[4] In the early 1930s, a Chicago businessman named Isak Dahle was inspired by a recent tour of Norway and memories of his childhood in Southeastern Wisconsin to replicate a Norwegian farm as a gift to his family.

He christened it Little Norway and gave it the Norwegian name Nissedahle—a pun on the word dal, meaning valley, and his surname.

The site was taken over by his relative, University of Wisconsin Agricultural Economics Department chair Asher Hobson, after Dahle died in 1937.

[3] He has been selling off pieces of the collection to museums and private collectors to help pay a $22,000 annual tax bill.

[3] Since its 2012 closure, Winner has spoken with the Wisconsin Historical Society and other foundations about purchasing the property but no deal has been reached.

Billings, a prominent Chicago business man, and relocated by train to his vacation estate in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.