361 Janesville Wisconsin Images of America

Janesville, Wisconsin Images of America. A nice, pictorial booklet of the community with history, images, and names published in the Images of America Postcard Series. This copy was made in order to provide a searchable document for use by researchers and was scanned at the lowest DPL Purchases of this book should be directed to Arcadia Publishing or thru Amazon.com.

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361 Janesville Wisconsin Images of America.pdf

Linda Valentine Snippets

Linda Valentine Snippets

Copyright undetermined

text

eng

Wisconsin

History

Midwest

Pamphlets

Kenosha County, Wisconsin

PDF

Valentine
SNIPPETS of SALEM
361 -Janesville, Wisconsin
Images of America
Contents:
A nice, pictorial booklet of the community with history, images, and
names published in the Images of America Postcard Series,
This copy was made in order to provide a searchable document for
use by researchers and was scanned at the lowest DPL Purchases of
this book should be directed to Arcadia Publishing or thru
Amazon.com

0-130 pages
NOTES:
~Pages within the pamphlets may be out of sequence because of the scanning
process.
~Numbering

on these pages may inciude the date and sequence within each

pamphlet.
The original materials used in this project were from the FWB Fred Wesley
Brown Collection. Some documents were photocopied before they were scanned
into the PDF document and those will be available in print format. The originals
may exist either in the FWB collection or at the Western Kenosha County
Historical Society- depending on family decisions at a later date. These
materials were contributed because the family wished that the history that they
and their families have experienced can be saved for the future generations.
Some "published" documents were dismantled In order to provide a 1:1 scan of
the original item rather than a scan of a photocopy. The decision to do this was
made because the INFORMATION was more important than the media that was
used to present the information. Naturally. singular ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
were not destroyed.
Researchers should also refer to the Valentine Digital archives which may at the
SALEM COMMUNITY LIBRARY for more !mages in this collection or digital
images of items that may relate to this booklet or related to the topic.
Compiled 1/2014 by L S Valentine Copyright©Valentine2014

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A passenger train rolls across the Rock River Bridge toward the Janesville station two blocks
away. This view from 100 years ago has not cha.nged much: the dam is still there, the Fourth
Avenue Bridge is now Centerway, the dark building to the right is part of the Adams Roofing
Company, and the railroad bridge carries trains of the Wisconsin and Southern and the Union
Pacific Railroads. (Den and Judith Adler collection.)

ON THE FRONT CovER: At Main and Milwaukee Streets in the center ofJanesville, a trolley, a
bicycle, and horses and buggies display modes of transportation at the turn of the 20th century.
All four business blocks that anchored the intersection arc visible: (from left to right) Myers
Hotel, Lappin-Hayes Block, Jackman Block, and Smith Block_ Note that 1808 is the publisher's
number for this card, not the date. (Karl Dommershausen collection.)
ON THE BACK CovER: Around 1908, two women and a man stroll past the Courthouse

Park fountain in front of the old courthouse and the Civil War soldiers' monument. In 2010,
the park and its trees are still there, and the soldiers' monument still stands in front of a new
courthouse, but an outdoor amphitheater now occupies the foreground of this view. (Den and
Judith Adler collection.)

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Copyright© 2010 by Den Adler and Judith Adler
ISBN 978-0-7385-8446-1
Published by Arcadia Publishing
Charleston, South Carolina
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010925650
For all general information, please contact Arcadia Publishing:

Telephone 843-853-2070
Fax 843-853-0044
E-mail sales@arcadiapublishing.com
For customer service and orders:

Toll-Free 1-888-313-2665
Visit us on the Internet at www.arcadiapublishing.com

To those who keep history alive for the knowledge and enjoyment of
others: the administrators, curators, staff, members, and supporters of
historical societies large and small; as well as writers, diarists, reporters,
photographers, collectors, and cataloguers; and finally the savers and sorters
who preserve it all. Their time and effort make books like this possible.

CoNTENTs
Acknowledgments

6

Introduction

7
9

1.

The River

2.

Street Scenes

35

3.

Industry

57

4.

Railroads

69

5.

Government and Schools

79

6.

Hotels and Hospitals

95

7.

Buildings

103

8.

Parks and Recreation

119

Bibliography

127

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
When we agreed to write this book, we knew our own postcard collection v.-·ould not fill it
and, when an out-of-state collector suddenly changed hls mind and decided not to let us use
his extensi\-e JanesYille collection, we became concerned about finding sources for the cards
we would need. We are therefore grateful to those who allowed us to reproduce, in this book,
postcards of JanesYille from their valuable collections: Deb Case, Karl Dommershausen, Cliff
Englert, Maurice Montgomery, and the Rock County I·1istorical Society. We and the readers are
indebted to them for their generosity, and we hope they enjoy seeing parts of their collections
included here.
We especially thank Maurice Montgomery fOr reviewing the information in our captions
for historical accuracy. Maurice is a true font of knowledge about Janesville and Rock County
history, and we felt confident in having him review our text. He caught several mistakes and
added interesting facts to our materiaL The final decision as to wording was ours of course, and
we are responsible for any factual errors that remain.
We are indebted to Carol Lohry Cartwright of Whitewater, Wisconsin, for her extensive
research and suryey work resulting in Janesville's historic districts. We are also indebted to Carole
Zellie of Landscape Research in St. Paul, Minnesota, for her crisp prose in and production of the
1998 book City on the Rock River: Chapters in janesville's History and the individual guides to the
historic districts. All are excellent resources published by the Janesville Historic Commission.
JeffRuetsche and John Pearson at Arcadia Publishing helped us in many ways, both in regard
to book content and in supporting our efforts to put all of its parts together.

6

INTRODUCTION
Members of the militia, who in 1832 chased Black Hawk and his group of warriors, old men,
\Vomen, and children through what became Rock County, returned home and told others of
the area's beauty. After, "But a year or two elapsed before immigration began to direct its course
hither," historian Alexander T Gray wrote in the Janesville City Directory, History, and Business
Advertiser for 1859-1860.
According to Gray's history of Janesville, settlers John Inman, George Follmer, Joshua
Holmes, and William Holmes Jr. built "a log hut, 16 by 18 feet" in October 1835 on the south
bank of the Rock River opposite the Big Rock, "an old landmark of the Indians, crowned with
a growth of beautiful cedars, and although since considerably cut down, is still a prominent
object near the northern end of the bridge connecting the Monterey addition vvith the main
body of the city."
A month later, in November 1835, Samuel St. John arrived with his wife and family. Two
months after, in January 1836, Dr. James Heath and his wife joined the group. All 11 settlers
spent the winter together in that small cabin.
Others came in 1836, including Henry Janes and his family. He "built a cabin upon the spot
where Tom Lappin a few years since reared the beautiful block which is one of the ornaments
of our city." This building, now called the Lappin-Hayes Block, is still standing.
At the Territorial Legislature at Belmont, Wisconsin, in 1836~1837, "The county seat of
Rock was established upon the fractional quarter section located by Mr. Janes upon the east
side of the river."
The first bridge over the Rock River V\_-ent up in 1842. "It was a toll bridge for several years,"
Gray wrote, "and notwithstanding the accommodation afforded by it, there vvere those who
would grumble at the rates and complain of monopoly and extortion." That bridge lasted about
10 years, "Giving place at last to the more convenient and handsome one now in use." And, Gray
added, the new bridge "is giving no small degree of trouble and annoyance to our city legislators
because of continual wear and tear, requiring frequent patching of the roadway, and occasionally
furnishing a bill of damages to be paid for accidents." Some things never change.
Janesville's population in 1843, eight years after its first settlers arrived, was just 333, but from
that year, Gray stated, "We may date the connnencement of the substantial growth of our town.
It was then that the first steps were taken for the improvement of the ample water power here
afforded by the noble stream which adds so much beauty to the locality." After the upper dam
was built, se\'eral mills were put up, including the "Big Mill"-four stories tall and 80 feet by
50 feet-which drew grain from as far north as Portage on the Wisconsin River. Because of the
importance of the Rock River to Janesville's settlement and growth, we begin this book with
postcards of the river and its surroundings.
Janesville grew quickly, and that growth is displayed in postcard images published around
and after the turn of the 20th century. It \Vas during that period that the national postcard craze
7

occurred, with seYerallocal and national publishers documenting in postcard images the growth
ofJanesville as well as other cities and small towns across the country.
Postal service in what eventually became the United States started almost immediately in
the Colonies, although it was, according to Dan Friedman in his 2003 book The Birth and
Development of American Postcards, "Disjointed, sporadic, and undependable." The Royal Postal
Service handled mail from 1707 to 1775, when the Continental Congress appointed Benjamin
Franklin postmaster general. By 1845, the United States had 14,183 post offices;Janesville was
one of them.
The first mail to reach Janesville came on April 23, 1837, carried by a man on horseback. The
rider was B. B. Carey, the fust postmaster ofRacine, Wisconsin, whose route extended from Racine
through Janesville to Mineral Point. His bag contained one letter that day, from the postmaster
general in Washington, D.C., appointing the new postmaster ofJanesville, Henry F. Janes. Janes's
post office for several months consisted of a cigar box nailed to a log in his tavern.
In 1869, Austro-Hungary's government issued the first picture postal card on record. The
first U.S. government postal cards were issued in 1873. By that time, Jack H. Smith writes in
his 1989 book Postcard Companion: The Collector's Reference, "The postcard had become one of
the most popular, if not the standard, means of communication between people everywhere."
Letter writing, with its required stationery and envelopes, seemed tiresome and expensive to some
people, and many began sharing and keeping the colorful images in a craze of card collecting
that was satirized in magazine articles like "Postal Carditis and Some Allied Manias" and "Upon
the Extinction of the Art of Letter Writing."
The idea of adding images to text is an old one, going back at least to the monks who added
elaborate illustrations as they hand-copied religious texts. Later there came a period of illustrated
cards of many different types in Europe and in the United States: trade cards, visiting cards,
cabinet cards, valentine cards, and more. All were designed to be hand delivered or mailed
in an envelope, but those cards probably led to the size and format of what w·e know today as
postcards. Today millions of old postcards survive in the hands of collectors, museums, and
historical societies.
Our captions offer necessarily short descriptions ofJanesville postcards, though we discovered
a wealth of fascinating material about the area's history in books and on the Internet. Files
of old Janesville Gazette editions were found through access.newspaperarchive.com, available
through the Hedberg Public Library (and Badgerlink). This subscription service includes more
than 5,000 newspapers and can be searched by keywords or phrases. For instance, until we used
the search feature we found nothing about the boat livery shown on page 28. Also the 1879
History of Rock County Wisconsin, offers first-person reminiscences of pioneers who came to this
"trackless prairie," and the five letters of Henry Janes to the Gazette display a sense of humor
not apparent in the dry facts of his life in this place that carries his name. We encourage you to
explore our history further.
The golden age of postcards occurred approximately between 1905 and 1915. According to
official U.S. Post Office figures, more than 900 million postcards were mailed in this country
in 1913 alone. Most of the cards in this book are from that early period, though there are several
linens (cards with a high rag content) from 1930 to 1944, and a few modern chromes from after
1945. During the golden age, most postcards, including those of]anesville, were printed in Europe,
especially in Germany, where the lithographic art was most advanced. There were topical cards
about an infinite variety of subjects, and there \Vere view cards of almost all cities and towns.
These views, many now more than 100 years old, provide us a look at historic locations, and
these postcard views of early Janesville are the subjects of this book.
We hope you enjoy them.
1

-Den Adler and Judith Adler
March 2010
Janesville, Wisconsin
8

One

THE RIVER

A Chicago and North Western Railroad passenger train crosses the Rock River at Monterey
around 1908. This postcard was published by the Smith Drug Company of janesville through
the Raphael Tuck Company ofEngland, \Vho had the card printed in Germany. Smith published
many postcard views of Janesville using this method, which gave small-town businesses a way
to provide quality cards to their customers. (Adler collection.)
9

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Puk hy Sntherhwd & Shiiy,

A Chicago, MihYaukee, and St. Paul Railroad passenger train heads out ofjanesville for Chicago
around 1910. One hundred years later, this curved steel bridge at Monterey still carries trains
but now those of the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad. In this view, the fill and several bridges
on which the tracks \'\"ere laid are visible toward the center of Janesville in the background.
(Adler collection.)

