lot of single guys, a lot of drinking guys,” Churchill said. “They all found an excuse to fight each other.”

Jones said the mix included lumbermen, railroad and quarry workers, log drivers. “I call it ‘the Wild West of the Midwest.’ That’s all in the QR codes. A lot of people don’t take the time to listen to these stories.”

But he did joke later in the tour that if “a person took the time to listen to all those stories and watch the videos, they’d be here for six hours.”

Another unique display is the Pavigleo Derrick, which operated by steam engine and was used to lift granite at the quarries. The wooden derrick is the only one of its kind in Wisconsin. The derrick was recently damaged and is in need of repairs. It is one of the upcoming projects the society plans to undertake.

There are also several other buildings including the original stables and Amberg depot. A small depot from Cederville was moved to the museum site and includes history of Cedarville, which was 5 miles away, and hobos that came by rail to the area.

The Hertitage House depicts early life in Amberg and has a bedroom display featuring Amberg’s bed and dresser. Members of the historical society use the stoves to make cookies for an annual museum fundraiser. Another future project is replacing the sidewalk in front of the building.

They are constantly adding and upgrading displays and buildings. Jones said that they often have temporary displays set up to feature something in the area, like a nearby town that no longer exists.

The museum at N15065 Grant St. is open from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturdays to Labor Day weekend. Entry is free, but donations are accepted. There are also several publications about Amberg and other areas that can be purchased at the museum. Some are available on Amazon as well.