Property Record
116 E FRANKLIN ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Fayette Baldwin Blacksmith Shop |
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| Other Name: | Curt's Family Hairstyling |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 27928 |
| Location (Address): | 116 E FRANKLIN ST |
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| County: | Monroe |
| City: | Sparta |
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| Year Built: | 1920 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1989 |
| Historic Use: | blacksmith shop |
| Architectural Style: | Commercial Vernacular |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Rock-Faced Concrete Block |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Water Street Commercial Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 11/12/1992 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 7/3/1992 |
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| Additional Information: | The Fayette Baldwin Blacksmith shop was erected sometime in the 1920s and was associated with the Baldwin Blacksmith shop next door at 114 East Franklin Street. It replaced an earlier structure on this site owne dby Baldwin which was used for the same purposes. It is not known how long the building was used as blacksmith shop. In 1875, an earlier structure on this property started out as a wood shop in connection with the F. Herbst wagon shop next door (114 E. Franklin). Herbst, in 1875, advertised the manufacturing of wagons and sleighs here on Franklin Street. This earlier building was eventually taken over by J.H. Baldwin who used the building in association with his blacksmith and wagon shop complex next door. It is associated with the topic Miscellaneous Small Businesses and Light Industries in Sparta's industrial theme. The Baldwin Blacksmith Shop was an established Sparta business when the building was constructed for that purpose in 1925. The building's period of historical significance ranges from 1925 to an unknown date, when it no longer functioned as a blacksmith shop. This small, three-bay former industrial building is a vernacular building displaying a rock-face concrete block facade further characterized by a central entrance topped by a straight. flat conecret lintel and by rectnagular windows featuring straight concrete lintels and sills that flank the entrance. The Baldwin Blacksmith shop has been altered by the addition of metal replacement windows and by the filling-in of the double leaf wooden servce door partially with a modern metal and glass door and partially by a wooden panel. This small industrial building was constructed as a the A. Fayette Bladwin Blacksmith Shop in the mid-to-late 1920s. Evidently it was constructed as a small blacksmith shop for Fayette Baldwin after he rented his earlier shop located adjcant to this building at 114 East Franklin (MP 27/11) to the Brush Factory in the mid-1920s. It replaced a wood shed built earlier on the site. It is a less substantial example of the small vernacular industrial building than the Baldwin building located at 114 East Franklin. Also, this small concrete block building is a less prominent example as well as a later example of concrete block construction that the building at 215 South Water (MO 24/16). |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) City of La Crosse, Tax Records, 1900-1928. (B) Historic name, date of construction: City of Sparta Property Tax Rolls, 1870-1940. (C) Sanborn Insurance Map, 1889, 1894, 1900, 1911, 1922, 1931. (D) City Directory of the City of Sparta, Wisconsin. Sparta: compiled and published by E.B. Bell, 1916. (E) Map of Sparta, Wisconsin. Milwaukee: Phoenix Map Company of Milwaukee, 1875. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |