Property Record
216 W JEFFERSON
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Ephraim & Lucy Perkins House |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 10633 |
| Location (Address): | 216 W JEFFERSON |
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| County: | Racine |
| City: | Burlington |
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| Year Built: | 1850 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19752011 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Greek Revival |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Fieldstone |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Kane Street Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 7/25/2014 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 11/22/2013 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | Ephraim Perkins was born in 1773 in Becket, Massachusetts. He married Lucy Merrick in 1800. Despite his occupation as a farmer, he moved frequently: to Mansfield, Connecticut, by 1801; to Trenton, New York, in 1802; and Joliet, Illinois, by 1812. Ephraim and Lucy had seven children: Origen, born 1801; Edwin, 1803; Lucille, 1805; Mary, 1806; Emily, 1808; Ephraim Jr., 1810; and Pliny Merrick, 1812. Ephraim and Lucy settled in Burlington in 1837. That year, Ephraim and Pliny purchased a dam and saw mill under construction by Moses Smith and Samuel C. Vaughn on the southwest bank of the Fox River for $2,600. The Perkins completed the dam and saw mill. The building of the dam caused permanent flooding of the Fox River, forming what became known as Mill Pond, which was later named Echo Lake. The dam has since been replaced; the saw mill is no longer extant. After the saw mill’s completion, Ephraim and Pliny Perkins constructed an adjoining flour mill. It was the first flour and grist mill in Racine County. There they produced the first commercial shipment of flour from Wisconsin to eastern American markets under the brand name Echo, which was shipped from Kenosha to Buffalo, New York. The flour mill is no longer extant. The Perkins family’s milling business prompted the construction of the first road to Lake Michigan at Kenosha in 1841 with the investment of $1,200. By 1839, Ephraim and Pliny Perkins also purchased a log cabin built by Moses Smith near the mills in which they operated Burlington’s first general store, for approximately one year before relocating to a non-extant boarding house constructed by Pliny nearby. The cabin was demolished sometime around the turn of the twentieth century. During the mid-1840s, Ephraim Perkins was a stockholder in the abolitionist newspaper, the American Free Man, published in Milwaukee, and later Waukesha. The American Free Man was one of the first abolitionist newspapers in the Midwest, and had agents finding sympathetic supporters and delivering the paper throughout Racine and Kenosha Counties. Ephraim Perkins served as a Burlington delegate to the 1845 annual meeting of the Wisconsin Anti-Slavery Society, held that year in Waukesha. By 1846, Ephraim Perkins built a non-extant milk house and began producing cheese with milk from his own farm and from his neighbors. It has been claimed locally that this was the first cheese factory in Wisconsin and that it distributed its product to other communities, including Chicago. He had a cobblestone residence constructed at 216 W. Jefferson Street before his and his wife’s deaths, both in 1851. 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, Division of Historic Preservation-Public History. |
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| Bibliographic References: | General Files. On file at the Burlington Historical Society, Burlington, Wisconsin. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |