Legendary Lake Mills, Wisconsin | Calendar of Events, Business and Tourism Info | Lake Mills Main Street Program

 I discovered Lake Mills shortly after being relocated from San Antonio, TX to Madison, WI. It was a cold winter day and my husband and I decided to take a drive. We ended up in Lake Mills where I immediately feel in love with the charm of the community. There were families ice skating in commons park, we discovered Lake Shore Drive where kids were playing ice hockey on the lake and beautiful victorian homes lined the shoreline. I looked at my husband and said “someday I am going to live here”. He chuckled. Well about a year later we closed on a beautiful victorian home on Main Street. We immediately got involved in the community and have loved the community and all it has to offer.

Lisa Maurer

 When we first moved to town my wife and daughter went to a store downtown that was closing out their candy selection, so they bought some. They went to the Commons park across the street to enjoy the day, but forgot the candy on a bench. A couple days later a woman road up to our house on a bike while my wife was gardening. She said that she had found the candy in the park and went to the store. The clerk remembered who bought it and that she had talked about just moving to town and new the home. How nice was that!

Brad Glassel

Many years ago, Randy and I lived in the Milwaukee area, where we grew up and spent the first 15 years of our marriage. Whenever we would go to Madison, we’d always find a reason to get off on Hwy 89 and drive through Lake Mills. We thought it was one of the prettiest towns in all of this state. In the fall, with the leaves on the trees the color of gold and cinnamon, we thought Lake Mills was just like one of those New England towns with the white church spires and leaves crunching on the sidewalk as kids walked home from school. Picture perfect. A Norman Rockwell painting in our very own state.

Our favorite house was, and is, the brown and white Dutch Colonial Tarnutzer home on the north end of Rock Lake. We would drive by that home and think of living there someday. We even took the address off the mailbox and wrote a letter to the owners (who we didn’t know at the time) and asked them to “consider” us if they ever put the home on the market. We didn’t expect a reply – but a few weeks later, we got a letter from Dick Tarnutzer saying that the home would hopefully stay in the family for a very long time, but that they appreciated our interest. Imagine that! And imagine, just a few years later, we became friends with Dick because we had an opportunity to move to Lake Mills and become a part of this very special town.

From the picturesque downtown – the park, the bandshell, and the beautiful buildings lining the park – to the lake and the gorgeous homes that this town is famous for – we know that we are truly “home” and will remain here for a long long time. And we know that not only do we live in a quaint town – but we live with people who have the spirit of friendship and community. We wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

Katie Otto

We were driving into Lake Mills (for the very first time) in search of a house. My husband, myself and our 2 kids and I was huge pregnant with our third. I told my husband and our Realtor that I was not leaving Wisconsin without a house (this being our third trip to Wisconsin ever) so that was a tall order. We we’re looking in Stoughton but couldn’t find a house big enough so our Realtor suggested Lake Mills. I kind of laughed thinking we’re coming from a “town of 3 million”, to a town of 5,000 hardly seemed feasible. But, we were desperate. Our first drive in was pretty memorable. I think I knew when I saw the old Gothic church on Main Street and then even more so by the time we reached Commons Park and with a few haphazard turns (we we’re lost) we ended up at Bartels Beach. I couldn’t believe it really, SOLD!! I remember a car pulled up and 4 teenagers got out and pitched a blanket and had a picnic. REALLY, teenagers picnic. I told my husband THIS IS IT!! We met our Realtor to see the house, made an offer and the rest is history!!

Sherry Smith