Our Mission: Collect, Preserve and share the history of the
Badger Army Ammunition Plant area

In 1998 a small group of people met around a picnic table inside the fence at Badger Army Ammunition Plant to discuss how to preserve the history of this place. The result of that meeting was the birth of the Badger History Group (BHG).

In the years since that first meeting the BHG has:

• Hosted a summer picnic and reunion for Badger workers and families.
• Sponsored a lecture series featuring distinguished historians and scientists.
• Produced Powder to the People, a video history of the Plant.
• Sponsored Inside the Fence photo exhibit
• Published Powder, People and Place, ward-winning history book by Michael Goc.
• Assisted in the creation of the Landowner’s Memorial at Badger.
• Produced Badger Village - Our Prairie Home, video history of the residential communities at the Plant.
• Assisted researchers from numerous local, state and federal agencies and contractors.
• Initiated and began funding a historical archive on the Plant premises.
• Participated in the entire reuse process; cooperating with all the stakeholders to assure that the history of the prairie, the people and the plant are also part of the future.
• Exhibited annually at the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw in Prairie du Sac.
• Participated in the Sauk Prairie River Arts Festival 2008 with the "Inside the Fence" exhibit at Badger AAP
;
• Participated in the Sauk Prairie River Arts Festival 2009 with an exhibit at Badger AAP of B.O.W. history during WWII and provided guides for bus tours sponsored by the Festival
• Annually exhibit at the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw in Prairie du Sac, WI on Saturday of Labor Day weekend.
• Exhibit at the Badger Steam & Gas Engine Show

That is a long list of accomplishments by a group that, until 2007, never had more than a dozen members. Recognizing that we had reached a point where our small group could not continue to meet the growing challenge we face, we became a dues paying membership organization. After nine years operating under the Sauk County Historical Society 501 (c) (3) status as an independent committee reporting to their Board of Directors, it was time for us to strike out on our own with our own 501 (c) (3) status.

In November, 2007 we incorporated as a non-stock corporation affiliated with the Wisconsin State Historical Society.

Click here to read our Bylaws   

In March 2009 we received the "Letter of Determination" from the IRS declaring us a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt public charity

On June 23, 2009 our Board of Directors approved a long range Strategic Plan.

The story of the Badger Army Ammunition Plant is more than a local story. A significant portion of the propellant used in the ammunition used by U.S. and Allied solders in three wars came from Badger. That fact makes this a national story. But this story goes even beyond that to include:

• a glacier that stopped, where in 1942 the U. S. Army would build the World's Largest Ammunition Plant
• the glacial outwash plain known today as the Sauk Prairie
• the Native Americans that followed that retreating glacier and made that outwash plain their home
• the pioneers that started crossing the Wisconsin River in 1838 to this new land to make their homes on the Sauk Prairie
• the center piece of the story, the Badger Ordnance Works/Badger Army Ammunition Plant
• a look to the future

That is too big a story to tell as one story. Rather it is a collection of many smaller stories. Telling those smaller stories makes the big story possible. No matter where we find ourselves talking to people about Badger we find people who had a relative who worked there or they know/knew someone who worked there. This is an invitation to help us tell those smaller stories. There are so many stories that our small group can not do it alone and neither can you. Working together we can tell those smaller stories, and weave them into the bigger story that is awesome beyond imagination.

You can be apart of this exciting adventure by:

• Becoming a dues paying member.
• Volunteering to help with cataloging archival material and artifacts, and researching the many stories.
• Helping us get national recognition. Tell your friends and family members around the country about us and our mission.
• And, Yes, money. Any amount will be greatly appreciated and help us tell this national story located on the Sauk Prairie in Sauk County, Wisconsin.

Membership categories are:

Our mail address:   Badger History Group, Inc.
                              Badger Army Ammunition Plant
                              1 Badger Rd
                              Baraboo, WI 53913 

We are:

• President: Verlyn Mueller, <bhg-arch@tds.net>
• Vice President: Michael Goc (award winning author)<newpast@live.com>
• Secretary/Treasurer: Judy Ashford, <jashford@merr.com>
• Directors:
  • Peter Shrake, pkshrake@charter.net
  • Orie Eilertson, Savides@merr.com
  • Steve Fleming    Prairie du Sac, WI 53578
    

• Archivist: Verlyn Mueller, <bhg-arch@tds.net> 

Our logo at the top of this page and enlarged at the right is from an Army photo of the Main Gate of the Badger Ordnance Works during WWII.

Badger Ordnance Works (B.O.W.) is the original name of the plant now known as the Badger Army Ammunition Plant.