| 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.
Six story painted red brick with terra cotta trim, original storefront, mill construction. This structure is architecturally interesting for its Academic Neoclassical details, interesting brickwork and original first floor, and for its lack of arches, a motif used on nearly every other warehouse of its age in the district.
In 1872, Wm. Smith, Judson Roundy and Sidney Hauzhurst established Smith, Roundy & Co., a wholesale grocery firm which was soon considered to be one of the largest in the West. Smith retired in 1877 to serve as state governor, and W.S. Peckham and Chas. Dexter were admitted, changing the name to Roundy, Peckham & Co. In 1886 they moved from Water St. to the SW corner of Broadway and Buffalo Streets where their store was destroyed in 1892 by the fire, and was replaced by this building. In addition to importing and jobbing staple and fancy groceries, Roundy, Peckham & Dexter Co. packaged grains and cereals, repacked herring, and roasted coffee and peanuts. Some of the roasting equipment remains on the upper floors of the newer building, and a tin-lined spiral chute leads from the 6th to the 3rd floor of the older building. One of the three rope-operated elevators is still operative. Known since 1952 as Roundy's Inc., the firm has remained popular as one of the area's last suppliers catering to independent merchants and restaurants. In 1962, when Roundy's relocated to the suburbs, the building was purchased by the Parkwood Corp., mfr. and distributor of children's books and point of purchase displays.
1912 - two bays to Sourth - 6 sty. |
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