Events · Evenings through the year, often fall and winter
Special Programs
Living-history evenings and presentations — meet Helen Keller, Katharine Wright, Martin Luther, and the settlers' own Heinrich von Rohr.
Several times a year, the society hosts an evening where history walks into the room.
Living-history evenings
Professional first-impression reenactors portray a historical figure in period dress, telling their story in the first person. Recent guests have included:
- Helen Keller — “A Life Nearly Lost” (2025)
- Katharine Wright, the Wright brothers’ sister and the overlooked variable in the equation of controlled flight (2024)
- Heinrich von Rohr, leader of the 1839 emigration to Freistadt himself, “returning to visit” for Trinity’s 185th anniversary (2024)
- Laura Ingalls Wilder (2023)
- Eleanor Roosevelt (2021)
- Martin Luther, marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation (2017)
- Cordelia Harvey, Wisconsin’s Civil War “angel” (2014)
These evenings are usually held at Trinity Lutheran Church of Freistadt (10729 W. Freistadt Rd.) — in the sanctuary or the Gathering Room — and are free to attend, with light refreshments afterward. Donations to the society are always welcome.
Presentations and programs
The society also brings in speakers and programs on local and regional history: the Barns of Wisconsin (2022), historical novelist Kathleen Ernst (2018), a Vietnam veteran’s reflections with spaghetti dinner (2020), concerts, and more.
Fundraiser nights
Watch, too, for occasional fundraiser evenings like Freistadt Night at Old Germantown, when the Alte Kameraden Band plays a benefit “practice night” for the society each June.