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Trinity Freistadt Historical Society · Est. 1965

Media

Freistadt on camera — news features, reels from the grounds, and a gallery of the site through the seasons.

Freistadt in the news

The families living in the same neighborhood for 186 years

TMJ4 News · October 24, 2025

An "On the Go with James Groh" feature on Freistadt, starring the village's own "Mayor," Randy Pipkorn.

In one small Wisconsin neighborhood, the same families have been living there since 1839, when their ancestors first immigrated to the United States.

Mequon's Freistadt neighborhood, which is roughly two square miles, is a living testament to the state's German and Polish heritage.

“Freistadt is a very unique community because it was settled back in 1839 from Pomeranian immigrants that came across because of religious persecution,” Randy Pipkorn, a lifelong resident of Freistadt said.

Wisconsin's Oldest German Settlement: The History of Freistadt

Wisconsin Points of Interest · July 13, 2024

The historic site as a Wisconsin point of interest.

Join Wisconsin Points of Interest on a journey through time as we explore the oldest German settlements in Wisconsin, located in the Town of Mequon. Starting in 1839, German immigrants from Saxony and Pomerania arrived seeking religious freedom, establishing the community of Freystatt — now Freistadt.

Discover the history behind Wisconsin's first Lutheran church, built in 1840, and the wave of German immigration that shaped the region. Don't miss this dive into Wisconsin's rich cultural past!

A NEAT HISTORICAL FIND! Trinity Freistadt Historical Society Freistadt, Wisconsin.

Road Trips With Yogi · January 20, 2023

A road-tripper's tour of the grounds.

In this episode I road trip to Freistadt, Wisconsin. I wasn't expecting to find anything there so I was trying to make a U-turn. That's when I came across the Trinity Freistadt Historical Park! It has about a dozen buildings dating back to the mid-1800's. A very cool find indeed!

Reels from the grounds

Around the grounds

Buildings, gardens, and seasons at the historic site. Many more photos — including event retrospectives — are coming as the society's photo review wraps up.

  • Three smiling chaperones with a class of schoolchildren in pioneer dress gathered in front of the log cabin
  • Girls in pioneer dresses laughing mid-hop through a burlap-sack race on the lawn
  • A school class in pioneer hats and bonnets, tin pails in hand, posing in front of the Parsonage Barn
  • Three volunteers at the bake-sale stand, the vintage glass case filled with sliced bread and lined with jars of homemade jam
  • Three boys in hats and suspenders eating lunch from tin pails outside a white building
  • An older visitor and a young girl among the museum exhibits, an antique loom at the left
  • A spotted fawn tucked in among antique wheels and farm machinery in an open shed
  • A guide chatting with two visitors inside the log cabin, a gilt-framed portrait on the wall
  • Schoolchildren in pioneer bonnets and overalls at wooden desks in the historic schoolhouse, holding up slates with “Geography” written in chalk
  • Volunteers dishing up plates at the picnic shelter, a member in bowler hat and suspenders first in line
  • A docent talking with schoolchildren inside one of the historic buildings, antique tools all around
  • A schoolmaster teaching from a chart outside a weathered shed while children in pioneer dress look on from picnic tables
  • Families filling the picnic tables for a meal under the shelter
  • Two boys in pioneer costume grinning over cloth-wrapped lunches at a picnic table
  • Two volunteers at the grill outside the tool shed, one with a blue snow cone in hand
  • A volunteer showing schoolchildren how the hand-crank clothes wringer works over a washtub
  • A boy scrubbing laundry on a washboard in a galvanized tub as Fourth of July visitors look on
  • A young visitor shaping a piece of wood on the shaving horse at the Tool Man's bench
  • A draft horse in harness beside the antique sawmill rig and a vintage military truck
  • Visitors browsing tables of antique hand tools outside the gray shed, the steam engine beyond
  • A society member in a bowler hat and suspenders showing visitors a variety of antique tools
  • A volunteer in a period cap seated at the log cabin doorway among late-summer wildflowers
  • The general-store display case stocked with vintage wares, penny candy, and a Philgas sign
  • A vintage Wisconsin Fishing Licenses sign over a doorway in the general store, an antique wall telephone alongside
  • Members riding the bench wagon signed 'The Freistadt Mass Transit System' through the shade
  • A fourth-grade class in bonnets and straw hats singing outside the Parsonage Barn
  • A volunteer feeding wash through a hand-crank wringer behind the log cabin, a wicker laundry basket in the grass
  • Schoolchildren holding up slates with 'Geography' chalked on them in the historic schoolroom
  • Fourth graders in bonnets and straw hats, tin-can pails in hand, gathered on the hill above the village grounds
  • Summer visitors seated at the antique double desks in the historic schoolroom, slates at the ready
  • A panorama of the village yard, from a small chinked-log outbuilding to the weathered sheds beyond
  • Orange daylilies along a split-rail fence at the corner of a log building, with more outbuildings across the lawn
  • The carved Trinity-Freistadt Historical Site sign ringed by hostas and daylilies, the log cabin behind it