This article attempts to list the oldest extant, freestanding buildings in the state of Wisconsin. Some dates are approximate and based on architectural studies and historical records; other dates are based on dendrochronology. All entries should include citation with reference to: architectural features indicative of the date of construction; a report by an architectural historian; or dendrochronology. If the exact year of initial construction is estimated, it will be shown as a range of dates.
To be listed here a site must:
date from prior to 1840; or
be the oldest building in a county, large city, or oldest of its type (church, government building, etc.).
Possibly the oldest extant building in Wisconsin.[a]Voyageur Joseph Roi built the cottage using the pièce-sur-pièce à coulisse method, which was once common in French-Canadian architecture. Originally located on the Fox River in Green Bay, the cottage was moved to Heritage Hill State Historical Park in 1976.[1]
Constructed by French-Canadian fur traders in Green Bay using the pièce-sur-pièce à coulisse method, this cabin was discovered to be part of a larger house scheduled for demolition to clear land for a bridge over the Fox River. The cottage was moved to Heritage Hill State Historical Park in 1975.[5]
Built using the pièce-sur-pièce à coulisse method common in early 19th century French-Canadian architecture, the exact date of this building's construction is uncertain. When Zebulon Pike visited the area in 1805, he noted at least eight buildings similar to the Strange Powers house in Prairie du Chien; it is not certain if the house was one of the buildings that Pike saw, or if it was built by early settler Strange Powers, who purchased the lot in 1818.[6]
One of the buildings of Fort Howard in Green Bay, the U.S. Army built the Fort Howard Officers' Quarters in the Federal style and garrisoned the fort until 1852. The building was donated to the Brown County Historical Association in 1952 and relocated to Heritage Hill State Historical Park in 1975.[8]
One of the buildings of Fort Howard in Green Bay, the U.S. Army built the Fort Howard Hospital in the Federal style and garrisoned the fort until 1852. The building was relocated to Heritage Hill State Historical Park in 1975.[10]
One of the buildings of Fort Howard in Green Bay, the Fort Howard Hospital Ward functioned as part of the fort hospital. The U.S. Army built the structure in the Federal style and garrisoned the fort until 1852. The building was relocated to Heritage Hill State Historical Park in 1975.[11]
Originally the home of French-Canadian fur trader Francois LeRoi, the U.S. Army bought the structure in 1828 and used it as one of the original buildings of Fort Winnebago.[12]
One of the buildings of Fort Howard in Green Bay, the lower floor of guard house functioned as the fort's sally port and prison, while the upper floor housed the commanding officer's office and the fort library. After the U.S. Army stopped garrisoning the fort, the building served as a private residence in Green Bay until Heritage Hill State Park acquired the structure in 2009 and moved it to the park.[9][19]
Built by Daniel Morgan Parkinson, a settler from Tennessee, the Prairie Spring Hotel's construction is more typical of the vernacular style seen in the early 19th century Southeastern United States. The structure served as an inn on the road from Galena, Illinois to Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and was later the homestead of the Parkinson family.[20]
In the early 19th century, the American Fur Company maintained a trading post on Madeline Island in the Apostle Islands. A small warehouse remains from that complex of buildings and today is part of the Madeline Island Museum.[21]
2.5-story cabin built by Cornish lead miners in southwestern Wisconsin. First floor is limestone with upper 1.5 stories made of wood. Today a part of the Pendarvis Historic Site.[25]
Built by Col. Zachary Taylor between 1829 and 1835. The original Fort Crawford was built in 1816in the aftermath of the War of 1812. After the Winnebago War of 1827, the U.S. Army decided to build a larger fort, which was garrisoned from 1829 to 1856, temporarily reactivated during the Civil War, and then permanently abandoned in 1865. The hospital was separate from the military installation and is the only surviving building.[26]
Built in 1836 when the Wisconsin Territorial legislature was in the process of choosing a state capital, Denniston House was designed to house the territorial Supreme Court in the hopes that Cassville would be chosen as the seat of government. Cassville was passed over, and the building sat vacant for 18 years until Nelson Dewey bought the building in 1854 and opened it as a hotel.[27]
The legislature of the Wisconsin Territory held its first session in Belmont on October 25, 1836. Much of the session was spent deciding on a new location for the territorial capital, and the legislature never reconvened in the Belmont capitol building after 1836. The buildings were later used as private residences and livestock barns.[28][29]
Oldest hotel in Mineral Point. Constructed of limestone in three parts, the first in 1836 and the last completed in 1860. Part of the Mineral Point Historic District.[15]
The outhouse for the original Pottawatomie Lighthouse on Rock Island still stands on the lighthouse grounds and is the oldest-known building in Door County.[30]
Built by Norwegian immigrant Halvor Bendickson in 1837, the structure is one of the oldest buildings in Racine County. It is one of several structures built by early Norwegian immigrants that are preserved in Heg Memorial Park.[31][32]
The two-and-a-half-story structure is a rare example of Federal-style architecture from the Wisconsin territorial period.[33] Some early 20th century sources promoted unsubstantiated claims that the house was built as early as 1808 or 1815, but an assessment by the U.S. Landmark Review Project in 1984 determined that the building's style and construction was more typical of the late 1830s and early 1840s.[34]
Built in 1837, Hazelwood was the home of early Wisconsin political Morgan Lewis Martin, who drafted the Constitution of Wisconsin. The building is owned by the Brown County Historical Association and is a museum.[35]
Two-story wood-frame Greek Revival structure built by the Rochester Lumber Company in 1837 as a boarding house for workers. Also functioned as an inn for settlers arriving in the area. Part of the Cole Historic District in Sheboygan Falls.[36]
1.5-story cottage built in 1837 of carefully fit dolomite for Rev. Samuel Mitchell in a style from his native Virginia. Mitchell had served in the Revolutionary War. John Rountree, founder of Platteville and husband of Mitchell's daughter, probably built the house.[37][38]
