The story
Read it all →How Alma came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Alma.
Alma was named in commemoration of the 1854 Battle of the Alma, in the Crimean War.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
History · Alma
From Alma’s archive · credits on each photo 11 landmarks tell Alma’s story
The public archives hold just one old photo of Alma. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
1old photo or paper
11historic places
3famous people
1need a date
What stands out about Alma’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · On the National Register
11 listings protect 133 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
11
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
133
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Frederick Laue House
in Wisconsin
#44
by listings
BuildingsDistricts
Architectural styles listings
Vernacular2
High Victorian Italianate1
Federal1
Greek Revival1
Queen Anne1
Frederick Laue HouseHigh Victorian Italianate
Tester and Polin General Merchandise StoreVernacular
Sherman HouseVernacular · Built 1866
Alma Historic DistrictDistrict
Burlington HotelBuilt 1891
Dr. J. T. Tenny HouseQueen Anne · Built 1904
Frederick Laue Jr. HouseBuilt 1896
Jacob Berni HouseBuilding
All 11 listings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Help out
Start Alma’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Alma’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Alma, 1866 to 1955
Woven from the archive, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1866
BuiltSherman House is built - 1869Born hereJames Arthur Mathieu is born here
- 1875
Born hereEdward C. Rosenow is born here - 1891
BuiltBurlington Hotel is built - 1896
BuiltFrederick Laue Jr. House is built - 20th century
- 1904
BuiltDr. J. T. Tenny House is built - 1955Born hereBruce Hunter is born here
By decade
Alma, decade by decade
Date unknown1 to date
Date?Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewUpper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel, Lock & Dam No. 4
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Alma’s page.
Retake this view · +15Famous people
See all →3 famous people were born in Alma
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Weigh in
Has Alma changed for the better?
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Start a conversation
From the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (11), the National Register of Historic Places (11), Wikipedia and Wikidata for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.