At entrance to Norway Lutheran Church, across from Heg Park, Hwy. 36, about 5 mi. N of Waterford, Racine County

Under the leadership of John Luraas, forty pioneers came to Muskego Lake from Norway in 1839, to found one of the most important settlements in Norwegian American history. After temporary setbacks, the settlement flourished here ' through the leadership of Even Heg, Johannes Johannsen, Soren Bache, Elling Eielsen, James Reymert, and Claus Clausen, who sent glowing reports to Norway and encouraged a large movement to this country. This settlement gave rise to the first Norwegian Lutheran congregation organized in America (1843) and pub­lished the first Norwegian American newspaper. Old Muskego became well known as a mother colony to other settlements, schools, and churches springing up on the new frontier. Countless wagonloads of newcomers stopped here before continuing west. Nearby Heg Park commemorates Colonel Hans C. Heg, one of Wisconsin's Civil War heroes.

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[Source: McBride, Sarah Davis. History Just Ahead (Madison:WHS, 1999).]