New Glarus is the only town in America founded by the Swiss Immigration Society. These early settlers, laborers in the textile industry back in Switzerland, became the famous Wisconsin dairy farmers of later generations. While embracing the American ways of their new home--adopting, for example, the midwestern vernacular and Greek Revival boomtown architecture so popular at the time--the Swiss of New Glarus never lost sight of their rich European heritage. In 1937, the town decided to present the Wilhelm Tell Pageant to the public. Performed every summer to this day, it is the longest-running play in a foreign language in the United States. The annual Wilhelm Tell Festival, along with historic Puempel's Tavern, social clubs such as the New Glarus Yodelers, and the 14-building complex called Swiss Historical Village, each seen in this book through vintage images, is testament to why New Glarus has been dubbed "America's Little Switzerland."
