HOMES OF WAUPACA AND VICINITY

(Photos not included – work copy to poor to use them)

 

COLLECTED BY THE WAUPACA HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1957

TEACHER:   MISS KURKOWSKI

 

Introduction

 

            The original Homes of Waupaca and Vicinity was the result of research by Miss Sophelia Kurkowski’s high school History class.  A first draft was compiled in 1956, and Miss Kurkowski noted “...the class was too busy to ever correct and redo.”  It is owned by the Waupaca Historical Society and housed in the Hutchinson House at South Park.

            In our copy, we have left intact as much of the original text as possible, correcting only spelling and grammar where necessary for clarity.  We have also attempted to identify and index the location of each house or building, to indicate whether or not it is still standing, and to index the name of all the people mentioned in the text.  These two indexes have been added to the end of the book (not included).

            We want to thank the following people for their assistance with this project:

                        Lucille Holly                                          Fred Jensen

                        Wayne K. Johnson                                Ray Martin

                        Bernhardt (Barney) Pommer                  Arthur Paske

                        Forrest Radley                                      Rheta Richardson

                        Charles Larson

                                                                        Happy Hunting !

                                                                        Mary Jo Vetter

                                                                        Mary Calvo

                                                                        Waupaca Public Library, March 1987

 

 

Miss Sophelia Mary Kurkowski

 

            For thirty-six years until her retirement in 1962, Miss Kurkowski taught History and was Head Librarian at the Waupaca High School.

            In 1953 her History class won an American Heritage Award, and in 1955 the High School annual, The Crystal, was dedicated in her honor.

            In 1957 she was cited by the Wisconsin State Historical Society as one of the top ten teachers of local history in the state.  She helped organize the Waupaca Historical Society.

            Miss Kurkowski was born on May 15, 1898 in Berlin, Wisconsin.  She graduated from Amherst High School and the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, earning her Master’s Degree in Wyoming and her Doctorate at Columbia University in New York.

            Miss Kurkowski passed away on March 20, 1974.

 

 

 

THE ANDERSON HOUSE

Collected by: ? Harris

 

            This house is located on State Street and was built in 1890.  C. Jensen lived in it at this time.  In 1898, F.C. Anderson bought the house.  When he died his daughter became the owner of the house. She and her husband, Delbert Anderson, are still living in it.

            When this house was built it was green, but it is now painted white.  There was a picket fence all the way around the house and a large barn in back.  They have been torn down now. There was a soft water pump in the kitchen and another pump outdoors.  There was no electricity in the house.  At the time the house was built, the sidewalks around it were made of wood.

 

MARGARET ASHMUN HOUSE

Collected by:  Sandra VanEpps

 

            Margaret Ashmun was a poetess who came from New York. Her family resided in Rural and it has been said that one of her husband’s relatives nominated Abraham Lincoln for President.  In the late 1800’s she came to Rural and bought this house, which was built by James McCrossen in 1854.

            There was an old corn crib behind the house which was torn down, and the wood slats were used to make a picket fence around the house.  This fence is still standing and is white washed as it was when Margaret Ashmun lived in it.  Green slatted shutters were originally provided, but during the 1880’s or 1890’s many were removed.  This house still has green shutters.  The cement walk from the gate to the steps was torn out and flagstones were laid.  A plain spindled railing was run around the front porch and a green latticework was built at the back door and over a side door, which suggested eastern state homes of the 1850s.  There are lilac bushes which surround the house that have been there for over eighty years.  Spieglers now own this one hundred and five year old house.

 

 

BALDWIN-FRIHART HOUSE

Collected by:  Robert Miller

 

            This house was built by the Baldwin brothers in 1893. They lived there for three years and then sold it to Henry Frihart.

            The brothers also owned the mill located there and that is how the community received the name, from the Baldwin’s Mill.

            The house has two stories and fourteen rooms.  It is located eight miles from Waupaca on KK just right off Highway 22.

            Henry Frihart has owned the farm since 1896.  Later his son Myron moved into the house and still resides there.  Little change has been made in the structure of the house.

 

 

BALDWIN-KAPITZKE HOUSE

Collected by:  Mary Frihart

 

            Asa Baldwin built this house in the 1880’s.  It was located on the north banks of the Wolf River.  It was used as a boarding house for the lumbermen of the Baldwin’s Mill community.  The mail was brought there by horse and buggy from Weyauwega.  When the mill closed, about 1885, Asa moved the house to its present site.  He then sold the house to J.M. Hatch and his wife, Eva, in February, 1892 for $1700.00.

            A year later Albert, Emil and Gus Kapitzke bought the house for $3000.00.  The three brothers borrowed the money from Maria M. Baxter.  The debt was paid off two years later.  Albert was married in 1900 and the other two brothers moved from the farm.  They built on a kitchen and a woodshed.  When the Baldwin’s Mills Lutheran Church was built, the house was again used as a boarding place for the workers.  The first taxes Albert Kapitzke paid in 1901 were $32.55.  The taxes in 1955 were $303.11.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BAXTER HOUSE

Collected by:  Marge Thorne

 

            This house is located on Center Street.  It is a big white house with a white barn in the back of it.  The house is over eighty-five years old.  It was built by the Baxters.  Mr. Baxter was a lawyer in this town at the time.  After he sold the house, he and his mother moved to California.

            It was bought by Mr. Sophus Danielsen and he has owned it ever since.  Mr. Danielsen has lived here for over fifty years.

            He bought the house before he was married.  Mr. Danielsen said to me, “That’s about the first time anyone has had the cage before the bird.”

            The house remains the same except for some improvements that Mr. Danielsen made after he acquired the house.

 

 

HISTORY OF THE BEADLESTON BUILDING

Collected by:  Bruce Ciura

 

            This building was constructed in the year 1865  by Henry Beadleston.  It is located on the corner of Main and West Fulton Streets in Waupaca, Wisconsin.  There has always been a store located in the lower part and until a few years ago, offices on the second floor.

            In 1941, the building was acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Bert Quimby, who are the present owners.

            The brick structure has been on fire twice, but was saved before it was destroyed.  Each time there was a great deal of remodeling done and now it is one of the outstanding business buildings in Waupaca.

            The Badger Paint Company now has the main part of the lower level, and small offices are held by Cormican Insurance Company and Rasmussen Jewelry.

            The owners live in the front apartment on the second floor and have two tenants in other apartments.

 

 

THE BOARDING HOUSE

Collected by Phil Fallgatter

 

            Located at the corner of Oborn and Shearer streets in Waupaca, this house was built in 1851, one year after the sawmill which stood nearby.  The owners of the sawmill built the house to provide a place where unmarried employees could board and room.

            The sawmill continued in operation for about thirty years, and the house provided lodging for the workers  during that time. Shortly after 1880 the supply of easy-to-get logs in the vicinity was exhausted, sawing operations were discontinued, and the property was sold to the owners of the flour and feed mill on Oborn Street, just north of the sawmill.  During the next twenty-five years or so, it was occupied by employees of the flour and feed mill and their families.  During this time the house deteriorated with age and because of poor tenants, some of whom went so far as to use parts of the floor for firewood.  In 1907 extensive repairs were made, including new roof, siding, floors, and plaster.

            The owners of the flour and feed mill retained ownership of the property, renting it to their employees and others until 1946, at which time it was sold to a local contractor.  Extensive repairs were made by the new owner shortly thereafter, and the house has started its second century in reasonably good condition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BROOKS’ HOUSE

Collected by:  Dodridge Brooks

 

            The house pictured above is located on a farm three quarters of a mile south of Lind Center on County Trunk A  or about seven miles southeast of Waupaca.  It was built in 1898.

            The original house on the farm was burned in 1897 and a year later this one was built.

            On March 31, 1924, a wedding was held in the house uniting Miss Norma West and Mr. Ora Brooks in marriage.

            The Wests were the original owners of the farm, but a few years after the marriage of their only daughter, Norma, Ora Brooks bought the farm and is now the present owner.

            In 1951 Mr. Brooks’ son married and lived in the upper story for about a year, but now he lives in the farm’s other house and at present the Brooks occupy the house.

 

 

THE OLD CHADY’S CORNER STORE

Collected by:  James Tarr

 

            The house we live in at 527 North Street and the house next door was a store out at Chady’s Corner.  The store was built by Wencell Chady about 1902.  At that time the streetcar used to make a stop at the store on its way to the Grand View Hotel.

            In 1920 Edward Durrant bought the house and moved it to Waupaca.  He remodeled the store into two houses.

 

 

W.J. CHAMBERLAIN HOUSE

Collected by: (not listed)

 

            W.J. Chamberlain came in 1851 from Ellsworth, Maine.  His wife was Lucy Brimer. He worked for McCrossen and Quint in their store on Main Street, near the mill, until 1874.  They had s tore that is now Myra Dake Smith’s shop.

            In 1857 or 1876 he became County Treasurer and moved to Waupaca.  He had a Post Office in McCrossen and Quint’s store.  Their house burned down in 1913.

            Mr. Chamberlain’s house used to be a halfway inn called J.H. Jones Tavern.  People still marvel at the original doorstep where it has worn down from the travelers of long ago coming and going.  About 1920 these west wing or upright of the house was removed to make a tinshop for Mr. Stringham.

            The Chamberlains were a lively family and added much to the social life of Rural.  Mrs. E. Kresge from Chicago now owns the house, but she resides in her home in Chicago.

 

 

THE CHESLEY HOME

Collected by:  Diann Hollenbacher

 

            The Gus Chesley home is located on the corner of Lake and Jefferson Streets and was built in 1870.

            Inside the house there is part of a large fireplace.  It is said that at one time a large mantle of onyx covered the fireplace, but the owner of the house couldn’t afford to pay the bill when the carpenter finished repairing the house.  The carpenter took the mantle piece for payment.

            The stoves they have in the house are the kind you can plug into the chimney to get heat and they must be fed wood.

            The house has a very high oak ceiling, which makes the ceiling look very fancy.  There is a long stairway going up the side of the house that is very typical of the homes of that time.

            Notice also the wide circular porch at the front of the house.

 

 

THE COURT HOUSE

Collected by: (not listed)

 

            Picture a small white house with a screened-in front porch and windows with twelve panes. Around the house is a small woods with a narrow path running through it.  This is the house that Jenny Court remembers as a little girl.

            The land was bought from the government and the house was built in the middle eighteen hundreds.

            One of the owners was Fred Spencer and his wife.  When they moved into the house it was quite small.  So each time they were expecting a child they added an addition. The house now measures eight feet (not including the porch) and is the longest old house in Waupaca.

            The Court’s bought the house in 1920 and have lived there thirty-six years.

            The inside of the house is very simple and homey. The kitchen is a big square room with a big black stove on one side. It is very pleasant to sit by it on a cold winter night.

            Other homes have replaced the woods but the house remains the same, full of charm and happy memories.

 

 

THE DeVOIN SETTLEMENT

Collected by:  Shirley Caldwell

 

            In the fall of 1854, John DeVoin set out for Waupaca from Boston. Mr. DeVoin made his settlement in the town of Belmont on one hundred and twenty acres of government land bought at $1.25 per acre.  He obtained temporary shelter in the house of George Robinson while a house was being built on his land in Section 13, then in primitive condition.

            Lumber was being hauled some distance, and the winter was spent in building the house.

            Mr. DeVoin remained here for thirty-eight years.  He die din the year of 1892 at the age of ninety-four.

            Late in life he added forty acres to the old homestead.  Mr. DeVoin used the homestead for farming.  His son Charles S. DeVoin continued farming.  Upon his illness he moved to Waupaca.  He built the “Waupaca House” and later the “Hotel DeVoin”.

            The house of the old homestead still remains.  It has been changed with an addition on the west side.  It is located 12 miles southwest of Waupaca.  It is now owned by Clifford Caldwell.

 

 

MISS ANNA FAULKS’ HOUSE

Collected by:  (not listed)

 

            Miss Faulks’ house is located on the corner of Van and Shearer Streets.  The house was built by J.R. Cantassel and his nephew Frank.  They built the house for a boarding house.  One of the boarders still lives in Waupaca; her name is Miss Schroeder.

            The house has been struck by lightning two times, but luckily it did not burn.

            The house is just the same as it was when it was built - that is nothing has been changed in the house itself.  The only part that has been changed is the roof, and it has been changed only once.

 

 

FELKER HOUSE

Collected by:  Kenneth Ravey

 

            This house was located at the corner of Badger and Jefferson Streets.  It was built in 1897 by Herman Felker and his wife, Carrie.  Herman Felker came from Almond and went into the delivery business under the name of Felker and Whipple.  He also purchased the Delavan Hotel, and later sold it.  The house was never remodeled.

            An oil company purchased the house in 1956 and is going to have it torn down for replacement of a service station.

 

FISHER-FALLGATTER MILL

Collected by:  Phil Fallgatter

 

            The land on which the Fisher-Fallgatter Mill now sands was given by the United States in a land grant to an early settler named Cutting Marsh.  According to the abstract from Winfield Scott, this was on September 29, 1853.  Among other names listed in the abstract are those of Brown, Oborn, Gallop, Hooker, Miller, Allen, Colby, Roberts, Jardine, Manchester, Sessions, VanTassel, Chamberlain, and Lovejoy.  Several of these names are familiar in Waupaca both as names of inhabitants of the city and as street names.

            Cutting Marsh was a native of Danville, Vermont and a graduate of Dartsmouth College and Andover Seminary.  He came west in 1829 and spent nineteen years among the Stockbridge Indian’s combining the work of minister and physician.  When the Indian lands were thrown open to settlers, he came to Waupaca to make the home in which he lived for twenty-two years.  He was the city’s first doctor.

            The Fisher-Fallgatter mill was built in its original form in 1884 by Baldwin and Oborn who had previously operated the Crescent Roller mills, now abandoned.

            S.T. Oborn was born at Ulysses, New York on February 14, 1849.  At an early age he came with his parents to Neenah, Wisconsin where he was engaged in the milling business at an early age.  He had previously attended Baldwin College at Berca, Ohio.

            He came to Waupaca in the spring of 1876, taking charge of the city mills for Dayton, Baldwin, and Company. In 1878 he purchased an interest in the property, the firm becoming Baldwin and Oborn, and so continued until the mill burned on January 26, 1884.

            In the summer of 1884, associated with R.N. Roberts under the name of Roberts and Oborn, he built the Crescent Roller Mill which started to operate in September of that year, the production being fifty barrels per day.

            In 1899 the mill was sold to Nielson who, after operating it for one or two years, sold it to three Fallgatter brothers - Victor, Walter and Ward, the latter being my grandfather, who died before I was born.  The Fallgatter brothers came from South Dakota and after being here a short time, sold the mill to a man by the name of Merritt, also from South Dakota.

            In 1903 the Fallgatter brothers returned, buying back the mill and in 1905 my grandfather, Ward Fallgatter, and Fred Fisher formed a partnership which lasted until the death of Ward Fallgatter in 1937.

            In 1912 the machinery was all replaced, with flour production being increased from fifty barrels a day to one hundred sixty-five.

            In 1937 after the death of my grandfather, my father, Don Fallgatter came back to Waupaca where he had lived as  a boy.   He operated the mills with Mr. Fisher until the latter retired in 1943.  Since that time the grist milling has been discontinued with rye flour only being produced.

            The railroad siding at the rear of the mill provides transportation for the flour which is sold by brokers mainly to eastern States in car load lots.

            The mill is located at 213 Oborn Street.

 

 

THE GODFREY HOUSE

Collected by:  Eileen Hake

 

            In 1858, Thomas Godfrey built a log cabin for his wife, Eliza Pinkerton and himself in what is now Sheridan.  Thomas then passed the house which they had enlarged on to William Godfrey and his wife, Jerond in 1942.  By this time there had been many additions to the house.  In 1955, Harold Godfrey passed the house on to Walter Kienas and his wife, Mary Godfrey.  The house today is still in the Godfrey family.

