Ole T. Westby

Ole Westby, left, Sarah Westby, right

Ole T. Westby

One of our first citizens to volunteer his services as a soldier in Uncle Sam’s army, Ole Tostensen Westby was born in Biri, Norway, on May 2, 1840, and came to the United States with his parents June 16, 1849, who on October 1 came to Westby, then known as “Coon Prairie” to join a few earlier settlers who had found their way to this “wilderness” the year before.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Ole T. Westby enlisted in the 15th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment on December 24, 1861, and served until February 13, 1865, when he was discharged with his Regiment.

Records in the files of the Adjutant General’s office in Washington, D.C., show that he first served as a “fifer” and drummer, but later served in the Ordnance Corps under the command of Wisconsin’s famous soldier, Colonel Heg. For “outstanding services” as an ordnance man, he was “mentioned in dispatches.” Records also show that he was suffering from “disability” and was hospitalized for a long period at Monterey, Miss., and wounded in the arm at Lovejoy Station, Georgia.

After his discharge from the Army in 1865, he returned to Coon Prairie and bought 80 acres of his father’s farm and engaged in farming until he opened a General Store on the site which is now occupied by Organic Valley. In November 1865 he married Sarah Dahl. She was the first female assistant at the Coon Prairie Post Office. The couple had 11 children: Emilie, Jonette, Bergine, Regine, Olga, Julius, Sarah, Lindahl, Lillie, Walter and Otis. 

Ole and Sarah Westby’s general store was one of the few businesses located at this location which is now Westby, until 1879, when the C.M. & ST. Paul Railroad completed the building of a branch line from Sparta to Viroqua. There are not any known photographs of Westby’s first store. The name Westby was given the railroad station by the railroad company, to honor Westby’s most prosperous citizen of the time. The site of their store was almost overlooked when the new railroad chose a location for their depot. The railroad originally wanted to locate the station about two miles further north. This attempt was foiled however by two La Crosse merchants, Mons Andersen and C.B. Solberg, who urged that the station be built nearby their good client, Ole Westby.

In 1874, Westby built his second store, a much larger building with a hotel on second floor across the street from his first store. Corner Mechanics is located at this location today.

Ole T. Westby died in January 7, 1897 and was laid to rest in the Coon Prairie Cemetery.