THE WAUPACA COUNTY POST

July 10, 1991

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

           

            On April 15, 1853, the Waupaca County Board, by a vote of 3-2, ordered the removal of the county seat from Mukwa to Waupaca, and the Gothic Hall was designated for holding the county and circuit court.

            The Gothic Hall was then located east, across Jefferson Street, from the Public Square.  In 1920 Sherm Sanders purchased the Dr. Brown property on the corner of Jefferson and Union Streets and built his Ford garage.  At that time the Gothic Hall was moved to the west end of Badger Street, across from the Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church, and the former site of Gothic Hall became the Ford parking lot.  This property now belongs to the First National Bank of Waupaca.

            In 1855 it was decided by the State Supreme Court that Waupaca would be the county seat.  In the winter of 1855, construction on the “new” Courthouse had begun, near the center of the Public Square, and after its completion it served as the Waupaca County Courthouse until 1881.

            The title to the Public Square originally was received by David Scott by a United States govern-ment patent.  This land was platted in the original plat of the Village of Waupaca and was dedicated at that time to public use.

            In some research by Roy Rasmus, found in the “Waupaca Centennial 1857-1957,” he gives the transactions and transfers of the old Courthouse building, but not the land on which it stood.  This led up to the disposal of the old Courthouse to the Danes’ Home in 1882.

            The De Danske Hjem (the Danes’ Home) held its organizational meeting on January 6, 1877.  From then on they held meetings in four different buildings before they became the owners of their own building. The last location that they rented was over Matt Jensen’s Market on North Main Street, where they remained until November 14, 1882.

            When the new brick Courthouse was erected on the Public Square in 1882, the old Courthouse had to be moved to make room for the new, so it was moved to one corner of the Square.  Here it was purchased by the Dane’s Home for $275.  Now, they needed to find a home for their new acquisition.  According to Warranty Deed, Volume 56, page 229, dated September 19, 1882, the Dane’s Home purchased lot one (1), Block D, in the Village plat for $600, from Edson L. and Mary E. Demarest.  With the moving of the building and what improvements had to be made, the total cost for their new home was $1,300.

            The Danes’ Home building, now empty, stands on the corner of Granite and North Main Streets.  The old Courthouse that sat at this location served the Danish Society until in 1894, when it was sold once again and moved to the west end of the Water Street Bridge, on the edge of the Waupaca River.

            One of the last businesses to operate here was a bargain store that was run by Mossie Lucie before it was condemned.  It was razed in December 1965.

            This was another of our historic buildings that met the fate of the wrecker’s hammer.