            The house has eleven rooms.  There is a large living room which is seventeen feet square.  The dining room is sixteen feet square.  The kitchen is also quite large.  There are also three bedrooms on the first floor.

            The second floor has four additional large rooms.  There is also a large attic.

            The windows are quite unique.  There are six panes of glass in the top and six panes in the bottom half of the window.

 

THE OLD HENDRICKSON HOUSE

Collected by:  Dan Boone

 

            This house was built in 1890 by the late Ward Fallgatter, who is the father of Don Fallgatter.  The first people to live in the house were the Hendricksons.

            Then, in 1910 the house was sold to the Testins.  In 1938, Mr. and Mrs. Boone bought the house and have lived there ever since.

            The house has been remodeled three times, once by the Boone family.  It has four rooms and a bath upstairs.  There are five rooms downstairs.  There was a fireplace in the living room, but after it was remodeled the fireplace was taken out.  The building has always been used just for a home.

 

 

OLD HIBBARD ESTATE

Collected by:  Mollie Myrick

 

            The lot for this house was bought from the United States for $150.00 by Cutting Marsh in September of 1853.  Cutting Marsh was a land dealer who sold the land back to the United States.  It was then sold to William B. Hibbard in April of 1856.

            Hibbard built the house in the fall of 1856.  This house is a very good example of early 19th century architecture.  It has stained windows in the hall and a curved row of six windows in the parlor.  At that time it had six rooms which served as their living quarters.

                        The house wasn’t remodeled until electricity and plumbing was installed.  Years later they changed the old woodshed into a bedroom, and added a new bedroom on the southeastern corner.

 

 

THE WILLIAM HIBBARD HOUSE

Collected by:  Jean Olson

 

            William Hibbard, a Vermonter, was in a group of the first settlers to settle in Waupaca in 1849.  He surveyed the area and claimed the tract after trudging from Plymouth, Wisconsin of foot.

            He stayed in the Cooper [house], the first house in Waupaca - fourteen feet by twelve feet - which was used as an overnight stop when settlers came to develop claim.  William Hibbard remained here and claimed the eighty acres on which the Methodist and Baptist churches stand, and also eighty acres at $1.25 per acre paid to the United States government.

            The house in which we live is the original house built by William Hibbard in 1852.  He took N.P. Judson, an early merchant who bought goods in Milwaukee driving his team back and forth, as a partner.  Judson had a light trade and little money, and after borrowing $10.00 from John Ware, the teacher,  and following a “watered whiskey” threat, Justice Hibbard dissolved the partnership with Judson and forced him to pay back the loan in 1853.

            In 1860, Mr. Hibbard sold the house to John Vaughn for $50.00.  John Vaughn was a New Yorker and early pioneer and the first man to travel on foot form Berlin to Waupaca.  He was a competent farmer and merchant, the first sheriff of Waupaca County.  Mr. Vaughan sold the house again in 1861 to Anna Simcock, a relative of the first Methodist minister.

            In 1875 the house went from the Simcock family to Matilda Smith for $300.00.

            In 1818 Dr. D.L. Manchester, then Mayor of Waupaca, became the owner.  Manchester was an 1854 pioneer and a Civil War recruit, and later became a doctor practicing in Waupaca and at the Veterans’ Home.  He used the partial alley (which is now city property, eight and one-fourth feet) as his horse barn for twenty years.

            Dr. Manchester sold the house to Joe Woodnorth who was on the first board of trustees at the Veterans’ Home in 1886, and who was also the first Commandant.  He later became a general merchant at which time he moved into his new Waupaca home, this house.

            In 1892 the property passed into the John McCrossen family.  John and Rachel were parents of Mrs. Felker from who we rented the house in 1936.  Originally the house had only three rooms - a bedroom, living room and a kitchen, with a cellar under one room.  Bathroom and backroom were added in 1912, and at the same time two bedrooms in the attic were given final touches.  Mrs. Chady, Mrs. Felker’s sister who had the telephone exchange and a hat shop on Union Street, decided to room teachers upstairs.  All additional changes were made after 1946 when Willard Olson bought the house.

 

 

HIGH HOUSE

Collected by:  Caroline Dunbar

 

            On September 7, 1852 the United States Government sold the property to Mr. N. Judson and Mr. William Hibbard.  They patented it on December 9, 1854.

            Mr. Hibbard sold it to Mr. J.B. Farbox in 1859.  Mr. High said there must have been a one-story building on the land at that time because Mr. Farbox paid $300.00 for it.

            From Mr. Farbox it went to the following:  Mr. Prevast, 1860; Daniel McKay, 1868; Humphrey Miles, 1869; Charles Churchill, 1870; Jennie Stern, 1883; Frank Whipple, 1890; W.B. Baker, 1891; Nellie and Wallace Lord, 1898; Wardens and Vestryner of Saint Mark’s Church 1905; Charles Saeyer, 1905; Frank Kiger, 1920; M.A. Mix, 1922; and to Ralph and Ellen High, 1929.

            When Mr. High remodeled the house he found an old Waupaca Spirit in the walls that had been used for insulation.  He wasn’t sure of the date but at that time the Soo Line Railway only went as far as Oshkosh.  In the “Want Ads” section of the paper there was an item that a near-by farmer had lost his yoke of oxen.

            This house is located at the corner of Deer and Jefferson Streets in Waupaca.  Mr. and Mrs. High live there.

 

 

ROBERT HOLLY HOUSE

Collected by:  Russell Schweitzer

 

            Stella Diana Weeks built the house in 1894.  Robert Holly bought it from her in 1905.  The property is part of what was known as Wright’s Grove.  All the picnics, Fourth of July celebrations, etc., were held here before the house was built.  The present road is in the same pattern as the original road through the grove.

            Mrs. Weeks bought the property from Mrs. Caroline Wright Miller in the year of 1894 for the price of $300.00.  Mr. Holly paid $1600.00 for the house and property in 1905.  This property was part of Judson addition.

            The house itself has not changed much except for the north side of the house.  There was a porch on the north and east sides.  The north portion of the porch is now removed.  The shed on the back of the house is now removed also.

 

 

THE HOLMAN HOUSE

Collected by:  Rae Renee Holman

 

            In the trying years preceding the Civil War, near the small but beautiful Holman Lake, a man named Fitzgerald built a house. The year was 1853 and the times, critical.  Slavery was becoming an issue which in a few years would flame into open warfare of brother against brother and father against son.

            The original house was two stories with a porch on the front.  Three majestic cedar trees hide the front of the house from the road, and give a feeling of seclusion as well as keeping the rooms cool.  On the hottest days our rooms are almost cold.  About four years ago my folks remodeled the house.  The porch was removed and a bay window put in.  The interior was paneled with knotty pine and new floors were put in.  A thing that I thought strange about the house was the number of doors. One room had eight doors.  Some of these were removed or put to other uses.

            On November 18, 1873 the house was bought by my great grandfather, Clark E. Holman.  Clark Holman was a corporal in the 16th regiment, Company E of the Wisconsin Division on Sherman’s march to the sea in the Civil War.  With the house, which was sold for $4000.00, went five-hundred acres.  Of this five-hundred and forty acres, there is now with the immediate house, twenty acres.

            Three generations of soldiers have lived in this house. The first was my great-grandfather, Clark Holman in the Civil War; the next was Lee Holman, my grandfather’s brother who fought in France during World War I; and finally there was my uncle, Manley Holman, who was a corporal in World War II.

 

 

HOPPE HOUSE

Collected by:  Dianne Hentzner

 

            Famous for its historical value and also as in Inn for weary travelers coming on the stagecoach from Berlin, is the Hoppe House.  This house is situated on the EE road about four miles from the town of Waupaca.  This Inn was called the halfway mark between Berlin and Stevens Point.

