Museum Exhibits & Information

Visitors to the Sawyer County Historical Museum in Hayward, Wisconsin, will find exhibits and displays on nearly every facet of local history: Ojibwe Culture, Logging and Lumberjacks, Homesteading and Pioneers, Community Development, Victorian Lifestyle, Churches, Schools, Hunting, Fishing, Political, and the Resort Tradition, which are all included in the museum’s comprehensive look at the past in Hayward and greater Sawyer County. Even the museum building itself represents an important part of our local history having been the former DNR Ranger Station built in 1928 and moved to its current site on Highway B in Hayward by the Historical Society in 1991. There’s something for everyone at the Sawyer County Historical Museum — and every age group. Children enjoy the diorama of Hayward’s Main Street showing how it looked long before they were born. Men never seem to tire of the logging and lumberjack displays as well as the old blacksmith’s forge. Women find the detailed homestead and Victorian furniture exhibits of special interest. New exhibits are added each season, so the museum is continuously changing and growing from year to year. An experienced volunteer museum attendant is always on hand to provide any details that aren’t covered in the two floors of displays. A variety of books, maps, pictures, and brochures on the history of Hayward and Sawyer County are for sale in the museum gift shop.