Duluth Trading Company to Celebrate Hometown Sesquicentennial

Reader Contribution by Press Release
Published on June 28, 2011
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If you’re tooling around Wisconsin this summer, stop by Duluth Trading Company’s completely renovated 1882 mercantile store in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, to take a gander at the most incredible tool collection in the Midwest.

Only 20 miles down the road from Madison, this quaint town is home to the new “Wally Keller Tool Museum” nestled inside the Duluth Trading flagship store – a shopping experience for men and women who crave quality, rugged, and downright useful workwear. Already visited by folks from 47 of our United States, the Duluth Trading store and Wally Keller Tool Museum are drawing the traveler looking for a unique discovery experience.

Wally Keller Tool Museum

Open to the public during Duluth Trading store hours, the Wally Keller Tool Museum showcases an extensive collection of Industrial Era hand tools, dating from the end of the Civil War through 1950-60, collected by well-known Mount Horeb folk artist/sculptor, Wally Keller. The late artist was known for the scrap metal creatures he lovingly crafted from old farm machinery, commercial and automotive parts and proudly displayed in his yard.

What people didn’t know is that Keller was also the owner of an extensive 3,147-piece hand tool collection. When Steve Schlecht, owner of Duluth Trading Company, visited Wally Keller’s home in 2009 in search of sculpture, he was treated to a peek at Keller’s tool collection – including an Alligator Wrench, a Railroad Spike Puller and a Fence Stretcher. At the request of Keller’s wife, Duluth Trading later acquired the entire collection. Today, visitors to the Duluth Trading store can read the “Whatsis” board in the Wally Keller Tool Museum to test their know-how, and try to figure out what the heck all the odd tools were used for.

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