2879 N Grant Blvd
Milwaukee, WI, USA

North Grant Boulevard Historic District

The North Grant Boulevard Historic District is a neighborhood of stylish houses built on large lots from 1913 to 1931 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.


History

Charles James was the English immigrant who built Milwaukee's first frame store and a home and warehouse for Solomon Juneau. In 1839 he bought the 160-acre parcel which now holds the district and built a prominent farm there, with his house and the surrounding five acres framed in a horseshoe of evergreen trees. He called his farm "The Cedars," and it was noted for growing 200 varieties of roses, tulips, peonies, apples, potatoes and wild plums.

By 1890 Milwaukee's city limits had reached Charles James' farm. The growing city was developing parks for its citizens, and bought the land that is now Sherman Park to the north for that purpose. With that promise, real estate brokers Julius Wechselberg, a former member of the Wisconsin State Senate, and his brother Ludwig bought 100 acres of James' farm for residential development between 1890 and 1896. In 1896 Ludwig, Henry C. Paine, and Benjamin Weil incorporated the Boulevard Park Land Company, but not much happened there for years, perhaps because the land was still out of town, not served by public transport. Finally in 1909 the company bought the last bit of James' farm and began to plat the parcels for development.

The company's target was high-class buyers, so it platted the land in rather large lots 50 feet wide and from 120 to 165 feet deep. The company also asked the city to officially designate Grant street a "boulevard," which gave it prestige by limiting its use by wagons, trucks and sleighs. Until then Milwaukee had typically granted this designation to broad streets linking parks with the two roadways separated by a landscaped median. Grant would be broad, but it did not link parks, and instead of the median down the middle, it would have a single roadway down the center, with a broad landscaped strip down each side. The boulevard designation was finally granted in 1917. Deed restrictions within the neighborhood required single-family homes, required that they have a minimum value of $3,500 initially, and required that houses be set back about 80 feet from the street to give an estate-like feel. Deed restrictions also forbade the sale of alcohol, livery stables, and "any business that would be detrimental to the interests of a first class residential neighborhood."

Construction of homes began around 1913 and finished in 1931. 119 of the structures now contribute to the historic district. Here are examples of the various styles:

The Walter J. Buckley house at 2370 N. Grant Boulevard is a 2.5-story English-influenced Arts and Crafts-style house designed by Charles Valentine and built in 1913, stucco-clad on a brick base with some half-timbering. Buckley was secretary-treasurer of the T.L. Smith Co., which built concrete-mixing and stone-crushing equipment. Walter Mockler bought the house in 1918; he was vice-president of the A. George Schulz Co., which made paper boxes. Erving Koester, a lawyer, bought the house in 1923 and lived there into the 1970s.

The George Seifert house at 2416 N Grant Boulevard is a 2-story Arts and Crafts-style house designed by Frank Drolshagen and built in 1915, with a brick-clad first story, stucco-clad second story, jerkin-head gables framing the upper windows, and a front porch with brick piers supporting a flared gable. Seifert was a salesman.

The George E. Martin house at 2417 N. Grant Boulevard is a 2.5-story American Foursquare-style house with Prairie School influences designed by Gustav Dick. Martin was an executive of his father's George Martin Leather Company.

The Harry Herz house at 2436 N. Grant Boulevard is a 2-story Prairie style house designed by Herbst & Hufschmidt and built in 1915. It is clad in brick, with a hip roof and the emphasis on the horizontal typical of the style. Herz was a partner in A. Herz & Son, a butcher's supply company.

The John A. Kramer house at 2437 N. Grant Boulevard is a 1.5-story bungalow designed by Charles Valentine and built in 1915, with an unusual chimney and a half-width open front porch framed by heavy brackets. Kramer was an adjuster, assistant treasurer, and paymaster for the Wisconsin Telephone Co. The district has more bungalows than any other style.

The John H. Rauschenberg house at 2717 N. Grant Blvd. is a stately Classical Revival home designed by Henry E. Schuette and built in 1916. The airy portico spans the full front of the 2-story house and is supported by four tapered columns. The front doors are French doors, and there is a side entrance into a small wing. Rauschenberg was VP of the John Rauschenberg Company, which made rope and twine.

