2025/8/16 Saturday August 16th 2025
New location for 2024!
Did you know that Stoughton is Home of the Coffee Break The concept of the modern day coffee break started in Stoughton, Wisconsin!
In the late 1800�s, Norwegian immigrants arrived in the Stoughton area in large numbers, attracted here by the availability of work in T. G. Mandt�s wagon factory.
With the men busy building wagons, local tobacco warehouse owners hired their wives for seasonal tobacco work. The women found the Gunderson Tobacco Warehouse, at the corner of Main and Coffee Streets (now Hillside St.), an ideally located place to work, as it was near enough to their homes that they could periodically run home to check on their families, houses, and the meal in progress.
While home, the women took a minute to rest and help themselves to a cup of coffee from the pot always hot on the stove. With this simple habit, the coffee break began---a brief time to relax and enjoy a cup of coffee before heading back to work.
Today, Stoughton celebrates our claim as the birthplace of the coffee break with a day-long festival. Follow website & Facebook links for an up-to-date listing of family welcoming events!
Did you know that Stoughton is Home of the Coffee Break The concept of the modern day coffee break started in Stoughton, Wisconsin!
In the late 1800�s, Norwegian immigrants arrived in the Stoughton area in large numbers, attracted here by the availability of work in T. G. Mandt�s wagon factory.
With the men busy building wagons, local tobacco warehouse owners hired their wives for seasonal tobacco work. The women found the Gunderson Tobacco Warehouse, at the corner of Main and Coffee Streets (now Hillside St.), an ideally located place to work, as it was near enough to their homes that they could periodically run home to check on their families, houses, and the meal in progress.
While home, the women took a minute to rest and help themselves to a cup of coffee from the pot always hot on the stove. With this simple habit, the coffee break began---a brief time to relax and enjoy a cup of coffee before heading back to work.
Today, Stoughton celebrates our claim as the birthplace of the coffee break with a day-long festival. Follow website & Facebook links for an up-to-date listing of family welcoming events!