McCoy Farmhouse (Fitchburg, Wisconsin) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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McCoy Farmhouse
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 Location in Wisconsin
Location in the United States
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| Location | 2925 Syene Rd., Fitchburg, Wisconsin |
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| Built | 1861 |
| Architectural style | Italianate |
| NRHP reference No. | 80000124 |
| Added to NRHP | May 29, 1980 |
The McCoy Farmhouse is a special old house in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. It was built way back in 1861. This house is a great example of Italianate architecture, a popular style from that time. It was once part of one of the first successful tobacco farms in Wisconsin. Later, a famous scientist named Elizabeth McCoy lived here. Because of its history and unique style, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Contents
The Farmhouse Story
The story of the McCoy Farmhouse begins in 1846. That's when Henry Yager bought a large piece of land, about 160 acres. He started farming there.
Early Tobacco Farming
In 1853, two men from Ohio, Ralph Pomeroy and Jacob R. Hiestand, tried something new. They planted tobacco on ten acres of Yager's land. Their experiment worked really well! They grew a lot of tobacco, and it's thought to be one of the first successful tobacco crops in Wisconsin.
During the American Civil War, tobacco from the southern states became hard to get. This made tobacco farming in Wisconsin very popular. Farms like Yager's became even more important.
Benjamin Brown Builds the House
In 1861, Benjamin Brown bought the farm from Henry Yager. Since the land was already set up for tobacco, Brown's farm did very well. The value of his farm grew five times by the time he died in 1874.
By this time, Dane County, where the farmhouse is, was the top tobacco-producing area in Wisconsin. The farm continued growing tobacco until 1911.
Elizabeth McCoy's Home
In 1949, a very important person moved into the house: Elizabeth McCoy. She was a microbiologist and a full professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She was one of the first well-known female microbiologists.
McCoy did amazing work in science. She researched bacteria and studied the tiny living things in water. She also did important work on penicillin. Her research helped discover the first widely used type of this important medicine. Elizabeth McCoy passed away in 1978. She wanted her house to be saved, so she left it to the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
House Design and Look
The McCoy Farmhouse is a two-story building. It's made from cream-colored bricks that Benjamin Brown brought all the way from Milwaukee.
Italianate Style Details
The front of the house has a main entrance in the middle. It also has tall windows with stone lintels, which are the strong pieces of stone above the windows.
Originally, a long porch stretched across the entire front of the house. Over the years, it was replaced by a smaller one. But now, a new long porch has been built again, bringing back its original look.
The house has a hip roof, which slopes down on all four sides. Around the edge of the roof, there's a decorative border called a bracketed cornice. On top of the roof, there's a small, decorative tower called a cupola. A two-story section also extends from the back of the house.
