by Steve Tesmer | Apr 22, 2012 | Historic Places
Date in History: 1956 The house that began the Hoard Historical Museum was a generous gift given to the city of Fort Atkinson. Built in 1864, the stately and solidly built cream brick home at the end of Merchants Avenue was purchased in 1909 by Frank & Luella...
by Steve Tesmer | Apr 22, 2012 | Historic Places
Date in History: 1930s In 1933 the Fort Atkinson chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, or DAR, met in the home of Luella Hoard to start thinking about the city’s upcoming centennial celebration. They decided to begin collecting historic artifacts and...
by Steve Tesmer | Apr 22, 2012 | Historic Places
The citizens of Helenville Wisconsin, an unincorporated community eight miles east of Jefferson, should be grateful to an early settler for the care he took in naming their town. Ortgies Bullwinkel came to the area in 1848, and like many early settlers, he soon had...
by Steve Tesmer | Apr 22, 2012 | Historic Places
Date in History: 1920s – 1980 The Haven Motel with its adobe cabins sits south of Fort Atkinson on highway 12 on the way to Whitewater. Built in the late 1920s by the Lein family, it was originally called Lein’s Cabins and advertised as the only motel between...
by Steve Tesmer | Apr 22, 2012 | Historic Places
Date in History: 1920 The large building at the corner of North Main and Sherman Avenue, known by most of us as the Hartel Building, was actually built by the Creamery Package Company in 1920. At that time, Creamery Package – a maker of dairy and food processing...
by Steve Tesmer | Apr 22, 2012 | Historic Places
Date in History: 1960s The replica of Fort Koshkonong out in Rock River Park in Fort Atkinson was built in the late 1960s by a group of civic-minded citizens who believed that the only town in Wisconsin to be named after a Fort should actually have one. Led by Gus...
