Called to Rebuild
Born in Vitus, Austria in 1844, Florian Zwettler left Hainrich, Austria in 1870, with a simple flattop tool chest among his possessions, and boarded the steamship Berlin at Bremen. On the same ship was Agnes Litschauer, emigrating from Rohrbach, Austria. They arrived in Baltimore May 23, and Agnes and Florian married at Cross Plains Aug. 21, residing in Vermont Township.
Within a year, in the hot, dry autumn of 1871, the Zwettlers heard news of a devastating fire in Chicago. The conflagration burned from Sunday Oct. 8 to early Oct. 10, killing hundreds, leveling more than 15,000 buildings and destroying four square miles.
Almost immediately ads appeared in area newspapers asking for carpenters to help rebuild the devastated city. Florian answered the call, traveling to Chicago again with his chest of tools that had already seen so many miles.
Florian’s carpentry skills came in handy locally as well. Among other projects, he crafted the pews for the “old brown church” along Hwy. F in Vermont Township. Later, in 1883, these pews were moved to the new St. James Catholic Church, built just across the road, which, ironically, burned to the ground in a lightning storm on June 12, 1969.
Through the years Florian gradually replaced most of his original tools with American-made, and his chest remained on the Zwettler farm until it was gifted to the Mount Horeb Area Historical Society by Florian’s grandson James. The chest is on display in the Mount Horeb Area Museum’s popular “Ethnic Evolution and Contribution in Southwestern Dane County” exhibit. For more on the Zwettler family of Vermont Township check out the Mount Horeb Area Archive.