            Built around 1856, about the time Waupaca became a village, this Inn was a welcome sight after the long journey by stagecoach from Berlin.  Meals and rooms were available for the night.  Upstairs in this Inn was a long hallway with rooms on both sides of the hall. Downstairs there was a parlor for the guests which is still in this house today.  There was also a large room used as a dining room where the travelers ate their meals.

            Most of the house has been remodeled but the front of the house on the outside remains authentic.  In the barns were kept the horses and the stagecoach.  Another interesting fact about this house is that it was only used for travelers coming on the stagecoach.  The mail came by another route and stopped at another Inn on the E road about five or six miles out of Waupaca.  This house is now occupied by the Greenwood family.

            Although the Hoppe house has been remodeled, the Greenwood house is still standing just as it was in the 1850’s.

 

 

WAUPACA’S EARLY HOSPITAL

Collected by:  Leonard Guthu

 

            The former Woods Hospital, located at 724 Ware Street on the east side of Waupaca, was built in 1895.  The contractor was Martin Peterson.

            Chris Peterson bought the house.  He married and raised his family while living in this house.  When he passed away, his family moved.  Then in 1908 his daughters moved back to the old homestead.

            In 1914 the home was converted into a hospital, although the girls still remained there and ran the hospital.  The head physicians were Dr. Wood and Dr. Chandler.  It remained a hospital until 1921. In 1945 the interior of the house was almost completely destroyed by fire.  At this time many changes were made in the woodwork, floors, and windows.  The woodwork was all maple.  Three was an iron railing around the windows.  The things of importance that still remain are the colored windows, although the iron railing is gone, and the door handles that are still on some of the doors.

            The daughter of Chris Peterson lived in the house until 1955, when Donald Waller bought it. He resides there with his family at the present time.

 

 

HYATT HOUSE

Collected by:  David Landsverk

 

            Hyatt House was built in 1852 by Jim McCrossen. Later it was moved from the western side of Rural to its present location.  Mrs. Partridge; a former owner of Hyatt House, used it for a hat store. Mr. Quint, another former owner, made a general store out of it and rented the upstairs as living quarters.  Two rooms and a bathroom have been added.

            Mrs. Maude Hyatt is the present owner.  She bought it in 1902.   This Rural home is one hundred four years old.

 

 

JACOB JACOBSON HOUSE

Collected by:  DiAnn Polly

 

            The Jacobson House is located about three and a half miles from Waupaca on a side road off of Highway 49.

            The last abstract that was found was dated January 1866, but it is believed there were people living there about ten years before that.  This would make the house at least one hundred years old.

            It was acquired by Lars Jorgenson in 1875.  When he died he willed it to his daughter, Emma Jacobson.  Mrs. Jacobson was born in the house and some eighty years later died there.

            The house is made of wood and wooden nails were used in the boards.  The nails were made by the men who built the house. The lilacs in front of the house were planted when the house was built.

            On September 17, 1950 a tornado ripped through the farm leaving only the house and silo standing.  The Jacobsons were sitting on the porch but decided they had better move into the house. A few minutes later the porch was torn off by the tornado. The only change in the house is the porch which was built on where the old one was torn off.

            Mr. Jacobson and his daughter Amelia reside in the house in the summer and go to Florida for the winter.

 

 

MICHAEL JENSEN HOUSE

Collected by:  Margie Vaughan

 

            Michael Jensen bought forty acres of land in 1886.  He built the main part of the house.  He came from Denmark, and his wife also was from Denmark.  They had five children on this farm, three of whom are still living.

            There was no highway when he first came, just a trail.  The lane was only about half as long as it is now.

            One of his sons, Peter, was married in 1917.  They built the kitchen part on the house the following years.  They lived there for about twenty-five years.

            About thirty-five years ago Pete made the first tractor and about four years later bought a Fordson. When the highway came through it was further away from the building.  Mr. Jensen bought the land up so it was one hundred and ten acres.

            Fourteen years ago the farm was sold to Wilbur Vaughan, my father.  We’ve put a new roof on the house and plan to make the kitchen larger.

            The new highway will make our lane longer yet; it’ll then  be a good half mile long.

 

 

JOHANKNECHT HOUSE

Collected by:  Jean Meyer

 

            In December 1852, William Edward bought this farm from the United States government.  It is located two and one-half miles south of Waupaca on County Trunk K.  After living on it a few years, he then sold it.

            It exchanged hands for many years, and in 1903 Loren Krake tore down the original house.  He moved the frame of the present house from the old Olson farm located just across the road on to the present setting. When he moved this house it had five small rooms, three bedrooms, a parlor and a living room.  Krake built another bedroom, pantry, kitchen and a porch on the front.

            When Albert Johanknecht came in 1905, the front room had a partition in it, which he tore out to make the two rooms into one large front room.  There was an outside pump and no electricity, but he later installed those facilities.  The house has high ceilings, and it is a very good picture of an older house that was remodeled and made modern in the early 1900’s.

 

 

HOME OF NELS JOHNSON

Collected by:  David Johnson

 

            This house, located at 786 Berlin Street in Waupaca, was built in the last part of the eighteenth century.  Up to the present time there were many owners who occupied both the property and the house itself.  Here are a few of them:  John J. Demarest; M.C. Mead; J.H. Linthold; John Branby; Carl Jensen; John Larson; Grant Hopkins; William Peterson; A.R. Bellrue; Pansy Fendrich; A.W. Vlack; Archie Newton; Marvin E. Monk; and the present Nels Johnson.

            Demarest Street, which runs vertically with the house, was named after the Demarest family and their children.

            The first floor consists of three large rooms, a bedroom and a kitchen.  The second floor ahs three bedrooms and a washroom.  There is an attic which is never used.  The garage is built right onto the house.

            Today the house is a tourist home where many people come to enjoy not only the rooms but the beautiful scenery, the pond of fish, and the frontage on the lake, and maybe fish or take a swim while they’re at it.

            The front of the house has been remodeled to get rid of the overhanging porch.  There will be many more happy people to own this great house, and enjoy the pleasure and happiness the past owners all had.

 

 

THE KEHL HOUSE

Collected by:  Mary Ann Lear

 

            The Kehl house was formerly A.M. Hansen’s Machine Shop.  It was also the Gothic Hall.  It was then located near the Ford Garage.

            The first religious meetings were held in this hall. Dr. Cutting Marsh, a pioneer minister and doctor of Waupaca, was the First Evangelist Church’s minister. The first Masonic organization was held there.

            In 1853 the first government land sale was held in the Gothic Hall.  The judge came from Winnebago County.

            In 1852 we got our first treaty from the Indians.  It was then when we could buy the land.

            Mrs. Doctor Brown owned the property of Gothic Hall.  When she died her nephew got the land.  His name was Einor Torssell.

 

 

HANS LARSON HOUSE

Collected by:  Irma Thompson

 

            This house is located on Highway 22, just outside of the Grand Army Home in King, Wisconsin.  It was built by Hans Larson around 1860 to 1870.  He and his wife had emigrated from Denmark to this country a few years before.

            Mr. and Mrs. Larson acquired the land from the United States government through the Homestead Act.  They worked hard and broke the land piece by piece with a pair of oxen.

            The house was built one room at a time because of the lack of money.  Not many changes have been made to the house since then.

            There were three children in the Larson family:  Frank, Charles and Alvina.  After Charles was married, he and his wife lived in the house until it was bought by Allen Faulks who still lives there.

            Mr. Larson acquired the land which he sold by lots for $100.000.  They were located across from his home and extended almost to the store in King.

            The Grand Army Home was not standing then, but was built many years after 1870.  The only neighbor to be remembered was Charles Huntoon.

 

 

 

 

 

LOBERG HOUSE

Written by:  Mrs. Miles S. Loberg

Collected by:  Dave Jensen

 

            Nathan P. Judson and W.B. Hibbard had the land around the section of Lake Street as a government grant.  This one lot, one hundred and fifty feet by two hundred and fifty feet, was sold to Mrs. Mary G. Scottt in 1874.  She put small mortgages on it from time to time and finally in 1880 she owned it, but the Scott’s did not build until 1892.

