Property Record
7525 W BONNIWELL RD
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | BONNIWELL SCHOOL DISTRICT #1 |
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| Other Name: | FRANCES KLUMB HOUSE |
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| Reference Number: | 13619 |
| Location (Address): | 7525 W BONNIWELL RD |
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| County: | Ozaukee |
| City: | Mequon |
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| Year Built: | 1930 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1990 |
| Historic Use: | one to six room school |
| Architectural Style: | Craftsman |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | John Topzant |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
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| Additional Information: | EXPOSED CARVED RAFTER ENDS. DECORATIVE BRICKWORK IN BLIND ROUND ARCH ABOVE ENTRANCE. SHAPED DATE PLAQUE IN GABLE. DESCRIPTION This one and one-half school building has a steeply-pitched gable roof and is constructed from brick. There are knee-brack brackets supporting the main roof and the roof of the enclosed entrance. On one side facade and dormers with shed roof projects from the house. Windows are mostly modren or the openings are enclosed. In the front is a large opening that has been enclosed. It is topped with stone and flemish gable. On the stone is the name and the date of the school. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND As stated above, Mequon had a number of small rural school "districts" that served the children of the city. Each district had a small schoolhouse and while the earlist schoolhouses are not known or not extant, the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century schools are extant. The first schoolhouse was a log struture owned by James Woodworth and it opened in 1839. The first building constructed as a schoolhousejwas a log building erected by the Bonniwell family in 1840. By 1844 the Bonniweel District school had 37 male pupols and 19 female pupilws. This school, the sucessor of the original Bonniwell log schoolhouse, represents the continuation of elementry education in Mequon from 1840 until the mid-twentieth century, when the small schoolhouse closed. {h, p.524} |
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| Bibliographic References: | INSCRIPTION. CEDARBURG OZAUKEE COUNTY NEWS GRAPHIC 6/10/1996. MEQUON THIENSVILLE COURANT 6/13/1996. [a] Plat Maps for the city of Mequon, 1867-1980, on file at the Mequon Historical Society, Mequon, Wisconsin, or the Archives at the State Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin. [b] Taxs Rolls for the city of Mequon, 1857-1930, on file at the library, Mequon, Wisconsin. [c] Field observation based on architectural and historical information. [d] Information from the owner of the property. [e] Information from the building's datestone or inscription. [f] Freistadt Historical Society, Freistadt and the Lutheram Immigration, Mequom: Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1989. [g] L. Rehm, Mequon History, on file at the Mequon Historical Society, Mequon, Wisconsin. [h] C.W. Butterfield, History of Washington and Ozaukee Counties, Chicago: Western Publishing Company, 1880. [i] Information from the Mequon Landmarks Commission, Mequon, Wisconsin. The Daily Reporter, 17 February 1930 (as well as other issues), reported the construction and contracts awarded for the Bonniwell School. the school cost an estimated $10,000 and was designed by Milwaukee architect John Topzant. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |