National Register of Historic Places listings in Dodge County, Wisconsin facts for kids

Map showing Dodge County in Wisconsin

This article is a list of amazing historic places in Dodge County, Wisconsin. These places are special because they are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This is an official list in the United States that helps protect important buildings, sites, and objects that have a lot of history. There are 37 cool places in Dodge County on this list right now. Two other places used to be on the list but have been removed.

Cool Historic Places in Dodge County

Here are some of the interesting historic spots you can find in Dodge County:

Old Hotels and Businesses

• Beaumont Hotel (Mayville): This three-story hotel was built in 1896. It has a fancy Queen Anne style with cool metal details and a detailed roof edge. It was designed by Henry Messmer and Son from Milwaukee.
• W. H. Boller Meat Market and Residence (Lomira): This two-story building was built in 1913 for William Boller. It used to be a meat market, a cold storage area, and also where the owner lived. It's made of cream-colored brick.
• Fountain Inn (Beaver Dam): This tavern was built in 1911 by the Binzel Brewing Co. It faced challenges due to flooding and was eventually taken down. The spot was empty by 2015.
• Hotel Rogers (Beaver Dam): Built in 1927, this six-story hotel was the biggest and grandest hotel in Beaver Dam. It was designed by Richard R. Boyd in a Georgian Revival style. Fred W. Rogers, known for Monarch Ranges, led this project.
• Hollenstein Wagon and Carriage Factory (Mayville): This building, from around 1875, includes a cream-brick house connected to a factory. A Swiss immigrant named John Hollenstein built wagons, sleighs, buggies, coaches, and omnibuses here. Today, it's a museum!
• Paramount Knitting Company Mill (Beaver Dam): This four-story factory started in 1883. It used power from the Beaver Dam River to knit cotton and later hosiery. It closed in 1934 during a workers' strike.
• Weyenberg Shoe Factory (Beaver Dam): Built in 1919, this four-story brick factory has many windows for natural light. It made shoes until 1994.

Historic Homes and Farms

• Martin K. Dahl House (Waupun): This large house was built in 1879. It's designed in the Second Empire style, known for its unique mansard roof. Martin K. Dahl was a blacksmith and investor from Norway who built this "first mansion" in Waupun.
• Willard Greenfield Farmstead (Horicon): This farm includes a Greek Revival-style farmhouse built in 1862 by Willard Greenfield, an early settler from New York. The farm also has an 1891 smokehouse, an 1895 dairy barn, a 1900 machine shed, a 1920 poultry barn, a 1920 corn crib, two silos from 1929 and 1930, and a 1935 outdoor toilet.
• Ferdinand C. Hartwig House (Watertown): This two-story cream brick farmhouse was built in 1864 by Ferdinand C. Hartwig, an immigrant from Prussia. It's in the Italianate style and was the center of his grain and cattle farm. Hartwig was one of the first to raise Holstein-Friesian cows in the area.
• John Hustis House (Hustisford): This simple Greek Revival home was built in 1857 for John Hustis, who founded the town of Hustisford. He lived there until 1907.
• Kliese Housebarn (Emmet): This unique building, built around 1850 by Friedrich Kliese and his family from Prussia, combines a house and a barn under one roof. The walls are made with a special timber-framing technique called "fachwerk," and the house even has a "black kitchen."
• Ferdinand Schulze House (Hustisford): This Italianate cream brick house was built between 1872 and 1874 by Ferdinand Schulze, a stonemason from Prussia. The basement has cool barrel-vaulted rooms. The property also includes an 1870 barn and a granary.
• Schoenicke Barn (Watertown): This large threshing barn was built in 1855 by Gottlieb Schoenicke, a Prussian immigrant. It's in the Prussian Colonial style and was later used for dairy farming.
• Swan House and Vita Spring Pavilion (Beaver Dam): The Swan House, built in 1889, is a Queen Anne-style home for Dr. George Swan. The fancy pavilion is what's left of the Vita Spring spa, which Dr. Swan started in 1880. People used to visit spas like this for health benefits from mineral springs.
• Daniel C. Van Brunt House (Horicon): This Italianate-style house was built in 1858. It has a well tower that once had a windmill on top. Daniel C. Van Brunt, a wagon builder, lived here from 1868. He and his brother invented and built the first mechanical seed planter sold in the U.S. It later became the Horicon Community Center.
• Zirbel-Hildebrandt Farmstead (Herman): This farm was started by immigrants from Pomerania. It includes the Italianate-style John and Wilhelmine Zirbel house from 1868/1878, its 1870 summer kitchen, an 1870 smokehouse, a barn, a 1900 outdoor toilet, and the 1902 American Foursquare-style Hildebrandt house with its summer kitchen. Many farm buildings are still there, and the farm is still owned by the same family!

Important Public Buildings

• Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company Passenger Depot (Beaver Dam): This red brick train station was designed by Frost & Granger and built in 1900. It looks like a small cottage. It was previously known as the "Dodge County Historical Museum."
• Fox Lake Railroad Depot (Fox Lake): This small, Victorian wooden train station was built in 1884 by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. A covered entrance (porte-cochère) was added in 1919. It served passengers, including people visiting resorts, until the 1950s and freight until 1970. Now, it's a museum.
• Hutchinson Memorial Library (Randolph): This small-town library was designed by Clas & Clas in the Classical Moderne style and built in 1936. A donation from Mary L. Morris helped start the project.
• Waupun Public Library (Waupun): This library was built in 1904 with money from Andrew Carnegie, a famous businessman who funded many libraries. It was designed by H.A. Foeller and has Gothic and Tudor Revival influences. Today, it's the Waupun Heritage Museum.
• White Limestone School (Mayville): This two-story Greek Revival-style school was built in 1857 using limestone from Waupun. It was expanded in 1876 with a front porch (portico) and a small tower (cupola). It served as a public school for 125 years and is now a museum.
• Williams Free Library (Beaver Dam): This library, built in 1890, has fancy towers and is designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by Walter Holbrook. It is now a museum.

Churches and Hospitals

• Central State Hospital Historic District (Waupun): This hospital complex was built by the state starting in 1913. It was designed to care for people with mental health needs, especially those who were also involved with the justice system. The complex included a dairy, chicken house, pig pen, smokehouse, and carpenter shop, allowing patients to contribute and experience helpful work.
• St. Andrew's Church (LeRoy): This rural Catholic church was designed by Anton Dohmen in the Gothic Revival style and built in 1901 by the mostly German community. It features beautiful stained glass windows by Emil Frei Art Glass.
• St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church (Shields): This simple rural Catholic church was designed in the Country Church Gothic style by James Clancy and built in 1864. It was an important spiritual and social center for the German and Irish community.
• St. Mark's Episcopal Church (Beaver Dam): This church, built in 1858, is in the Carpenter Gothic style, known for its wooden details. It has a unique board-and-batten exterior. The church was moved to its current spot in 1865.

Other Important Sites

• Main Street Historic District (Mayville): This area includes Mayville's old downtown buildings. You can see different styles like the Italianate Reible building (1866), the Classical Revival Ruedebusch Department Store (1891), the Queen Anne Hamm building (1897), and the Modernist First National Bank (1915).
• North Washington Street Historic District (Watertown): This neighborhood has homes of various sizes and styles, all connected by the use of local cream brick. Examples include the Italianate Kusel house (1849/1870), the Second Empire Cody house (1877), the Queen Anne Woodard house (1894), and the Craftsman Calhoun house (1915).
• Wisconsin State Prison Historic District (Waupun): This is Wisconsin's first state prison complex, started soon after Wisconsin became a state. It was designed in the Auburn style, meaning prisoners had individual cells. Much of it was built by the prisoners themselves. It includes the South Cell House (1855), the Main Building (1855-58), guard towers, and factories like the Binder Twine Factory (1909) and the Auto Tags Plant (1931).

Archaeological Sites (Restricted Access)

Some historic places are archaeological sites, which means they contain important remains from past human activity. These sites are often protected and their exact locations are kept secret to prevent damage.

• Horicon Site (Waupun)
• Indian Point Site (Fox Lake)
• Kekoskee Archeological District (Kekoskee): This area includes several sites from the late Woodland period. These include an effigy mound (a mound shaped like an animal) in a seasonal camp and two villages surrounded by fences (stockades).

Past Listings

These two places were once on the National Register of Historic Places but have since been removed, usually because they were demolished or significantly changed.

• Dodge County Courthouse (Juneau): This courthouse was built in 1878 and designed in a High Victorian style. A Modernist addition was added in 1937. The courthouse was taken down in 1995.
• Sock Road Bridge (Lowell): This cast iron bridge was built in 1893. It had iron decorations on top. The bridge was taken down and replaced in 1980.