SE of Waterloo at Jct. of Bluse Point and Island Church Rds.

SE of Waterloo at Jct. of Bluse Point and Island Church Rds.

Jefferson

Waterloo

8

13

E

14

SW

NE

1863

1974

house of worship

Early Gothic Revival

Log

Board and Batten

John Fiedler

No

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, State Historic Preservation Office. WISCONSIN REGISTERED LANDMARK, #80. TAMARACK LOG CONSTRUCTION, VERTICAL BOARD AND BATTEN SIDING. LIME PLASTER INTERIOR WALLS. ORIGINAL FURNISHINGS. PHOTO T24/31 IS TEXT OF LANDMARK PLAQUE. ADDITIONAL PHOTO CODE IS GREEN 5/17. St. Wenceslaus is a rare example of the log churches that immigrants built in the early years of Wisconsin’s settlement. Immigrants from Bohemia and present-day Germany who farmed the "islands" (high ground) of Blue Joint Marsh built this small gabled building of tamarack logs in 1863. Within a few years, they weatherproofed the exterior with vertical boards and battens, perhaps adding the square two-stage belfry at that time. The church is plain outside, and in. On the interior, the logs remain apparent through a half-inch coating of lime plaster. John Fiedler, a local craftsman, built the pine pews, cutting them with a foliated profile. The only embellishments that relieve the austerity of the interior space is the artwork over the simple altar, including the image of St. Wenceslaus, patron of Bohemia. Wrought-iron candleholders under each station of the cross remind us that candles and oil lamps once provided the only sources of illumination, and a small iron stove with its extended stovepipe, standing in the aisle, provided the only heat. Regular services ceased in 1891, when the parishioners joined St. Joseph's congregation in Waterloo.

PERRIN "ARCHITECTURE OF WISCONSIN" PAGE 124. WATERLOO COURIER 5/30/1996. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. Perrin, Richard W. E., Historic Wisconsin Architecture, First Revised Edition (Milwaukee, 1976).

St. Wenceslaus Roman Catholic Church

May 12, 1975

Jan 01, 1989