View source for Port Washington Downtown Historic District

{{Short description|Historic district in Wisconsin, US}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Port Washington Downtown Historic District
| nrhp_type = hd
| nocat = yes
| image = Port-Washington Franklin-north Jul09.jpg
| caption = A portion of the district.
| location = [[Port Washington, Wisconsin]]
| locmapin = Wisconsin
| refnum = 00001070
| added = September 8, 2000
| coordinates = {{Coord|43.388987|-87.869303|type:landmark_region:US-WI|display=inline,title}}
}}
The '''Port Washington Downtown Historic District''' is the largely intact remainder of the old commercial downtown of [[Port Washington, Wisconsin]], United States.  It consists of about 40 contributing buildings built from the 1850s to the 1950s in various styles. The district was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2000 for significance to both architecture and the history of commerce.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2010a}}</ref><ref name=nrhp_nom>{{cite news|last1=Heggland|first1=Timothy F.|title=Port Washington Downtown Historic District|url={{NRHP url|id=00001070}}|accessdate=2017-02-20|work=[[NRHP]] Inventory-Nomination Form|publisher=National Park Service|date=1999-12-09}} With {{NRHP url|id=00001070|photos=y|title=16 photos.}}</ref>
Port Washington was founded in 1835, when Wooster Harrison and several other land speculators laid out a town on the sheltered slope where Sauk Creek flows into Lake Michigan. After some early growing pains, it became a village in 1848, and in 1851 740 ships docked at the pier. By 1853 the population was 1500. In 1873 the village was reached by the Milwaukee, Lakeshore and Western Railroad. In 1882 the city incorporated, and in 1889 the Wisconsin Chair Co. was founded, which was the major employer for many years.<ref name=nrhp_nom/>
Here is a sample of interesting buildings in the district:
* The 1854 Barnum Blake building at 201 N Franklin St is a 2-story brick building in [[Italianate architecture|Italianate style]], but its round arches seem to fit the [[Rundbogenstil]] designs then fashionable with German immigrants in Milwaukee.<ref>{{cite web |title=Barnum Blake Building|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294963813&dsRecordDetails=R:HI86940|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|accessdate=2017-02-20}}</ref><ref name=nrhp_nom/>
* The Wisconsin House Hotel at 308-312 N Franklin St is a 3-story Italianate brick hotel built in 1855. By 1885 a saloon occupied the north half and a harness shop the south. The 1-story section to the south was added in 1926.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wisconsin House Hotel|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294963813&dsRecordDetails=R:HI13520|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|accessdate=2017-02-20}}</ref><ref name=nrhp_nom/>
* The Theodore Nosen Building at 329-333 N Franklin St is a 3-story brick [[Federal Style]] building, built in 1857.<ref>{{cite web |title=Theodore Nosen Building|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294963813&dsRecordDetails=R:HI13523|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|accessdate=2017-02-20}}</ref><ref name=nrhp_nom/>
* The 1891 Michael Bink saloon at 231 N Franklin St is a very intact 2-story [[Queen Anne style architecture in the United States|Queen Anne-styled]] building with a two-story corner turret topped by an onion dome and a [[finial]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Michael Bink Block|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294963813&dsRecordDetails=R:HI13518|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|accessdate=2017-02-20}}</ref><ref name=nrhp_nom/>
* The 1891 Wilson Hotel at 200-202 N Franklin St is a 3-story Queen Anne building, also with a corner turret and final.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Wilson Hotel|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294963813&dsRecordDetails=R:HI13515|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|accessdate=2017-02-20}}</ref><ref name=nrhp_nom/>
* The Martin Zimmerman saloon at 114 N Franklin St is built of concrete block, with a [[Richardsonian Romanesque]] influence.<ref>{{cite web |title=M. Zimmerman Building|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294963813&dsRecordDetails=R:HI103716|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|accessdate=2017-02-20}}</ref><ref name=nrhp_nom/>
* The First National Bank at 122 N Franklin St is a [[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical]] bank designed by William Hilgen of Cedarburg and built in 1909, covered with white [[terra cotta]] tiles.<ref>{{cite web |title=First National Bank of Port Washington|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294963813&dsRecordDetails=R:HI13514|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|accessdate=2017-02-20}}</ref><ref name=nrhp_nom/>
* The Matthew Schumacher [[Headstone|Monument]] Co. at 302 N Franklin St is a 1-story [[Art Deco]] building built in 1930. It was designed by Edgar Berners, a native son of Port Washington and a partner in Foeller, Schober & Berners of Green Bay.<ref>{{cite web |title=M.J. Schumacher Monument Co.|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294963813&dsRecordDetails=R:HI13519|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|accessdate=2017-02-20}}</ref><ref name=nrhp_nom/>
* The Schanen office building at 125 E Main St was designed in [[Art Moderne]]-style by Foeller, Schober and Berners and built in 1942. It housed William F. Schanen's law office and the Ozaukee Press, which was run by his son.<ref>{{cite web |title=William F. Schanen Building|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294963813&dsRecordDetails=R:HI103849|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|accessdate=2017-02-20}}</ref><ref name=nrhp_nom/>
* The Smith Bros. Restaurant at 100 N Franklin St is a late [[Colonial Revival]] building designed by William J. Ames of Milwaukee and built in 1954.<ref>{{cite web |title=Smith Bros. Building|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294963813&dsRecordDetails=R:HI13751|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|accessdate=2017-02-20}}</ref><ref name=nrhp_nom/>
[[Leland Stanford]], who went on to become a U.S. Senator and Governor of [[California]] and found [[Stanford University]], once practiced law in the district.{{Citation needed|date=February 2017}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{commonscat-inline}}
{{NRHP in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin}}
{{National Register of Historic Places}}
[[Category:Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Geography of Ozaukee County, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin]]