| 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.
Other map codes for this structure are PO-DD and DA 59/10. The P in the photo code stands for PO.
Architectural Description:
The one story building is an example of the Art Moderne style. The plan is irregular with the public entrance/lobby on the Main Street face. The elevation is organized symmetrically about the empty rooms. A portion of the building extends out to one side, but because it is set back from the facade, it does not detract from the symmetry of the elevation. This addition has an unknown construction date and is located off the northeast (rear) corner of the building. The storm windows, entrance doors and transom panels are not original. The building is constructed of tan brick on a concrete base. The coping at the top of the walls is limestone. Fenestration is regular with large twelve-over-twelve double hung wood sash windows. The entry doors are set in a recessed panel; elaborate tracery adorns the door transom. The entry steps are of concrete with metal railings. The structure is in good condition. The cornerstone notes: "Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury, James A. Farley, Postmaster General, Louis a. Simon, Supervising Architect, Neal A. Melick, Supervising Engineer, 1938."
The interior has the original tile wall and wainscot. The walls and ceiling are of plaster and the wood trim and windows are original. A new aluminum framed vestibule has been added to the lobby. On the west wall of the lobby is a mural entitled "Air Mail Service" which was executed by Edmund Lewandowski, a Milwaukee artist. [G]. The building is located on the Main Street of Stoughton's business district.
Architectural/Engineering Significance:
The Stoughton Post Office was identified as significant in the recently completed intensive survey of the city. This post office is one of three surveyed that are designed similarly. The Stoughton Post Office is the only one which has retained the original lanterns on either side of the main entry. The Post Office is significant as part of a district under Criterion C as an example of federally influenced Art Deco architecture.
Historical Background:
This building, which was originally occupied in June of 1938, is the first federally owned post office in Stoughton. Prior to construction of this building, postal services were conducted in various locations selected by a series of local postmasters. Postal service in Stoughton dates from 1848. The site of this first post office was not discovered in this study. Prior to 1881, however, a Post Office was located in a building an an unknown location on Main Street. In 1881, that building was moved behind the bank. [C]. The Post Office relocated to the basement of the bank building [C], presumably the Stoughton State Bank, in what is now the west section of Wisconsin Power and Light and Stationary House building [DA 59/19]. The Post Office immediately prior to this building was located across the street, in what is now the east section of the Wisconsin Power and Light and Stationary House building. [A]. The 1912 Sanborn-Perris map is the first to show the Post Office in that location, which was then number 202 East Main Street. [A].
This Post Office was one of several constructed in Wisconsin by the Federal Public Works Administration in the 1930s. Louis Simon, an architect with the Treasury Department, was the designer of this Post Office. [D].
August 2013: Transom and railings along front stoop replaced/restored
August 2019: Appearance unchanged. |
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| Bibliographic References: | A. Sanborn-Perris Insurance Maps: 1884, 1887, 1889, 1892, 1904, 1912, 1926, 1926-43.
B. Sheath, Thomas. "A Directory of the City of Stoughton and the Villages of Edgerton, Milton and Milton Junction." Madison, Wisconsin: Sheath and Wilson, 1882.
C. "The Stoughton Courier." 28 April, 1981.
D. Survey Card, Wisconsin Inventory of Historic Places, DA 40-14, 11/20/79.
E. Date of construction source: Cornerstone.
F. Bernstein, Rebecca Sample, "Stoughton Intensive Survey Report," July 1991, p. 23.
G. SHSW Reconnaissance Survey Files.
H. Rebecca Sample Bernstein for the City of Stoughton Landmarks Commission and Downtown Revitalization Association, Historic Main Street: An Architectural & Historical Guide to Downtown Stoughton, 1991. |
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