Continuing
with our exploration of the area around Market Square in Stevens Point. The ladies were checking out a couple of
stores and I was just wandering along the street taking photos…
The Romanesque
inspired Johnsen Building at 820 - 824 Main Street was completed in 1896. With
its scale and prominent location on Market Square in the Mathias Mitchell
Public Square – Main Street Historic District, this is an important
structure. All of the brick was supplied
by a local brick company and it’s reportedly the first local building to be
constructed entirely by locally supplied pressed brick.
The current
occupant is the Radiance Salon at 820 Main Street. I also like the building next door. It's now Erbert’s and
Gerbert’s Sandwich Shop at 812 Main Street. The building certainly appears to meet the historic criteria but I couldn't find any references about it. However, a little research revealed that Erbert’s and Gerbert’s is a chain of
franchised sub shops centered in the upper Midwest. To learn more, go to https://www.erbertandgerberts.com/.
Apparently, an Erbert's and Gerbert's sub shop was once located in a Knoxville shopping mall but its now closed.
I was
frustrated in my efforts to learn about these buildings. The building with the blue upper level has a
plaque at the top that states that it is the Frank Bemowski Building and that
it was built in 1878. Other than his dates
of birth and death, I couldn’t find anything on the building's namesake either…
The
building to the left is located at 1232 2nd Street so the other
building must be at 1234 or some approximation of that. The building at the left is currently
occupied by Nail Masters… Both buildings are appealing but I find the one at
the right especially attractive.
Loved
this building! Talk about dramatic… The
K. Chilla Building is located at 1205 – 1209 Second Street on Market
Square. Kasimir Chilla built this
building in 1892 as a double store on the lower level with a hall above. Kasimir operated his hardware store on one
side and he rented out the other side.
Chilla’s Hall on the second floor was one of several in the downtown
area used as meeting halls. In addition
it was a popular place for Polish weddings and it served as a gymnasium for
other social groups.
Today it’s
at least partially occupied by Embracing Life Chiropractic at 1205 Second
Street. As I’ve commented before, what I
like most about Stevens Point’s central historic district is that most of the
old buildings are in use!
The
historic Mathias Mitchell Public Square in downtown Stevens Point is home to
the longest running farmer’s market in Wisconsin. The 2 square block marketplace at the end of
Main Street has provided a place for local farmers to sell their produce ever
since Mitchell donated it to the town back in 1847.
FYI, the
market is open from May through October from 7 AM until the farmers are sold
out…usually around 2:30 PM.
I was
stunned, ‘gobsmacked’ as the British would say, at the quality and artistic
arrangement of the produce in this stand as well as the others. I assured the gentleman that I’d be back with
a bunch of women and that I was pretty sure that they’d buy something! (You need to enlarge this photo!)
Many of the produce stands in the Square were
being operated by Hmong Americans. Wisconsin
has the third largest Hmong population in the USA and they are the largest
Asian ethnic group in Wisconsin. Allies
of the USA during the Vietnam War, they sought asylum as political refugees
after the Communist takeover in Laos and Vietnam. As of 2010, about 1% or almost 50,000
Hmong-Americans were living in Wisconsin.
These
flower bouquets at the farmer’s market were fantastic! The variety and presentation surpass most
florist’s arrangements… Talk about bright and colorful!
True to
my word, Karole, Bonnie and Laurie eventually made it to the produce stand that
I’d visited. They all wished we needed
to buy some of that great looking produce!
This is Karole taking a photo but they all took turns taking pictures…
I also ‘delivered’ on my promise that the ladies would buy something from that farm stand’s proprietor. Here we have Bonnie, Karole and Laurie with
the floral arrangements Karole purchased to give to local family members. (Laurie is hidden behind her flowers)
Would you
care to guess how much they paid for each of those bouquets? If I was an Stevens Point area florist, I’d have a stroke! How about $7.50 each! Wow!
I thought
that this eye-catching mural deserved special notice. It’s painted on Buffy’s Lampoon Tavern at
1331 2nd Street. The oldest
section of the tavern was completed in 1866 by William Spraggon for his bakery
operation. Mr. Spraggon was a major
mover and shaker back in his time, serving as an alderman for several terms and as
the city’s mayor for seven terms.
The mural
shows activity on the city square ca. 1910.
It shows what market square and the town’s residents looked like at that
time. The painter/muralist started
painting in the spring of 2006 and she completed it just before Polish
Thanksgiving in the fall of that year.
The faces depicted are actual images of Stevens Point residents, past
and present. They were copied from
photos provided by family and friends.
Note:
·
This is
just one of 5 murals around the downtown area of Stevens Point. To learn more and to view all of the murals,
just go to http://stevenspoint.com/index.aspx?NID=704.
Downtown
Stevens Point is certainly upholding Wisconsin tradition.
There are several bars in the area and the state has historically ranked
in the top 3 in the USA for the number of bars per capita!
This is
Butter’s Brickhause Tavern at 1343 2nd Street just a block off the
public square. It occupies the former
Gusman/Skowronski/Glinkski buildings.
These 2 buildings were completed in 1904 and in 1911. Local architect Tom Brown (with offices on
Main Street) returned these structures as well as at least 2 others in the
area, to their past glory.
The Brickhause
Tavern looked closed at first glance…but it turns out that they were just
resting up after another long night of action.
The Brickhause Tavern is open daily from 3 PM until 2 AM! To learn more, you can go to https://www.facebook.com/brickhausetavern54481.
Just click
on any of the photos to enlarge them…
Thanks
for stopping by for a tour!