            The house was built by Hans P. Knudsen, one of the best contractors in these parts.  Mr. Knudsen told me that Dr. Scott gave him the plans for the house and said “Mr. Knudsen, I want you to build me this house, put the best material you can find in it and built it to the best of your ability.”  Mr. Knudsen said “and I did just that and I dare say if a cyclone came to Waupaca that would be the one house that could be left standing.”

            The house had six more rooms than it now has.  When Theo. Nelson purchased the property in 1925 he tore off the west wing and sold sixty feet to Irving Hansen.

            Mrs. Scott lived upstairs and rented the downstairs.  She gave painting lessons to most of the Debs of the time.  Among some of Mrs. Scott’s pupils still living are Glennie Parish Stetson and Mrs. Truesdell.

            This house on Lake Street was purchased in 1938 by Miles S. Loberg who still lives there.

 

 

THE LORD HOUSE

Collected by:  Patricia Buttles

 

            Irving Lord, who owned the street car line from Waupaca out to the Grandview Hotel at the Chain O’ Lakes, built this house on Main Street.  He lived in the house until 1899.

            In 1899, Mr. Lord sold the house to Mr. and Mrs. Charles R. Hoffman.  Mr. Hoffman passed away in 1904, leaving the house to Mrs. Hoffman who lived there today.

            There were only a few changes made in the house.  The floors are oak and walnut parquet.

            The Hoffmans have a large grandfather clock standing in the living room that survived the Chicago fire because it was in a fireproof vault.  The pendulums are filled with mercury and it will run for one week without winding.

            There is a fireplace in the dining room that is exactly as it was.  It is white with gold trimming.

 

 

THE REUBEN LUCE HOME

Collected by:  Jean Jensen

 

            The Reuben Luce land was homesteaded by Dr. Reuben Luce around 1846.  It was homesteaded from the government which took it away from the Indians.  There was never an abstract on the land.  The farm has never been sold to anyone.

            The first road followed the Walla Walla Creek.  When Dr. Reuben Luce built the house, which is still standing, the road was changed to the present Highway EE.  The fountain outside was put in around 1896.

            At the present time Mrs. John Goodknow owns the farm.  She is eighty-eight years old and resides at the Bethany Home.  Mrs. Goodknow told about the handmade beds they used to sleep on. The mattresses were made out of corn husks, straw and unbleached muslin.  They called them ticks.

            Dr. Reuben Luce raised his own herbs for medicine.  They smoked some for rheumatism.  Deadly night shade was one of the kinds he raised.  There were many others.

            Dr. Reuben Luce migrated from New York State.

            The Reuben Luce house is located one mile northwest of Lind Center on County Trunk EE.

 

 

 

 

McGILL HOUSE

Collected by:  Bette Hansen

 

            This house is located at 323 West Union Street.  It is estimated to have been built in 1886 or 1887, by Holmes who was editor of the Waupaca Republican newspaper in 1884.  However in 1908 he sold the paper to Dan F. Burnham.

            It is believed Holmes was the first to dream up the idea of having a furnace in the basement.  It was encased with sheet metal making various runs to different rooms. This was not a success.

            Later Holmes sold the house to the Green family.  In September of 1927 McGill bought the house from the Green estate.  At this time the house was run-down and had to be rebuilt.  It was made into a comfortable and modern home.  He has a good location on the main highway.  He has a good piece of land running one hundred and twelve feet wide to two hundred and sixty-seven feet deep.  The front yard consists of many trees, mostly pine with the exception of a couple of oaks.  McGill planted all the trees himself, except for two of them which were there when he came.

 

 

MARSH-McFADDEN HOUSE

Collected by:  Bill McFadden

 

            The Marsh-McFadden house is located at 708 School Street in Raber’s Subdivision, lot number one, outlot number seventy-three.  The lot was bought on September 7, 1852 by William B. Hibbard.  Hibbard was one of the first five men of Waupaca.  The lot was then sold to Cutting Marsh in 1855.

            Marsh was a doctor in Waupaca.  He, too, was one of the first five men.  Then Cutting Marsh sold to Sarah Marsh, his daughter.  A year later Sarah sold to O.K. Raber.  The reason it is called Raber subdivision is that Raber plotted the land. Raber sold this land to B.H.B. Poffse, lot number seventy-three.  He sold lot number seventy-two to Oscar A. Olson, and Olson sold to Nettie Miller.  Nettie Miller sold the land to William H. Forscan.  Forscan sold the property to Roy W. McFadden.

 

 

MARVIN MATHER HOUSE

Collected by:  Diane Buck

 

            The Marvin Mather house is located at 414 South Main Street.  Mary B. Coolidge owned the land and sold it to Hugo and Adella Lea on May 29, 1891 at 4:20 p.m. for the sum of $1200.  R.S. Burbank was the Register of Deeds at the time.

            The blueprints of the house were made by the Co-operative Building Plan Association, 63 Broadway, New York, copyright by R.W. Shoppell in 1887.  Hugo Lea built the house in 1891.  It was planned very well and was one of the best, well-built homes in Waupaca at the time. Inside the house there are six rooms downstairs and five rooms and a bath upstairs.  There are two stairways, two fireplaces, a full attic with a skylight and a maid and butler pantry.  The woodwork is oak.  The water was pumped by a windmill.  There are still a few pieces of antique furniture in the house.  They put green asphalt shingles on the outside of the house in the fall of 1955.

            Marvin Mather, the present owner, purchased it from Harry and Elsie Lea who now live in Tacoma, Washington.

            Hugo W. Lea is Ralph Hoffmann’s uncle.  He was a good-natured person, but real old fashioned in life. He never wanted any of the more modern conveniences, as in an automobile or a telephone.  He owned a general store, one of the largest stores in town.  He retired quite early in life, selling his business around 1905.  He was the oldest boy of the Lea family.  His mother died when he was a young boy and within a short while, his father re-married another real young girl.  She had two more boys.

            He attended a private school in Milwaukee.  He married Adella McKinsie, who was a scientist.  She was a very interesting person, very active in her younger years.  She sang and did a lot of club work and was the first secretary of the library.  She was very aristocratic, and talented in every way.  They had two sons, Harry and John.  Both graduated from the University of Wisconsin.  Harry also attended Harvard and became a lawyer.  The house is one of the more interesting old houses on South Main Street in Waupaca.

 

 

CLAIR MATSON HOUSE

Collected by:  Bob Wilson

 

            This house is located at 331 W. Fulton Street.  It is the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Clair Matson. The house was built on the same order as the Hutchinson House, which was located on the same block and is now used for a museum at South Park.

            The timbers are ten inches square and are hand hewn.  They are not nailed, but mortised together like all of the older houses.  The old roof and wall were filled with shavings for insulation.

            The old basement was ten by twelve feet; it is now twenty-eight by thirty-three feet.  Twenty-five years ago there was a cistern on the southern end of the house with a capacity of two thousand gallons.  When the new basement was dug a cooling well was found where people used to keep perishable food.  Where the garage stands in back of the house there used to be a horse barn, and once when the owners of the house were spading the garden they found a pair of shoes worn by oxen for plowing.

            The house is now being remodeled inside and out into a lower type ranch house.

 

 

NAARUP PLACE

Collected by:  Darlene Dake

 

            This house and lot is located on 501 W. Fulton Street.  The plans for this house and lot were brought over from Denmark by Matt Jensen.

            The house is set back quite far from the sidewalk.  It is a big house, with sort of a tower shooting up from the second story in the front of the house.  There was a long greenhouse attached to the house on the west side extending to the end of the lot.

            Next to the greenhouse there was a rock garden and pool, with different shaped trees (fir trees).  Bordering the side of the land were some big fir trees.  These trees were running north and south.

            In the backyard there were beautiful flower gardens and also a little house where people could sit.  This house was made of lattice work (vary airy).  All over the lot there were different shaped trees.

            Today only half of this is standing.  The big trees that ran north and south are still there, but the lot with the rock garden and pool is sold.  Part of the hedge that ran east and west is cut away.