The 1859-1860 Janesville City Directory mentions several mills built at Monterey in the 1850s
that were po\'\-ered by this dam below the bridge: Heller and Henderson's flouring mill; Andre
and Crosby's oil mill, converted in 1859 to a flouring mill; and Ira Miltimore's flouring mill,
as well as one he was building for sawing and polishing stone in connection vvith his quarries.
(Adler collection.)

10

A Chicago and North Western Railroad passenger train rolls across its bridge at Monterey.
The Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad was completed from Chicago to Janesville in
November 1857. It had been called the Rock Ri\~er Valley Union Railroad when work began
a few years earlier, and by 1859 it was known by its modern name, the Chicago and North
Western. (Adler collection.)

In this view by postcard publisher Hugh C. Leighton ofPortland, Maine, both railroad bridges
as well as the lower dam on the Rock River are \"isible. To take this photograph of the Chicago
and North Western passenger train rolling across the bridge toward downtown, the photographer
stood on the old wagon bridge connecting the area ofira Miltimore's quarry at Monterey to the
rest ofJanesville. (Adler collection.)
11

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These two postcards, the one above published by Kropp of Milwaukee and the one below by
Suhling and Koehn of Chicago, came from the same negative. In the card below, an artist drew in
the moon and its reflections in the clouds and on the river. A few early flour mills operated here
at Monterey using the po·wer of the lower dam, partly visible to the left. Heller and Henderson
built the Iv1onterey Mill in 1856, but it was gone before the turn of the 20th century. The
Monterey Stone .Mills (not extant) started as an oil mill in 1852 but was expanded into a flour
mill by 1859. The area also included a mill for sawing and polishing stone from the nearby quarry
operated by Ira Miltimore. (AbmT, Adler collection; below, Case collection.)

12

E. A. Bishop of Racine, Wisconsin, published this view about a century ago showing people
fishing on the river at lmv water. They were photographed from the wagon bridge. At the center
are the two railroad bridges, the closer one tOr the Chicago and North Western and, less visible
behind it, for the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. PauL This scene has changed very little in 100
years. (Adler collection.)
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This card appears mislabeled, as it seems to be a view from the Chicago and North Western
Railroad Bridge rather than from the lower bridge, also called the wagon bridge, which appears
to the right. Not far to the right of that bridge was the site of the area's first cabin, built in
November 1835 by white settlers John Inman, William Holmes, George Follmer, and Joshua
Holmes. (Adler collection.)

13

In the 1859-1860 Janesville City Directory, Alexander Gray wrote that the first settlers built their
cabin across the river from the "Big Rock." He wrote, "This rock was an old landmark of the
Indians, crowned with a growth ofbeautiful cedars, and although since considerably cut down,
is still a prominent object near the northern end of the bridge connecting the Monterey addition
with the main body of the city." (Adler collection.)

This view of the "Big Rock," Wilson School, and Monterey Stadium was used on the program
cover for the Janesville Centennial Celebration 1835-1935. Wilson School had just been built in
1929 and Monterey Stadium in 1931, the same year area marshlands were reclaimed for Monterey
Park. In 1932, the park was seeded and planted. (Adler collectwn.)

14

The "Big Rock" is barely ·visible here through the trees, but the Rock River Woolen Mills
building can be seen in the background. Monterey Rock was once 70-some feet high, covered
by cedars, but in Janesville's early years the rock was mined and used for building materials. It
was a landmark going back to American Indian times, v,·ith a shallow ford here that travelers
used before there were bridges. (Domrnershausen collection.)

All the major postcard publishers seem to lnve printed cards of the Monterey wagon bridge,
though they often used variations on the spelling. Here the Rotograph Company of New York
City uses "Montery" and offers a different view of the stone construction of the bridge. Earlier
views of this bridge do not show these concrete reinforcements on the downstream side of the
stone supports. (Adler collection.)

15

In 1903, the city proposed Spring Brook marsh fiJr a dumping ground, but its owner suggested
the nearby marsh south of the Buob Bre\very. Dumping in that area did occur in 1957 when
debris from the old Rock County Courthouse filled the pond where Beloit Road and Main
Street split near the old Electric Park grounds, and Main Street was abandoned for part of Lions
Beach. (Dommershausen collection.)

This concrete bridge replaced the wooden one that burned April 1, 1913, and it still carries
Milwaukee Street traffic. The trolley service of the Janesville Street Railway Company and
its 1910 successor, the Janesville Traction Company, was seldom financially successful. The
Wisconsin Power and Light Company bought it in 1929· and switched from streetcars to buses.
(Case collection.)

18

In 2010, this view includes fewer trees, with the Marshall Apartments (the 1921 Janesville High
School) and the Hedberg Public Library visible along the right bank. The large building to the
left was the Janesville Machine Company. It was used by the Samson Tractor Company when
General Motors built its new plant on Industrial Avenue. The water tower in the center V/as part
of the Blodgett Mills complex. (Dommershausen collection.)

This Racine Street Bridge was completed in 1912 by the Central States Bridge Company of
Indianapolis. City voters had rejected it 678 to 637 in a 1905 referendum. The bridge "\Yas of the
plate girder type and was built at the same time and by the same company as the Fourth Avenue
Bridge. It was replaced by the current structural steel bridge in 1948 on the new Racine Street
alignment. (Dommershausen collection.)
19

This concrete bridge, still in use, was built after the April 1, 1913, fire that destroyed the
wooden bridge and businesses built over the river. Janesville Traction Company trolley ridership
temporarily improved when the Samson Tractor factory opened in 1919, but 10 years later the
service was stopped. The water tower is part of Blodgett Mills, which in 1961 was the largest
independent buckwheat and rye miller in the country. (Adler collection.)

E. A. Bishop ofRacine published this view looking east across the upper dam. (The number 1830
is Bishop's number for the card, not the date of the image.) The original dam was built in 1844,
and a series of saw, grist, and woolen mills went up along the river south of the dam. Across the
river, to the left of the dam, is the Milwaukee Elevator Company. (Adler collection.)

20

Looking downriver from the Lappin-Hayes Block toward the Court Street Bridge, the lightcolored building in the center and the large building to its right were part of the Janesville
Machine Company, then the city's largest employer. The long, dark structure to the center right
was the Palace Skating Rink at 57 South River Street. Page 53 offers another view of these same
buildings after the April 1, 1913, fire. (Case collection.)

This view looks north along the Rock River toward the new 1913 concrete Milwaukee Street Bridge.
Bids were taken for the project on july 15, 1913, and Gould Construction Company ofDavenport,
Iowa, had the low bid of$35,000. The Jackman Block is to the right, with one of the corners of
the Lappin-Hayes Block peeking out at the edge of the trees. (Dommershausen coJlection.)

21

This view by Chicago publisher Kwin and Company looks east along the dam at high water on
the Rock River. Standing in the swirling water and shown across the center of the image is the
Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad trestle (not extant). On the opposite side of the river
are the buildings of the New Doty Manufacturing Company. (Adler collection.)

This card published by Raphael Tuck and Son shoV\rs the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul
Railroad's wooden trestle (not extant) at high water just below the upper dam (not visible to the
right) on the Rock RiYer in Janesville. This view looks southwest toward downtown Janesville's
west bank and the large mills and factories that operated along the river. (Adler collection.)

22

Two publishers, Rotograph of New York and E. A. Bishop of Racine, Wisconsin, printed
cards titled "The Dam, Janesville, Wis." but with different view·s. Bishop's photographer faced
west across an almost dry dam at lovv water. At the far end of the dam is the Janes\Tille Electric
Company, and to the right is the Fourth Avenue Bridge. At the end of the bridge is the Turner
Boat LiYery (see page 28). (Adler collection.)

This later card of a westerly view of the upper dam shows a new Janesville Electric Company
building. In 1902, a group ofJanesville businessmen, led by M. G. Jeffris, bought Pliny Norcross's
electric company, and around 1915 they built this new hydroelectric plant. Part of this plant
is extant. Note, too, the 1.912 Fourth Avenue Bridge and the absence of Turner's Boat Livery.
(Case collection.)
23

This view looks northeast along the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad's wooden trestle,
with the dam and the Fourth Avenue Bridge to the left. In 2010, the trestle is gone, but the dam
is still there, and the Centerway Bridge has replaced the one shown here. The railroad bridge
to the left is still there as well, but now it carries trains for the Union Pacific and the Wisconsin
and Southern Railroads. (Case collection.)

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This is the Rotograph Company's postcard titled "The Dam," published around 1908. In March
1885, the Thomson-Houston Company ofLynn, Massachusetts, built a water-powered lighting
plant here along the upper race. In 1891, Janesville businessman Pliny Norcross took over that
plant and expanded the city's electric service. Eight years later, he formed the Janesville Electric
Company after he bought the competing Doty Light and Power Company. (Adler collection.)

24

Five local businessmen started the Janesville Electric Company in 1882. The U.S. Electric
Company, which manufactured lighting equipment under a patent held by inventor Edward
Weston, supplied the equipment, installed the wiring, and hooked up 10 arc lights in several
stores downtown. Power for the generator came from a steam engine in the Janesville Machine
Company's factory, and the lights came on December 7, 1882. (Dommershausen collection.)

Around 1905, the Rotograph Company published this creative view of the upper dam showing
the heavy stonework and the old Janesville Electric Company plant. In 1902, several Janesville
businessmen bought this plant from Pliny Norcross and expanded and modernized service in
the city. In 1915, they built another hydroelectric plant near the west end of the dam. Part of
that plant is still extant. (Adler collection.)

25

The Smith Drug Company published many Janesville postcards, including this 1898 Private
Mailing Card showingJanesville's east bank. Pharmacist Ed 0. Smith mailed it to Louis Mertz
in Markirch, Germany, on February 26, 1902. This is a view similar to those on page 27, but it
is an earlier one, possibly printed by Kropp of Milw~mkee, who published similar cards having
a greenish-black image and red text. (Dommershausen collection.)

A train crosses the bridge over the Rock RiYer as an excursion steam launch heads upriver from
the boat landing. During the 1890s, steam boating on the river became popular in Janesville.
In 1905, more than 50 private launches provided rides, and boathouses lined the river for more
than a mile. The popularity gradually fell, however, and by 1927 most of the boathouses were
gone. (Adler collection.)

26

These two postcards (above published by Suhling and Koehn and below by Western News;
both of Chicago) were printed from the same negative. Beyond the Fourth Avenue Bridge-a
rickety-looking wooden trestle in this view--and the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad
trestle is the east bank of the Rock River, with the towers of the high school (left), the highest
point in Janesville that travelers from all directions could see for miles as they approached the
city, and the Rock County Court House (right) on the horizon. The tall building to the left
is the Fetherstone elevator. Others along the river include the Janesville Pearl Button Factory,
the New Doty Manufacturing complex, and in the three-story building in the right center the
Thoroughgood and Company Cigar Box Factory. (Both, Adler collection.)

27

Fred C. Turner's Boat Livery was near the west end of the Fourth Avenue Bridge. Turner
advertised in the July 17, 1909, Janesville Daily Gazette, "The one best place to go for a most
enjoyable outing is up the river and the one best way to reach it is with one of our boats. Up
the river will be found some wonderful scenic beauty, the seeing of which will amply repay you
for the cost of the trip. Our boats are always in top notch condition and will get you there and
back safely." In Turner's May 14, 1910, advertisem.ent he mentioned his new "auto livery" and
stated, "To get the utmost enjoyment ... try a trip up the river where nature has been most
lavish in spreading scenic beauty. Fishermen desiring an early Sunday morning fishing trip
can get boats and minnows here at any hour." Turner sold the business to Grover C. Horn by
1911, but the boat livery did not last past 1912 when the new Fourth Avenue Bridge was built.
(Adler collection.)

28

The peaked building is part of the New Gas Light Company, formed in 1863, a year after the
Janesville Gas Company went out of business. By 1890, the demand for gas had increased so
much that the company had to expand. Hiram Merrill, Vi-'ho was appointed general manager in
1865 and whose family eventually controlled the company, was still serving as president at his
death in 1908. (Adler collection.)

These tracks along the river north of downtown are part of the Chicago and North Western
Railroad's Evansville cutoff, the 17-mile route between janesville and Evansville. Construction
started in August 1886 and was ready for trains by the end ofDecember. Two stations were built
along the way: Fellows in 1886 and Leyden in 1887. The line put Janesville on the Chicago to
Minneapolis mainline. (Adler collection.)

29

E. C. Kropp of Milwaukee published this view of the Rock River north of downtown Janesville
showing the Chicago and North Western Railroad's E\-ansville cutoff These tracks are still
there, owned since 1995 by the Union Pacific Railroad, but in 2010 they are used mostly for
grain trains serving the elevators near Evansville. David Fellows wrote a detailed history of this
line in The Cut-Off and Fellows Station. (Dommershausen collection.)

In this view, the Chicago and North Western Railroad's Evansville cutoff frames the Rock
River with an excursion boat headed upriver. In the distance is downtown Janesville. The
round building is one of the gasholders of the New Gas Light Company. In the distance near
the horizon, the bridge jointly owned by the Chicago and North Western and the Chicago,
Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroads is visible. (Dommershausen collection.)

30

Pictured above, Burr Springs served not only as a park along the river, but the Burr Springs
Bottling Company vvas the first to make commercial use of the mineral springs north ofJanesville,
loading a 3,000-gallon water scovv at the source and towing it three times a week to the bottling
plant downtown. Burr Springs water, also called Blue Rock water, became famous throughout
the country after winning medals at the Chicago and St. Louis World's Fairs. Virgil Pope, the
previous owner, said many American Indians used to visit the springs, and an old chief told him
they came because the water cured the sick. Pictured below, this moonlight vie\Y of the Rock
RiYer near JanesYille by Hugh C. Leighton of Maine was probably drawn by an artist using a
daytime photograph of the scene. (Above, Adler collection; below·, Case collection.)

31

These scenes provide examples of recreation on the Rock River north ofJanesville around the
turn of the 20th century. Pictured above,Janesville1 Wisconsin, 150 Years of the Good Life, the
city's 1985 sesquicentennial book, published this view on page 22. It identifies the scene as the
"Bower City Belle excursion boat on the Rock River." However, the Pictorial History ofjanesville,
Wisconsin, the janesville Gazette's 1995 book celebrating its 150th anniversary, has the same view
on page 44. It reads, "The Enterprise operated by Captain Bucholz, in 1884, travelled the Rock
River with the Bower City Belle between Fourth Avenue and Crystal Springs." Pictured below,
people in rowboats explore the river around Crescent Island in a view photographed from the
future site of Riverside Park. (Above, Adler collection; below, Dommershausen collection.)
'"

32

'-~Y<i-<4;};-->r

,,<t:ft-ti'fi«i\0?Ji%'/i\i! ':Yrf!Yh'L'%\fU£;;1(~2'"""' +-,--,>>?J!,

In Janesville's early years, the Rock Rive-r was a barrier to be forded and eventually bridged. A
130-foot steamboat came up the river from St. Louis on July 4, 1844, and ran excursions during
the summer between Janesville and Jefferson, but that type of river transportation ended when
the boat went back to St. Louis in the fall and the upper and lower dams were built. Around the
turn of the 20th century, pleasure boats began operating from Crystal Springs, a park north of
the city on the east side of the river. The craze ended by 1930, but the river is still important
for recreation. Boating and fishing are popular, and the Rock Aqua Jays is a nationally known
waterskiing team. (Above, Dommershausen collection; below, Adler collection.)

33

In these "chrome" postcards published by G. R. Brown ofEau Claire, Wisconsin, the modern
city ofJanesville, with the Rock River flowing through its center, is seen from the air. Pictured
above, the view looks south from the Memorial Avenue Bridge and Traxler Park, developed from
Goose Island and named for longtime city manager Henry Traxler, who worked to develop many
parks for the city. Visible just above the park are the railroad bridge and the Centerway Bridge,
which replaced the Fourth Avenue Bridge, both seen in many older postcards depicting the city.
Pictured below, the view looks north from just below the Racine Street Bridge in the lower right
to the Memorial Avenue Bridge in the upper left. Also to the lower right is the 1921 Janesville High
School, remodeled into the Marshall Apartments in the late 1990s. (Both, Adler collection.)

34

Two
STREE

SCENES

The two closest structures here were built at the same time. To the left is the Court Street
Methodist Church, built in 1869 with its sanctuary on the second and third floors and with retail
stores on the first floor. In 2010, it is occupied by Rock County Appliance. Across the street to
the right, the 1868-1869 Fredendall Block holds offices and retail stores, with apartments on
the upper floors. (Adler collection.)

35

In this 1908 view from the old courthouse, two buildings can be recognized today: the 1893
London Hotel at the northwest corner ofEast Milwaukee Street and North Parker Drive, across
the street from the 1891 Myers Grand Opera House (torn down and now the site of Johnson
Bank's parking lot); and across Parker Drive, on the northeast corner, the 1880 Hodge and
Buchholz Carriage Factory. (Adler collection.)

This early-20th-century bird's-eye Yiew from the original high school, built in 1859 on land
where Jefferson Park is now, looks toward dov.-ntown and includes the tower of the old courthouse
at the center of the image above the houses in the Courthouse Hill neighborhood. The blocks
surrounding Courthouse Hill appear on Henry Janes's plat of the city that was first recorded in
1840. (Case collection.)

36

To celebrate its 75th anniversary in 1930, the Rock County National Bank (now Johnson Bank)
issued souvenir postcards. This 1854 photograph shows (1) Jackman, Smith and Company store
at Main and Milwaukee Streets; (2) Ford Flour Mill, the largest in Janesville; (3) Tallman Block
at River and Milwaukee; (4) Peter Myers's Meat Market and Packing House; and (5) the first
bridge to cross the Rock River at Milwaukee Street. (RCHS collection.)

In this bird's-eye view from the 1871 Rock County Court House, the photographer has captured
the Court Street Methodist Church and the rear of the Fredendall Block, both built in 1868 at
Main and Court Streets. To the far left is the tower of the 1895 Kent Block, whose upper-story
apartments were called the LaVista Flats. In the distance, the steeple of the 1875 Congregational
Church towers above the trees. (Adler collection.)

37

W<Htt Miiw«>tk:.!t¢ $t?l:N'tt,

JarJJt-\'tVf!~e, Wi%~

This early-20th-century view looking up West Milwaukee Street is framed by the Lappin-Hayes
Block to the left and the Jackman Block to the right. Not visible is the Rock River just past those
two buildings. It was said that because of the businesses built over the water along the bridge, a
pedestrian was not able to tell that he was crossing a river. (Adler collection.)

The photographer set up west of the river and framed this view with an elaborate streetlight
to the left and the Merchants and Savings Bank clock to the right. Organized in 1875 as the
Merchants and Mechanics Savings Bank, it was knmvn as Merchants and Savings from the early
20th century until1981. Just past the clock is Smith Drugs, the publisher of many of the postcards
appearing in this book. (Adler collection.)

38

To the right is the London Hotel (still extant), built in 1893 to house traveling salesmen. Across
Milwaukee Street, to the left, is the Myers Grand Opera House, which was rebuilt and reopened
in 1891 by -Peter Myers's sons after the original burned in 1889, a year after Myers died. The
large buildingjust past the London Hotel is the Peters Block (still extant, with the present facade
dating from 1913). (Adler collection.)

..

:fiO><t

:Hl1win!~t•e

41A

H!¥d" 5;n:v'<''·

f,_,.,ldrn~

1\"r·,;t,

;J,w_;~;;<-riH•c,

\\'!<

,,;>;,

t·;,o; TH<: kii-Ch0\,.W

,;;o.

The Corn Exchange Block, with white awnings, is to the right, and just past it across Franklin
Street is Peter Myers's Armory Block on the former site of the Hyatt House. It was used by the
Horne Guard, the predecessor to the National Guard. Tallman's Block, to the left, was razed
for the Kresge Building, but the others in the block are all part of the West Milwaukee Street
Historic District. (Dommershausen collection.)

39

It is not apparent at first, but these cards
were printed in Germany from the same
negative though published by different
Janesville companies: the vertical card by
Smith Drug Company and the horizontal
by F. J Hintershied. The only building
recognizable today is the Lappin-Hayes
Block second from the right. Behind
it in this view stands the Myers Hotel
where the Johnson Bank building,
successor to Rock County National
Bank, is today. The large building to the
left is the Jackman Block, which today
has been remodeled, reduced to three
stories, and home to the Brennan Steil
law firm; however, at that time, it was
the home of Rock County National
Bank before it bought and razed the
Myers and moved across the street in
the 1950s. On the hill at the far end
of Milwaukee Street was the home of
Peter Myers. (Both, Adler collection.)

40

This view looks up East Milwaukee Street from the corner of Main and Milwaukee Streets. The
Jackman Block is to the left, ad\·ertising a perfumery and trusses, with the rounded windows of
the Smith Block across Main Street. The Smith Block held the J anesYille Telephone Company's
first exchange in December 1879. It was m:maged by J. W. Bates, a local attorney. His daughter
Iva was the exchange's first operator. (Case collection.)

The Smith Block and the Myers Hotel frame this view of East Milwaukee Street. Just past the
London Hotel's corner tower on the left is the doorway of the three-story 1880 Hodge and
Buchholz Carriage Factory (still extant). Robert Hodge and Herman Buchholz changed the name
to the Janesville Carriage Company and built omnibuses, buggies, phaetons, carryalls, sleighs,
and circus wagons, selling out to Samson Tractor in 1919. (Dommershausen collection.)
41

A horse and wagon head west on Milwaukee Street between Franklin and jackson Streets. Above
the driver is the 1878 Mitchell Block, which was the Odd Fellovvs Hall in 1903. In 1913, it was
called the Carle West Side Block and was used as the Women's Christian Temperance Hall. The
block was occupied by Jack's Shoes, TV Hi-Fi Center, and Duke's Corner Tap when it burned
on October 19, 1969. (Adler collection.)

F. M. Palmiter of Janesville published this view of Milwaukee Street looking east from River
Street. The Hall and Sayles sign is on the Bennett Block, built in 1880 and remodeled extensiYely
in 1920 and 1988. The then-new Janesville Free Public Library occupied the upper floors in
1883. It is at 29-31 West Milwaukee Street, now known as the Carle Block, and houses the
Rock River Charter School. (Adler collection.)

42

The tall building behind the Richardson Block to the right is the 1869 Durkee-Hawes Block.
T. Durkee ran his hardYDre store here until George Hawes bought it in 1871 and opened a
grocery store. During the 1880s, the upper f1oors housed a dance hall and apartments, as well
as the photography studio of George W. Wise, who in 1888 published an illustrated book called
Picturesque Janesville. (Adler collection.)

J.

A Rockford, Beloit, and Janesville interurban car arrives on Franklin Street next to the Richardson,
Davis and Dunn, and Richardson-Macloon Blocks. These still-extant, Italianate-style buildings
with their arched parapets were probably built by the same contractor but for different clients.
The interurban line had a brick substation south of Janesville-, and a concrete sign from that
building was inserted into a wall of the current Janesville Transit Center. (Adler collection.)

43

The Corn Exchange's curved facade faced a cast-iron fountain (below the flag) in a triangle at
Franklin and Milwaukee Streets. The Armory Block (to the left, called the Myers Block after
the Armory on High Street was built) was on the site of the Stevens House, which burned in
1853, and the Hyatt House, which burned in 1867. Today the Community Action Program
occupies a modern, one-story building on the site. (Englert collection.)

The Acmegraph Company of Chicago published this view of the fountain (removed in 1916)
at the busy Corn Exchange Square. To the right, the Rockford, Beloit, and janesville Railway
interurban train sits near its ticket office in the Richardson-Macloon Block to its left. The
interurban lasted for 27 years until July 20, 1929. Two weeks earlier, on July S,Janesville's electric
streetcars were shut dovvn in favor of buses. (Adler collection.)

44

West Milwaukee Street is cro\vded
with wagons and a trolley in this view
looking east past the Mitchell Block
across from the Corn Exchange at
Franklin Street. This intersection
was a hub of downtown business
activity. Stores occupied the ground
floor of the exchange and lawyers
and physicians the upper floors.
Nearby dealers of grain, wool, and
produce traded their goods in a small
frame building. (Adler collection.)

The Corn Exchange corner received
this memorial to the soldiers of World
War I in 1926. This soldier statue,
popularly known as "the Doughboy;'
a term for the soldiers of World War
I, was donated by the Janesville Lions
Club. In 1972, the corner also received
the Tank Monument dedicated to
area men who served and suffered as
part of the famous tank company in
World War II. (Case collection.)

