Why a Luxembourgish village is called Belgium

Draft for the Chamber to review before publishing. Dates, names and details need a local eye before this goes out.

There is a question every visitor asks within about ten minutes of arriving, and the Chamber may as well be the one to answer it.

Why is a Luxembourgish town called Belgium?

The families who settled this corner of Ozaukee County in the 1800s spoke Luxembourgish and kept Luxembourgish customs. Their papers, though, said Belgium — because the part of Luxembourg they came from had been annexed by Belgium. The name stuck to the village; the culture did not change. That is why the flags along Main Street are red, white and light blue rather than black, yellow and red.

What is still here

More than most places of this size. The Luxembourg American Cultural Society keeps the archive and the museum in the village, and the summer festival is the largest gathering of the year.

The churches and the halls

Congregations and community halls did the organising here long before anybody had a chamber of commerce, and several are still going.

If your family is from here and you have photographs, letters or names that belong in this story, tell the Chamber. This page should get longer every year.