            Of the trees that were different shapes, some were cut down and the others grew to their full height.

            The greenhouse is gone.

            The house itself is painted white and is remodeled in the inside.

            In the back of the backyard they turned into a mink farm and the land back of that is an apple orchard.  The land is still quite pretty.

            I got this information from Mrs. A. Woody and Mrs. Woody’s mother.

 

 

NELSON HOUSE

Collected by Darlene Dake

 

            The Nelson house was built in 1880 by A.G. Nelson.  He was a lumberman who built many of the houses in Waupaca.  He owned a lumber mill and sold it about twelve years ago.

            One of the rooms has a large painting that was built right into the wall.  This room was once a library.  The house is called the Army House where a lot of elderly people are living today.  It is now owned by Mel Mather.

            Not too many changes have been made.  Only the interior was changed somewhat.

 

 

 

NELSON-CRAIG HOUSE

Collected by:  Louise Bott

 

            The Nelson-Craig home was owned originally by Jacob Nelson and his wife Norah Nelson.  Mr. Nelson had a sister who married, and her husband built the house kitty-corner from the Nelson-Craig house.

            Mr. Craig bought the house in 1906.  They had been married ten years then.  They have rented the house four times since 1906.  They have one abstract for 1887, but Mr. Craig says he knows the house is about eighty years old.

            Mr. Craig worked as a janitor at the Waupaca High School for many years.  In his spare time he would work on the house.  It is a very well-kept house today.  Mr. and Mrs. Craig still live there.  It is at 413 North Street.

 

 

OLD NELSON HOUSE

Collected by:  Natalie Ward

 

            This house is known around Waupaca as “the old Nelson house”, although many people lived here before they did.  The owners before the Nelsons are not known.  It is known, though, that the house was built around 1860 to 1970.

            The A.S. Harmon family lived here from 1900 to 1910.  Cal Sulton bought the house in 1910 and lived there until 1923.  Then in 1923 the Nelsons bought it.  They lived here until 1943, when a family by the name of Carlson moved into it.  Our family moved here in 1945 and we are still living in it.

            The fairgrounds were located across the street.  The Four-Wheel Drive Corporation planned to buy the lot on which the house stands, but moved to Clintonville instead.

            The original house was all brick and a wooden addition was added on the back.  I remember when we moved here there were quite a few old buildings in the backyard, an old garage, a chicken coop, etc.  These were torn down and then we started on the house.  There was an old pantry in the kitchen, and old-fashioned windows were in most of the rooms.  The upstairs windows are very low as in most old houses.

            The living room was once two rooms.  The front door opened onto one of these rooms. The Nelsons closed in this door and moved it onto the other side, so what was once the front porch is now a raised piece of ground used for growing flowers and the like.

            The whole kitchen has been remodeled, all new windows were added upstairs and down, and all the rooms have been either painted or papered.  So, some people might not even recognize what was once “the old Nelson house”.

 

 

MARION OLSON HOUSE

Collected by:  Don Reeve

 

            It was originally part of sixty acres of land which was divided into lots about 1856.  This first transaction was between Emily Brown and Jesse G. Bemis on February 11, 1856.  The second transaction was when it was sold to Rasela Putman in 1856.  It is estimated that the house was built between 1856 and 1858.

            Ike Terrill owned this house for many years.  Ike had the house wired and put in a complete bathroom.  When they improved the road and put in sidewalks, it cost so much that their money was all gone so they signed the place over to Lawrence Cotteze.

            After Terrill died, Dr. Meyers bought the place and they put in a boiler and stoker.  Meyers sold the place to Dr. Caster in 1942.  In October 1944, he resold the house to Mr. Marion Olson.

            They remodeled the house, making the dining room into a beautiful kitchen, the old kitchen into a washroom, and the old pantry into a photographer’s room.

            In 1954, part of the lot was sold to Marion Olson, Hubert Olson, and Roger Laflex.  A concrete building was put in and made into a music store and sheet metal shop.

            This house I located right on the corner of School Street and State Street.

 

JULIUS OLSEN HOUSE

Collected by:  Carol Manney

 

            The house I have chosen was, many years ago, the jail house.  It is located at 302 Granite Street.

            It is located in lots twenty-seven and twenty-eight, the Scott’s Addition in Waupaca.  These lots were sold by Winfield Scott and his wife, Sara C. Scott, to the county of Waupaca on December 6, 1866.

            At a special meeting on April 10, 1867 the board signed a contract for building a county jail.  This contract was let to S.R. Sherwin and R.R. Roberts.  The sum of the contract was for $7,725.00.  The work was completed during the year 1867.

            The city of Waupaca bought this property from the County of Waupaca on May 5, 1896.  It had been owned by the county for twenty-nine years.

            The first sheriff in Waupaca was Barney Brown, in the year 1856.  The first sheriff after the jail was built was L.S. Townsend, who was sheriff on 1868. 

            They used cell blocks in the basement of the city hall while the jail was being built.

            On December 5, 1904 Julius Olsen bought the property from the city.  Mr. Olsen’s widow, Mrs. Emma Olsen, still owns and resides at the property.

            The cell block of the jail, which extended north of the precinct dwelling quarters, was torn down after it was sold by the city.

 

 

PARISH-STETSON HOUSE

Collected by:  Madlyn Buck

 

            David Parish was born in Leeds, England on March 20, 1830.  When David was two years old, his mother and three children started for America to join the father, William Parish.  His mother took sick from cholera and was buried at sea.

            David’s boyhood days were spent in Canada.  When he was eighteen years old, he went to northeast Pennsylvania.  There he met and was married to Mary Ida Pope, April 27, 1853, and they came to Waupaca, Wisconsin in 1854.  Of the couple’s eight children only three grew to adulthood.

            He was proprietor of one of the leading shoe stores for years.  He also owned and operated a tannery for fifteen years.  In an early day, he built two store buildings.  They were swept away by fire, and two brick stores took their place – now known as the Parish Estate on Main Street.

            David bought the residence property on Main Street in 1857 and built a small house.  It is located on a one and a half lot frontage and is two lots deep.  In 1900 he remodeled the home.  The roof was raised and more rooms were added.

            When David died, the house was made into two apartments.  There are five rooms and a bath upstairs and eight rooms and a bath downstairs.  The stairs, living room and bedroom floors are made of birds-eye maple.

            Mrs. Glennie Stetson, daughter of David Parish, now resides at the house.  Mrs. Stetson lives upstairs and rents downstairs.

 

 

DAVID PARISH HOME

Collected by:  Vern Wilde

 

            This house was built soon after 1855 by Alvin Pope.  It was then sold to his brother-in-law, David Parish.  Hired men lived in it until 1881 when William Parish, his son, moved into it.

            David Parish ran a shoe shop where he hired a number of men to make and repair boots and shoes.  Sometime after William Parish came to live on the farm, David Parish went out of the shoe business and the shop was moved to the farm.

            There is a kitchen, parlor and bedroom downstairs, and two bedrooms and a large hall upstairs.  An addition was put on the house enlarging the bedroom and making room for a pantry.

            At the death of David Parish the farm went to William Parish in 1903.  About 1906 or 1907, the old shoe shop was moved up and attached to the house and made into a kitchen.  The old kitchen was then made into a dining room.  A partition was put in the upstairs hall making a third bedroom also.  In 1920 a washroom was built onto the kitchen.

            At the death of William in 1931, the farm went to his son, David Parish.  He later sold half interest to his sister, Mrs. Clay Brown.  At her death in 1949, her half went to her husband.

            In 1950, the pantry was made into a bedroom.  Electricity and running water have also been put in.

 

 

PENNEY HOUSE

Collected by:  Carol Christensen

 

            The Penney house at 404 South Main Street was built in 1873 by Henry Mumbrue for his family.

            The style of architecture resembles colonial renaissance of Williamsburg, because it has three stories.  The house has remained the same for all these years except for the installation of electric lights and plumbing.

