Property Record
4556 N BRANCH ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | CHICAGO AND NORTH-WESTERN LAND OFFICE |
|---|---|
| Other Name: | WABENO PUBLIC LIBRARY |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 29119 |
| Location (Address): | 4556 N BRANCH ST |
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| County: | Forest |
| City: | |
| Township/Village: | Wabeno |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | 34 |
| Range: | 15 |
| Direction: | E |
| Section: | 7 |
| Quarter Section: | |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: |
| Year Built: | 1897 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19902019 |
| Historic Use: | small office building |
| Architectural Style: | Side Gabled |
| Structural System: | Log |
| Wall Material: | Log |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Chicago and North-Western Land Office |
|---|---|
| National Register Listing Date: | 12/23/1993 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 10/8/1993 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office. In the nineteenth century, the federal government gave generous land grants to the railroad companies to induce them to construct transportation systems and thereby open Wisconsin’s wilderness to settlement. The railroads were supposed to use the land-sale proceeds to underwrite the costs of laying track. The Chicago and North Western Railway sold much of its northeastern Wisconsin grant to the public at $5 to $15 an acre, producing a considerable profit. Here in this land office building, the company began selling forested land two years before the railroad line reached Wabeno. Built in 1897, the land office sales room itself was a product of the forest. The one-room building is made of locally felled logs, joined at the corners with a combination of square notches, half notches, and half dovetails. Still visible are the scars of the broadax used to shape each log. Log posts support the wraparound veranda and its pent roof. In 1923, the railroad donated the building to the town of Wabeno as a library. Probably at that time, a concrete foundation and basement was poured and a split-fieldstone chimney added. |
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| Bibliographic References: | PESHTIGO TIMES 3/9/1994. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |