St. Cloud History

Around 1948 when Wisconsin was reaching its centennial, Joseph Ditter found there was little historical information recorded about the village. He decided to do something about it and started interviewing older residents and researching records. Joe came to the village in 1890 and witnessed firsthand the thriving activity here at the turn of the century.

These notes are a compilation of his information which he hand wrote on tablet papers. Without Joe Ditter’s notes we would have very little solid information. Joe was born in 1874 and died April 19, 1955. Some information was also from John (Jack) Baus, Bob Kohlman, newspaper articles, internet and some interviewing on my own. Dennis Kohlman has an extensive collection of old pictures and information on St Cloud and has been very helpful.

St Cloud is part of the "Holyland" which is referenced in Wikipedia, the internet on-line encyclopedia. It states this area has been called the Holyland since 1898. This area was settled by close-knit, agricultural, Roman Catholic, German settlers in the 1840’s. This was an example of chain migration which is the process of a few foreign immigrant pioneers settling in a new area, then getting word back home encouraging other family members to settle in the new area also.

These notes usually indicate who the early owners of a business or members of an organization were, not necessarily all of the later owners or members. This is by no means an entire history of the village. It is also not in chronological order; rather it is arranged by businesses, clubs, organizations, prominent persons, etc. If an important person or business is omitted I apologize. I also apologize for any errors, if they occurred I will correct them in a future printing. This is the information I have available at this printing.

Dan Dreifuerst

St. Cloud History (updated April 2011 - text only) Email Dan Dreifuerst for more information.