The article and photos were provided by Dick Ellis, publisher of On Wisconsin Outdoors.
With a 24-hour visit or so to Kenosha, based around golfing, Dick and Lori Ellis visited other attractions as well in September 2025.
Whirlwind trip will call these visitors back for more!
With so much to see and do in this far southeastern Wisconsin city, and just one day to do it, just what would we do first?
My wife, Lori made the decision. Well aware of my lifelong passion for history and in particular Wisconsin’s contribution to the war between the states, we landed first at the Kenosha Civil War Museum - Upper Middle West Experience. In a musket-flash, we ducked from a world of cell phones and leisure and into the harsh realities of yesterday.
Each exhibit over two floors of the Civil War Museum offered more opportunities to examine, listen, read, and learn. Our journey led us with other visitors to stand in the middle of a battlefield among union troops answering an order to engage rebels hunkered down behind a wooden-rail fence. We turned slowly to take in each perspective of the 360-degree panoramic movie playing out on the circular wall surrounding us. Cannon and rifle fire and the cries of fallen soldiers or officers’ commands echoed throughout the darkened museum theatre. Alongside men in blue resurrected from the early 1860s, we too were “Seeing the Elephant”, a reference from the era defining a recruit’s first experience in battle.
In 10 minutes, the smoke and confusion simulated in the battle had cleared. We began to wander again to see what lie beyond the museum’s next wall. For any visitor being introduced to the firearms, clothing, food, equipment or training used in the Civil War, a few hours invested here can’t do the curriculum sprawled over this unique classroom justice. But even a short stint will call you back; to take a riverboat ride with troops heading home post-war and literally interact with those veterans; to feel the grief of war widows who know their husbands or sons would never take that ride home to farms and family, but instead spend eternity in hastily dug graves on the edges of a distant battlefield they would come to know by name like Gettysburg or South Mountain but likely never see. There is too much to tell here, or even experience.
With a still-full Kenosha agenda waiting on the horizon, Lori and I stepped from the museum doors to walk the harbor of Lake Michigan sparkling under cloudless blue skies. We watched a young fisherman working the soft chop of the big lake fire a silver spoon toward the North Pier Lighthouse across the channel, Kenosha’s most recognized landmark. The cast and retrieve didn’t entice a strike, but it did reel this old fisherman over to engage in a bit of anglers’ banter. We learned from University of Wisconsin-Parkside student Nathan Beck that he had lost just minutes before our arrival a king salmon he estimated at 20 pounds. Ah, the dreaded one that got away that all fishermen can relate to. We turned from our new friend determined to not allow the rest of Kenosha on our list to get away too.
In the distance, a beautifully restored electric streetcar came into view. Streetcars here, according to Visit Kenosha literature, travel a 2-mile loop to provide a scenic tour of the Lake Michigan shoreline, HarborPark, two historic districts, the downtown business district, and the METRA train station. Stops include “our” already visited museum and two others, as well as the Kenosha Transit Center, 8th Avenue and 54th Street. Each streetcar is painted in the colors and lettering of a city in North America that once operated streetcars. With time slipping through our hourglass, we hoped to find time to take the ride ourselves. Ultimately, the streetcar tour would go on our “next time” list.
Next on the agenda though, was a quick lunch from one of countless dining places or pubs available before meeting friends traveling south from the Milwaukee suburbs. Doug and JoAnn Haberlein of Waukesha, Dan and Robin O’Neil of New Berlin, and Jerry and Donna Walsh of Hartland came ready to challenge the two golf courses recommended by our Kenosha hosts.
After our round of golf at Washington Park Municipal Golf Course and a cold, foamy round in the clubhouse, we checked into The Stella Hotel & Ballroom to absorb a unique historic charm dating pre-civil war. The Stella Hotel sits on the grounds of Pettit Malting Company, recognized as the oldest malt house in Wisconsin. After a massive St. Patrick’s Day fire lasting several days destroyed the building, the Elks Club established its Kenosha chapter in 1901, and their clubhouse with the purchase of the former Pettit Malting Company in 1914. Construction of the building began in in 1916 and was formerly dedicated in January of 1919.
In 1990, the Heritage House Inn opened on location and was used as a banquet facility with renovation sponsored by local philanthropist Andera Christensen. After 2000, the banquet hall closed and the property was abandoned. In 2011 the building experienced a small fire damaging the second-floor ballroom and dining rooms below, prompting the community soon after to request that Kenosha preserve the space and not demolish the property.
The Stella Hotel & Ballroom that we were fortunate enough to experience on our trip opened in 2019, combining “sophistication and unique contemporary design while staying true to its early 1900s details.” The hotel and ballroom deliver the same feel as it did over a century ago, making it the most sought-after and only full-service hotel in downtown Kenosha. The Stella’s reputation preceded us, of course, and we enjoyed each minute of our overnight stay immensely.
Thursday night dining led us to the House of Gerhard, a storied German-American supper club. Personally, I recommend the “famous” prime rib, but my wife and friends may beg to differ after selecting a variety of delicious entrees offered from the menu. Owners Angie and Dick Rudin and family continue the tradition of fine dining started by Angie’s father and mother Gerhard and Louisa, who immigrated from Germany to Ellis Island in 1954 and founded the restaurant.
Our proprietors were more than gracious to share their time and history as might be expected from a family who literally earned their reputation with hard work over decades; from creating in the kitchen, to bartending, to bookkeeping, to bussing and dishwashing. Perhaps the best validation of Gerhard’s continued quality is their customers’ reaction to any hint of menu changes over the years regarding items originating in Germany. Dining “regulars” protest. Proven favorites remain, including daily specials like beef rouladen, Bavarian pot roast, and sauerbraten. Take away all other callings of Kenosha, and the House of Gerhard alone is a reason to visit.
A bonus to our visit came with a short stroll to local pub Slip 56 to ensure that a Thursday night Packer game was not missed. After victory and a few cold ones (remember we were walking), it was back again to Stella’s and the slumber that would virtually assure that the elusive great golf game the next morning at Petrifying Springs would finally be captured.
