Creating Old World Wisconsin: The Struggle to Build an Outdoor History Museum of Ethnic Architecture

Chapter Four. Conflict Management

79 chap ฀ ter฀four h Con­flict­Man­age­ment The battle of Eagle took Society leaders by surprise. After the protracted struggle with the DNR to secure a lease for the state forest, they never imagined that an even more intense conflict awaited them. Fishel knew that implementation of the Perrin vision might face obstacles, and for that reason he moved slowly on the outdoor museum project. He and his colleagues could not have anticipated the number and severity of the conflicts that arose after the adoption of the master plan in October 1968. This chapter analyzes several clashes that nearly rendered the project stillborn. That the Society planned to start construction in the summer of 1973 testifies to the remarkable tenacity of a few dedicated staff and volunteers. But rather than concentrating on the acquisition and relocation of buildings, a number of conflicts with some members of the local community forced the Society to delay construction . The battle of Eagle became increasingly public and personal. At stake was the state’s ability to control the use of local property and the museum’s impact on local property values. In the months after Fishel’s departure, the situation looked increasingly bleak as national and state budgets suffered through a period of stagflation (increasing inflation, slow economic growth, and high unemployment ). The budget process gave no cause for optimism that the legislature would provide any new funding. Earlier the Society’s budget 80 H conflict฀management had been cut. Reductions in “an already tight budget” meant the Society might not be able to accomplish key goals during the next biennium. The recommended salary for a new director had been slashed by more than 36 percent, from $27,000 to $20,000. This made the position so unattractive that the WHF struggled to find a way to supplement the salary without antagonizing the legislature. Existing sites ran deficits. With no aid from the state, austerity measures had to be introduced. Closing some historic house exhibits in mid-September angered visitors; ten temporary employees were laid off. Most ominous for OWW, the chair of the LRSPC questioned taking on new sites when there were so many problems with those now in operation. He urged OWWC to decide whether or not OWW “is a viable project.” A crisis loomed large on the horizon. The future of the museum hung in the balance.1 If Fishel fostered ambitious and costly changes at the Society, restraint characterized his approach to the outdoor museum. He was careful not to cross his Rubicon. He kept open his option to stop the project if it became unmanageable. After nine years and no great expenditures of capital, the museum had yet to emerge from its planning cocoon. Could the project survive new leadership? Could it survive a rigorous scrutiny of moving from planning (manageable costs) to implementation (unmanageable expenses)? Dick Erney became the acting director on June 1, 1969. As Fishel’s second in command since 1964, his primary responsibility had been the Society’s 80,000-square-foot addition, valued at $2,340,000, to its Madison headquarters. Erney was well aware of the planning process of the museum. Even though he was one of two staff serving the curatorial museum committees, he described his connection as “pretty peripheral.” His support for the museum had been tepid and he had voiced his concerns on numerous occasions. His new appointment gave him the opportunity to confront the issues that swirled around the project. On October 6 he sent a memo to the OWWC. In summary, he asked the question Fishel had not asked: has the time come to quit the field? His memo, which must be considered in full, touched off a crisis that dampened curatorial resolve and left the committee members stunned. This memo provoked the first of a series of crises that dogged planners between late 1969 and 1975. The second—the long-smoldering site-acquisition crisis—finally achieved resolution only to be engulfed by the third. This was a legal challenge from Town of Eagle residents. Town officials intended to prevent the state from locating the museum within its boundaries. These three crises delayed construction and conflict฀management h 81 accelerated costs. The last crisis, considered in the next chapter, was the Society’s inability to raise the funds required to build the site. The weight of these crises nearly crushed Old World Wisconsin...