Friends of the Saxonia House, Inc. (FOSH), welcomes you to the Saxonia House, one of the largest standing half-timber construction homes in the U.S. The Saxonia House is located 30 miles northwest of Milwaukee in Fillmore, Wisconsin. FOSH is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1997 to purchase and restore the Saxonia House site and to operate the site as a public heritage attraction. Membership at several levels is open to the public.

Ernst and Liberta Klessig, from the Saxony region of Germany, built the Saxonia House in 1854 and 1855. The house was used as an inn for settlers traveling through the area and was also a community center, housing the area's first Turn-Verein (Turners) hall, the Fillmore post office, and a dance hall. The Klessigs' Farmington Brewery produced German beer, which was stored in the nearby man-made beer-storage cave.

FOSH owns approximately eight acres of the original 77-acre Klessig farmstead. FOSH's acreage includes the house, a large barn, other small out-buildings and the large man-made beer cave.

The Saxonia House property is on the Wisconsin Register of Historic Places (as of September 2005) and on the National Register of Historic Places (as of February 2006). The house was also listed on Wisconsin's Ten Most Endangered List by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2005. The property is a Washington County Landmark.

We have a number of Klessig family history books and Wagner family history books available for sale.

The Klessig family has been traced back to the 1400's in Germany. If you are related and want more information, please feel free to e-mail us. (Include "Saxonia House" on the subject line.)