Heritage Park in Plover Wisconsin

In planning for our trip to visit Laurie’s family in Wisconsin, I’d made note of a few railroad depots and historic places along the way.  Of course I’d done the same thing for Stevens Point, which is just a short distance north of Plover Wisconsin.  However, I also noted that there were a number of historical structures in Plover…so Cousin Carla took us to Plover’s Heritage Park for my photo op.

Plover’s Heritage Park is the largest of the Portage County Historical Society’s 4 properties.  The organization also maintains several on-line archives as well as extensive materials at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point.  To learn more about this organization and all of its activities, you can go to http://www.pchswi.org/index.html.  

This is the Engford/Barnsdale House.  It’s known locally as the “Circus House”.  A number of circus families owned this home over the years.  It was built in 1850 by a pioneer attorney and judge.  

This is the oldest verified house in Portage County.  When the original owner passed on, his widow sold the house and a progression of owners followed.  In 1923, the home was purchased by Robert Engford, a pioneer in the motorized circus equipment industry.  He first toured the state with his motorized equipment in 1920.  Engford died in 1967 but his daughter continued to live here until 1999.

      

After Engford died, his son and granddaughter carried on with the family business.  Except for the period during World War II, an Engford family member performed every year from ca. 1900 until 1999!

This nifty restored circus caravan is on display on a concrete pad behind the ‘circus house’.

 

To learn more about Robert Engford, his accomplishments, life and family, check out the archive on the Portage County Historical Society’s site at http://www.pchswi.org/circus/engford_family/robertengford.html.

This gray store is one half of what is now a double ended structure.  The Pierce building was a grocery store and butcher shop when it was built.  After the Pierce family sold it, several other businesses used it…among them a general store.  The Society had plans to use the front portion as a print shop and the back for the display of farm equipment.  However, vandals burned the structure in 1994.  The front has been partially restored and it will be used as originally intended. 

A new section was built over the foundation of the back of the Pierce Building that had been destroyed by the arson fire.  This barn with its covered outdoor area, is being used to display an extensive collection of farm equipment.  To view the equipment included in the collection, just go to http://www.pchswi.org/museums/hpark/farmequip/farm-equipment.html.

What would an old depot be these days without an accompanying caboose?  This bay-window style caboose was originally operated by the Green Bay and Western Railroad…then the Wisconsin Central and finally the Canadian National Railroad. 

The depot was moved from nearby Bancroft Wisconsin.  It had been built in 1898 by the Wisconsin Central Railway and was subsequently utilized by the Soo Line. (Also known as the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad) The depot was on the Soo Line’s branch that operated from the city of Portage to Steven’s Point.  

As per the website, the exterior and first floor of the depot have been restored to the 1920’s look by the Central Wisconsin Model Railroaders, Ltd.  They use the basement as a clubhouse.  The depot is the last one of this design…

Bancroft has a special connection for Laurie and her sisters.  Her mother was born there and her maternal grandfather operated a creamery in the area for many years.

This ca. late 1930s cabin was built as a replacement for similar cabins that were part of part of a wayside establishment for weary travelers along what was called the “Yellowstone Trail” as it passed through Portage County Wisconsin.  Subsequently, this cabin became an extension of a local motel.

Note:

·         The Yellowstone Trail was the first transcontinental highway through the upper portion of the USA.  It was established in May of 1912.  This auto trail ran from Plymouth Massachusetts through Yellowstone Park to the Pacific Ocean in Seattle Washington.

This building is the oldest church in Portage County.  It was built ca. 1856 by a Presbyterian Congregation.  In 1866 it was sold to the Methodist Congregation and they used the church until they built a new church in 1963.  Many of the family attended this Methodist church. It was stripped bare on the inside in an effort to convert it for other uses.  Nothing worked out and the building just sat unused.

 

The Portage County Historical Society obtained the church in 1978 and rescued it from total collapse.  The exterior design is clearly Greek revival architecture while the interior provides a roomy barnlike space. 

The Historical Society brought this building onto the site in 1989.  When all is completed, it will represent what a general store would have looked like in the late 19^th century.  Over the years this building served many purposes…a store, taxidermy shop, a tavern, etc.  At one point an entire house was added to the back and it functioned as a tavern.  The Society has had to demolish the house extension and gut the interior

The Franklin-Calkins House was obtained by the Historical Society in 1983 and then moved to this site.  This home, built in 1867, is a cross between Greek revival and Federalist styles.  The exterior has changed very little over the years and the Historical Society has returned the interior to its original look ca 1870.

The home was built by George Washington Franklin, a potato grower and the first potato broker in the USA when he shipped produce to the Union Army during the Civil War.  The house was passed down through the female side of the family.  Mr. Franklin’s granddaughter married someone in the Calkins family and Mrs. Calkins died in 1981. 

The blacksmith shop came from the Town of Buena Vista Wisconsin and one of the earliest homesteads in the county.  Originally the land it was on was a payment to a veteran of the Seminole Wars in Florida.  The second owner of the land was the one who built the blacksmith shop…probably about 1880. (Sorry about the photo with its 'sunspots')  

The Society acquired the building and moved it in 1985.  A number of tools designed and made by the second owner are on display in the blacksmith shop.  This building was the first structure the Historical Society rehabilitated and opened…

This little building was just one of several Post Office buildings that served the Village of Plover.  As small as it is, the structure is actually 2 much smaller buildings butted together back to back.  Both the front and back portions of the structure were built ca. 1870.  No one knows what the back part was used for.  So, the front end will be restored as the Post Office as it was intended while the back portion will be restored as a doctor’s office.

This school house was built ca. 1894 almost on the Portage-Waupaca County line about 18 miles to the east of Plover.  It served as a school house until the late 1940s.  A local landowner donated the school to the Historic Society as it was on his family’s land.  Many members of the family had attended the school over the years but it had been used for storage in more recent times.  When they moved this school from its original site to its new home in Plover, they had to cut the school into 3 pieces.

Much of the material used to write this post were gleaned from the Portage County Historical Society’s website.  It is a very helpful site and it’s loaded with all kinds of information about the Plover Heritage Park as well as the other properties operated by the Society.

Plover's Historical Park is open on weekends from Memorial Day through Labor Day from 1 PM to 4 PM.  For more information about the Heritage Park you can just go to http://www.pchswi.org/museums/hpark/Heritagepark.html.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a tour and a little local history!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave