The 35 houses in the Daviswood Ranch Homes Historic District constitute the city of De Peres’ finest concentration of 1950’s-era single-family Ranch Style houses. The Daviswood Subdivision was created in 1952 on what was then still undeveloped land located along De Pere’s northern boundary and it was intended from the onset that it would be an up-scale neighborhood having larger than average lots and restrictive covenants regarding building siting and design.

The timing of this new development was excellent because De Pere and the much larger neighboring city of Green Bay were both then experiencing a post-war population boom and the market for new up-scale housing was growing rapidly at that time, as was the area’s economy. As a result, the 35 lots in the plat sold quickly and by 1957, large, expensive, custom-built houses occupied by owners who were typically members of De Pere and Green Bay’s entrepreneurial, managerial, and professional elite occupied each one. Nineteen of these houses were both built and designed by De Pere builder/contractor Robert H. Smet, with other area building contractors being responsible for the remainder, the district’s single exception being the Ranch Style-influenced Contemporary Style house that was built at 867 W. St. Francis Rd. in 1957 for Dr. Bernard Waldkirch and which was designed by Wisconsin Rapids architect Robert L. Rowland.

Fortunately, all of the district’s original buildings are still extant and are highly intact today and as a result, the district still looks almost exactly the way it did in 1957 when the Waldkirch House, the last house in the district, was built.

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