The George C. Otto house at 2452 N. Grant Blvd. is a 1.5-story Craftsman bungalow built in 1919. Hallmarks of the Craftsman style are the exposed rafter tails and the knee braces under the eave ends. Otto was a clerk and department manager for M.F. Patterson Dental Supply Co.

The Dr. Max Bornstein house at 2505 N. Grant Blvd. is a 2-story Dutch Colonial Revival home built in 1920. The symmetry, columns, and the door with sidelights make it Colonial Revival. The gambrel roof makes it Dutch. Bornstein specialized in plastic surgery and brain surgery and had an office in the Iron Block building.

The John B. Lenartz house at 2857 N. Grant Blvd. is a 2-story Foursquare-ish house with a hip roof built in 1920. It was actually a Sears catalog home called "The Alhambra," but was clad in brick in 1928 and somewhat reshaped. Lenartz was a salesman for the Robert A. Johnson Co., a confectioner and wholesale supplier for bakeries.

The Franklin G. Herbst house at 2550 N. Grant Blvd. is a 2-story brick home designed by Leenhouts and Guthrie and built in 1921. Colonial Revival style shows in the symmetry and the entry portico with Tuscan columns. Herbst was an executive of the Herbst Shoe Company.

The John L. Hahn house at 2442 N. Grant Blvd. is a 1.5-story Mediterranean Revival-style home designed by Dick & Bauer and built in 1922. The roof is covered in terra cotta tiles - the hallmark of the style - but unusually steep. Everything is high-quality. The dormers in the roof are copper-clad and the gutters are copper. The first-story windows are round-headed, and the front entrance is a pavilion framed in Tuscan columns. Hahn was a contractor and later owner of the Hahn Plumbing Company. It is said that Hahn had to move out of the house in 1931 (during the Great Depression) because the city was slow to pay for contracting work he had done.

The Edward J. Leiser house at 2856 N. Grant Blvd. is a 1.5-story English Cottage-style home built in 1922. Leiser was secretary of the Industrial Supply Company, which sold foundry supplies.

The George F. Dewein house at 2765 N. Grant Blvd. is a Tudor Revival-styled cottage designed by Eschweiler & Eschweiler and built in 1924, with manorial windows. Dewein was a patent attorney for Allis-Chalmers.

The Grover E. Hanisch house at 2557 N. Grant Blvd. is a brick Georgian Revival-styled house designed by R.H. Baerman and built in 1929, with quoins on the corners and around the door, and a denticulated cornice. Hanisch organized the Ideal Shoe Company. In 1934 the house was bought by Robert Dieckelman, president of Pyramid Building and Loan Association and VP of Pressed Steel Tank Company

The Edward Schildknecht house at 2774 N. Grant Blvd is a 1.5-story French Provincial-styled house designed by William C. Keller and built in 1931. It is clad in lannon stone, with a tile roof and with a 2-story tower with conical roof above the main entrance. Schildknecht worked his way up from office boy to president of West Side Manufacturing Company, and was president of Badger Sash and Door.

National Register of Historic Places - North Grant Boulevard Historic District

Statement of Significance:

Six-block-long Grant Boulevard lies in the west half of Section 13, Town 7 North, Range 21 East. The four blocks between West North Avenue and West Center Street are in the southwest quarter and the two blocks between West Center Street and West Locust Street are in the northwest quarter of that section. Milwaukee pioneer Charles James received his patent on the 160 acres of the southwest quarter on August 5, 1839, while on the same date a patent was granted to Samuel Brown for the northwest quarter. Both quarter sections remained essentially rural through the nineteenth century. Brown sold off his acreage within a few years after acquiring it, and not much information could be found about the subsequent land holders. James' property remained almost intact until it was platted for development.

A native of St. Malvern, Cornwall, England, Charles James (March 31, 1812 - January 31, 1900) was a well-known figure in early Milwaukee, having been the builder of the city's first frame store, of city founder Solomon Juneau's first frame dwelling, and of Juneau's warehouse on the Milwaukee River. James was best remembered, however, for his beautiful and productive farm located between today's North 35th Street, North Sherman Boulevard, West North Avenue, and West Center Street in what was then the Town of Wauwatosa. In the 1850s, the Milwaukee Sentinel praised the farm's produce which included apples, potatoes, and wild plums and especially James' flower garden, which the paper called one of the best in the state.

