THE HISTORIC HUMBIRD

We found another lost treasure and uncovered a new mystery! Deep within the recesses of the internet, we connected with a retired musician in Connecticut who had collected memorbilia from the locations he played at in his youth. He graciously sold us this old matchbook from the late 1940's - early 1950's to add to our growing collection. We know from our research that this matchbook was produced for owner Edwin Kleinsasser who was here in our property around the late 40's to

During a deep clean of the bar, we discovered some old treasures hidden underneath our bar back! All items were in poor condition, covered in dirt and debris, but we painstakingly used archaeological techniques to clean them off, taking time to not damage the items further. What we uncovered was a screenshot of the mid 1950's, when owners Ed & Louise Shramek ran our property, which at the time they called HOTEL HUMBIRD & BAR . Seeing all these items together, we feel transpor

Front page headline of the case. The Wisconsin State Journal, September 4, 1931 Did you know that at one point our town and our property were part of a notorious murder? It was Monday August 31, 1931 when Alvin Marshall, State Annuity Appraiser left his house in New Lisbon, WI to make his rounds as a property assessor. He carried with him $1200 in annuity checks from the State Dept for any payments he may have to give out and several traveler’s checks for his expenses while o

Whilst attending the Great Lakes Paranormal Convention (September 12-14, 2025) we had the pleasure meeting with author Chad Lewis, where we discovered that our local area has its own Lake Monster legend. This prompted us to investigate further to uncover more information. Enclosed are news articles detailing our very own Creature Feature residing in Lake Emerson. Newspaper article from the LaCrosse Tribune and Leader Press dated August 12, 1926 Newspaper article from the Mad

We have been told by many that there used to be pictures of hunting groups on our walls. Several people have come in looking for them and have been disappointed to learn they all vanished over time. Taken, thrown away....so many memories have been removed from our place over the years. This weekend we were gifted this replacement photo by our wonderful friend Carl Spurling! This photo features many current and past Humbirdians and we are so honored to have it in our possessio

George J. Laffe Birth: January 2, 1860 Death: September 13, 1940 (aged 80) ​ Katherine Louisa (Lizzie) Eisenhardt Laffe Birth: July 11, 1869 Death: May 12, 1948 (aged 78) ​ Operator Date: 1930? - 1940 Property Name: New Hotel & Pool Hall? ​We have had many names given to us by locals. Some turn up to be dead ends, and other names send us down rabbit holes of information. One name we had been given was Laffe. Although there is no record of any Laffe owning our property, we hav

​Harry Iffland Birth: November 3, 1895 Death: April 13, 1967 (aged 71)​ ​ Ownership Date: 1918 - 1926 Property Name: New Hotel & Pool Hall News article regarding the exchange of property from Iffland to Lastofka. Humbird Enterprise August 7, 1926. The newspaper used the same photo that was taken for the J.C. Hahn renovations article in 1909. News article regarding the exchange of property from Iffland to Lastofka. Humbird Enterprise August 7, 1926. On Tuesday, June 18th, 1929

Over the weekend, our friend Lucas Eisberner, son of Theresa Eisberner , a former owner, generously gifted us some more old bar tokens for our historical collection. He identified the neon green token as one from his mother (circa 1986-2000). In addition he gave us another Cesafsky token (circa 1940's-50's) and a beautiful Centennial Souvenir Bar Token from Orv & Tillie Smith's time (circa 1969)! We are so grateful for gifts such as these. So much of the historical items from