What Might Have Been

It's fun to imagine what places would look like if somethings as reported in the newspapers had happened. Through my research over the the past few years I've learned of many projects reported upon that never came to pass: school additions, apartment houses and club houses. Not too long ago I posted an article on the proposed Union Club of Oshkosh which was never built. There were in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries any number of fraternal or social clubs, men and women could join and Oshkosh was a city of joiners as there were an abundance organizations in town. By the early twentieth century the Oshkosh newspapers was urging any group to build a large ornamental club house that would bring prestige to the city. In 1900 the Union Club and the Elks were under pressure to build and drawings and plans were presented but nothing came of it. Finally in 1903 the Oshkosh Yacht Club built its' beautiful club house at the foot of Washington Avenue. In the 1800's clubs would rent space, erect or buy a commercial block and house their club rooms on the second floor, while drawing income from the stores below. One such outfit was the Elks Club, a group which formed after the Civil War with the Oshkosh lodge first meeting in 1894. For many years the B P O E lodge number 292 occupied rooms on the second floor of a building on the corner of  Main and Church Street. The building was constructed after the fire of 1874 and was home at first to the Oshkosh Business College.

The group was unhappy with the accommodations and in 1902 started a campaign to build a club house, several sites were considered but nothing came of it. In April of 1903 a fire damaged the building and the club considered remodeling and adding a third story to the structure, which was owned by the estate of the late Daniel Libbey, who's sons Frank and Charles were member of the lodge. William Waters was retained to draw up plans for the modifications and the proposal was announced in an article in the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern of May 15, 1903 along with floor plans of the renovation but no sketches of the exterior. Perhaps Mr. Waters would have given the outside a face lift to bring the old building into the twentieth century.

The changes never happened and the Elks met at the Odd Fellows Hall for a time and then in the rooms once used by the Union Club on the second floor of the Heissinger Bros. Block on the corner on Main and Washington St.  Finally in 1913 the Elks were able to build a large decorative club house on Jefferson Street that building was demolished in 1978.

Bandstand on the Square

In the nineteenth century there were phonographs which reproduced music after a fashion but no radios, television or computers on which to share popular music, live performances were the way most popular music was transmitted. Oshkosh had a lively theatrical and musical scene with many venues for entertainment of all sorts. The Grand Opera House was host to many vaudeville shows and the city had several noteworthy bands. In the summer band concerts were often held outdoors and were very popular with the denizens of Oshkosh. The Oshkosh Weekly Northwestern of July 23 1891 reported that at a recently held outdoor band concert the band was encumbered by the large crowd and a movement was forming to build a band stand in Opera House Square. There was great enthusiasm at first with a petition being presented to the city council asking that the fountain on the square be move and the band stand be built according to plans drawn by William Waters. A subscription campaign was started, the city council appropriated $500 for the project and work started on the foundation. It was decided that the square should be repaved as well and by early October came the announcement that the band stand would not be built until the spring. In April of 1892 the Oshkosh Times urged the city to finish the project but the city was reluctant to authorized more funds. For the rest of the year and the year that followed, city hall bickered about the finances.

Finally in the spring of 1894 construction was started and four limestone arched were built. In the mist of the arches was the fountain and the walls held up a deck from which the band would play. Around the deck was a metal railing with uprights and frame work to support a canopy. The band stand adorned the square until 1907, that was the year it was announced that Col, Hicks would erect a civil war solder monument in the square. It was decided that that band stand should be relocated to North Park. There were a few newspaper notices about the move but nothing to indicate if indeed it was moved or where in the park it was put. A notice of a concert in North Park by the Arion Band was publisher in the summer of 1908 and in June of 1927 Fluor Brothers won the bid to build new band stand, which would imply that the structure had been moved and was in need of being replaced by the late 1920's. 

Oshkosh Parochial Schools

The public schools of Oshkosh have already been covered in previous posts but not all the schools of Oshkosh have been discussed. All the Catholic congregations had schools as did some of the Lutheran churches. Mr. Waters designed churches for two Catholic parishes and the schools which were to follow. The first parochial school was for St. Vincent de Paul on Oregon Street. An announcement for the taking of bids appeared in the newspapers of May 1874 and there followed in July a missive on the laying of the cornerstone. That was all the Oshkosh press had to report on the matter, it being quite common place for south side projects to receive little or no attention in the pages of the papers. Soon a fine brick school stood on the lot adjacent to the church and rectory. The building was three stories high with a tower at the front and center, a feature that along the church spire would dominate the south side skyline for fifty years. In 1889 the school was expanded. This time the newspaper were a little more generous this their coverage. The Oshkosh Times of August 7, 1889 ran a story about the addition to be erected next to the existing building. The details were that the annex was to be built of brick, measuring 40 x 80 and two stories high with a large hall to occupy the second floor. St. Vincent parish covered the block fronting on Oregon Street from South Park Avenue to Twelfth Avenue. The congregation replaced the old church in 1914 and by 1930 the old school was replaced as well.

