Exploring Stevens Point (#3)

I wasn’t quite done exploring homes and places in Stevens Point Wisconsin that I’d identified from the National Register of Historic Places… However, this is my final ‘edition’ on this topic!

This is the former passenger and freight depot in Stevens Point.  It was built in 1918.  The town was once the rail hub of central Wisconsin and the Southside Railroad Complex still contains buildings, tracks and more that celebrate the time when railroads ruled.

The first train steamed into Stevens Point back in 1871.  At its height, as many as 6 railroad hotels with names such as the Majestic, European, and Acord offered accommodations to travelers and railroad workers.  Railroads that served the city included the Soo Line, Fox Valley and Western plus the Wisconsin Central, Ltd.

I borrowed this photo from the Internet.  It does a much better job showing the large Stevens Point Depot complex than mine does.  FYI, I should have kept walking through the area!  I apparently missed a 4-6-2 Soo Line Pacific Class H-21 Steam Locomotive that is on display nearby…not to mention a 22 bay roundhouse!

This striking building is the old Folding Furniture Works Building, also known as the Lullabye Furniture Warehouse.  The original Folding Furniture Works Building was constructed in 1919.  The name of the building came from sawmill owner John Warzalla’s efforts to market his patented child’s folding swing set. 

A fire destroyed the earlier building and this one replaced it in 1931.  The architectural design is generally termed as being late 19^th/early 20^th century American Movement.  Originally this was a manufacturing facility, then it became a warehouse.  

Today this building is called Pioneer Place Apartments and it’s apparently a 1 – 2 bath, 1 – 2 bedroom apartment complex that caters to retirees.  For more information, you can go to http://www.copperleafcare.com/rent.cfm?listing=144.

The former Temple Beth Israel is located at 1475 Water Street in Stevens Point.  The building is now a museum known as Beth Israel Synagogue.  It’s operated by the Portage County Historical Society.  Displays include items related to Jewish religious practices and the history of the area’s Jewish Community.  Most of the Jewish families that helped found Temple Beth Israel was political refugees from Russia.  This building served a congregation until 1986 when it was donated to the Portage County Historical Society.

 

The Portage County Historical Society manages and maintains 3 other properties in addition to the Beth Israel Synagogue.  They are Fire House #2 in Stevens Point (with a collection of fire-fighting equipment), Heritage Park in Plover (more on this park in an upcoming posting), and the Rising Star Mill in Nelsonville.  To learn more about this historical society, just go to http://www.pchswi.org/#.

This is the former Episcopal Church of the Intercession at 1417 Church Street in Stevens Point.  Late in 2017, with over $300,000 in repairs needed to continue basing the congregation at this 122 year old church, a decision was made to share the Lutheran Church at 900 Brilowski Road with its congregation so the move was made.  This sad story is further complicated by the fact that part of the church property also serves at a homeless shelter, a place for Alcoholics Anonymous to meet as well as a home for a local transgender support group.  The future of this imposing church structure has yet to be determined…

This is “Old Main”, the administration building for the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point. Originally it was the 6^th Normal School in the state.  This Romanesque inspired structure at 2100 Main Street was built back in 1894.  Later referred to at Central State College, this was the predecessor of today’s university.

Note:

·         This was the first college in the USA to offer a major in Conservation.

This was the former Whiting Hotel, a Mediterranean Revival-style building that opened in 1923.  At the time that it opened, 6 other area hotels closed and the Whiting ‘owned’ 50% of the areas hotel business for a while.  There were 120 guest room and some considered this property to be the best hotel north of Chicago.  It closed in 1986.

Today Whiting Place has been converted into 21 luxury apartments with underground parking and offices on the first floor.  For more information, just go to https://www.landmarkpropertymgmt.net/whiting-place/.

