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Over the past 150 years or more, Swiss and German emigrants have made the gently rolling hills of Green County, Wisconsin their home. From being the finest producers of cheese (including Swiss, of course!) in the US to the preservation of Swiss culture and traditions in Monroe and the Swiss settlement of New Glarus, their influence on this area of south-central Wisconsin is still strongly seen and felt yet today.

Monroe has had a long history of Swiss choral groups, primarily men's yodel quartets and choirs, dating from the early part of the 1900's. The immediate predecessor of the Monroe Swiss Singers was the Swiss Club Men's Chorus, which was established in 1958. Due to dwindling membership, female voices were added in February of 1963 and the group came to be known as the Gemischter Chor Monroe. In 1968, the name was officially changed to the Monroe Swiss Singers.

What began in 1963 with 9 women and 10 men, all but one immigrants, has grown to over 50 members from south-central Wisconsin and north-central Illinois. Almost all of the singers are either native Swiss or German or descendants of immigrants to Green County.

Performing in colorful ethnic costumes, the group's concerts and programs of traditional Swiss/German folk music include singing, yodeling, accordion playing and other instrumental music, Swiss flag-throwing, musical coin-rolling and alphorn blowing. The group has won many first-place awards in competition singing, performs at most of the area's major events, and has accepted invitations to perform at places such as Daley Plaza in Chicago; Folklore Village in Dodgeville, Wisconsin; and at the Berne Heritage Festival in Berne, Indiana. The group is also a member of the North American Swiss Singing Alliance, and participates in NASSA's triennial Swiss singing festival and competiton, the next of which will be held in Toledo, Ohio in 2006.

Home and headquarters of the Monroe Swiss Singers is the historic Turner Hall. Believed to be the only Swiss Turner Hall left in the country, the Emmenthal-style chalet was built in 1938 following the destruction of the original Turner Hall by fire in 1936. The landmark building is listed on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places.

In addition to singing and performing, the Monroe Swiss Singers are keenly interested in continuing, nurturing and fostering not only the musical, but also the cultural legacy of their Swiss heritage. Some of their outreach projects include the publication of a free semi-annual newsletter, a cookbook titled Old World Swiss Family Recipes which was published in 1996, and a scholarship given to graduating seniors of Monroe High School.

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