45

This view of the 200 block of West Milwaukee Street includes several buildings on both sides
that are still extant. To the left, according to the Janesville Historic Commission's 1989 Main and
Milwaukee:Janesville!s Downtown Historic Districts: A Guide, "This group ofhandsome commercial
buildings [has a] variety of cream and red brick structures.
Of particular note is the 1876
Carroll Block, which retains its historic storefront." (Case collection.)

The Cannon Block, built in 1878-1879, housed drugstores for much of its history. This brick
block, still extant, has three storefronts. The ground floor remodeling dates from the 1950s, but
the upper floor shows evidence of its late 1870s construction and of remodeling from around
1900, when a metal, neoclassical cornice with brackets, modillions, and pressed metal bays were
added. (Adler collection.)

46

The 1913 Apollo Theater V\~as one of several theaters with live performances in downtown
Janesville. It closed during World War II. In 1958, it was remodeled into a three~story office
building called the Cullen Building at 306 West Milwaukee Street. Its main tenant was the
Rock County Department of Social Services. The building was torn down in 1997, and the site
is now a parking lot. (Adler collection.)

Except for the block behind the photographer, the entire West Milwaukee Street Historic District
is visible in this view. Historic maps indicate that, beginning in 1869, these mostly brick buildings
co>:ered up or replaced many older frame buildings. To the right in this scene, the 1880 Grand
Hotel (not extant) is the oldest of all the huildings in this block, with the others constructed
between 1885 and 1895. (Adler collection.)

47

A Rockford, Beloit, and Janesville Railway interurban car rolls down Main Street between the
Lappin-Hayes Block (left) and the Myers Hotel (right) near the Milwaukee Street intersection.
The 100-room Myers Hotel operated for 97 years, from 1861 until it was torn down in 1958 for
the Rock County National Bank building. The Myers had retail tenants on its first floor. Early
ones included Edward Connell's grocery, clothiers Sonnebarn and Company, George Reum's
meat market, and the Richard and Buckingham Saloon. The noise of the interurban seems to
have attracted the attention of the gray horse to the left_ This scene shows all four large business
blocks that anchored the Main and Milwaukee intersection at that time, and with the trolley in
this scene it appears similar to the image on this book's cover. Downtown was prominent then,
and there would have been no fear oflnterstate 90 and the Janesville Mall several miles east and
north of here drawing all of the hotel and almost all of the retail trade away from this central
business district. (Englert collection.)

48

The 1855 Lappin-Hayes Block, to the left, is the only one remaining of the four business blocks
that surrounded the Main and !vlilwaukee Streets intersection. In 1899, Dennis and Michael
Hayes bought the Lappin Block. They gutted the interior and installed an elevator and a central
light well, as well as a metal cornice and two pressed-metal rounded bays at the corners. It was
then renamed the Hayes Block. (Adler collection.)

Bicycles, an early automobile, and horse-drawn wagons share West Milwaukee Street at the
Rock River in a scene prior to the April 1, 1913, fire that destroyed the wooden bridge and the
businesses that Peter Myers built over the river in 1887 and 1890 after the state supreme court
allowed it. Wooden buildings covered the south side of the Milwaukee Street Bridge and half
of the north side. (Adler collection.)
49

On Main Street north of Court Street, the 1868 Court Street Methodist Church building remains
to the left, as does the 1868-1869 Fredendall Block to the right. After a fire destroyed the preYious
Fredendall building, Janesville architect George F. Schultze designed this cream-brick building
in the Italianate style. The heavy hood moldings over the windows and the deep corbels at the
cornice provide a rich surface of light and dark. (Dommershausen collection.)

Looking south on Main Street from Milwaukee Street, the Myers Hotel is to the left. The 1855
Lappin-Hayes Block is to the right, on the site of Henry Janes's 1835 cabin, which then became
Thomas Lappin's 1842 frame store before Lappin built his cream-brick masterpiece vvith different
upper-story window heads on each level. Until 1870, when the Myers Opera House opened,
Lappin's Hall was the center ofJanesville's social and cultural life. (Adler collection.)

50

f§tHf¥ ST~nr, J§i<'£~Wt-•..£~

WRL

Without a lot of traffic, men could discuss their business in the middle ofjanesville's Milwaukee
and Main Streets intersection. Past the Myers Hotel to the left is the Young America Hall, where
Abraham Lincoln spoke on Saturday, October 1, 1859. A. A. Jackson, later mayor ofJanesville,
brought Lincoln to the city, and he stayed that weekend at the mansion ofWilliam M. Tallman.
(Adler collection.)

The Empire Hotel (right) appears here at North Main and North First Streets around 1910.
A 1901 map lists the building as the Windsor Hotel. Next door on North First Street was the
smaller Union Hotel and up the street was (and still is) St. Mary's Church. North First Street
was later renamed Wall Street. Janesville had many small hotels like this in its downtown, but
none exist now. (Adler collection.)

51

The April1, 1913, Milwaukee Street fire started under Archie Reid's dry goods store. Upstairs
66-year~old tailor William Isaac was overcome by smoke, fell down the stairs, and was hit by a
fire-hose stream. He was rescued but died several days later. Rockford, Illinois, sent an engine
and 11 men by interurban railway; they arrived in 72 minutes. Beloit, much closer to Janesville,
could not help because their hoses did not fit Janesville's plugs. (Case collection.)

Four months after the fire, repairs were being made. During the night of the fire, flames rose
so high that birds miles away could be seen. The fire destroyed the Milwaukee Street Bridge
and eight businesses on it. All were made of wood, and two years earlier the state fire marshal
warned that Janesville's business district was susceptible to fire. The new bridge V\-'as built of
concrete; it is still in use. (RCHS collection.)

52

Debris from the Aprill, 1913, fire clogs the Rock River in this view looking northwest. During the
fire, the debris dammed the river, causing it to rise 8 inches and flooding Main Street businesses.
The entire area was threatened, but the combined efforts of firemen and citizens, as well as there
being little wind that night, helped save other buildings. (Domrnershausen coJlection.)

This view of the Aprill, 1913, Milwaukee Street fire looks southwest toward buildings over the
river along Court Street, a block away. In a full-page article about the fire in his book Century of
Stories, Mike Dupre wrote, "Burning debris sizzled in the rit·er and floated south, threatening the
wooden Court Street bridge." Firemen knew the burning buildings were lost, so they worked
to save other structures. (Case collection.)

53

This area of Court Street is part of the Courthouse Hill Historic District. The Janesville Historic
Commission's 1.997 revised guide to the district states, "This residential neighborhood contains
outstanding examples of the architectural styles associated with JanesYille's growth and development
from settlement to 1940. Many of Courthouse Hill's early residents were influential in commerce,
industry, and legal affairs, and the district's architectural development well demonstrates their
architectural tastes." (Adler collection.)

South Jackson Street is in one of Janesvi11e's oldest neighborhoods, which includes part of
Rockport as platted in 1835 by hopeful investors. The Janesville Historic Commission's 1990
Old Fourth Ward Historic District: A Guide states that the district "provides a cross-section of
residential architectural styles. . . Examples of diminutive quarry-workers' cottages and threestory industrialist's houses are both found within its boundaries." (Adler collection.)

54

North Washington and North jackson Streets are both part ofJanesville's Look West Historic
District. According to the Janesville Historic Commission's 1987 guide to the district, it "is part
ofjanesville's old First Ward, a neighborhood in the heart of the city which has always existed
closely with the city's rail and manufacturing interests. In the 19th century, railroad workers,
businessmen, carpenters, clerks, mayors, and judges shared the area, and the architecture of
Look West reflects its original occupational and social diversity
. A 19th-century historian
noted that of157 houses injaneS\'ille in 1845, only four were situated west of the Rock River.
Howe\"Cr, the construction of bridges and mills brought increased developrnent to the west
side and it surpassed that of the east side by 1850." (Above, Domrnershausen collection; below,
Montgomery collection.)

55

The Smith Drug Company published this large-letter "Greetings from Janesville" card with portraits
of women (possibly local) within the letters of"Greetings" and city scenes within "Janesville,"
including the fire house, YMCA, library, high school, railroad bridges, courthouse, train station,
soldiers' monument, school for the blind, and others. Large-letter cards depicting the names of
cities were common and popular during the postcard craze. (Montgomery collection.)

In this "Greetings from JanesYille" postcard, the unknown publisher used eight well-known
scenes. These "real-photo" cards (actual photographs printed from negati\·es) were popular in small
towns. This card shows, clockwise from the upper left, the post office, the corner of Milwaukee
and Franklin Streets, the school for the blind, the Chicago and North Western roundhouse, the
Grand Hotel, Mercy Hospital, the high school, and the sugar beet factory, (Adler collection,)

56

Three

INDUSTRY

The Wisconsin Carriage Company began in 1885, building carriage tops, cushions, backs,
upholstery, and later adding horse-drawn ·vehicles. In 1900, it built a new factory at 600 West
Milwaukee Street, before adding another building across the street in 1908. The company
developed an automobile called the Wisco, but it did not sell well and was discontinued. By
1915, automobiles drove the company om of the carriage business. (Adler collection.)

57

General Motors first came to Janesville in 1918 when it bought the JanesYille Machine Company
and combined it with the Samson Tractor Company of Stockton, California, which it had recently
bought. General Motors then bought a 54~acre site at 1000 Industrial Avenue on Janesville's
south side and built a one~story factory and a connecting two~story office building (pictured
here) for the Samson Tractor Division of General Motors Corporation. (Adler collection.)

The General Motors plant in Janesville continued to expand during the 1920s. It closed briefly
during the Depression but prospered after World War II. In the 1950s, Fisher Body built a body
and paint shop. The Che\Tolet and Fisher Body operations combined in 1968 to form the GM
Assembly Division, and in the early 1970s the plant expanded again. By 1973, the plant employed
more than 5,600 workers. (Dommershausen colJection.)

58

General Motors built Samson tractors as well as farm implements and trucks at its Janesville
plant from 1.920 to 1922, but the tractors did not sell well, and the company decided to build
Chevrolet cars there. The Che\TOlet Motor Company took over the plant late in 1922 and built
a large addition to the rear of the plant. (Adler collection.)

Starting in the 1970s, the U.S. automotive industry began to suffer uncertain times from a
variety of factors. In 1982, Janesville's General Motors plant had major layoffs during a plantretooling project, and the product line was changed several times, mostly from automobiles to
light-duty trucks. In 2009, General Motors closed the plant, shown here in a card published by
G. R. Brown ofEau Claire, Wisconsin. (Adler collection.)

59

GeorgeS. Parker started making Lucky Curve pens in 1891. By 1898, he had 40 employees. After a
move to 19 South Main Street, then in 1909 to the top two floors of the Gazette Building, Parker
built this office and factory at Court and Division Streets. He had 800 employees when it opened
in 1920. In the 1980s, this building was remodeled into a different look. (Adler collection.)
LATEST ADlJlTIOK TO MANIJ:FACTURING FAClLHTE.S
PLANT NUMHER 4, ON tL S.

~::

HIGHWl~.Y 51,

JANESVILLE, WLS:CONS!N

R

JANESV!LL'!3" • ·1-lENOMONIE

z

~"TORONTO"""

LONDON

This card, probably published by the Parker Pen Company, shows a drawing of its new Arrow
Park plant, built in 1953 on U.S. Highway 51 at North Parker Drive. The exterior is of rock-face,
v;,.·hite Roman brick, and it is said to be the world's largest single installation of this gleaming
brick. In 2010, the owner, Hendricks Commercial Properties, has kept the building's traditional
name of Arrow Park. (Adler collection.)

60

After opening this Arrow Park factory in 1953, Parker kept its old plant on East Court Street
for its headquarters and offices. The Gillette Company bought Parker Pen in 1993, and then
sold this plant in 1999. In 2010, Hendricks Cornmercial Properties leases space here to KANDU
Industries, as well as to Arrow Park Charter School and the TAGOS Leadership Academy, both
parts of the School District ofJanesville. (Adler collection.)
~~··.•·:· ·~"

nr-cc,·"'' ;:r·:>

·"·\1<?'"

The Rock River Woolen Mills started in 1849 as Whittaker's Mill and operated under several
owners and names until Canadian Jonathan Ellis bought the mill in 1890. It employed up to
375 workers until1931, when it closed because of the Great Depression. This building at 1405
Riverside Drive, which replaced the original 1849 mill, is one of the few historic industrial
buildings still standing in the city. (Adler collection.)
61

In 1908, the Dwight Greenhouses
were at 318 Jackman Street near
Oakland Avenue. In 1909, the
Janesville Floral Company bought the
Dwight Greenhouses and changed
the name to the Rose House. With
its greenhouses at 334 South Main
Street, Janesville Floral had one of
the largest facilities in Wisconsin.
By 1928, the company had moved
its greenhouses to Milton Avenue,
and the center city greenhouses \Vere
gone. (Dommershausen collection.)

'flu!t!$ OM MW, :Mi;:nte"""'l!YJ

62

In 1877, Harmon R. and Edward C.
Notbohm bought the Stone Mill,
built in 1852 by N. P. Crosby at
the Monterey wagon bridge. The
Notbohms owned the patent on the
so-called "new process," which was
then used in flour mills throughout
the country. In April 1881, flooding
on the Rock River damaged the
mill, and then three months later
on July 5 it was destroyed by fire.
(Dommershausen collection.)

The Hough Shade Company factory on South Jackson Street was built in 1902. Azel Hough founded
the company in Nevv York in 1900. When eastern basswood did not meet his standards for the
porch shades he built, he moYed to Wisconsin for its high-quality basswood. The company made
porch shades until the 1920s when it expanded and developed industrial wooden shades and other
partitions. The company now operates as HUFCOR at 2101 Kennedy Road. (Adler collection.)

This ivy-covered warehouse appears in the 1902 Janesville Fire Department Souvenir book as the
Green Brothers' Leaf Tobacco House, which vvas built at 207 North Academy Street in 1900; it
still stands. The large addition was built bet'vveen 1902 and 1909 but burned down in 1948. M.
F. Green operated his business vvell into the 20th century. (Dommershausen collection.)

63

-·--

James R. Davidson of Bay City, Michigan, incorporated the Rock County Sugar Company in
1904. His sugar beet factory at 1725 East Delavan Drive was one of the largest in Wisconsin,
processing beets, mostly from area farmers, for about 40 years. The plant employed about 500
workers from October to February when other industries had seasonal layoffs. Parts of this factory
remain but have been greatly altered. (Adler collection.)

In 1904, the first year the sugar beet factory operated, 3,200 acres of sugar beets were delivered
for processing, and the company needed 120 men to operate the plant. The Chicago and North
Western and the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroads built three separate tracks to
the plant that first year. In December 1904, more than 3,000 visitors attended the first annual
barbeque for fanners. (Case collection.)

64

This building, located at 205 North Main Street in 1896 but no longer extant, housed Thoroughgood
and Company, which manufactured cigar boxes for the area's cigar-making industry. At its peak,
the company employed up to 60 workers and distributed its cigar boxes in Wisconsin, Illinois,
and Iowa. This building replaced an 1889 bullding that burned in 1896. It was used until around
1923. (Montgomery collection.)

l!O M Jl.-oQ I'
TH!il•CALOR!C" FIRELESS COOKStOV:E. JANESVILLE. WIS.
1:1!1.001> IN DAU.Y USE.
ll" WILL ROAST AND !lAKE-COME IN·LET US SHOW YOU HOW.

The Caloric Company incorporated in 1908 and began to produce fireless cook stoves in an old
furniture factory at the south end of Jackson Street. In 1909, fifty men were turning out 300
fireless cookers per day. The factory operated until1924. The cookers had an insulated cabinet
containing one or more cooking wells into which preheated stone radiators were placed ~bove
and below the food. (RCHS collection.)

65

The weekly Janesville Gazette, started by Levi Alden and E. A. Stoddard on August 14, 1845, was
the first newspaper published in janesville and began with about 300 subscribers at $2 per year.
It outlasted dozens of 19th-century competitors and is still published as a daily paper, though
it has been published at various times as a weekly, a daily, and a semiweekly paper. Alden and
Stoddard left the Gazette in the 1850s, and several different owners controlled the paper until
1883 when Howard F. Bliss bought the Gazette Printing Company, the name that was adopted
in 1869. In 1909, the newspaper moved into this new Gazette Building. Members of the Bliss
family, under the name Bliss Communications, Inc., which was adopted in 1996, still own the
paper. (Above, Adler collection; below, RCHS collection.)

66

In 1909, the janesville Gazette moved from its offices at 10 North Main Street into its own new
building at the southeast corner of Milwaukee and South Bluff Streets (now Parker Drive).
The circulation at the time was 5,000. The newspaper occupied that building for 60 years until
1969, when the Gazette moved into another new building put up next to its 1909 home. The
old building was then razed and the site converted into the plaza that still exists in front of the
new building. With that move to 1 South Parker Drive the Gazette changed from hot type to
offset printing. As of 2010, the paper's editorial offices are still on South Parker Drive, but its
production facilities have moved to a new building at 333 South Wuthering Hills Drive. (Above,
Adler collection; below, RCHS collection.)

67

Here the location of the Janesville Gazette's 1909 building becomes apparent. Just past the right
corner of the building the tower of the Rock County Court House is visible. It is unknown
why this postcard is labeled "Bostwick Building" and offers no mention of the newspaper. The
Parker Pen Company occupied the upper two floors until it built its Court Street office and
factory. (RCHS collection.)

Janesville bought a small stone crusher and a steamroller in 1895 to try to improve its dirt streets.
City officials were so pleased with the effect that a small amount of stone had on their streets
that they decided to rent a stone quarry and put up a large stone crushing plant in 1899. The
city started putting down macadam streets in 1900. (Case collection.)

68

Four

RAILROADS

The Janesville and Southeastern Railroad was set up to build a rail line from Janesville to
Chicago. It became known as the "]-line" of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad.
The new route allowed Janesville passengers to ride straight to Chicago rather than having to
switch trains at Davis Junction south of Rockford, Illinois. This line is now the Wisconsin and
Southern Railroad's mainline to Chicago. (Dommershausen collection.)

69

The train is in, and buggies line up to meet passengers. In this 1905 image, the station is only
three years old. The Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul was the successor to the Milwaukee and
Mississippi Railroad, which built the first line across Wisconsin, from Milwaukee to Waukesha
in 1851, to Milton in 1852, Edgerton and Stoughton in 1853, Madison in 1854, and to Prairie
du Chien in 1856. (Adler collection.)

The photographer caught the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad's new Academy Street
station at a busy time around 1908, with three passenger trains arriving in Janesville at the same
time. The Milwaukee Road's trains rolled into town from Madison or Milwaukee through the
south wye at Milton Junction before continuing west to Mineral Point or south over theJ-line
to Chicago. (Adler collection.)

70

FUl\L IOACUJNlV!':i,Y FO"'- 'I':H? N!¢tHH-"'- CC>_

In this 1908 scene, the photographer was set, and the train was approaching, but suddenly a man
started walking across the tracks between them. The photographer probably urged him to hurry
so the image would not be spoiled, but he had to press the shutter before the train blocked the
handsome new depot, and thus the trespasser was caught at the edge of an otherwise perfect
image. (Adler collection.)

In this view published by Audio-Visual Designs, Milwaukee artist and photographer Russ
Porter has captured two trains at the Milwaukee Road depot in May 1950. Engine 1105, near
the depot, is about to leave for Mineral Point, and Baltic-type engine 133 is pulling the Varsity
on that train's Madison to Chicago run. By 1955, diesel engines had replaced steam on these
trains. (Adler collection.)
71

On a card postmarked August 7, 1926, two Chicago and North Western trains sit at Janesville's
vine-covered 1898 depot near several period automobiles and a small bus dropping off or picking
up passengers. To the left, the crossing gates are down to protect the North Academy Street
crossing. The North Western's farnous "400" passenger trains served janesville on their Chicago
to Madison routes until 1965. (Adler collection.)

~,&iii~·~~~

In 1906, the Chicago and North Western Railroad bought 300 acres ofland on the far southeast
side of janesville and built a rail yard with 20 miles of sidings and a 36-stall roundhouse there.
The yard still exists and is operated now by the Union Pacific Railroad, which bought the
North Western in 1995, but the North Western dismantled n1.ost of the roundhouse in 1958.

(Adler collection.)
72

Walter Stendel, an employee of the Smith Drug Company, publisher of this postcard, asked the
receiver to exchange cards, a common practice during the glory years of the postcard. Although
Smith Drug Company published the card, it hired Raphael Tuck and Sons of England, who had
the cards printed in Germany. This, too, was common: small-town businesses often hired major
publishers to produce their postcards. (Adler collection.)

Janesville's 1898 Chicago and North Western station appears to host two passenger trains in a
scene framed by a crossing watchman's tower along North Academy Street. The sign on the
tower reads, "Bluff and Academy Street." Another tower appears in the background sheltering
a watchman to protect the dangerous jumble of streets and tracks called "Five Points." In 1901,
the Gazette demanded a viaduct over the busy tracks. (Adler collection.)
73

The Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad train has just left the brick Edgerton, Wisconsin,
depot 15 railroad miles north of the Janesville station. Edgerton was founded in 1853 and named
for B. K. Edgerton, the Milwaukee Road engineer who surveyed the line between janesville and
Madison. The depot has been refurbished and now houses the Edgerton Chamber of Commerce.
(Adler collection.)
& !!. W. St*tion.

Wis~

This small wooden depot at Koshkonong sat at the Rock and Jefferson County line, just north
of Milton Junction on the Chicago and North Western'sJanes\'ille-to-Fond duLac route. The
depot is gone, and the track along this route has been torn up. North of the Jefferson County
line, it is now the Glacial River Trail, which offers a paved route for hikers and bikers to Fort
Atkinson. (Adler collection.)

74

The Morgan House was the Milton Junction depot for the Chicago and North Western and the
Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroads. In 1923, it was replaced by a brick and stucco station,
now the Liberty Station restaurant. Here a Janesville-bound North Western train approaches
the Milwaukee Road tracks. The North Western's line is gone, but the Milwaukee Road's line
is still operated by the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad. (Adler collection.)
~:y::;c•;-"""?Y"

A lone fisherman ignores the "No Fishing" sign and tries his luck from a stone support of the
Chicago and North Western's bridge over the Rock River leading into its redbrick, Italianatestyle station on Grand Avenue 1n Beloit. Trains like the Dakota 400 passed through here on their
runs between Chicago, Janesville, and northern destinations. To the left is the roof and tower
of the original Beloit High School. (Adler collection.)

75

A Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railway freight train rolls past its passenger station on State
Street in Beloit. A loaded baggage cart sits next to the tracks on the station's brick platform, so a
passenger train must be on its way. After passenger service ended here, the station was torn down
and the Beloit News built its newspaper offices and plant on the site. (Adler collection.)

The 1869 stone arch bridge on the former Chicago and North Western line south ofJanesville
has five 50-foot arches. When heavier diesel locomotives replaced steam engines in the 1930s,
the arches were reinforced with steel rods covered in concrete. The bridge is at Tiffany, formerly
Shopiere Station, on the Union Pacific's Janesville to Chicago line and can be seen from Smith
Road east of the village. (Adler collection.)

76

Clinton was founded as Clinton Junction in 1856 when the Racine and Mississippi (later part
of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul) and the Chicago, St. Paul, and Fond duLac Railroad
(Chicago and North Western) crossed here. This 1897 V-shaped brick depot served both railroads.
It was razed in 1997. In this view, an eastbound Milwaukee Road train from Beloit bound for
Milwaukee slows for its stop. (Adler collection.)

This bridge at Tiffany was built in 1869 when the town was called Shopiere Station. The Chicago
and North Western's chief engineer designed the bridge based on one in Compiegne, France.
Limestone was shipped rough from Joliet, Illinois; Green Bay, Wisconsin; and from Janesville.
Stone workers boarding in local farmhouses chipped the stones into the proper shapes and moved
them into place using ropes and pulleys. (Adler collection.)

77

The Chicago and North Western Railway built this gray-brick station in 1898 at 115 North
Academy Street on the former site of a wooden depot. That one had replaced a joint station the
railroad had with the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul at Five Points. It burned in 1872. The
North Western discontinued passenger service in 1965, and this building "\Yas torn down in the
early 1970s. (Adler collection.)
bro'-''

'•hi'''""'''

··,,ic-,)1-;i;,·'

~

In 1902, the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railway built this redbrick depot at 507 Laurel
Avenue, the site of its former frame depot. This street-side view is somewhat rare, as most
postcards pictured the station from the track side. It was torn down in the 1960s, and the freight
depot handled the line's few passenger trains until they ended when Amtrak started service on
May 1, 1971. (Adler collection.)