Architect Waters also planned St Peter's Church and that congregation built a school in the summer 1884. It's unclear if Waters designed that early structure but photographs reveal some details that were commonly used by Mr. Waters. What is a fact is that in June of 1913 plans were announced for a new Catholic high school. By July The Oshkosh Daily Northwestern published a full description replete with architect Waters' rendering. The basement was to be devoted to club activity with billiard, reading rooms, bowling allies and a swimming tank on one side of the building and on the other there was to a gymnasium 40 x 70, two stories high. The first and second floors were going to be outfitted with commodious class rooms and an auditorium on the top floor above the gymnasium. All this was to cost $35,000 or $50,000 with the addition of the land purchase need to build. Some years later a large gymnasium was built adjacent to the school giving more room for classes. Eventually the building became an elementary school and in the 1960's an addition was placed on the front of the school.

I attended grade school at St Peter's and have many fond memories of the place.  I also attended kindergarten at Longfellow School which was also a Waters' design and noticed the similarities in the two schools.  Some years ago the Catholic churches of Oshkosh were reorganized and what was St. Peter became Most Blessed Sacrament Parish and the school is still in use.  

 

The Colonial Revival Style

As the nineteenth century was coming to an end America's architectural tastes were changing.  The picturesque styles for house architecture such as Italianate and Queen Anne were no longer vogue, replaced by Colonial Revival, Bungalow, Tudor or Foursquare.   William Waters was an architect who changed with the times, working in the latest styles as per his client's wishes.  Mr. Waters examples of Colonial Revival are few but impressive.  One of the architects' earliest efforts was the 1903 Oshkosh Yacht Club on the lake shore at the foot of Washington Avenue, a tour de force of colonial grace and style.  Not built as a house but a club house it would have made an impressive mansion.

Further examples of Mr. Waters' work in this style don't come along until 1911 with the  design of a home for bank president Louis Schreiber, a brick structure on Algoma Blvd. adjacent to the Paine Art Museum.  The residence was the ideal of a colonial style home of the twentieth century and recently was the center of concern when the art museum offered it for the price of a dollar to anyone who would move it.  A happy ending has played out with an agreement to relocate the building not far away.  

Yet another colonial revival dwelling was one designed in 1915 for Mrs. Catherine Noyes.  Mrs Noyes was the widow of Dr. J. C. Noyes and after her husband's passing she had a fine new home built on Court Street only a block away from her former residence.  The house was of frame construction with two stories and a side porch on the first floor.  Mrs. Noyes lived in the house for many years and after her death the place became a gift shop.  The house was razed many years ago to make way for a parking lot.

Mr. Waters' practice started to slow as the new century aged.  Although still well respected William Waters had greater competition from younger, more aggressive architects.  Waters made drawings and sketches of houses, perhaps as ideas to present to prospective clients but it's unclear if any were built.  

To my  recollection there are only thses few expressions of Colonial Revival Style to architect Waters' credit.

The Green Bay Reformatory

In 1897 the Wisconsin legislature appropriated $75,000 for the construction of a reformatory for the housing and reformation of criminals from 17 to 30 years of age. A large tract of land in Allouez, just east of the Fox River near Green Bay was purchased and architects A. C. Clas of Milwaukee and John Charles of Menomonie there chosen to plan the building. An impressive and intimidating building of large granite blocks rose from the field near the river bank. There was a central pavilion stretching to the east and a wing at a right angle to that building running off to the south.  It was always the intention to build a north cell block as money was approved by the legislature.  

In 1901 it was clear that more cells were needed the lawmakers were considering a funding bill, part of which provided $88.000 for the reformatory at Green Bay. In late February of that year the Oshkosh Northwestern reported under the headline “Oshkosh Architects Win” that the firm of William Waters and Son were to furnish the plans for the addition to the Green Bay prison. The newspaper was clear that addition was intended to finish the partially completed building. The expansion called for a three story cell block measuring 176 feet long and 61 feet wide and would hold forty-six cells on each floor and to be constructed on the north side of the central building. Architects Clas and Charles had chosen the Romanesque Style for the original building with large arched openings for entrances and windows. The pair may even presented rendering showing the prison with north and south wings. The plans drawn by Waters and son for the north wing were a mirror image of the south wing, giving the structure a finish and unified look.

In late May of 1901 the state was receiving bids for a $100,000 addition. The state got only three bids, one form Meyer and Domke of Oshkosh, which was the low bid and two from Milwaukee contractors. The board deciding the matter was of the opinion that a choice of three bids would not serve the citizens well and called for and new round bidding. A contractor was finally selected and the north wing was finished, the prison is still in use.  

Oshkosh State Normal School

The state of Wisconsin had by the late 1860's established two Normal schools, the first in Platteville and the second in Whitewater, there was an obvious need for a more centrally located teachers college and the board of Normal School Regents had many fine cities from which to choose.  Oshkosh was eager to secure the school and the city council offered $30,000 to help fund the school.  It worked for the board of regents selected the city as the site for the new Normal School.  The next decision was where in the city would the school be located.  There were four options to consider: first, a site, just south of the Jackson St. fair grounds fronted along New York Ave., second, a lot to the west of the same fair grounds along Wisconsin St.  third, the old cemetery which was at the intersection of Algoma Blvd. and Union Ave., finally the A. B. Knapp property on Algoma Blvd.  The Regents first preference was the cemetery, the second was the site to west of the fair grounds and a resolution was passed in October of 1868 naming the cemetery as the site for the school.  It came as a big surprise when two months later the board changed their position and selected the eight acre Knapp parcel which was elevated and dry as well as populated with old oak trees.     

A few weeks after the Regents announced the location of the school came the news that William Waters' plans had been selected and that Mr. Waters was to supervise the construction of the building.  Galloway, Roger and Company of Sheboygan Falls won the contract to building the school. The young architect had arrived in Oshkosh in December of 1867 working hard to establish a thriving practice.  This job represented his entry into the circle of architects considered worthy of state projects.  Work started in May of 1869 and was to be completed by August of 1870.  The building was finished in time for the fall term of 1870 but the school failed to open owning to a lack of funds to furnish and operate it and stood empty and unused for a year until money was allocated to open the school.  The young architect designed an impressive structure in the Second Empire Style. The floor plan was asymmetrical but wall elevations displayed symmetry with towering ventilation plenums rising above the mansard roof.  By far the most impressive feature was the central tower which rose high above the rest of the building and nearby oak trees.  Algoma Blvd. follows an ancient trail along the Fox River which runs from the northwest to the southeast.  In the late 1860's there wasn't much out that way, a few houses here and there, soon however wealthy lumber and businessmen began to build along the street.

Oshkosh's Normal School proved to very popular and it grew swiftly, so much so that by 1874 an addition was needed.  Mr. Waters designed a harmonious addition which stretched to the north of his original building.  The addition was two stories high with a high foundation.  The center of the front elevation featured a bay window on the first floor above which were a set double windows and in the gable was a single arched top window. Flanking the center were sets of double windows on the first and second floors and lofty ventilation plenums.  A two story section connected the two buildings with an entrance near the original structure.   Two years later there was another addition planned with architect Waters competing against H. C. Kock of Milwaukee for the commission. In an article published in the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern of July 21, 1876 it was reported that Waters got the job, however just a few weeks later a notice for contractor bids appeared urging interested parties to view the plans at Mr. Kock's office, in Milwaukee or the Hay Hardware Store in Oshkosh.   

In July of 1893 it was announced that yet another addition was to be made to the Normal School, this time on south end of the original building.  Again architect Waters drew plans that were sympathetic with the earlier structure, using cream colored brick and roman ached windows.  It measured 118 by 60 feet and had a full basement and two stories.  Where the addition attached to the old building where was an ached opening and steps to an entrance adjacent to a bay which rose from the basement to the attic level.  Beyond that the building was symmetrical in its’ fenestration with sets of triplet window on the first and second floor below a central gable to either side was a single window followed sets of double windows, which set up a rhythm to the front elevation.

Mr. Waters was preparing plans in February of 1898 for yet another expansion of the Normal School.  The school’s president G. S. Albee was pushing of new build at the southeast end of the school complex.  A great deal of persuasion was required and it took several years before work could commence in May of 1900.  This time William Waters made no attempt to match the existing buildings as that style was passé, instead he treated the edifice as a separate and distinct structure although connected to the other buildings.  The new hall had a basement and three floors above, measuring 60 by 115 feet.  The building was capped with a hipped roof with large overhanging eves. 

On march 22, 1916 the school caught fire and burned beyond repair.  All portions of the many buildings were severely damaged and had to be razed.  The academic year continued with classes being held in various halls and churches throughout the city. Soon a new building rose on the spot where the old school stood and is in use to this day.           

State Normal School at River Falls

Not long after Wisconsin became a state its' legislature enacted laws providing for the establishment of state schools.  The University of Wisconsin at Madison was inaugurated in 1849 as well as a school for the blind in Janesville and in 1852 a school for the deaf opened in Delavan.  The state of Wisconsin also founded Normal Schools or teacher colleges, throughout the state the forth one of which was built in River Falls in 1875.  River Falls was a small town in western Wisconsin just east of Minneapolis, St Paul.  The academe was successful and both the city and school thrived.  On a winter's night in 1897 the building burned almost entirely but the community pull together helping to set up class rooms in churches, lodge halls and other venues such that only a half day of class time was lost.   The Normal School Board of Regents took up the matter of rebuilding and other cities wished to move the school but the citizens of River Falls prevailed with the regents calling for architects to submit plans for a new building.  Dozens of proposals were received from architect in Milwaukee, Racine, Janesville, La Cross, Superior and Ashland but in the end Oshkosh architect William Waters’ plans was judged the best.

Mr. Waters paid a visit to River Falls in February of 1898 to view the site and assess what might be salvaged.  A week later a notice for contractor to submit bids was published with Bonnett, Michele and Company of Milwaukee winning the contract.  But April construction was well under way and the new school finished by September in time for the fall term.  For many years there was but one building on campus but in 1914 North Hall was built.  The building designed by Waters became known as South Hall and by the 1970’s had become run down to the point that there was serious talk of razing the structure and building anew.  An effort to save the building was launched and in 1976 a newly refurbished South Hall was added to The National Register of Historic Places.