MONROE - A century-old wooden farmstead cheese plant that sat undiscovered and unused for nearly 100 years will once again be making cheese by year's end.
Arnold Imobersteg, 92, a retired dairy farmer who lives on a 400-acre farm in Orangeville, is donating his farm's cheese plant to the National Historic Cheesemaking Center in Monroe. The plant has sat unused on the Imobersteg Farmstead since 1917 and contains all of the original cheesemaking equipment, including a copper kettle, press table, original intake wheel and wooden press bars.
A ground-breaking ceremony is slated for 4 p.m. Thursday to celebrate the moving of the cheese factory and all of its contents to the National Historic Cheesemaking Center, 2108 Sixth Ave. in Monroe. The public is invited.
"This is a one-of-a-kind find," said Mary Ann Hanna, executive director at the National Historic Cheesemaking Center.
"We are absolutely ecstatic that we'll now be able to demonstrate how cheese was made in the late 1800s and early 1900s. We've never had the equipment or facility to do that before."
The Imobersteg farmstead cheese factory, a 20-by-20 foot wooden shed with brick chimney, has a long and storied history, some of it unknown even to the current owner. Imobersteg said the facility was probably already on the farm when his parents, Anna and Alfred, bought the small dairy in 1902 after immigrating from Switzerland.
His parents made cheese, and later hired a cheesemaker to make Brick, Swiss and Limburger cheese twice a day from the milk of the family's 40 dairy cows, all milked by hand. The cheese was then shipped to Monroe by horse and wagon and sold to a number of cheese buyers, including Badger Cheese Company.
"My parents also had neighbors bringing in their milk with horses and wagons and would make cheese for them," Imobersteg said.
"They made a lot of cheese by hand with no electricity and no running water. I sure wish I'd had been here to see it."
Imobersteg never witnessed cheese being made on the farm because the year before he was born, the Imoberstegs and all of their neighbors were required to start shipping their milk to the nearby Borden Factory in Orangeville, where it was processed into condensed milk and shipped to soldiers overseas serving in World War I.
By the time the war ended, a larger, more modern cheese factory had been built just up the road, and the Imoberstegs instead sold their milk to that facility. Their farmstead cheese plant was transformed into a storage and laundry room. As a child, Imobersteg can remember his mother heating water in the copper kettle, washing clothes, and hanging them to dry from the wooden beams and press bars.
Over the years, Imobersteg said he's used the wooden cheese factory as mostly a storage shed, and never really considered the historic value of the building and its contents until last fall, when folks from the National Historic Cheesemaking Center learned of the factory and asked if they could visit.
"I guess I didn't understand what all the fuss was about," Imobersteg said, after he watched executive director Mary Ann Hanna become speechless after taking a glance inside the cheese plant and seeing the copper kettle still hanging from the wooden arm that swung on and off of a wood fire.
She later brought back experts from the industry, cheesemakers, members and the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, who agreed to help restore and move the facility to Monroe.
"This is an amazing opportunity to recapture a piece of cheesemaking history," said Patrick Geoghegan, senior vice president of corporate communications at the WMMB. "We're looking forward to working with the National Historic Cheesemaking Center to have the facility open in time for Green County Cheese Days in September."
"I'm glad it's going to be restored and I'm sure looking forward to watching cheese be made in it again," Imobersteg said. "That'll sure be something to see."
Following the June 24 groundbreaking at the National Historic Cheesemaking Center, the factory will be moved later this summer to the Center's grounds. Original equipment is being restored by a blacksmith, brick layer, contractor, and the facility should be ready for viewing by Cheese Days on Sept. 17-19.
Arnold Imobersteg, 92, a retired dairy farmer who lives on a 400-acre farm in Orangeville, is donating his farm's cheese plant to the National Historic Cheesemaking Center in Monroe. The plant has sat unused on the Imobersteg Farmstead since 1917 and contains all of the original cheesemaking equipment, including a copper kettle, press table, original intake wheel and wooden press bars.
A ground-breaking ceremony is slated for 4 p.m. Thursday to celebrate the moving of the cheese factory and all of its contents to the National Historic Cheesemaking Center, 2108 Sixth Ave. in Monroe. The public is invited.
"This is a one-of-a-kind find," said Mary Ann Hanna, executive director at the National Historic Cheesemaking Center.
"We are absolutely ecstatic that we'll now be able to demonstrate how cheese was made in the late 1800s and early 1900s. We've never had the equipment or facility to do that before."
The Imobersteg farmstead cheese factory, a 20-by-20 foot wooden shed with brick chimney, has a long and storied history, some of it unknown even to the current owner. Imobersteg said the facility was probably already on the farm when his parents, Anna and Alfred, bought the small dairy in 1902 after immigrating from Switzerland.
His parents made cheese, and later hired a cheesemaker to make Brick, Swiss and Limburger cheese twice a day from the milk of the family's 40 dairy cows, all milked by hand. The cheese was then shipped to Monroe by horse and wagon and sold to a number of cheese buyers, including Badger Cheese Company.
"My parents also had neighbors bringing in their milk with horses and wagons and would make cheese for them," Imobersteg said.
"They made a lot of cheese by hand with no electricity and no running water. I sure wish I'd had been here to see it."
Imobersteg never witnessed cheese being made on the farm because the year before he was born, the Imoberstegs and all of their neighbors were required to start shipping their milk to the nearby Borden Factory in Orangeville, where it was processed into condensed milk and shipped to soldiers overseas serving in World War I.
By the time the war ended, a larger, more modern cheese factory had been built just up the road, and the Imoberstegs instead sold their milk to that facility. Their farmstead cheese plant was transformed into a storage and laundry room. As a child, Imobersteg can remember his mother heating water in the copper kettle, washing clothes, and hanging them to dry from the wooden beams and press bars.
Over the years, Imobersteg said he's used the wooden cheese factory as mostly a storage shed, and never really considered the historic value of the building and its contents until last fall, when folks from the National Historic Cheesemaking Center learned of the factory and asked if they could visit.
"I guess I didn't understand what all the fuss was about," Imobersteg said, after he watched executive director Mary Ann Hanna become speechless after taking a glance inside the cheese plant and seeing the copper kettle still hanging from the wooden arm that swung on and off of a wood fire.
She later brought back experts from the industry, cheesemakers, members and the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, who agreed to help restore and move the facility to Monroe.
"This is an amazing opportunity to recapture a piece of cheesemaking history," said Patrick Geoghegan, senior vice president of corporate communications at the WMMB. "We're looking forward to working with the National Historic Cheesemaking Center to have the facility open in time for Green County Cheese Days in September."
"I'm glad it's going to be restored and I'm sure looking forward to watching cheese be made in it again," Imobersteg said. "That'll sure be something to see."
Following the June 24 groundbreaking at the National Historic Cheesemaking Center, the factory will be moved later this summer to the Center's grounds. Original equipment is being restored by a blacksmith, brick layer, contractor, and the facility should be ready for viewing by Cheese Days on Sept. 17-19.