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Preservation Racine, Inc. Newsletter Century

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Preservation Racine, Inc. Newsletter Century PRESERVATION NEWSLETTER RACINE, INC. SUMMER 2006 CENTURY BUILDINGS FOR 2006 In honor of National Preservation Month, which is celebrated every year in May, Preservation Racine will host its nineteenth annual presentation of Century Building Certificates on Wednesday evening, May 10, 2006, in the Great Hall at the DeKoven Center. It will begin with a short reception at 6:30 p.m. to honor the building owners. The program will start at 7:00 p.m. All members and friends of Preservation Racuie are invited to attend. The theme of National Preservation Month for 2006 is Sustain America-Vision, Economics, and Preservation, and this year all ofthe buildings to be honored are located in the Village of Caledonia. As this community begins planning for its fiiture as a village, we will have an opportunity to salute some ofthe people who have devotedly cared for their buildings and surrounding property. Historic St. Louis Catholic Chmch, located at 13207 Highway G in Caledonia, was built in 1901 and dedicated February 4, 1902. The Rev. Phillip Dreis was appointed pastor to the church community in 1898, overseeing the building ofthe new church. Plans for the Romanesque style church were drawn by architect Peter Brust of Milwaukee. Cream colored brick, manufactured in Racine, was used for the body ofthe building and Bedford sandstone utilized for much ofthe adornment and water table. The fovmdation ofthe church was constructed of various colored fieldstones, which had been split and squared in order to be laid dovm in courses. The solid brick building measures 91 feet by 43 feet. The steeple's height is 95 feet. The windows are opalescent glass omamented with emblems. The original cost of St. Louis Church was $10,000. The St. Louis congregation was organized in 1843, and there was a school connected with the church fi-om its inception until June of 2005. Today's church festival began as a parish get-together in the early twentieth century. A requirement of each family was to bring two chickens to church, which the women ofthe altar society had to clean, pluck, and cook for the festival. Vivian Merlo with information from the church On February 13, 1897, Carl Jacob, great-grandfather of Gerald T. Olley, the current owner ofthe house located at 6304 Highway 38 in Franksville, purchased the property fi-om Thomas Kinterisky. It was a 100-acre parcel of land, a portion of which has remained in the Jacob/OUey family to the present. In 1899 construction of a Victorian Queen Arme style farmhouse was completed on the land at a cost of $2000. Gerald believes the bam was built one year earlier. The house reflects typical Queen Anne features, including three porches with tumed spindles, omate interior trim reflected in wood comer blocks, window bays, a cross-gabled asymmetrical form, and omate exterior trim. The dining room has a tin ceiling and a hardwood floor. Electricity was added to the house in the early 1920s, and a bathroom was added in 1953. When Carl Jacob died in 1922, Herman Jacob and Mary Jacob Koch inherited the 100-acre parcel, including the house, bam, and outbuildings. They conveyed the property to Gerald's grandparents, Carl Jacob, Jr. and Mary, and to his great uncle, Otto Jacob. After Otto's death in 1924, Carl and Mary became the sole owners ofthe property. In 1952 Donald Olley and Gladys Jacob married and resided in the house, where they raised their four sons as part of an extended family that included Gerald's grandmother. In September 1981 Gerald T. Olley purchased the house, bam, other outbuildings, plus 20 acres ofthe original 100-acre parcel from his grandmother, Mary Jacob. Vivian Merlo with information from the family The house owned by Robert and Marie Zerzanek, located at 332 Four Mile Road in Caledonia, was built in 1900 according to the Caledonia tax records. The Robert Zerzanek family has been part ofthe Wind Point neighborhood for many years. Robert, who is seventy years old, was bom in a nearby house with a view ofthe Wind Point Lighthouse. There are four greenhouses built on this property. Robert and Marie operate one ofthe few old fashioned roadside vegetable stands left in this area. They raise the produce in their greenhouses and on their property. Submitted by Bob Johnson The house owned by Ronald and Suzarme Geer, located at 3436 Highway 38 in Franksville, was built about 1890, according to family records. William and Catherine Morris Gifford came from New York state in 1857 and settled on 160 acres in Caledonia that had been home- steaded by Catherine's father, John Monis, in 1844. In 1866 William pm-chased an additional 160 acres from the Rev. Cyrus