Buildings of the North, Part Two

Price County Wisconsin was created by the Wisconsin State Legislature in March of 1879.  The county was formed from portion of Lincoln and Chippewa counties and named for T. W. Price, president of the state senate and logging magnate in that part of the state. With the construction of railroads population centers where no longer bound to a close proximity to waterways such as a river to transport goods and materials. The community of Phillips was one such village, a fast growing town, it was selected as the county seat.   Mr. Waters was credited with the design of three building in that city: the courthouse, school and the Citizens' Bank.  In the April 3, 1880 edition of the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern there appeared a notice of solicitation for sealed bids for the construction of a courthouse at Phillips, the structure was finished that years at a cost of $10,000.  The subject of the courthouse was covered in a post dated 8/8/2012.  

In addition to the courthouse, it was cited in The Commemorative Biographical Record of the Fox River Valley, that Waters also designed a school and bank. Both where most likely built of wood, as that was the most abundant building material on hard.  The school built in 1884 was undoubtedly the work of architect Waters and served until 1891 when it was demolish and replaced by a larger building.  As for the bank, local historians find no record of the Citizens' Bank at all.  Very little survived the fire of 1894 including photographs of the city before the conflagration and those that do, don't show the buildings in question. There are no written descriptions of the buildings from which one might extrapolate a drawing.  Perhaps one day images will be found but until then their appearance will remain a mystery.