ONLINE: Badger Ordnance Works: “The Powder Plant”

media release: FREE Virtual Event. Registration opens January 15, 2021

A review of the history of the Badger Ordnance Works/Badger Army Ammunition Plant (BOW/BAAP) 1941 to 1997. Verlyn Mueller, Curator of the Museum of Badger Army Ammunition will present a 35 minute power point with live narration followed by a question and answer time. This program will answer questions about what was behind the fence and what was done there. Verlyn has been presenting this program for over 10 years to groups as far as Lomira.

About Verlyn Mueller:

Verlyn was born in 1938 in Prairie du Sac, WI, and graduated from Prairie du Sac High School in 1957. After completing one year of U. S. Air Force radar maintenance school he taught in the school for three years, completing his four year enlistment in 1964. Verlyn worked with his father as a self-employed carpenter after high school and after returning from the Air Force until August 1966 when he went to work for the Olin Mathieson Corp. in the Instrument Shop at Badger Army Ammunition Plant (BAAP). In December 1976 he was laid off and in March 1977 went to work for the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company in Alaska working at Pump Station #3 of the Alaska Oil Pipeline from Prudhoe Bay. In December 1977 he came back to Sauk Prairie and went to work for Stearns-Roger Construction Company on completing the construction of the New Acid Plant at BAAP. 1981 saw Verlyn back in maintenance for Olin Corp. at BAAP until he joined the Engineering Dept. as a Project Engineer in 1987. Retirement came in 1997 after a total of 26 years with Olin Corp.

In 1998 he joined a group of people interested in preserving the history of the BAAP and is one of two charter members still active in the Badger History Group (BHG). Today Verlyn serves as Archivist and museum Curator working in the BHG Museum of Badger Army Ammunition at the former BAAP where he is constantly learning something new about that place where he worked for 26 years. Museum hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 10 am – 4 pm. As Curator/Archivist Verlyn is responsible for museum operation and the acquisition and management of Badger History Group’s collection of artifacts and archives. In 2009 Verlyn received the Sauk County Historical Society’s William Canfield History Award.

This event is funded with a grant from the Greater Sauk Community Foundation thanks to a generous gift from Craig Culver.