Nichols. In 1889 William's son, WiUiam Henry Gifford, married Emeline Mosher. The young couple took over the Nichols' farm. There was a house on the property that burned. In about 1890, William Henry built the present house on the comer of Highway 38 and Dunkelow Road. The carpenter who built the house was William Henry's brother, Albert Morris Gifford. It was the first in the community to have inside plumbing. William Henry's sons, W. Allen and Joseph, operated the Gifford Sanitary Milk Company from 1912 to 1920, delivering milk from their herd to Racine residents. They sold their company to Progressive Dairy of Racine. W. Allen became the manager of Progressive Dairy and continued to live in the house with his wife, Jeanette Pugh, and their children until his death in 1963. Two years later his widow sold the house. The wrap-around porch was added in 1990. Submitted by Louise Kasen Delmar and Marjorie Renak were married in 1951 and moved into the house where Delmar was bom in 1910. Caledonia tax records indicate that this Queen Anne style house, located at 7101 Five Mile Road in Caledonia, was built in 1904. This house was built on the banks ofthe Root River. Marjorie reports that at one time a sawmill was located on the property. Submitted by Bob Johnson .N^lijaSr** December 28, 1888, is the first recorded date of ownership, by William Ingersol, ofthe property at 10232 Northwestem Avenue in Franksville. A small house on this property was moved across the street to make room for the present house built in 1902 by Henry Place. He was a builder and contractor by trade, and he built the house for his family, a wife and a daughter. He installed a modem heating system downstairs using omate radiators. All ofthe woodwork in the house is made of yellow pine finished with orange shellac. On May 20, 1925, owner­ ship ofthe house was passed from Henry and Matilda Place to their daughter. Vera Linderman. The next owners, Fred and Hazel Tolsma, purchased it on June 18, 1943. The Tolsmas were the first owners ofthe house outside ofthe Place family, and they raised three daughters there. On October 24, 1970, after the deaths of Fred and Hazel Tolsma, their oldest daughter, Kathryn, and her husband, Salvatore Aiello, purchased the property and they remain the present owners. The house stands in its original condition with the exception of a remodeled kitchen, bathroom, and a deck in the back yard. The bam is contemporary to the house. Vivian Merlo with information from the family The cream brick farmhouse, currently owned by Marcille Janowski and located at 7018 Six Mile Road in Caledonia, was built in 1850 according to the Caledonia tax records. During an 1879 remodeling project in which the wood frame house was covered with bricks made in Racine, an old board was found with a dimly marked notation saying that the house was built in 1850. Later a wood frame kitchen addition was added to the back ofthe house. The exterior brick wall ofthe original building is now an attractive exposed brick wall in the remodeled kitchen. In 1943 Marcille Janowski's mother and father-in-law, Mary and Stanley Janowski, traded some property located on Seventeenth Street in Racine for the forty-acre farm in Caledonia on which this house is located. The Janowski family operated a dairy farm from 1943 until 1957. They then operated a small tmck farm for some time. Part ofthe farm property has been sold for development. The house has been awarded a Caledonia Historical Society Century Heritage Building Certificate. Submitted by Bob Johnson A Brief Overview of tlie History of Caledonia The land known as "Caledonia" was originally settled by Potawatomi Indians with miles of access to Lake Michigan, a long stretch ofthe Root River flowing through the area, and large forested areas east ofthe Root River that included oak and other hardwood, grass prairies, and marshes. In 1791 French-Indian fur trading brothers, Jacques and Louis Vieau, built their cabin in the area known as "Skunk Grove" (located where the Caledonia/Mt. Pleasant Memorial Park is presently) and used this cabin for then* fur trading business. Jacques and Louis were well liked by the local Potawatomi Indians. They both married women fi-om the local tribe. To continue their fur trading, the brothers purchased 1,150 acres of land in the area. In 1833 the Potawatomi Indian land in Wisconsin was traded for five million acres west ofthe Mississippi River. The Vieau brothers continued to speculate in land and purchased some land at the mouth ofthe Root River. By 1835 settlers fi'om the east had entered the area. After the arrival ofthe settlers fi'om the east, the brothers sold their "Skunk Grove" property with the trading post and the Root River land to Gurden Hubbard of Chicago.
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