Caroline Quiner Ingall's Brookfield, Wisconsin home
  ...and a sidetrip to Menomonie, Wisconsin

As I write this I'm in the car, again driving back home across Wisconsin (Husband is actually driving; I'm not computing/writing as I drive!), on September 23, 2007 returning from a trip East. As a sidetrack on this trip we stopped at Malone, New York, Almanzo Wilder's home (see photos). Getting the webpage ready for that page reminded me I still hadn't put up the photos of the stop in Brookfield.

Brookfield, Wisconsin, was on the disappointing side, as these things go. We hunted down their tourism office and surprised the folks there by mentioning their town had a Laura Ingalls Wilder connection. If they made note of my visit and comments, and looked up "Little House in Brookfield", you may find historical markers up for later visits. For my visit in July 2007, however, there was nothing marked and not much of anything to see.

There is a fine old cemetery nearby with good markers from the historical society. There are a number of old headstones--some illegible--that may date from Caroline's time. I suspect that like many pioneer cemeteries that age the people in the first generation of settlers could not afford durable stone markers on gravesites, using wood markers that didn't last through time, instead. Wisconsin was also quite fire-prone in the 1800s which may have been a reason so little from Caroline's time still exists (We also stopped in Peshtigo, WI, site of the worst wildfire in US history. The town was decimated. This event is relatively unknown because it took place the same night as the Great Chicago Fire which grabbed the headlines. Interesting aside: just north of Peshtigo was Ingallstown, Wisconsin).

Another side-track on this trip came when we followed the "Ingalls" informational road signs on I-94 in Wisconsin which say, "Laura Ingalls Wilder Historical Highway, Exit 47" in Menomonie (pronounced meh-nom-oh-nee). We gave the signs directing us off the freeway a sporting chance, though they went on for miles with numerous turns. Eventually we reached what seemed to be the endpoint--the fine-looking building in the photo below. It was under construction, which didn't deter me, I went in anyhow. Those in the building (after some puzzlement) directed me a block or so away to the tourism/Chamber of Commerce office. That fine old building did have some sort of Ingalls connection, though, as you can see from the other photo. There was a plaque with the name "Marion Ingalls McLean". The tourism office apologized for the deceptive signs on the freeway, saying they were meant to direct people toward Pepin, Wisconsin and the "Little House in the Big Woods" homesite there. And, yes, the highway in Menomonie is the exit to take for Pepin if you're westbound on I-94. Pepin is about 25 miles away at that point.