One-and-a-half-story log cabin built by Joseph Goodrich in 1838. In 1844, Goodrich built the Milton House hotel near the cabin and connected the buildings via an underground tunnel. The site was a safe house on the Underground Railroad, and enslavedAfrican-Americans used the tunnel as a hiding place. As of 2020, the cabin is part of the Milton House museum.[40]
Benjamin Carpenter built the initial fieldstone house in 1839. In 1850 John Gredler expanded that building with a 2-story brick Greek Revival-styled front, producing a saltbox form.[41][42]
One of the oldest known buildings in Ozaukee County, the cottage was built by Yankee Isham Day in 1839, before the influx of German immigration in the 1840s. The construction is unusual, with walls framed in vertical sawn timbers joined by mortise and tenon and infilled with brick.[43][44]
Wooden Greek Revival structure built as a meeting place for the Iowa Lodge No. 1 chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Still used by the organization, it is reputed to be the oldest chapter west of the Allegheny Mountains. Part of the Mineral Point Historic District.[15]
The first Catholic Church in Milwaukee, originally named St. Luke's and located on the corner of Jackson Street and Martin Street (now State Street) in the East Town neighborhood. The building relocated to the grounds of Saint Francis de Sales Seminary c. 1940. It was later moved to the Old World Wisconsin open-air museum.[45][46]
The Blue House was the first building of the Nashotah HouseEpiscopalseminary, constructed in 1842 by the missionary James Lloyd Breck and his followers. The Chapel of St. Sylvanus, located next to the Blue House, was constructed in 1843.[47][48]
Possibly the oldest extant building in Madison, Wisconsin, the Hickory Hill House was built from local sandstone by John G. Hicks, a farmer who came to Wisconsin from New York.[49][50]
The first building constructed on the Beloit College campus, Middle College is the oldest academic building still in use in Wisconsin[54] and serves as the college's administrative offices.[55]
^ The St. Joan of Arc Chapel on the Marquette University campus in Milwaukee is technically older, having been built in the 15th century. The chapel was built in France, shipped to the United States in 1927, and reconstructed at Marquette University in 1966.[3] The Tank Cottage is the oldest Wisconsin building that was originally built in Wisconsin.
^ Milwaukee's oldest building was formerly the Morgan Burdick House, also known as the Daniel H. Richards House. Built between 1836 and 1841,[51] the building was destroyed by fire in 2002.[52]
Citations
^ abAnderson, D. N. (March 23, 1970). "Tank Cottage". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
^"Growing Community". Heritage Hill State Park. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 12 April 2021. Archived from the original on 8 May 2022. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
^"La Baye Fur Trade". Heritage Hill State Park. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 8 April 2021. Archived from the original on 8 May 2022. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
^Donath, David (April 7, 1979). "Strange Powers House". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on May 18, 2024. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
^ abAnderson, Donald N. (June 7, 1971). "Fort Howard Officers' Quarters". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 22, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
^ abcd"Fort Howard". Heritage Hill State Park. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 12 April 2021. Archived from the original on 8 May 2022. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
^ abAnderson, Donald N. (November 2, 1970). "Fort Howard Hospital". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 22, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
^ abAnderson, Donald N. (June 18, 1971). "Fort Howard Hospital Ward". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 22, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
^Anderson, Donald N. (August 25, 1970). "Fort Winnebago Surgeon's Quarters". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 22, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
^Miller, Elizabeth L. (June 1, 2004). "Dodge Mining Camp Cabin". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on May 18, 2024. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
^"Baird Law Office". Heritage Hill State Historical Park. Archived from the original on December 19, 2015. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
^Anderson, Donald N. (June 24, 1970). "Baird Law Office". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on May 18, 2024. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
^Eisley, Jane (August 1, 1998). "Prairie Spring Hotel". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on May 19, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
^Hatfield, J. W. (November 5, 1979). "Gratiot House". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on May 18, 2024. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
^ abAnderson, Donald N. (1970-09-28). "Pendarvis". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2020-03-23. Retrieved October 26, 2016. With three photos.
^Engel, Charlene Stant (July 26, 1974). "Denniston House". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on May 18, 2024. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
^"Brisbois House". Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places. Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
^Anderson, Donald N. (January 13, 1970). "Hazelwood". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 22, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
^Hildebrand, Janice (September 1988). "Cole Historic District". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 23, 2020. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
^"Mitchell-Rountree House". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
^Anderson, Donald N. (1971-08-17). "Mitchell-Rountree House". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2020-03-22. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
^"Isham Day House". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Archived from the original on May 18, 2024. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
^Cartwright, Carol Lohry (1999-08-15). "Day, Isham, House". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
^Avella, Steven M. "Roman Catholics". Encyclopedia of Milwaukee. University of Wisconsin-Milwawukee. Archived from the original on May 9, 2023. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
^Dean, Jeffrey M. (January 21, 1974). "Unity Chapel". NRHP Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023.