78

Five

GovERNMENT AND ScHOOLS

Before 1920, counties provided most of the services people expected from government, including
roads, courts, jails, asylums, and poor farms. The courthouse was the base of county government
and often the most beautiful building in the county. Janesville became the Rock County seat
in 1836, and the first courthouse was built in 1841. It burned in 1859, and this building did not
replace it until 1870. (Adler collection.)

79

Henry Janes's plat for Janesville included this site for a courthouse. He left janesville in 1839 but
in 1855 wrote from California: "I have never been able to learn where you built your courthouse .
. . . I had selected a block to put it on, top of the hill, back of where Harvey Storey's blacksmith
shop stood when I left Janesville." The first courthouse, built in 1.841, was a two-story frame
building, according to the 1879 History of Rock County, Wisconsin, on the site of the second
one, "but was much more difficult to reach, being on the apex of a formidable hill, which has
since been dug away." After the first courthouse burned in 1859, this one was finished in 1870,
with]. Townsend Mix of Milwaukee the architect and james and Rotheram of Janesville the
contractors. (Both, Adler collection.)
--·-.-·."·""""'""'

80

All major postcard publishers printed cards of the courthouse, but Kropp of Milwaukee mislabeled
this one as the "Rich County" Court House. The photograph below, with its excellent angle, served
as the base for this card as well as for the one on page 79 and the one below on page 80. Artists
for each publisher changed the details of the image in one or more ways. (Case collection.)

As the county grew, this brick and stone courthouse with its mansard roofbecame too small. A
new yellow-brick, international-style courthouse was designed by Carl Lloyd Ames. It opened
behind this one in 1955, and this building was torn down in 1957. The new courthouse was
enlarged onto the site of this one in the late 1990s using the plans of Madison architect Kenton
Peters. (Adler collection.)

81

Rock County built a log jail on Main
Street in 1842 and replaced it with a stone
building on Water Street in 1857. After
the state board of control condemned
it, this jail on Water Street replaced it
in 1900. Another new jail at 108 Water
Street replaced this one in 1951, and this
building was used until the late 1960s as
the county welfare department before
being razed. (RCHS collection.)

The 1887 Janesville Pumping Station was
built, owned, and operated by Turner,
Clark, and Lawson of Boston until the
city bought it in 1915. An open reservoir
lay west of the building (partly visible to
the lower right). The building burned
in 1989 and was to be demolished, but
architects Angus-Young Associates bought
it in 1996 for its offices. This is the only
remaining 19th-century public building
in Janesville. (RCHS collection.)

82

Pinehurst Sanitarium, also known as Pinehurst Tuberculosis Hospital, was designed by Harold
Bradley in the Mediterranean-revival style and built by J. P. Cullen and Son. It opened on the
grounds of the Rock County Farm on May 17, 1929, and served 89 patients in its first eight
months. An addition also designed by Bradley was built in 1939. It operated as a tuberculosis
sanitarium from 1929 to 1983. (Adler collection.)

This original county poor farm was at Johnstown east ofjanesville, but county officials wanted
to move it closer to railroad service. In February 1893, the county purchased the Barker farm
north of janesville near the tracks of both local railroads. After the buildings were completed
for $100,000 at Barker's Corners (today's intersection of U.S. Highways 14 and 51), the "poor
and insane" were moved there on March 30, 1894. (Adler collection.)
83

Designed in the popular moderne style
and completed in 1938, this janesville
Post Office at 210 Dodge Street served
for 50 years, but the site proved too
sinall for parking and the growing fleet
of postal vehicles. Despite protests, a
new post office was built in the 1980s
far from downtown at 1818 !vlilton
Avenue, but a downtown branch
office was opened. Kealey Pharmacy
and other offices now occupy this
building. (Adler collection.)

At the turn of the 20th century, city
offices were at 3-5 North River Street
with the fire department headquarters.
In 1901, the city council approved a
ne\v public library east of the river and
a city hall west of it. The E. A. Rush
Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan,
designed this $80,000 sandstone
building in the Romanesque Revival
style with marble stairways and marble
wainscoting. (Adler collection.)

84

This structure at 15-21 South Franklin Street was Janesville's first permanent location for its
post office. With the public library and city hall, it was one of three major public buildings to
open around 1903. Built of gray pressed brick with stone trim, it cost $75,000. After a new post
office \.Vas built on Dodge Street, this building became the Labor Temple for many years before
being demolished. (Dommershausen collection.)

James Rowson and Son of Iowa City, Iowa, finished the city hall for its first council meeting
on September 23, 1902. The building became too small during the growth of city government
during the 1920s, but it was not until the 1960s that a new municipal building was constructed
immediately behind city hall, and then this old building was razed for the plaza in front of the
new one. (Dommershausen collection.)

85

The Janesville Fire Department was organized in 1852 as a bucket brigade composed of volunteers
fighting fires with buckets and hand pumps. After a series of devastating fires, the common
council ordered better fire equipment. On June 25, 1866, two engines arrived via the Erie Canal
and the Great Lakes and then by rail from Milwaukee. In the meantime, two fire companies had
been organized: the Rock River Engine Company No. 1 and Water Witch Engine Company
No. 2. A hook~and~ladder company was later located in a rented building south of the Bennett
Marble Works on North Franklin Street. This West Side Fire Station was built on North River
Street in 1876 with city offices on jts upper floor until they moved into the new city hall in 1903,
when this building was remodeled. It was torn down in 1958. The East Side Fire Station (not
extant) was built in 1877 on North Main Street at the current site of River's Edge Park-now
Firemen's Park with its mural on the side of the building. (Adler collection.)

86

All Janesville Fire Department equipment was drawn by men until 1886, when the old hose
carts were disposed of and four-wheel carriages drawn by horses were purchased. Horses were
hired, and their drivers Vv'ere paid to be ready at all times. In 1887, a fire-alarm system was
installed with 20 street boxes, a tower striker, two indicators and gongs, and 7 miles of wire.
(Dornmershausen collection.)

Another station was built in 1904 at 202 McKey Boulevard, now the southwest corner of South
Jackson Street and Delavan Drive. The department then formed a rescue battalion, beginning its
history of providing emergency medical services. In 1910, it bought its first motorized engine.
In 1924, the last of the horses was retired, and the department became completely motorized
with all operations housed at the West Side Station. (Case collection.)

87

The Janesville Public Library at 64 South Main Street was one of63 Carnegie libraries in Wisconsin.
It was built by John P. Cullen and Brother in 1902 and opened on June 17, 1903. The structure is
made of gray pressed brick with a concrete block foundation. The second floor assembly hall was
used by the Apollo Club, a musical organization, before being remodeled into an auditorium in
1932 and used for many years by the Janesville Little Theater. John T. W. Jennings designed the
building during his term as supervising architect for the University of Wisconsin. W. F. Paunack
of Rawson and Paunack superYised the construction. The structure is Janesville's only remaining
example of a public building in the neoclassical style typical of other libraries, apparently leading
to the message on the postcard below. (Above, Case collection; below, Adler collection.)

88

Andrew Carnegie donated $30,000 for the building, one of the first four grants he made in
Wisconsin, and F. S. Eldred left a bequest of$10,000 as a memorial to his daughter Ada Eldred
Sayre. That money was used to build an elaborate children's wing with a fireplace on the main
floor. Eldred came to Janesville in 1855. He helped organize theJanesYille Cotton Manufacturing
Company and was one of the incorporators of the First National Bank. Part of the secondstory space was used as the American Legion Museum from 1932 to 1950. When a new library
opened in 1968, this building housed the recreation department and the senior citizens center,
becoming known as the Crossroads Building. The senior center became the sole occupant in
1981, and the building was expanded and remodeled in 2000. (Above, Adler collection; below,
Montgomery collection.)

89

The Wisconsin State School for the Blind, now the Wisconsin State School for the Visually
Handicapped, began in 1849 when]. T. Axtell, a graduate of the Ohio Institution for the Blind,
collected enough money to start such a school in Ira Miltimore's house at 802 Center Avenue.
The next year, the Wisconsin Legislature agreed to a tax to support the school, and classes
were moved to Hannah Hunter's house at 319 North jackson Street. By 1852, a building was
completed at the school's current location at 1700 West State Street, but it burned in 1874. This
main building was completed in 1877, with a music building added in 1909 and a primary school
building in 1915. The main building was razed in 1965 and the others in the 1970s and 1980s,
leaving only modern buildings on the campus. (Both, Adler collection.)

90

Hiram Brown established Janesville's first public school in 1839 in a log cabin near the Monterey
Bridge. By the mid-1850s, there were seven or eight public elementary schools in the city serving
858 children. In 1889, the Janesville School Board decided to name its fi\"e ward schools for great
Americans. Around that time, oYercrmvding and dangerous conditions led to several new schools
being built, including Grant School in 1891 at 1420 Pleasant Street (now West Court) and Garfield
School in 1902 at 315 South Jackson Street. By the 1950s, these were the oldest schools in Janesville.
Garfield was closed in 1958 and Grant in J965. Betv:een 1959 and 1971, Garfield \Vas used as an
administration building before being torn down. Grant School was reopened from 1969 to 1972
and then razed in 1984. (Above, RCHS collection; below, Dommershausen collection.)
>UYZ

r;;,.,.,;:.,;c;A ''<i-V·d

91

Janesville's first high school opened in 1859 on Court House Hill after the cemetery was removed
to Oak HilL The $40,000, three-story Italianate-style building on the city's highest point was a
showplace, but some people disapproved because they feared higher taxes. In 1895, a new high
school opened, and this building became Jefferson School. It v;as torn down in 1947, and the
site became Jefferson Park. (RCHS collection.)

The 1895 high school was designed by W. A. Holbrook of Milwaukee and built by Clark and
Stuart. H. C. Buell, the superintendent of Janesville schools, wrote in Brown's 1908 History of
Rock County, "In the fall of1895, the school was moved to the present commodious high school
building on High Street." The $56,000, three-story building was constructed of Menominee
red pressed brick with red Portage sandstone trim. (Adler collection.)
92

The new high school at 58 South High Street
became a source of pride, as attendance
before it was built averaged 200, but in
the new school it was over 400. The 1890
graduation class in the old school had nine
girls and no boys, but in 1899 the first
graduating class to spend all four years in
the new high school had 45 girls and 29
boys. (Dommershausen collection.)

Charles L. Fifield, in Brown's 1908 History,
credits superintendent of schools D. D.
Mayne for the high school, which many
thought was too large. "Time, however, has
proved him correct in his judgment, and the
structure is even now taxed to its capacity."
A new high school opened on Main Street
in 1923, and this building became the
vocational school until 1960, after which
it was torn down. (Adler collection.)

93

The Collegiate Gothic~style, $1 million Janesville High School was designed by Milwaukee
architects Henry VanRyn and Gerrit de Gelleke and built at 408 South Main Street by Janesville
contractor]. P. Cullen. It included two pools and two gymnasiums. On February 5, 1923, it
opened with 1,165 students. It included the junior high school at that time. The auditorium is
now the Janesville Performing Arts Center. (Adler collection.)
'%ilL

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This real~photo postcard shows the new Janesville High School, opened in 1923, viewed from
the northeast. After the new Janesville Senior H.igh School opened on South Randall Avenue
in 1955, this building became Marshall Junior High School before becoming Marshall Middle
SchooL When a new Marshall Middle School opened on South Pontiac Drive in 1997, this
building was converted into the Marshall Apartments and the Janesville Performing Arts Center.
(Case collection.)

94

Six

HoTELs AND HosPITALS

The six-story, art deco Monterey Hotel was built in 1929 at the southeast corner of Milwaukee
and High Streets on the site of the Grand HoteL It was one of many large hotels in Janesville
when it was built, and in 1960 John and Jacqueline Kennedy stayed there while on a presidential
campaign trip; hmveYer, in 2010 it stands ernpty as the only historic hotel remaining in Janesville.
(Adler collection.)

95

The Myers Hotel was the first large hotel in Janesville, built in 1860 by Peter Myers, who
made his fortune in lard, pork packing, and other meat products. When the Myers opened in
November 1861, it was operated by Myers personally. It had about 100 rooms, plus commercial
space on its first floor, and it remained one of Janesville's finest hotels more than halfway into
the 20th century. (Adler collectwn.)
---.~-.--.

