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W6631 Cty Rd MM | National or State Registers Record | Wisconsin Historical Society

National or State Registers Record

W6631 Cty Rd MM

National or State Register of Historic Places
W6631 Cty Rd MM | National or State Registers Record | Wisconsin Historical Society
NAMES
Historic Name:Sheboygan Valley Land and Lime Company
Reference Number:16000757
PROPERTY LOCATION
Location (Address):W6631 Cty Rd MM
County:Sheboygan
City/Village:
Township:Rhine
SUMMARY
Sheboygan Valley Land and Lime Works
W6631 County Road MM, Town of Rhine, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin
Date of Construction: 1911

In 1911, the Sheboygan Valley Land and Lime Company was organized to finance and promote the drainage of the Sheboygan Marsh so that it could sell the highly fertile reclaimed land for agricultural use. To this end, the company established a lime producing facility that would use the tamarack trees growing throughout the marsh as fuel and, in doing so, would clear the marshland for future development. The site contained a lime kiln complex, an office building, a blacksmith shop, and a quarry, and was supported by a spur line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad.

The Sheboygan Valley Land and Lime Company employed 35 to 40 men working at the quarry and kilns and 75 to 150 men working in its wood cutting camps. The majority of quarry workers were Italian, Russian, Austrian, and Finnish immigrants who lived in company owned cabins and a boarding house in the adjacent community of Rhine Mills. Wood cutting crews consisted of area farmers, lumbermen from northern Wisconsin, and transient workers. As the lime production side of the Sheboygan Valley Land and Lime Company flourished, its plans for developing the adjacent marshland were less successful. Although it succeeded in draining the marsh, the low price of farmland after World War I eliminated the demand for this new virgin soil, and the marsh was re-flooded by the county in the late 1920s.

During its first year of operation, the Sheboygan Valley Land and Lime Company gained an unexpected degree of notoriety when one of its quarryman, Antonio Borello, murdered local hermit John Sexton under the mistaken belief that the 88-year-old man had a large sum of money hidden in his cabin just west of the quarry. Because Sexton was well known throughout the region as a pioneer school teacher and public official, the crime garnered statewide interest in what was termed “one of the foulest crimes in the history of this state.” Negative attention was brought to the site again in 1919 when one of the company’s section bosses unearthed a body that neighbors presumed was that of a man who had gone missing three years earlier after a violet quarrel with a group of Italian quarrymen.

Following World War I, the nationwide demand for lime decreased rapidly as new products replaced it in the construction industry and Wisconsin lime was found to be unsuitable for many other uses. In 1920, the Garden City Land and Lime Company purchased the site and continued to operate the kilns for the next six years. Finally, in 1926, the kilns were shut down. The site lay vacant until 1963 when it was purchased by the Quasius family who converted it to a private residence and art studio.

This property is private. Please respect the rights and privacy of the owners.

PROPERTY FEATURES
Period of Significance:1911-1926
Area of Significance:Industry
Applicable Criteria:Event
Historic Use:Industry/Processing/Extraction: Processing Site
Architectural Style:Late 19th And Early 20th Century American Movements
Resource Type:Structure
Architect:Sheboygan Valley Land and Lime Company
DESIGNATIONS
Historic Status:Listed in the State Register
Historic Status:Listed in the National Register
National Register Listing Date:11/02/2016
State Register Listing Date:08/19/2016
NUMBER OF RESOURCES WITHIN PROPERTY
Number of Contributing Buildings:2
Number of Contributing Sites:1
Number of Contributing Structures:4
Number of Contributing Objects:0
Number of Non-Contributing Buildings:2
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

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