James built an elegant hip-roofed house on his farm in 1848, and the five acres surrounding the house and farm complex were landscaped with a double row of trees in the shape of a horseshoe with the open end facing east. The trees consisted of red and white cedars, white pine, balsam, Norway spruce, and hemlocks and resulted in the farm being named "The Cedars." James' celebrated flower gardens were located within this windbreak and contained 200 varieties of roses and hundreds of varieties of tulips and peonies. James' prosperous farm was shown in a full-page illustration in the 1876 Illustrated Historical Atlas of Milwaukee County.

The city limits had not yet extended to the west half of Section 13 when the Milwaukee Park Commission was created in 1889. The Commission's wide-ranging quest for park sites led to a flurry of real estate speculation in lands adjacent to the city as developers tried to buy up tracts to sell to the city for parkland or to develop as high-class residential subdivisions that could command high prices due to their proximity to a city park. The Park Commission acquired a 24-acre tract in the northwest quarter of Section 13 in the fall of 1891. The Perrigo Tract, as it was called, is today known as Sherman Park and covers the area between North Sherman Boulevard, North 41st Street, West Locust and West Burleigh Streets. Between 1890 and 1896, Julius and Ludwig Wechselberg purchased over 100 acres in the southwest quarter of Section 13 from. Charles James. The Wechselberg brpthers were successful real estate brokers who were described as having "had phenomenal success, having purchased and sold hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of acreage, subdivisions and lots." 6 When he sold his farm, Charles James, by this time an elderly man, reserved the 120-foot by 90-foot section of land on which his homestead stood. Set back from West North Avenue, the parcel sat roughly where today's 2327-2329 North Grant Boulevard is located. James also reserved a right-of-way to his house from West North Avenue along what would be the west half of today's Grant Boulevard. The Wechselbergs agreed to pay the taxes on the property as well as to keep up the buildings, while James agreed to remove the house whenever the Wechselbergs desired to plat the land.

The James house was described in 1896 as being as firm and free of shrinkage as the day it was completed, and that the plaster walls of the hall and parlor were "as perfect as on the day the mason's trowel polished their surfaces, with not a break nor a blot to mar their beauty."

By the late 1890s, Charles James was no longer spending much time at "The Cedars." A married niece cared for the homestead, since James had never married. He divided his time between his farmhouse, the Hotel Aberdeen in downtown Milwaukee, and a married niece's home in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and he wintered each year in the South. James died at the age of 87 while wintering in Thomasville, Georgia on January 31, 1900. His obituaries indicate that a nephew occupied the old house at "The Cedars" at that time.

Although Ludwig Wechselberg joined with Henry C. Paine and Benjamin M. Weil to incorporate the Boulevard Park Land Company on July 22, 1896, they did not plat the 80 acres around the old James farmstead for over a decade. Distance from the city seemed to be one reason that development was delayed, especially since the area was not served by public transportation, a factor said to contribute to the relatively low use of nearby Sherman Park.

Evidently the investors determined that the time was right to develop the land in 1909, and the James heirs deeded over the final portion of the old homestead to the company in July of that year. It is not known whether or not the James house still stood at that time, whether it was razed or moved to a new location or left in place and extensively remodeled to blend with the new subdivision. The Boulevard Park Land Company platted their holdings in four separate increments, moving from south to north. Each portion was annexed to the city separately just before the plat was recorded by the county. Prior to these annexations, the western city limits were irregular but generally ended at North 39th Street. The Boulevard Park Subdivision extended from North 39th Street to North Sherman Boulevard and from North Avenue to West Meinecke Street; it was annexed on December 8, 1909, and the plat was recorded on February 25, 1910. u The First Continuation of Boulevard Park encompassed land from North 39th Street to Sherman Boulevard and from West Meinecke to West Wright Streets; it was annexed on December 8, 1911, and the plat recorded on March 5, 1912. 1Z The Second Continuation of Boulevard Park extended from North 39th Street to Sherman Boulevard between West Wright and West Clarke Streets, while the Third Continuation of Boulevard Park extended the subdivision north from West Clarke to West Center Streets. The city annexed these two parcels together on January 20, 1914. The Second Continuation plat was recorded on March 10, 1914, while the Third Continuation was platted on December 30, 1914.