The Myers Hotel stood on the site of the Janesville Stage House at the southeast corner of Main
and Milwaukee Streets. To the right in this \"iew is the Young America Block, where Abraham
Lincoln spoke on October 1, 1859. On December 19, 1957, the Myers family announced it had
sold the hotel to Rock County National Bank. The bank tore down the hotel and built a new
bank. (Dommershausen collection.)

96

Around 1846, Charles Stevens built
a hotel called the Stevens House
on the northwest corner of West
Milwaukee and North Franklin
Streets. After it burned in 1853, A.
Hyatt Smith built the elaborate fivestory Hyatt House on the site. Its
dining room could seat 500 guests at
once. However, on October 12, 1867,
fire destroyed the hoteL Peter Myers
built the Armory Block on the site in
1881. (Dommershausen collection.)

In 1930, the Rock County National
Bank Uohnson Bank in 2010)
published souvenir postcards
showing how JanesYille looked
in 1854, fewer than 20 years after
the first settlers arriYed in 1835.
The numbers on the photograph
indicate (1) the Hyatt House at the
northwest corner of Milwaukee and
Franklin Streets, (2) the Tallman
Block, (3) the Farmer Mills, (4) the
first tobacco vvarehouse, and (5)
lumberyards. (RCHS collection.)

97

The Grand Hotel was built in 1879 by David Jeffris on the southeast corner of Milwaukee and
High Streets on the site of the old Williams House (previously known as the Borden House),
which had space for 100 guests. The Williams House burned in 1877. In this Rotograph Company
view of the Grand Hotel, young trees have barely reached the third floor, and the streets are
nearly deserted. (Adler collection.)

On August 23, 1929, the Janesville Gazette announced that its contest to name the city's newest
hotel resulted in the name "Monterey." It opened on February 15, 1930, as one of the finest hotels
in the region, but the Great Depression soon caused it problems when the company that issued its
bonds went bankrupt. Local investors then bought the Monterey in 1936. (Adler collection.)

98

The Grand Hotel, a three-story brick building with about 50 guest rooms, opened on january 1,
1880. In 1929, the Olson Hotel Company bought the Grand Hotel and tore it down to put up the
Monterey Hotel on the site. Visible to the left of the Monterey in the lower postcard is part of the
Grand Hotel incorporated into the Jeffris Theater next door. The art deco Monterey is decorated
in tan terra-cotta that flows across its exterior and caps the tower and parapets of the building. Gold
leaf is baked into the black terra-cotta around the first floor. The Janesville Historic Commission's
guide Main and Afilwaukee:]anesville's Downtown Historic Districts states, "The resulting architectural
statement is very urban, and reflects hotel construction trends of the period, particularly in larger
cities such as Milwaukee." (Above, Adler collection; belmv, Dommershausen collection.)
"·'''""'·--">

99

The first building used as a hospital in Janesville was the James Crosby house at 1005 Sutherland,
which was built in the 1850s and is still standing. It was a private hospital known as the Oaklawn
Hospital and was started by Drs. Henry Palmer, S. S. Judd, and Frederick H.Judd (who owned the
house). In 1887, the hospital was incorporated as the Janes\~ilJe City Hospital and moved to 1214
Mineral Point Avenue. It dosed, and Dr. Palmer botlght the building shown here, the Daniel B.
Smith house at 566 North Washington Street, but he died before the house could be remodeled.
His son, Dr. William Palmer, finished the work and named it Palme-r I'v1emorial Hospital. In 1907,
the Sisters of Mercy, who operated St. Patrick's School, agreed to purchase and operate the hospital,
changing its name to Palmer Memorial Mercy Hospital. (Both, Adler collection.)

100

In 1912, the Sisters of Mercy began plans fOr a new hospital building. Chicago architects Chatten
and Hammond designed this three-story brick building with 50 hospital beds. It was built next
to the old hospital (Yisible to the left in the view above) and was named Mercy Hospital. The old
building was remodeled into a residence for the sisters and hospital nurses. In 1920, an addition
(below) was completed that raised the hospital's capacity to 120 beds. In 1955, the old Palmer
Memorial Hospital building was torn down for construction of another wing that raised capacity
to 225 beds and enlarged surgical and other medical facilities. In 1971, the Sisters of Mercy
announced they would turn over the hospital to a public nonprofit corporation. Since then, new
facilities have been built and these older buildings razed. (Both, Adler

101

Notable guests at the Monterey Hotel
included john and jackie Kennedy,
the King of Siam, Eleanor Roosevelt,
Louis Armstrong, and Henry Luce.
Its restaurant, the Orleans, flourished
through the 1950s and remained open
during the 1980s when a new owner
cleaned up the hotel after previous
owners struggled in the 1960s and
1970s. In 1983, a fire in the lobby of
the J effris Theater next to the hotel
filled the Monterey with smoke
and killed a resident. On the linen
postcard below, the Jeffris, to the left,
is covered with a metal, moderne
facade. In 1989, the owner sold the
hotel to a San Francisco realty firm
that resold it to a group of California
doctors who declared the Monterey
bankrupt. A Janesville businessman
then bought the bankrupt and vacant
hotel for $350,000. In 2010, it remains
Yacant. (Both, Adler collection.)

102

Seven

BuiLDINGS

William Morrison Tallman and his family moved to Janesville from Rome, New York, in
1849. From 1855 to 1857, he built this mansion in the Italian villa style, and it was 51 feet
by 100 feet and 60 feet tall. The house originally was on 3 acres of grounds surrounded by
a white fence, and it had a variety of fruit trees to the north and a rose and flower garden to
the south. (Adler collection.)

103

The Janesville Woman's (not Women's as printed on this card) Club Association began in 1927,
and a year later this building, still in use, was completed at 108 South jackson Street. The original
plan was to build a gallery for the Women's Art League, but donations and fund-raising led to this
larger building that became a meeting place for women's groups in the city. (Adler collection.)

The Armory was built in 1930 and became the headquarters for the 32nd Tank Company of the
Wisconsin National Guard, later known as Company A and Headquarters Company of the 192nd
Tank Battalion. In World War II, members of this unit valiantly defended Bataan before being
forced into the Bataan Death March in enemy captivity. Of the 99 who left in 1941, sixty-four
failed to return in 1945. (Adler collection.)

104

The Central Bank, founded in 1855, becarne the First National Bank in 1863, located on the
100 block ofWest Milvnukee Street. In 1912, that building was torn down and this beautiful
redbrick building put up. It was extensively remodeled and covered over in the 1970s, removing
its historic look. The bank has changed hands several times since then, and in 2010 this building
houses the Chase Bank. (Adler collection.)

Timothy Jackman built the Jackman Block in 1861. In 1901, a fifth floor was added for Valentine's
School of Telegraphy, with four bays along Milwaukee Street and one along North Main Street.
After the Jackman family sold the building in 1962, the top two floors and the bays were removed,
and porcelainized steel siding was added. In 2001, the building was remodeled again and given
another new look (Adler collection.)

105

The Young l\1en's Christian Association (YMCA) reached Wisconsin by 1870. JanesYille's branch
was organized in 1892, and the group completed this building at 402 West Milwaukee Street in
1895. Constructed of redbrick with a limestone foundation and limestone accents, this structure
was a shm•vplace rivalingjanesville's finest schools. It contained a large lobby and reading room, a
gymnasium, swimming pool, 40 dormitory rooms, and a three-lane bowling alley. It was added
on to in 1899 and remodeled in 1914, but by 1924 it was too small for the organization. After
the YMCA completed a new building in 1926, it put this one up for sale. Various owners have
remodeled this structure several times, but its historic appearance is still visible. (AboYe, Adler
collection; below, Case collection.)

106

When its Milwaukee Street building became too small, the YMCA built this structure in 1926 at
54 South Franklin Street. Around 1969, the organization remodeled this building and constructed
an addition, including an Olympic-sized swimming pool, exercise rooms, and handball courts.
In 1999, the YMCA joined with the Janesville Boys and Girls Club to add a new facility to the
old buildings to serve members of both groups. (Adler collection.)

This building above the site of Ira Miltimore's stone quarry in the Monterey area ofJanesville
started as the Chevrolet Club. It then became the Colonial Club, and in 2010 it serves as the
Veterans of Foreign Wars Club House. Postcard publisher E. C. Kropp of Milwaukee used the
same image with all three titles on its postcards. (Case collection.)
107

Frances Willard, born in 1839, came to Rock County in 1846. Her father, Josiah, farmed
south ofJanesville along the Rock River. In 1853, he and friends built this school on his farm.
Frances began teaching there in 1859, at age 20, and described the unpainted school in her
autobiography, "It was plain and inviting, that little bit of a building, standing under the trees
on the river bank." She held master of science, master of arts, and doctor oflaws degrees, and
with Susan B. Anthony she founded the National Council ofWomen in 1888. She became most
famous as the longtime president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (1879-1898) and
advocated legal protection and the right to vote for women and an eight-hour workday for men
and \-vomen. This school is now at the Rock County Fairgrounds. (Above, Adler collection;
below, Case collection.)

108

Carrie Jacobs was born here (above) on August 11, 1861, at 1808 West Court Street where the
Sunnyside Shopping Center is now. She married William Smith in 1880, and they had a son in
1882. After they divorced in 1886, Carrie married Dr. Frank Bond and moved to Iron RiYer,
Michigan. After he died in 1895, Carrie and her son returned to Janesville, where they lived in
a brick cottage (belo·w) at Wisconsin and Milwaukee Streets. She wrote the song "I Love You
Truly" there. The marker at this site was dedicated in 1935. A year or two later, Carrie moved
to Chicago, where she struggled before becoming a famous composer, songwriter, and vocalist.
She moved to California and died there in 1946. Bond Park, just north of her birthplace, was
named for her. (Above, Dommershausen collection; below, Adler collection.)

109

Both of these postcards depict the
Tallman House's guest chamber
photographed at different times,
probably during the 1950s and 1960s.
The house had central heating, its
own system for running water into
each bedroom, two inside toilets,
and speaking tubes. The fireplace in
this room (left) has a black marble
mantle and an iron grate. It was in
this room that Abraham Lincoln slept
on Saturday and Sunday, October 1
and 2, 1859, after his speech at Young
America Hall. Lucien Hanks, the
Tallmans' nephew, was also a guest,
and the Tallmans told him he would
have to sleep downstairs on the couch.
Lincoln insisted they could share the
bed because Hanks was "not a Yery
big fellow and won't take up much
room.'' Lincoln, however, was a restless
sleeper, and Hanks decided to escape
to the couch. (Both, Adler collection.)

110

This is the family, or informal, parlor
on the southeast side of the Tallman
house. When Abraham Lincoln
visited after his Janes\·ille speech on
October 1, 1859, he was taken to the
formal parlor, but he asked if they
could go instead to this family parlor
because it was more comfortable.
The shutters on all the windows were
made to fold back or slide smoothly
into the walls. (Adler collection.)

The postcard of this Tallman House
dates from the 1950s, probably soon
after George K. Tallman (grandson
of William M. Tallman) donated
the house to the City ofjanesville in
1950 to use as a museum. It shows
the glassed-in conservatory in front
of the south-side porch that served
as the original entrance. The west
porch entrance, with its carved
black walnut doors, was not added
until 1870. (Adler collection.)

The loHman Hom.,sfeocl, Jone1ii/We, Whconsin

111

In 1844, Catholics built a log mission
church here. In 1850, when a permanent
came, the congregation replaced it
with a brick church called St. Cuthbert's,
which served m.ostly Irish Catholics
working on the new rail lines. This
Romanesque Revival-style church,
still in use at 301 Cherry Street, was
finished in 1864 on the St. Cuthbert
site after the parish's name was changed
to St. Patrick's. (Adler collection.)

By 1875, St. Patrick's was overcrowded,
and some German Catholics wanted their
own parish. They organized St. Mary's
on janesville's east side and built a frame
church on this site (313 East Wall Street),
but it was too small from the start. In 1899,
they hired local architect Frank Kemp to
design this redbrick church, which was
completed in 1902 and still serves the
congregation today. (Adler collection.)

112

The First Congregational Church was
organized in Janesville in 1845. The
group built its first church on this site,
South Jackson Street at Dodge Street,
in 1848. It built a new one here in
1865, but it burned in 1875 and was
replaced immediately afterward by
this church, which is still in use. The
tower of the second Janesville High
School (no longer standing) appears
on the next block. (Case collection.)

