Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in New Glarus, WI

New Glarus is a village in Green County, Wisconsin, widely known as "America's Little Switzerland" for its Swiss heritage, chalet-style architecture and Alpine festivals.

New Glarus was founded in 1845 by immigrants from the canton of Glarus in eastern Switzerland, and both the village and the surrounding town are named for that canton.

The Glarus Emigration Society sent two scouts, Nicolas Duerst and Fridolin Streiff, who on July 17, 1845 purchased about 1,200 acres at $1.25 per acre for the colony.

After a journey of four months and five days, 108 Swiss settlers arrived at New Glarus on August 15, 1845; three members of the party died on the way.

The village was incorporated in 1901, more than half a century after its founding, and the 2020 census counted 2,266 residents.

New Glarus is considered the best-known Swiss settlement in America, and Swiss customs, food and festivals — including open-air performances of the William Tell drama staged since 1938 — remain central to village life.

The village is home to the Swiss Center of North America, a cultural center dedicated to preserving Swiss heritage in the United States.

New Glarus Brewing Company, founded in 1993 by Dan Carey and Deb Carey — recognized as America's first female craft brewery founder — put the village on the beer map with its Spotted Cow farmhouse ale, launched in 1997.

New Glarus Brewing sells its beer only in Wisconsin, having pulled out of Illinois in 2003 because demand outstripped capacity, yet it ranks among the largest craft brewers in the United States; the company became 100 percent employee-owned in 2015.

The Chalet of the Golden Fleece, a museum filled with art and artifacts collected from around the world, is one of the village's signature attractions.