Within the Boulevard Park Subdivision, North 39th, North 40th, and North 41st Streets were laid out to be 60 feet wide, while the lots fronting those streets were generally 40 feet wide by 118 or 119.5 feet deep. Grant Boulevard, the centerpiece of the subdivision, was laid out with a 105-foot roadway with generous lots 50 feet wide by 120 feet deep along the east side of the thoroughfare and 50 feet wide by 150 feet deep on the west side of the street. The lots fronting on Sherman Boulevard were even more spacious at 50 feet wide by 165 feet deep.

As stated earlier, the northernmost two blocks of Grant Boulevard, between Center and Locust Streets, located in the northwest quarter of Section 13, have a slightly different history. The property had passed from S. Brown to B. Brazee in 1841 with a smaller 42-acre parcel passing to J. Cramer and later to E. Pavenstedt and to H. Deetjen in 1857. In 1868 and 1869, A. Zillmer acquired this land and held it until he sold it to the Residence Realty Company on September 14, 1912. It encompassed the area between North 39th Street, North Sherman Boulevard, West Center and Locust Streets. The Residence Realty Company was incorporated on September 10, 1912, with John G. Reuteman, August Richter, Jr., and G. P. Plischke as officers. The Residence Realty Company platted the land as Residence Park, and the plat was recorded on August 11, 1914. The area was annexed by the City of Milwaukee on September 1, 1914. 14 The width of the roadways and sizes of lots conformed to those of Boulevard Park.

Although nominally identified as a boulevard on the various plats described above, official boulevard designation from the City of Milwaukee was something that the developers began to petition for right after the First Continuation of Boulevard Park was platted in 1912. Boulevard status conveyed more than just prestige. The concept of a series of 100-foot-wide boulevards that would ring the city at the city limits was proposed as early as 1877, but it took the creation of the Park Commission in 1889 for serious boulevard planning to begin. The park commissioners lobbied for the creation of boulevards and pleasure ways to link the various public parks scattered throughout the city and its environs. Chapter 167 of the State of Wisconsin Laws of 1895 created the official boulevard designation and gave Milwaukee's Common Council the power to designate thoroughfares as boulevards upon the recommendation of the Park Commission. Official designation prohibited heavy vehicles such as drays, wagons, trucks and sleighs from "carrying goods, merchandise, timber, stone, building material, wood, manure, dirt or other articles" along boulevards except to deliver necessary items to residences fronting on the boulevard. By 1914 the ordinance was expanded to give the Park Commission control over the planting and care of the parked plots along boulevards as well.

Grant Boulevard's proximity to Sherman Boulevard, located just one block to the west, may have been the reason that its designation as a city boulevard was a long and drawn-out affair. Sherman Boulevard was created to link two city parks: Washington Park on the south and Sherman Park on the north. Sherman Park was named after Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman, and the boulevard was named accordingly. Like traditional boulevards, Sherman Boulevard's 120-foot width is divided into two roadways by a landscaped median strip.

Grant Boulevard did not link two parks like its neighbor, although its northern terminus is Sherman Park. Grant Boulevard was originally planned as a traditional boulevard with a 25-foot center plot flanked by two broad roadways. The property owners and the Boulevard Park Land Company conferred with the park board in 1910, however, before construction of the street had commenced and indicated their preference for a wide center roadway with side parked lots that "would be of greater practical value and also give the street a better appearance." 16 The Board of Park Commissioners agreed with the request, but Common Council approval was postponed for several years. The request for designation as an official boulevard was reintroduced on November 29, 1913, and again in 1917, when it was finally approved in a vote of the Common Council on November 19, 1917. By the time it was designated, some thirteen thoroughfares, or portions thereof, had been designated as boulevards by the Common Council.