Note:

·         I’ve never been sure about the definition of Mediterranean Revival architecture.  It is a design style introduced in the USA toward the end of the 1800s. It variously incorporates design elements from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Beaux-Arts, Italian Renaissance, Arabic Andalusian and Venetian Gothic architecture.  Well, that ‘certainly’ cleared up the style type for me!  Yikes!

I ‘borrowed’ this photo from the Internet.  Inside the Whiting Hotel, the former bar contains murals with scenes from local history that were painted by a local artist named John Pfiffner in 1946.  This is one of his murals.  I like it a lot!  Reminds me somewhat of works by Thomas Hart Benton…

This huge Classical Revival Building was designed by a Chicago firm and it was built for the Hardware Mutual Fire Insurance Company and Hardware Mutual Casualty.  These days it houses some operations for Sentry Insurance which has its Corporate Headquarters nearby.  Sentry Insurance employs over 2,000 area residents.  Note the planters with flowers that soften the look of this imposing building.

The entrance as shown rises up above the foundation to reach the full height of the first floor…between that pair of Doric columns.  Note the 6 allegorical bas-relief figures that personify hardware and insurance.  Those double doors are wrought-iron and glass.  Their height is almost doubled by that wrought-iron and glass transom. 

This very appealing 2.5 story Queen Anne home was built for J.L. Jensen in 1901.  Jensen had operated a grocery store in Stevens Point starting in 1881.  This property at 1100 Brawley Street includes a Victorian-styled playhouse and a similarly styled garage.  The grocery business must have been great!  Jensen was also a member of the Vestry at the now empty Episcopal Church of the Intercession discussed previously in this posting.  This home stayed in the family until 1987. 

Today the former Jensen home is a Bed and Breakfast.  It’s been named “Dreams of Yesteryear”.  There are 6 guest rooms in total and 4 of them have en suite bathrooms.  Prices range from $120.00 to $185.00.  To learn more, just go to: http://www.dreamsofyesteryear.com/.  

I noted this old church on the corner of Strongs Avenue and Brawley.  This is the former Trinity Lutheran Church.  The congregation was organized in 1874 and this clapboard Gothic Revival church was built in 1900.  

Although part of the original steeple is gone, I was encouraged to note that the stained glass windows area are protected and apparently intact.  A recent occupant of the building appears to have been the ‘Winning Point Dance Academy’.

This is the first dormitory at the Stevens Point Normal School.  This Prairie style building was completed in 1917.  It was originally a women’s dormitory and it included a dining hall, a kitchen, parlor, recreation room, study room and infirmary.

World War I and World War II brought temporary reassignments for Nelson Hall.  Between October 1918 and January 1919, this building housed the Student Army Training Corps.  Between February 1943 and May 1944, it served as home for most of the 97^th College Training Detachment, an Army Air Corps training unit.

This is the David McMillan House at 1924 Pine Street.  This attractive High Victorian Gothic home, (very ornate indeed!), was built in 1873 by lumberman David McMillan.  He’d brought his family west from New York in 1864 to operate a saw mill on the Plover River, which in turn supplied his lumber yard in Keokuk Iowa.  Every spring, he’d float his logs down the Plover River to the Wisconsin River and on down to the Mississippi where he’d raft them on down to Keokuk.  When he retired in 1873 he had this house built.  He died in 1883.

The City of Stevens Point has a population of about 26,500.  It was named after George Stevens, who operated a grocery and supply business on the Wisconsin River during the period where extensive logging took place in the interior of Wisconsin.  Today, the Steven’s Point “Micropolitan Statistical Area” has over 70,000 residents.

Notes:

·         Actor Peter Weller is from Stevens Point.  He starred in Robocop, Robocop 2, the TV series Star Trek into Darkness and many other TV and film productions.

·         Stevens Point hosts the world’s largest trivia contest which is hosted by the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point’s radio station.  Typically, in April of each year, over 12,000 contestants on more than 400 teams complete for 54 consecutive hours…from Friday through Sunday.

That’s all I have pertaining to Stevens Point historical places… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave