The following are two videos received many years ago by the Eagle Historical Society from the family of a relative of both Anton Stute (Stute farm) and Julia Mich, both former residents of Eagle. The first is titled “Early 1940’s The Happy Years – Cousins at Stute’s Farm”, and the second is titled “Village of Eagle 1940’s with Grandma Mich”. They share a glimpse of the care-free life of kids in the 1940’s before the war while also capturing the smiling faces of cousins and other relatives long-since gone.

Early 1940’s Fun at Stute Farm (6 Min 29 Sec)

Village of Eagle 1940’s with Grandma Mich (5 Min 54 Sec)

The Stute farm, located west of the Village of Eagle, Wisconsin on State Hwy 59 and Hwy Z, was a 180-acre farm settled in the 1850’s by German settler Anton Stute. He worked the land and turned the operation over to his son Joseph shortly after 1900. The land had plentiful spring water so in the early 1900’s, Joseph built a springhouse to keep the animals and other debris from contaminating the fresh water. He later pumped the fresh cold water to the farm house, milkhouse and animal water troughs. His wife, Agatha, stored butter, milk, lard, and other perishables into large stoneware crocks and placed them in the cool water inside the springhouse to keep them from spoiling. Joseph’s son Anton “Tony” worked the farm with him, the third generation on the family farm.

The farm was sold in 1943 and eventually purchased by the Wisconsin DNR in 1981. It is now called the “Stute Springs Nature Trail” and is open to the public.

(information provided by Waymarking.com at Stute Springs and Homestead – Natural Springs on Waymarking.com)

***

***