Wisconsin Historical Society unveils plans for new history center in Madison

Many of the state’s less-discovered stories will find a home at the Wisconsin Historical Society’s new history center, set to open in 2027.The five-story, 100,000-square-foot building will replace the current Wisconsin Historical Museum located on the Capitol square. It will house nearly 290 million items and is expected to see 200,000 visitors annually. “The idea is that we’re going to use our great North American History Collection to be a center of American history in telling Wisconsin’s story in the context of the United States, and history before that, 12,000 years ago, when humans first migrated to us,” said Christian Overland, the Historical Society’s director and CEO. Stay informed on the latest news Sign up for WPR’s email newsletter. He added the organization hopes to connect the dots between its collections, historic preservation efforts, educational programming and community engagement. But Overland said it won’t be a typical museum. “Rather than being just a place of exhib...