| Additional Information: | 2017 survey recommendation write-up:
Comprised of a two-story main block and a one-story wing to the rear, this house is clad with brick and rises from a rock-faced, cut-stone foundation. The exterior brickwork is laid in English bond, which means that each row of brick alternates between a header and a stretcher course. Regarding the gabled two-story block, its street-facing elevation is symmetrically arranged and includes a central gabled wall dormer; four, two-over-two-light, double-hung windows line the first floor while two are located along the second level. A circular window is located within the gabled peak of this elevation, as well as along the east and west facades. All fenestration along this elevation, as well as its endwalls, are topped with an ornate segmental-arched, brickwork header comprised of four rows of brick, the second and fourth rows are flush with the wall, while the alternating rows project from the wall. The home’s entrance is oriented to the east and located at the main block’s juncture with the one-story wing to the rear, the latter of which also includes an entrance. Evident along the east side of the rear wing is a three-sided bay that is partially sheathed with clapboard and includes six-over-one-light, double-hung sash.
The Peter and Catherine Toonen House was completed in 1883. Toonen was born in Holland in May 1837. On 1 October 1870 he wed Catherine Hartjes and two years later they immigrated to the United States. Between 1875 and 1880, he purchased the subject parcel which presumably included a house. As of the 1880 census, Peter was working as a blacksmith and he and Catherine had four children: Mary (age 8), Christina (age 7), Anton (age 5) and John (age 2). In 1883, a newsbrief in the Green Bay Press- Gazette indicates the Toonen home on Lewis Street had been recently completed: “The new solid and commodious dwelling of Peter Toonen…” was the scene of an open house of sorts to show off the home to friends. The article went on to say “This is thought to be the finest and most expensive residence ever put up by a Hollander in this city.” Toonen’s blacksmith shop was located to the east of the house, which helps to explain the home’s entrance orientation to the east.
Peter is simply identified as a capitalist as of the 1900 census and, on 22 June 1903, he died. His widow remained in the home for a period; however, as of 1910, the house had passed into the hands of the Toonen’s son John. John and his wife Dora (nee Alears) wed in 1900 and they had at least eight children. John worked as a machinist at the C.A. Lawton Company, where he remained into (at least) the early 1940s. John died in 1953 at the age of seventy-five, at which time he still resided in the Lewis Street home. Dora, although no longer living in the home, died in 1980, at the age of ninety-nine. The house is currently a two-family home and is for sale. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Citations for 2017 survey report information found below in Additional Comments:
Newsbrief (re: New house of Peter Toonen), Green Bay Press-Gazette, 12 November 1883, 4; U.S. Federal Census, Population, 1880, 1900; Tax Rolls, City of De Pere, 1875, 1880, 1885.
U.S. Federal Census, Population, 1900, 1910, 1930, 1940; “John Toonen, 75, Machinist for 58 Years, Succumbs,” Green Bay Press-Gazette, 8 October 153, 24. “Mrs. John Toonen,” obituary, De Pere Journal, 18 September 1980, 7. |
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