*Sunday 11/23/25, 4pm:  "The Verona ‘Leper Colony’:  What We Know Now." At the Verona Senior Center, 108 Paoli St, Verona, WI. (Note the 4pm start time)

This In 1894, Thomas Larsen ended up in Verona, Wisconsin, because he had nowhere else to go. He didn’t know that this would be his last stop after being bounced between boarding houses, relatives’ homes, and government institutions.  He also didn’t know that a century later he would be remembered - although not by his name.

Thomas ended up in Verona because he had the condition we know today as “Hansen’s Disease” - more commonly known throughout history as leprosy.  Incurable and misunderstood, this disease brought with it not just physical suffering, but millennia of stigma, fear, and exclusion.  Thomas experienced all of this in his journey to the small cabin built for him on county land where our dogs frolic and chase tennis balls today.

Longtime Verona residents remember hearing the story of the Verona “leper colony” as kids.  Indeed, after his passing Thomas’ story evolved into one of our most notable “urban legends”.  Our meeting this month asks the question: Can this be reversed?  Have we finally found enough evidence to elevate Thomas’s story up from the usual small town legend collection of hauntings, bootleggers, brothels, and chupacabra?

The answer is yes!  In the years since our first presentation on this topic in 2018, new and exciting pieces of Thomas’ story have been uncovered in a variety of reliable sources.  During this presentation, our historical society president Jesse Charles will show you these new puzzle pieces and how they fit into a larger story.  Learn how this new evidence takes the legend and focuses it, showing a more realistic picture of what actually happened here, in a small isolated cabin, over a century ago.