It's a historic building and a literary landmark. A home that was moved and preserved.

While the Ager House has a history of its own, it's the story of the man who lived there that Sarah Stokes tells us in today's Wandering Wisconsin.

Sarah: It was inside this historic home here on Madison Street in Eau Claire where a Norwegian immigrant found his inspiration.

"This room is the room where Waldemar Ager wrote all the novels, all the works of fiction that he wrote," Tim Hirsch said.

On this very typewriter, ager tapped away at his 7 novels and several short stories.

Hirsch adds, "no doubt about it for that period, Eau Claire's most prominent writer of fiction."

Now his work and his story lives on through the Waldemar Ager Association.

"It is the story of most of us in Wisconsin," Hirsch said.

The story of a 16 year old who came to America, found work in the newspaper business, and spent the rest of his life writing in Eau Claire.

"One of my favorites is Christ Before Pilate," Hirsch comments as he holds the book.

Hirsch, a retired UW-Eau Claire professor, is one of the association's founders.

"I used to teach this book, "Sons of the Old Country" set in Eau Claire before the Civil War and during the Civil War," he said.

We can now read his books because they've been translated, one by his son. But it was his native tongue and heritage that Hirsch says motivated Ager.

"Preserving the best of Norwegian culture. And for him that would have been the language, the literature, the songs. I don't think he would have included lutefisk," said Hirsch.

And he wouldn't have included alcohol.

"Waldemar ager was a serious temperance person," Hirsch added.

He was the editor and publisher of a temperance and Norwegian newspaper, "The Reform," which Hirsch says outsold the other newspapers at the time. When Ager died in 1941, so did the paper. A collection of hard copies is archived here, capturing the spirit of the immigrants of the early 1900's.

"It is possible here in this house to trace the process of arriving here feeling truly Norwegian then having his own children assimilate, his own newspaper dwindle and dwindle," Hirsch says.

But the man who tried to plant his heritage in Eau Claire also liked to pick out the humor in his new life in Wisconsin.

"Waldemar Ager wrote satires, he made gentle fun of people," Hirsch said.

Hirsch adds Ager wrote about a Lutheran church lutefisk supper that was sabotaged and pointed out the vanity of homes having two clotheslines, one in the front with the good clothes and one in the back with the shoddy clothes.

It's through his fiction that we can find a few laughs and it's through his life that we can find a few lessons for daily living.

Hirsch reflects, "it is important to know where we came from to know where we are. Also, to have greater empathy and understanding for more recent immigrants."

The Ager House hosts events during the year and is also available for groups. Artists and woodworkers also use the home for their craft.

Hirsch says if you'd like to arrange a tour just contact one of the association officers.

You can learn more about the house and the author on the website, www.agerhouse.org.