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A PERMANENT HOME
uring the early years of Little Norway's developement, Isak's busi-
ness activities and acquaintances more than likely had brought him
in contact with the fashionable summer life-style of Geneva Lake.
While enjoying parties and outings at the lake, Isak had recognized the
Norway Building on the Wrigley property as an outstanding example of
Norwegian architecture.
In July of 1933, Isak visited the office of Philip K. Wrigley, and dis-
cussed the prospect of acquiring the Norway Building. In October, he
hired Mr. WE. Stone, a Whitewater, Wisconsin contractor, to estimate the
costs of the building's dismantling and removal from the Wrigley prop-
erty. These bids were presented to Wrigley in July, 1935, when Isak final-
ized negotiations for the acquisition of the Norway Building. At this time,
Philip Wrigley and the trustees of the Wrigley estate agreed to release the
Norway Building into Isak's care, and with Mr. Stone's supervision, the
building was disassembled and trucked to Little Norway. From its origi-
nal construction at Trondheim, Norway and grand display at the Chicago
World's Fair, to pleasure building at a Lake Geneva estate, the Norway
Building now found its fourth and very fitting home as centerpiece of a
Norwegian-American museum.
In June, 1936, a detailed plan for the layout of artifacts in the build-
ing's interior was drawn up. There was to be space allotted for a collec-
tion of effects from the well-known Professor Rasmus B. Anderson.
Anderson had been one of the guest speakers at "Norway Day" at the
Chicago World's Fair. He was a noted author and the founder of the Scan-
dinavian Studies Department at the University of Wisconsin. The build-
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