Octagon House 
Museum

The First Kindergarten in the United States was founded in Watertown, Wisconsin in 1856 by Margarethe Meyer Schurz, whose husband was the famous German-American statesman, Carl Schurz. The First Kindergarten building was originally located at the corner of N. 2nd and Jones streets. To preserve this important icon of United States history, the building was relocated to the grounds of the Octagon House Museum 1956. Its interior is furnished similar to how it would have appeared in 1856.