            When Mr. Mumbrue built the house he made a beautiful fountain on the front lawn.  Local gossip has it that a beau of one of the Mumbrue girls was so engrossed in saying goodnight to her that he backed right into the fountain.

            Formerly there was a windmill in the rear of the home that supplied water for the house and the fountain.

            A high iron fence that went across the front lawn was torn down many years ago.

            In 1888, Mumbrue sold the house to A.M. Penney and that family lived in it for over fifty years.  In 1944 Etta Penney Townsend, the daughter of A.M. Penney, sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Potts, who reside there now.

 

 

 

 

 

PENNEY HOUSE

Collected by:  Nancy Martin

 

            Abigail Session’s homesteaded this land from the United States government on December 4, 1852.

            It was sold to George Jeffers in 1856.  He built the house as it is today in 1864.

            The next owner was Henry Gibbons in 1869.  Gibbons sold it to William Penney in February of 1878.

            William Penney sold it to William H. Cipperly in May of 1878.  Cipperly committed suicide on July 6, 1896. D.H. Cipperly, his son, and Ellen Gibbons fell heir to the house.  They kept it until 1915.  In 1915 his wife sold it to Andrew Peterson and Andrew’s wife, Christine.  Peterson sold it to Cleon Brown in 1941.

            In 1945 Brown sold it to Ford Penney and wife Vera.

 

 

PETERSEN-HARTMAN HOUSE

Collected by:  David Petersen

 

            In the year of 1906 the land was acquired by Lewis Fantune.  Truman E. Hartman too over the land in 1866.  Truman E. Hartman turned over the property to Claude H. Hartman, who built the present house. It is about sixty-one years old.

            The porches, which were removed two years ago, were replaced with closed ones.  The old ones were decorated with many hand-carved trimmings as in the photograph.  The right wing was not built at the same time as the house but a few years later.  It still has the decorative colored fringes around the large windows.  Two windows were made very large and put in the protruding bays.

            The present owner is Henry F. Petersen, who moved on the land shortly after he was married.  He took it over from Claude E. Hartman who was the father of Mr. Petersen’s wife.

            Although the house is only sixty-one years old, the land has been in the Petersen-Hartman family for ninety-nine years.  The land covers one hundred and seventy-seven acres and surrounds one half of the Chain O’ Lakes.

 

 

PINKERTON-CARY HOUSE

Collected by:  Gerald Feathers

 

            The house was built in 1900.  It was built of Waupaca brick around the time when the Waupaca Brick Yard was starting.  John Pinkerton was his own builder and designer.  It was reported that his wife said “Build it any way you want, but I want a bathroom.”

            It had extra big windows for its time. It is built in two layers of brick and the owner-builder bragged, “I have handled every brick in my house.”  The house has yellow pine woodwork, hardwood floors which weren’t very common, high ceilings and a full basement, and it is two and one-half stories high.

 

 

W.P. QUINT HOUSE

Collected by:  Dorothy Soper

 

            W.P. Quint was born in Anson, Maine in 1818. His wife was Isabel McCrossen, born in 1824.  They lived for some time in New Brunswick and were married in 1845, then came to Wisconsin in 1852. Mr. Quint worked in Stevens Point, and came here with an interest in the mill in 1861.  He had a store up at the end of Main Street, and later the building was moved down to his place where he had a house, warehouse, barns and carriage sheds.  He was considered prosperous and had a good home and lived rather more elegantly than his neighbors.  Mrs. Quint was a handsome and dignified woman who kept her ouse well, and had excellent furnishings in the taste of the time.

            McCrossen and Quint made money here in produce, pork and so on, which they shipped by team to Stevens Point and Wausau. McCrossen sold out when he became rich.  Mr. Quint stayed here and became merely well to do.  He had a grand piano brought here in 1869 or 1870.  He also had a carriage, carriage horses and horse-block, dressed his wife in silk and sealskin and so forth.

            He had no children, but he took his brother-in-law’s daughter Isabel, and brought her up in affluence.  She married James Potts.  Also he took a girl named Jessie, a good deal younger than Isabel.  She married a man named Williams and lived in Beloit.

            W.P. Quint survived until about 1909.  His wife went earlier.  The house was then sold to Thomas Potts who resides in it now with his daughter.

 

HERBERT RADLEY HOUSE – RURAL

Collected by Gary Danielson

 

            On October 29, 1855 Aaron P. Hyatt purchased from the United States government a plot of land on which the Radley home is now located.  It was purchased at a very low cost from the government as a land grant.

            J.A. Jones purchased the land from Hyatt in 1856 and built the house, then in 1857 Lucy Chamberlain bought it.  The house changed hand many times until 1874, when Aaron Hyatt and his wife bought it back. Aaron was a gunsmith and they remained in the house until 1905, when they sold it to Herbert Radley, who owns it at this time.

            The house has been changed many times on the inside, and was remodeled inside and out in 1955.

 

 

RANDALL HOUSE

Collected by:  Donna Jane Van Heck

 

            A man by the name of Hibbard first owned the land where the house now stands. He in turn sold it to Frank Randall Sr., who came from England to Amherst.  In 1882 Frank Randall died and he left his house to his son, Frank Randall Jr.

            Mr. Randall then had it until about 1950.  When Mr. Randall died, his brother and wife took ownership.  Mr. and Mrs. Randall wned it for about five years.  Upon their death it was sold to William Johnson who now owns it.

            There are eight rooms, a full basement, and a good-sized attic.  There were two additions to the house since it was built.  There was a cistern under the kitchen and the cellar was dug out of sand, so it caved in every so often.

            The street running east and west of the house was named for Mr. Frank Randall Jr.

 

 

RASMUSSEN HOUSE

Collected by:  Wanda Hubbard

 

            This house was built about 1900 and was built by Peter Rasmussen.  It was the first house on the right side of Oman Street.  There were no electric lights or running water for many years.  There was just a wagon trail full of ruts leading to it.  There was no mail delivery for many years either.

            There are now seven other houses on the right side of the street and four of them were built by the same man, Mr. Rasmussen.  His relatives lived in both this house and the houses next door.

            In the early 1900’s one man that lived there used what is now the garage as a livery stable.

            The house has changed hands many times since it was built.  Morton Spindt sold to Lester Jensen in 1920.  After that many other people lived in it during the years.  This house has the distinction of never being unoccupied since it was built.

 

 

 

ROBBINS FARM

Collected by:  Leonard Robbins

 

            This house now stands in the Town of Dayton. My grandfather lives there today.  He is now 77 years old.

            At the time he was born there was only the upright part of the house, fifteen years later the extension was added on.  It was moved from a location one-half mile from there.  (It was a trapper’s cabin.)

            My great-grandfather had lived in this house at least thirty years before my grandfather was born.  In 1935 remodeling was started on this house.

            At the time when my grandfather was a boy there were only one or two small trees on the front lawn.  Today the black walnut, maple and elm trees spread their branches in all directions, making it a beautiful shady lawn.

            The latest addition to this home includes a small entry on the south side, a basement entrance on the east, and a screened porch on the north.

            My grandfather loves his home and intends to live the rest of his life there, even though it is lonesome for him as my grandmother died a few years ago.  They were married forty-seven years and they lived all but one year of their married life here.

 

 

EMIL ROWLAND HOUSE

Collected by:  Shirley Rowland

 

            The Emil Rowland house was built during the year 1894.  Emil and his two sons, Chris and Walter Rowland, resided in it for a few years and then sold it to Hans Anderson.  Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Anderson bought it from Hans after a few years.  It was then remodeled and sold to Ted Smith, whose family has been living there ever since.

            When the house was first built, it had three rooms downstairs and one big room upstairs.  The house has no porch, just a stone that was used for a porch in front of the back door.  The house was square in shape with an oblong room in the back.  It still stands in that shape.

            The house is located at 316 Wisconsin Street, Waupaca, Wisconsin.

 

 

SCHLICHTING HOUSE

Collected by:  Ned Schlichting

 

            This house is located on the south side of the bridge at the north end of South State Street.  The original house was built in 1853 by Emily Brown.  Just before 1900 most of the house was torn down and a new one was built in its place. 

