Property Record
357 & 359 MILWAUKEE AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
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| Reference Number: | 10656 |
| Location (Address): | 357 & 359 MILWAUKEE AVE |
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| County: | Racine |
| City: | Burlington |
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| Survey Date: | 19752011 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Other Vernacular |
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| Wall Material: | Fieldstone |
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| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | RETURNED EAVES Peter N. Angsten was born in Coblenz, Germany, in 1855. While still in Germany, where he worked briefly as a schoolteacher, he conceived the idea for a camera with a pivoting turret-like, spring-wound lens that could record an almost 180 degree-wide view on film. He immigrated to the United States in 1882, found work as a painter and decorator, and soon patented his idea. He partnered with C. H. Gesbeck and began manufacturing a small number of the camera, called the Al-Vista, in Chicago. In 1897, Leonard J. Smith of Burlington met Angsten in Chicago and was astounded by the innovative camera. Smith bought out Gesbeck, and with Angsten, brothers Gustave C. and William G. Rasch, W. A. Bennett, Edward Caldwell, and William N. Selig formed the Multiscope & Film Company, which commenced production of the first American panoramic camera in Burlington. Angsten served as vice-president and continued to develop improvements for the Al-Vista camera, receiving multiple additional patents. As a side venture to manufacturing the Al-Vista Camera, Smith and the Multiscope & Film Company’s other founders gained a five year franchise in 1895 with the Edison Vitagraph Company of Chicago and New York to show the first moving pictures in the State of Minnesota and gained rights from the holder of Wisconsin’s franchisee to operate the first Vitagraph moving picture shows in Burlington and Elkhorn, making Burlington the first place outside of the largest metropolitan American cities in which the Vitascope was exhibited. In 1902, Angsten abruptly sold his patent rights and entire interest in the Multiscope & Film Company to the other investors. With the exception of a brief period in Chicago, he lived in Burlington for the rest of his life at his residence which is now 357 & 359 Milwaukee Avenue. |
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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 |