Both Boulevard Park and Residence Park reflect the trend of the prezoning era to create first class residential neighborhoods free of commercial and industrial encroachments by using deed restrictions that would ensure that a certain type and quality of building was constructed in a subdivision. Both Boulevard Park and Residence Park established restrictions against the manufacture, sale or other dispersal of alcoholic beverages and prohibited saloons and other establishments that would serve such substances such as hotels and restaurants. Deed restrictions also prohibited livery, boarding or sale stables, and any business that would be detrimental to the interests of a first-class residential neighborhood. Residence Park did allow professional persons to conduct some of their business in their homes. The developers also established a uniform setback from the center line of Grant Boulevard in order to preserve the estate-like quality of the lots. In Boulevard Park and its continuations, the setback was established at 77 1/2 feet; in Residence Park the setback was 82 1/2 feet, and buyers were responsible for grading the land to an elevation not to exceed 21 inches above the established grade of the street. Both developments restricted construction on Grant Boulevard to single family residences. Each subdivision spelled out minimum valuations for the houses to be constructed. In Boulevard Park the amount began at $3,500 but it was increased to $5,000 and even $6,000 by 1919. Residence Park maintained a standard figure of $3,500, although most of the houses built there far exceeded that figure in cost. Violations of this covenant would result in the forfeiture of the property and its reversion back to the developers or their successors. In Residence Park the original covenant had an expiration date of January 1, 1985, but there were no time limits set in Boulevard Park.

Building permit information indicates that house construction began around 1913, and by 1918 approximately 34 of the extant structures had been built. Between 1919 and 1922 some 69 houses were erected, the largest number of these, 25, were built in 1921 alone. As available lots were built up, construction tapered off, and the last house built during the boulevard's period of significance was erected in 1931 at 2774 North Grant Boulevard. The Boulevard Park Land Company dissolved as a corporation on March 12, 1926, as had the Residence Realty Company on January 16, 1924.

Many of the extant houses along Grant Boulevard were either architectdesigned or contractor-built for the original owner-occupants of the properties. There were several instances, however, where it appears that real estate companies or builders, such as Paul J. Wick or Walter Truettner, purchased lots, erected houses on speculation, and subsequently sold them to homeowners. Examples of this include Nos. 2756, 2762, 2770, 2804, and 2822. While most of the original owners were generally long-term occupants, some owners sold their properties within a year or two of purchase, leading one to speculate that they may have been capitalizing on the appreciation of their property.

Grant Boulevard attracted a prosperous upper middle-class segment of society. The first residents came from neighborhoods around Brewer's Hill, North Tenth, and North Eleventh Streets, and from nearby west side streets. Owners included professionals in the real estate, insurance and brokerage fields and proprietors of various stores, as well as some physicians, dentists and attorneys. Several contractors in the building trades lived here, as well as upper management executives of large corporations. The greatest number of residents by far were the officers of small manufacturing and service corporations, most of which seem to have been family-owned. The businesses ranged from printing companies to leather products to dairies. Perhaps the most recognizable name among these businessmen was Philip Koehring, owner of the still extant Koehring Company, manufacturers of construction equipment. Koehring moved from Grant Boulevard to a Tudor Revival style mansion he built on Lake Drive in 1930.

Residents of Grant Boulevard had surnames of predominantly German and Jewish ethnicity, such as Rosenberg, Rothman, Goldback, Hersh, Kramer, Marquardt, and Orth. Like many of the West Side neighborhoods, family and business ties seem to link several the Grant Boulevard residents. There are several instances of officers of the same corporation living here, reflecting marital or family ties. There are also examples of multiple households with the same surname: three Lauers, four Hackbarths, two Breithaupts, and two Glienkes.

Having attained a secure professional status, most of the original owners appear to have been in their late 30s or 40s when they moved to Grant Boulevard. Many stayed in their houses for twenty years or more before they moved to other houses on Sherman Boulevard or other parts of the Sherman Park neighborhood. The stability of the neighborhood is exemplified by the number of families who are known to have lived on Grant Boulevard from the 1920s or 1930s into the 1970s: Mayer (No. 2316), Leichtfuss (No. 2311), Koester (No. 2370), Scholl/Reisweber (No. 2424), Puls (No. 2443), O'Day (No. 2517), Herbst (No. 2550), Lauer (No. 2564), Gengler (No. 2602), Hoerig (No. 2636), Weber (No. 2658), Hackbarth (No. 2702), Kuemmerlein (No. 2731), Reichardt (No. 2804), Lefco (No. 2837), Herbst (No. 2850), Senn (No. 2870), and Schober (No. 2862) .