The Oak Hill Cemetery began in 1851
\vhen the Court House Hill Cemetery
was moved to build the first high
school. Around the turn of the 20th
century, this Gothic ReviYal-style,
stone-and~brick chapel was built and
used for funeral services for about
50 years. The Cemetery Association
renovated the chapel in 1969, and since
then it has been used as a gathering
place for people attending funerals.
(Dommershausen collection.)

113

In 1897, a group of22Janesville residents organized the city's First Church of Christ, Scientist.
The congregation held services in the Norcross Block while they accumulated a building fund.
By 1908, the church had 70 members, and in 1912 the congregation moved into this Classical
Revival church at 323 West Court Street. It still serves the congregation. (Case collection.)

St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Janesville was organized in 1903 for English-speaking
Lutherans. In 1904, the congregation acquired this building, the 1853 First Methodist Episcopal Church
at 122 South Jackson Street. The brick Romanesque Revival structure with its medieval appearance
was impressive, but it is no longer standing. The congregation used it for their church until 1956,
when they moved into a new building at 1422 Ccmer Avenue. (Dommershausen collection.)
114

The Centrallv1ethodist Episcopal congregation dedicated this church at 70 South Franklin Street
in 1906. William D. Cargill had donated $1.0,000 in memory of his father and mother to help
build the church, and the congregation renamed it the Cargill Memorial Methodist Church.
This church (no longer extant) served the congregation for almost 50 years until it moved into
a new church at 2000 Wesley AYenue in 1960. (Adler collection.)

o'!::'rckYlfAt-

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In 1904, the First Methodist Episcopal Church and the Court Street Methodist Episcopal Church
merged into the Central Methodist Episcopal Church. The congregation used the 1868 Court
Street Methodist Episcopal Church at South Main and East Court Streets while it built this new
church at South Franklin and West Court Streets. (Dommershausen collection.)
115

The First Baptist congregation built its first church at 102 South Cherry Street (altered, but still
extant) in 1851 before selling it in 1867 to build a new one at 67 South Jackson Street. That church
burned in 1884, and this one was built on the same site. It served until1974 when the congregation
moved to 3414 Woodhall Drive. This church was then torn down. (Adler collection.)

,.--------,

H$Jhmiit1anA

The First Presbyterian Church in Janesville was organized in 1855, and it built a small church at
North Jackson and Wall Streets later that year. In the 1890s, the congregation grew too large for
the old church, and this one was built on the same site at 17 North Jackson Street. Membership
reached 505 by 1908. The church has been renovated several times but continues to serve its
members today. (Dommershausen collection.)
116

This advertising card for Nichol's Store
states on the back that the company carried
furnishing goods, books and stationery,
glassware, hardware, crockery, cutlery,
woodenware, chinaware, jewelry, holiday
goods, souvenir goods, candy, salted peanuts,
and groceries. "A complete stock at all times,"
the card reads, "with prices right. When in the
city, give us a call." This building still stands
at 32 South Main Street. (Case collection.)

This card with the beautiful handwriting (even fancier on the address), mailed on June 19, 1907,
was certain to make a student happy: he had passed the examination. The Wisconsin Business
College was in the Armory Block across from the Corn Exchange at the northwest corner of
Milwaukee and Franklin Streets. The image must have been made in winter; note the covered
Corn Exchange fountain to the lower right. (Adler collection.)
117

After the temperature reached 74 degrees on Saturday, it fell to zero on Sunday, November 11,
1911. The change spawned a tornado, called a cyclone then, that raced through Rock County
from Brodhead to Lima Center, killing nine people and causing more damage than any tornado
in county history, Within 20 minutes, it left a path of death and destruction 34 miles long and
up to 400 yards wide. (Dommershausen collection.)

Job and Phoebe Smith Barker, who bought 1,300 acres near Janesville in 1839, brought their
family here in three canvas-covered wagons from Buffalo, New York, a year later. In 1842, they
built a stone cottage at what became Barker's Corners and the junction ofU.S. Highways 14 and
51. Rock County purchased the Barker farm in 1893 for its complex of buildings for the Rock

County Farm. (Adler collection.)

118

Eight

PARKS AND RECREATION

In this scene published by E. A. Bishop of Racine, Wisconsin, a horse drinks from a trough at
Court House Park. Bishop used numbers in the 1800s for his JanesYille postcards, and some
people, even in books, mistook them for dates. One collector's copy of this card was postmarked
1911, and someone apparently thought 1811 \\'as a typo because they crossed it out and wrote
1911 above it. (Case collection.)

119

Henry Janes left Janesville before
the courthouse was built, and years
later he wrote from California to the
Janesville Gazette asking where the
courthouse had been placed, noting
he had recommended this area in his
plat. This card is from around 1908,
and 100 years later the fountain is gone
and an amphitheater sits in this area,
drawing people to outdoor concerts
and performances. (Adler collection.)

This soldiers' monument at the Rock
County Court House was dedicated
on August 18, 1902, during the annual
reunion of the Rock County Soldier
and Sailor's Union. The Hutchins
and Rundell Company of Rockford,
Illinois, designed it, and A. S. Jackson
of Beloit erected it for $8,400.
Excavators dug 12 feet to find a solid
base for the 56-foot, 2-inch monument.
It weighs 151 tons. (Adler collection.)

120

The soldier's monument \Yas discussed as early as 1871, six years after the Civil War ended. The
Janesville Gazette pointed out that the county of 50,000 people could afford such a monument,
but it took a referendum before the county board approved it. "With the monument came
improvements to Court House Park, including sidewalks and up to 10 inches of topsoil to help
the grass grow. (Adler collection.)

Around 1908, a woman walks through Court House Park near the fountain across Main Street
from the Public Library, which was built in 1903. One hundred years later, this scene has greatly
changed. The fountain was melted down for its metal in 1944, and an outdoor amphitheater now
sits here. The library moved to a new building down the street, and this old library building
now houses the senior center. (Adler collection.)

121

After an 1894 trip to Scotland where he learned to play golf, Alexander Galbraith and some
friends formed the Sinnissippi (American Indian name fOr Rock River) Golf Club and rented
the Woodruff farm on the present site of the Janesville Country Club. Their 18-hole course was
plotted, The History of the Janesville Country Club states, with "the length of the holes and their
general direction being determined more by the boulders, tree stumps, and brushwood than by
golf science." The club bought 93 acres from the Woodruff estate in 1898 and the stone part of
the present clubhouse was built. To finance these expenses, the Janesville Country Club was
incorporated. The two clubs hosted the first state championship in 1901. In 1916, they were
combined and the Sinnissippi Golf Club went out of existence. (Above, Case collection; below,
Dommershausen collection.)

122

"'l'HR M!'H:.l't (itt 8};Visr<f'(';;-;;t't" ~ N'olH:'Ji\tWtl

,Hh, 1thfL

In Fourth ofjuly parades nearly every year from 1907 to 1921, states julia Hornbostle in A Good
and Caring Woman: The Life and Times t?f1\'ellie Tallman, the Nonesuch Brothers Burlesque Circus
Parade was performed, starring hundreds of Janesville citizens. "Men dressed up as women,
children and their pets rode in spindly 'lion cages,' and costumed actors posed in living tableaux
such as 'The Spirit of '76.' " (Case collection.)

Chautauqua was a weeklong tent show featuring entertainment as well as providing church
services on Sunday. There were afternoon and evening lectures, concerts, and plays every day
during the week. From 1905 until1918, steamboats carried Janesville residents from the landing
at the Fourth Avenue Bridge to the Chautauqua site near what is now the entrance to Riverside
Park. (Case collection.)

123

Electric Park was at the south end of Main Street on land owned by Michael Buob, \vho operated
the Southside Brewery. For a tevv years, starting in 1904, concerts and vaudeYille acts were
performed there. Patrons could ride streetcars from Main and Milwaukee Streets, and the 10¢
round-trip fare included admission to the park. St. Mary's church held its "grand picnic benefit"
there on August 25, 1904. (Adler collection.)
A,H<V!EW Cf' RlV,Wfl:!!H¢;1\ FA¥K ANP. MUNlt;'lf'A'f.. £j(n-f'

<:;:K,.tt;g;;;~;,

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Riverside Park, whose original 133 acres were acquired by the city in 1922, was Janesville's
first large park. Landscape architect Charles Lawrence of Davenport, Iowa, drew the park plan,
splitting the land into general parkland and a nine-hole golf course at the north end. In 1925,
gravel roads opened the park to the public, the golf course was laid out, and more than 500 trees
were planted. (Adler collection.)
124

Shuffleboard courts were installed in Riversjde Park in 1938, the same year work on the boat
landing started. The baseball field -.vas constructed in the 1950s, \'Vith lights added in 1967. In recent
years, new interest in and appreciation of the park has been generated by Friends of Riverside
Park, a group of volunteers whose efforts have led to renovations, repairs, beautification, and
special activities in the park. (Adler collection.)

The Devil's Staircase is a gully oflimestone steps near the river at the north end of Riverside
Park. Today this scene looks much as it did 100 years ago in this postcard. In 2007 and 2009, local
and statewide volunteers from the Ice Age Trail Alliance built and reinforced part of the Ice Age
Trail through this area, making it more accessible to walkers and hikers. (Adler collection.)

125

In 1937, Riverside Park's wading pool was built and two artesian wells drilled, with the north
well used to fill the new pool and the south used for drinking water, which was one of the
popular attractions for many )rears. But there has never been a zoo, despite George S. Parker's
offer of$10,000 in 1928 to start one in Riverside Park. (Adler collection.)

The north concession stand at Janesville's Riverside Park was built in 1938 from limestone quarried
from this cliff at the north end of the park. Many Janesville natives recall exploring this area and
swimming in the river as teens, and today the beautiful Devil's Staircase Segment of the Ice Age
National Scenic Trail winds between this cliff and the Rock River. (Adler collection.)

126

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bissell and Dougherty, compilers. Souvenir: Janesville Fire Department. Janesville, WI: Gazette
Printing Company, 1902.
Bliss, Sidney H. Pictorial History cf]anesville, Wisconsin: The Janesville Gazette, 1845~1995, Celebrating
150 Years. Merceline, MO: Heritage House Publishing, 1995.
Brown, William Fiske, ed. Rock County, Ilf/isconsin: A New History of Its Cities, Villages,
Towns, Citizens, and Varied Interests, from the Earliest Times, Up to Date, Vols. 1 and
2. Chicago: C. F. Cooper and Company, 1908.
Cartwright, Carol Lohry, Scott Shaffer, and Randal Waller. City on the Rock River: Chapters in
Janesville's History. Janesville, WI: Janesville Historic Commission, 1998.
Dopkins, Dale R. A Guide to Monuments and Historical Markers in Janesville. Janesville, WI:
self-published, 1987.
Douglas, Nancy Belle S. and Richard P. Hartung. Rock County Historic Sites and Buildings.
Janesville, WI: Rock County Bicentennial Commission, 1976.
DuPre', Mike. Century of Stories: A 100 Year Reflection ofjanesville and Surrounding Communities.
Janesville, WI: the Janesville Gazette and Terry Printing, 2000.
Hornbostel, Julia. A Good and Caring Woman: The L!fe and Times of Nellie Tallman. Lakeville,
MN: Galde Press, Inc., 1996.
Hough, Albert and Lois Hough. janesville VVisconsin's Oldest Continuing Businesses Locally Owned and
Operated jar 100 Years or More. Janesville, Wl, 2002.
Janesville Historic Commission Guides.
Sheridan, Judy (Hladky). History of the Janesville Fire Department 1852-1988. Janesville, WI: Sultze
Printing, Inc., 1989.
The History cif Rock County, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1879.

127

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In 1837, Henry Janes applied for a post office called Black Hawk for
the southern Wisconsin settlement where he ran aJerry across the Rock
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River. The postmaster general, however, noticed a town already by
rthat name in the Iowa part of Wisconsin Territory, and he assigned the
· · · ·· · ··· ·• name Janesville, with Janes as postmaster. Two years later, Janes moved
his family west, but the community grew to become the Rock County
seat, and by 1860 it was Wisconsin's second-largest city. Today more
than 62,000 people call the "City of Parks" home.
Authors Den and judith Adler came to Janesl'ille in 1970 and, a
year later, bought the 1912 stucco house they still live in. Both are
longtime members of the Rock County Historical Society, and judith
provided staff support to the City ofJanesville Historic Commission
from its creation in 1980 until she retired from city employment
in 2008.
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