National Register of Historic Places listings in Green Lake County, Wisconsin facts for kids
Welcome to Green Lake County, Wisconsin! This article is all about some really special places in the county that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This list is like a hall of fame for buildings, sites, and districts that are important to American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, or culture. When a place is on this list, it means it's recognized for its unique value and is protected. Green Lake County has 16 of these amazing historic spots!
Contents
Historic Places in Green Lake County
Berlin's Historic Buildings
Berlin is home to several cool historic spots.
Beckwith House Hotel
The Beckwith House Hotel is a three-story brick building with a fancy Italianate style. It was built way back in 1863-1864. When it first opened, it had a pool room and an oyster bar in the basement, plus a drug store on the main floor. For a long time, people thought it was the best hotel in Berlin!
Nelson F. Beckwith House
The Nelson F. Beckwith House is another Italianate-style home, built in 1858. It even has a small tower on its roof called a cupola. Nelson F. Beckwith was a businessman who built sawmills before getting into the hotel business in Berlin. Today, this historic house is a bed and breakfast!
Old Berlin High School
The Old Berlin High School was designed in a cool Collegiate Gothic style and finished in 1918. It looks a bit like an old castle or a college building. Now, it's been turned into apartments. Imagine living in an old high school!
Berlin Post Office
The Berlin Post Office was built in 1936 with help from a government program called the PWA. It has a sleek, modern look called Art Moderne. Inside, you can find a special mural (a large painting on a wall) called "Harvesting Cranberries" by an artist named Ray Rudell.
Huron Street Historic District
The Huron Street Historic District is the main downtown area of Berlin. Many of these brick buildings were rebuilt after big fires in the 1860s and 1870s. You can see lots of different architectural styles here, like the Romanesque Revival Masonic Temple from 1889, the Queen Anne Engelbracht Block from 1895, and the Art Deco City Hall from 1928. It's like a walk through time!
J. P. Luther Company Glove Factory
The J. P. Luther Company Glove Factory is a two-story brick building from 1904. This is where leather gloves were made, first by hand and then with machines. The offices and cutting areas were on the first floor, while sewing and finishing happened upstairs.
McClelland-Kasuboski House
The McClelland-Kasuboski House is a brick Italianate farmhouse built in 1868 by Thomas McClelland, an immigrant from Ireland. He farmed wheat, dairy, and sheep here. The house was later sold to the Kasuboskis in 1903.
Nathan Strong Park Historic District
The Nathan Strong Park Historic District is a neighborhood around a city park named after Berlin's founder. It has many different styles of houses, showing how architecture changed over time. You can see homes from the 1840s to the 1940s, including Gothic Revival, Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, and Tudor Revival styles.
Wisconsin Power and Light Berlin Power Plant
The Wisconsin Power and Light Berlin Power Plant is a small brick power plant built in 1925. It sits right on the bank of the Fox River and has some cool 20th Century Commercial design elements.
Green Lake's Historic Buildings
The city of Green Lake also has some important historic sites.
Green Lake County Courthouse
The Green Lake County Courthouse is a grand building designed in the Neoclassical style. It was built in 1899 and features a large front porch with columns and a triangular roof section, called a pediment.
Green Lake Village Hall
The Green Lake Village Hall is a public building with an Art Deco influence, completed in 1939. It was built with help from the WPA, another government program. It originally had a gym and stage on the first floor, and city offices, a library, and fire departments in the basement. The gym's roof is supported by special laminated wooden arches.
Thrasher's Opera House
Thrasher's Opera House is a multi-purpose theater built in 1909. It was a very busy place, hosting all sorts of events like vaudeville shows, movies, basketball games, dances, school plays, and graduations until 1945. After being used for manufacturing and storage, it was restored as a theater starting in 1996.
Marquette's Historic Places
Marquette has a couple of unique historic buildings.
Daniel and Catherine Ketchum Cobblestone House
The Daniel and Catherine Ketchum Cobblestone House is a three-story home built in 1852. What makes it special are its walls, which are made of cobblestones! The front of the house is framed by four tall, three-story Doric columns, giving it a Greek Revival style. In the 1920s and 30s, it was even a duck-hunting club!
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church in Marquette is a small wooden church built in the 1860s. It has a roof style influenced by Greek Revival architecture, round-topped windows, and a square tower. The outside is covered in clapboard siding, and it sits on a foundation made of fieldstone.
Princeton's Historic District
Princeton Downtown Historic District
The Princeton Downtown Historic District is the old business area of Princeton. Many of these buildings were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. You can see buildings like the Italianate Teske dry goods store from 1859, the Richardsonian Romanesque Princeton State Bank from 1894, and the Commercial Vernacular Yahr building from 1901, which first sold furniture and even caskets!
Other Historic Sites
Hamilton-Brooks Site
The Hamilton-Brooks Site is a very old archaeological site located south of Berlin. At this site, archaeologists have found pottery and even a wall foundation from the ancient Mississippian culture, showing that people lived here long, long ago.
