Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
“The Wanda Gág House is a historic house museum at 226 North Washington Street in New Ulm, Minnesota.”
Wikipedia article Wanda Gág House, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 38 National Register listings published here for Brown County · listed in 1979 · category: Building.
Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
An account from the chapter on New Ulm city. The inset identifies its exact source book and publication year.
New Ulm was incorporated in March, 1857, and William Pfaender was elected its first president. Later it was incorporated as a borough, with Charles Roos as mayor. A city charter was granted New Ulm on February 24, 1876, with Charles Roos as mayor and Jacob Nix as clerk. Since the place was incorporated into a city the records are all intact, but on account of the Indian depredations during the massacre in August, 1862, the early village records were all destroyed or lost.
The chapter on New Ulm City in History of Brown County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions (Volume 1), published 1916 names New Ulm. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
New Ulm, the seat of justice of Brown county, on the right bank of the Minnesota river, was named by its founders after an important city and an old fort standing on the shore of the Danube in Wurtemberg - Ulm - which word is a combination of the initials of the old Roman legend, " Ultra limites militares," which, translated into our language signifies 6 i Beyond the military border/ ' as the Romans usually called the territory adjoining their possessions in distant countries. It will be understood by the reader from what has already been noted, this place in Brown county was first settled and has always been almost exclusively a German town, hence it was but natural that the founders named it from Ulm, in Wurtemberg, and added the prefix "New," making it New Ulm.
Passage source: History of Brown County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions (Volume 1), published 1916.
The object in laying out New Ulm was stated in a resolution passed by the company or colony that headed the enterprise in the following words: "The object of the German Land Company is to procure a home for every German laborer, popish priests and lawyers excepted, in some healthy and productive district, located on some navigable river." With the passing years, both priest and lawyer have here found a welcome and have been numerous, as well as truly law-abiding citizens of a sprightly city whose history reads not unlike a romance from the early fifties on down for more than a third of a century, which covered the awful baptism of blood during the 1862 massacre, as well as that never-to-be-forgotten summer in 1881, when the city was destroyed by a cyclone of fearful velocity.
Passage source: History of Brown County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions (Volume 1), published 1916.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on New Ulm City - 3,395 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Wanda Gag Childhood Home between 2001 and 2015, burning about 17 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 July 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.1 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 31 May 2001 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 14 May 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 April 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 15 April 2007 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 December 2006 | Recreation and ceremony | 2.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Wanda Gag Childhood Home: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Ulm Quartzite Quarries | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Reinhart Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names New Ulm, the town this property stands in, in 57 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 29 thunderstorm wind, 21 hail, 2 lightning, 2 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | $7,000,000 | 4,000 trees blown down. 10 businesses lost portions of their roof. Mobile home destroyed. Maintenance hangar at airport destroyed, damaging several airplanes. 400 ft TV tower blown down. Poultry bldg levelled at fairgrounds. Reception hall lost its roof. Large trees blown down at local cemeteries. The statue of Hermann the German damaged. Estimated 5% of crops or about 50,000 acres in county destroyed. Damage estimate for entire county. |
| May 2000 | Hail | New Ulm | $500,000 | More than 100 vehicles at a dealership sustained damage. |
| March 2010 | Flood | New Ulm | $160,000 | Numerous county roads around New Ulm were closed due to flooding. Monetary costs were based on FEMA, State, and Local assistance which includes the following categories; emergency protective measures and road systems and bridges. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | $50,000 | Several trees and power lines blew down, some landed on homes and damaged their roofs around New Ulm. |
| July 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | $40,000 | Numerous trees down, including one on a car. Barn and shed also downed. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | $10,000 | A street light pole was bent over due to severe straight line winds. |
| September 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | $1,000 | A large tree was blown down in the city of New Ulm. The regional airport reported a wind gust of 61 mph as the storms moved through the city. |
| June 1994 | Hail | New Ulm | $500 | no account filed |
| June 1994 | Hail | New Ulm | $500 | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Hail | New Ulm | $500 | no account filed |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 mph snapped several large trees snapped at their base in German Park, downed a dead, 2 foot diameter tree along 5th North Street, and downed several trees near the New Ulm Medical Center. |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | Multiple downed trees blocked roads throughout New Ulm. |
| June 2024 | Heavy Rain | New Ulm | - | The storm total was 2.5 inches of rainfall. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | A report of a tree down in the city of New Ulm was related by dispatch. The New Ulm airport west of town had a measured wind gust of 56 mph. |
| June 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | A large tree and several large tree branches were blown down in New Ulm. |
| June 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | Numerous trees were blown down in New Ulm. |
| June 2014 | Flash Flood | New Ulm | - | Due to excessive rainfall numerous roads were flooded, especially in New Ulm, and slumping took place in several locations. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | A few trees were blown down around New Ulm, Minnesota. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | A 50 knot wind gust was measured at the New Ulm, Airport. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | A measured wind gust at the New Ulm Airport. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | Several trees blown down. |
| August 2007 | Flash Flood | New Ulm | - | Widespread street flooding occurred. Several cars stranded around New Ulm. The cooperative observer in New Ulm measured 6.82 inches as of 0630 CST August 19. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | Tree down over Shag Road along Minnesota River. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | A tree in a marsh near the Minnesota River was downed onto a power line. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | Numerous trees were downed onto yards and roads. The most concentrated area of damage was in an east-west path between 12th North and Center streets. One large tree pulled up the sidewalk and a portion of the curb on South Minnesota Street. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | Trees and power poles were downed. |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | Many tree branches were downed throughout town. A tree fell onto a garage in Payne Street. |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | A 60 MPH wind gust was reported via HAM radio. |
| April 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | Several trees were downed. The metal roof of a granary was ripped off and blown 100 feet. |
| September 2004 | Lightning | New Ulm | - | A home on Garden Street suffered electrical damage after a lightning strike. |
| September 2004 | Lightning | New Ulm | - | A residence on South Jefferson Street suffered damage to a tree, transformer, doorbell, and front door after lightning struck. |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | Several trees toppled. |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | Portion of old one story building collapsed onto car. Large tree limbs down. Winds estimated. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | Windows blown out at Flandreau State Park Bldg. 300 trees down. Two trees blown onto camper. Estimated windspeed. |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | Trees and large branches down on west side of city. Estimated windspeed. About one and one half inches of rain in one half hour resulted in minor flooding at a mobile home park. |
| May 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down several large trees in the city of New Ulm. Hail and strong winds damaged several hundred acres of crops in the Springfield area. |
| August 2023 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Funnel Cloud | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| October 1996 | Hail | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Ulm | - | no account filed |
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Ulm Armory | 0.1 miles | 1979 | |
 | Bernard Fesenmaier House | 0.2 miles | 1979 |
| New Ulm High School | 0.2 miles | 2015 | |
 | St. Michael's School and Convent | 0.2 miles | 1979 |
 | Gov. John Lind House | 0.2 miles | 1974 |
 | New Ulm Oil Company Service Station | 0.3 miles | 1979 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 79001204 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Brown County | All 38 listed properties in this county. |
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