            The house has two floors, plus an attic and basement.  The house has one large wing in front ad a smaller one in back.  The back wing was used as the servants quarters.  About forty years ago the house was famous as a boarding house for teachers, being so close to the school.

            In the attic there is a stairway that leads up to what used to be a cupola (on top of the house).  Many interesting stories are connected with it.  Some say it was used as a lookout for Indians or fires, but was probably built more for the design of the house.  The railing that was around it was torn down about ten years ago, but now the cupola serves it purpose as a place for the television antenna.

            Old-timers in Waupaca refer to the house as the old Lehman house.

 

 

LOUIS SCHROEDER HOUSE – RURAL

Collected by:  Barbara Diver

 

            On August 29, 1855 Aaron Hyatt purchased from the United States government the plot of land which the Schroeder house is now located on.  It was bought at a very low cost when the Indian Land was sold under the provision of the Northwest Ordinance.

            William J. Chamberlain bought Hyatt’s land and built a cheese factory on it.  The factory was run for many years, then sold to Jehudi Ashman.  Jehudi converted the factory into a general store and when Jehudi passed away, his wife and children took it over.  On August 4, 1923 Charles Weller bought it from the Ashmans.  Weller kept it up for about a year, then sold it to Louis Schoeder on July 31`, 1924.  Mrs. Blanche Schroeder still resides there.

            It was told by Mrs. Schroeder that at one time when Highway 22 was being built the house was used for a stopping off place for the road workers.  It was a place they could stop, eat and sleep.

            When the Schroeders moved in the house, there was a small “lean-to” on the front, which was removed and a garage was put on the side.  When the Schroeders moved in, there wasn’t a partition in the house and the ceilings were twelve feet high.  Within the next two years, Louis lowered the ceilings to eight feet and put in partitions.

            There has been some remodeling done on the inside since the death of Mrs. Schroeder, but the outside remains somewhat the same as it was when it was a cheese factory.

 

 

SCOTT HOUSE

Collected by:  Mona Hansen

 

            The land that the Scott house is situated on was bought by David Scott from the United States government.  This was one of the many houses built by Scott.  This was one of a groups which was called Scott’s Addition to the Village which is now Waupaca.

            The house is located at 446 Center Street.  It was plotted and built by David Scott in 1852.  At the present time it is one of the oldest houses on that street.  An addition was added in 1913 by William Olson. The addition was moved from the P.M. Olson residence, located on Granite Street, which is now the home of Mrs. Rudersdorf.

            The inside of the house has had a few minor changes, but otherwise it has not been changed.  The remodeling was done while Levi Hansen owned the house which he purchased from his father and later sold back to him.

 

 

OLD SCOTT HOUSE

Collected by:  Mark Anderson

 

            The house is situated at 503 Granite Street.  Captain David Scott received the land upon which it was built for service in the War of 1812.  The house itself was built in about 1858 by Winfield Scott who came to this territory from New York, and who later became County Judge.

            The fact most significant about the house is that it is supposed to be the oldest house in Waupaca standing upon its original location.  At the time it was built, the only street near was Center Street, which was part of the stagecoach route running through Waupaca.

            The original wall paper which covers the living room is still in the house.  It is made of cloth containing camel’s hair.  It was imported from France.  The house has two beautiful fireplaces which also are original.  One is made of mahogany imported from France and the other is made of black marble imported from Italy.

            The house has a spiral chimney, which serves as a means of support for the house. The first furnace in the house had an extended firepot which could consume fix foot logs.  The house still has some of the original shutters on it.

            The reason for this house having two front doors is very interesting.  At that time it was the custom to have funerals in the home and when Winfield Scott was about to die, they had to have a way to get the coffin in and out of the house.  The hall which led to the original door had a sharp turn in it, so it would have been impossible to have removed Mr. Scott.  They therefore built a second door.

            Mrs. Jean Gaither maintained the home until she passed away.  Mr. and Mrs. Norman Thompson are the present occupants.

 

 

SLATER HOUSE

Collected by:  Kenneth Glover

 

            The house was built in 1895.  The Slaters moved in five years later.  The house was first lived in by the trolley man and his mother.

            The house has two stories and a basement.  There has been little change in the house since it was built.

 

 

SMITH HOUSE

Collected by:  Annette Smith

 

            John H. Smith was born in Germany on July 24, 1832.  He and his parents came to the United States in 1852 and bought a forty acre piece of land located near the site of the present house.  They lived there from 1856 to 1860.

            In January, 1860 he married an English girl, Harriet Hales.  They got the land and built the house in that same year.  The land is situated in the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 6 in Township 22 of Range 12 in the district of lands subject to sale at Menasha.

            After they had lived on the land five years, they received a patent right signed by Abraham Lincoln.  This was signed on March 1, 1865, only six weeks before he was shot.

            The original house was made of pine boards that were saved with an “up and down” saw in a local mill.  This type of saw is worked by men.  One man stands in the basement or cellar of the mill.  The log moves above him.  The other man is standing on the first floor.  In this way, they saw the logs into boards.  It is really very much like a cross-cut saw.  Many of the boards are sixteen or seventeen inches wide. Some of them are still in use on a shed built on the farm.

            The house was first a small shack.  The upright of the house was built in 1887.  In the same year, John Smith’s son was married and he then built the other house that stands on this land.

 

 

SMITH HOUSE

Collected by:  Dick Winkler

 

            This land was bought from the United States government in 1867. It is located five miles west of Waupaca on County Trunk K.

            In 1871 William Sleck, an old bachelor, built a small house on the land which had a bedroom, kitchen, and another small room that was used as a utility room.  Sleck lived in this house until he died in 1888.

            The house was vacant until 1891 when Russ Hortz bought it. He and his family lived in it until 1896, when he tore down the house and built a new one much larger.  The new one had two stories, with four rooms upstairs and four rooms downstairs.

            In 1940, Mrs. Nettie Smith bought this house from Peter Guerlie, and had a great deal of remodeling done.  The house was then bought by Everett Smith in 1955.  Smith is the present owner.

 

 

 

 

 

SORENSON HOUSE

Collected by:  Karen Peterson

 

            Part of the Sorenson house, located in the Town of Lind about five miles south of Waupaca, was built over one hundred years ago. The cupola was also built at this time.  The rest of the house was built over fifty years ago.

            There are many doors in the oldest part and some have been closed off.  Two doors that lead to the outside have colored windows in them and white china door knobs.  The upstairs has wide floor boards and the walls and ceiling are of very thin plaster.  There were two porches when the house was built but they have since been removed.  They were very narrow with plastered ceilings.  The walls downstairs have wainscoating on them.

 

 

HARRY TOWNSEND HOUSE

Collected by Alyce Knoke

           

            This white frame house was built for Harry Townsend’s father, Ezra Townsend, in 1876 by Mr. William Griffith, a former carpenter of Waupaca.  This attractive home is twenty-four feet wide by thirty feet long. It has a eighteen foot post, or it is eighteen feet high.  No rooms have been changed except for the addition of a porch and a fireplace.  The house contains ten rooms of a semi-colonial type.  It was decorated by Conrad Hansen, a painter from Norway.

            In 1917, a Delco light system was installed.  This served its purpose until 1947, when a Hiline electric system was installed.

            The house sits on a small hill off of Highway 49 near a small white schoolhouse five miles from town.  Ezra Townsend donated land for this schoolhouse, so it was named Townsend School.  The house has belonged to the Townsend family since it was built in 1876.  It is a very attractive house offset by a long graceful porch.

 

 

WARE HOUSE

Collected by:  Jere Sherman

 

            This house is located on East Royalton Street.  It was built in the fall of 1849 by Mr. Ware.  In the spring of 1850, his wife and five children came to Waupaca from Pennsylvania.  This sixteen foot by sixteen foot log cabin was the fifth house in town, but it has been remodeled several times since then.

            Mr. Gary Czeskleba owner of the Philips 66 Oil Company, bought the house in 1928 and still owns it.