619 East Dover Street | National or State Registers Record | Wisconsin Historical Society

National or State Registers Record

619 East Dover Street

National or State Register of Historic Places
619 East Dover Street | National or State Registers Record | Wisconsin Historical Society
NAMES
Historic Name:Dover Street School and Social Center
Reference Number:16000239
PROPERTY LOCATION
Location (Address):619 East Dover Street
County:Milwaukee
City/Village:Milwaukee
Township:
SUMMARY
Dover Street School and Social Center
619 East Dover Street, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County
Architect: Walter A. Holbrook, E. Townsend Mix Co. (1889-1909); Van Ryn and DeGelleke (1917)
Date of Construction: 1889-1959

Located in the Bay View neighborhood, the Dover Street School and Social Center is one of Milwaukee’s earliest Progressive era neighborhood social centers. The building functioned as a Milwaukee public school from 1890 to 2011. It also functioned simultaneously as the Dover Street Social Center, providing evening and weekend activities for both children and adults. The original school building was built in 1889-1890, followed by a west addition in 1893, both of which were designed in the Queen Anne architectural style. A south addition built in 1909, was constructed in a simpler, Classically-inspired design void of overt ornamental details. In June 1910, a fire destroyed the top floor and part of the second floor of the building resulting in the removal of most of the character defining features of the Queen Anne style.

On October 25, 1911, Woodrow Wilson, then-Governor of New Jersey and soon to be President of the United States, spoke to the First National Conference on Civic and Social Center Development, held at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. In his speech, Wilson stated, "The object of the [social center] movement is to make the schoolhouse the civic center of the community, at any rate in such communities as are supplied with no other place of common resort.” He went on to note, "The study of the civic center is the study of the spontaneous life of communities. What you do is to open the schoolhouse and light it in the evening and say: 'Here is a place where you are welcome to come and do anything that it occurs to you to do.' “

From 1912 through at least the 1960s, the Dover Street Social Center was an important component of Milwaukee’s innovative social center program, providing after-hours classes and recreation for residents of the city’s economically- and ethnically-diverse Bay View neighborhood. Milwaukee's social center movement, embodied by its "Lighted Schoolhouses" such as Dover Street School and Social Center, is a locally-significant part of this larger movement.

Milwaukee's social center program, managed by the Division of Municipal Recreation and Adult Education of the Milwaukee Public Schools, was a historically-significant part of Milwaukee's 20th-century history and was one of the most comprehensive and long-lasting such programs in the United States and continues to reflect early 20th-century progressive efforts to improve education and inspire community in American cities. The Dover Street Social Center was among the first five social centers in Milwaukee under this innovative city-wide social center program operating in public school buildings, and it was for many years the only such center in the Bay View neighborhood. The Dover Street School and Social Center exemplifies the significance of Milwaukee's school-based social centers in the larger social, educational and recreational history of the city.

PROPERTY FEATURES
Period of Significance:1912-1965
Area of Significance:Social History
Applicable Criteria:Event
Historic Use:Social: Clubhouse
Historic Use:Education: School
Architectural Style:Late Victorian
Resource Type:Building
Architect:Holbrook, Walter A.
Architect:E. Townsend Mix Company
Architect:Van Ryn and DeGelleke, Architects
DESIGNATIONS
Historic Status:Listed in the State Register
Historic Status:Listed in the National Register
National Register Listing Date:05/10/2016
State Register Listing Date:02/19/2016
NUMBER OF RESOURCES WITHIN PROPERTY
Number of Contributing Buildings:1
Number of Contributing Sites:0
Number of Contributing Structures:0
Number of Contributing Objects:0
Number of Non-Contributing Sites:0
Number of Non-Contributing Structures:0
Number of Non-Contributing Objects:0
RECORD LOCATION
National Register and State Register of Historic Places, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin

How to Cite

For the purposes of a bibliography entry or footnote, follow this model:

National Register of Historic Places Citation
National Register of Historic Places, "Historic Name", "Town", "County", "State", "Reference Number".

Have Questions?

If you didn't find the National Register listing you were looking for or have other questions about the National Register, please email us and we can help: