Fun Fact: All-Seeing Eye  The very first Modern Woodmen of America Fraternity was chartered in 1883 in Lyons, Iowa. The Valton camp, chartered in 1899, is Camp 6190 – an attestation to the rapid growth of the organization. The Original Charter for Camp 6190, Valton, WI, now known as the

Modern Woodmen of America Lodge Halls Across Wisconsin Many Modern Woodmen of America lodge halls across Wisconsin and the Midwest look like cousins. Most were simple, boxy buildings with similar fronts and layouts. That wasn’t an accident — local camps ordered their building plans from the MWA Main Office in

Fun Fact: Cabin Wall Let’s go inside! Beyond their similar exteriors, Modern Woodmen of America (MWA) camp lodges also shared interior layouts with a stage at one end of the building. The stage curtains were used as advertising space for local businesses and were hand-painted. It’s not known exactly how Ernest

Ernest Hüpeden’s Murals At the turn of the twentieth century, German immigrant artist Ernest Hüpeden quietly gave Valton’s MWA Camp 6190 Hall its lasting visual identity—though it wouldn’t be called the Painted Forest for another 60 years, when Delores Nash gave it the name we still use today.After painting the

Ernest Hüpeden’s Murals After completing the dramatic Battle of Manila curtain—an advertisement for the Modern Woodmen of America itself—Hüpeden did turn to the more typical lodge commission: local business advertising but he put them on the window shades. There were six painted shades in the Valton hall. We know this not

The Hidden Story in the Painted Forest Cabin Scene It’s a small detail, but it tells us a great deal about how Ernest Hüpeden worked. The cabin scene in the Painted Forest begins with a familiar source—the pastoral vignette printed on the insurance certificates given to members after initiation. But Hüpeden

The Goat Story — From “Secret Society” Fear to Fraternal Fun This early 20th-century postcard asks, “Who Wouldn’t Be a Woodman?” Images like this spoke to the heart, promising security, love, and protection for rural families. The membership certificate represents the formal side of that promise, placing each member within a

The Goat Story — From “Secret Society” Fear to Fraternal Fun In the 1800s, fraternal organizations were often viewed with suspicion. Their closed meetings, passwords, and initiation ceremonies led outsiders to imagine something dark and dangerous happening behind lodge doors. Political cartoons and newspaper satire turned that fear into a

The Taxman Never Lies… Oral history is fascinating and useful and very fun and doesn’t always match the written history. That doesn’t make oral history incorrect or invalid any more than it makes the written history incorrect or invalid; it makes all history nuanced. We reached out to Brent Bailey, Sauk

What’s in Your Drawers? After the cessation of activities in 1928 by the MWA at Camp 6190 Hall, the Hall became the Community Gathering Point protected from vandalism by love. Roller skating, town hall meetings, family gatherings, community parties occurred. Because of that love and care, we are confident that photographs,