Martin and Theresa Koller and their children settled in the area in the 1840s, having emigrated from
Bavaria. The community was originally named Koller, after them. In 1912, the
Kohler Company created a planned community in an area of
Sheboygan County formerly known as River Side. They named the village
Kohler after the family company. At some point, the community of Koller began to be called Kohler as well. Residents of the Kohler in Ozaukee County then began referring to their community as "Little Kohler" to differentiate the two. Little Kohler is the location of the former Camp Fredonia, an Allied
prisoner of war camp that held 330 German
prisoners of war guarded by 46 U.S. combat veterans under the command of Captain Ray Thill, a native of
Belgium, Wisconsin. The camp opened on June 15, 1945, and closed in January 1946. The headquarters was located in the Louis Glunz Hall on Fredonia-Kohler Road, while the prisoners slept in tents in a fenced enclosure. Most of the prisoners worked on local farms harvesting peas and sugar beets. Some were contracted to work at canneries in West Bend, Thiensville, Saukville and Belgium. ==Attractions==