Property Record
110 W MAIN ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Walter W. Smith House |
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| Other Name: | Gillett Area Historical Society |
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| Reference Number: | 230613 |
| Location (Address): | 110 W MAIN ST |
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| County: | Oconto |
| City: | Gillett |
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| Year Built: | 1910 |
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| Survey Date: | 2015 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Queen Anne |
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| Wall Material: | Clapboard |
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| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | 2015 The two-and-one-half-story Walter W. Smith house was constructed in 1910 in the Queen Anne style. It is of frame construction, clad in wood clapboard and shingles, and rests on a rubble stone foundation. The hip-and-gable roof is covered in asphalt shingles and features wide eave overhangs with decorative wood rafters. An interior brick chimney is located on the west side of the house. Windows are a mix of single and grouped one-over-one double hung sash with several original casements on the front (north) facade and west (side) elevation. A projecting, octagonal tower on the northeast corner of the house displays varied cladding, including clapboard and wood shingles, Queen Anne glass windows, and an elaborated cornice. An early photo (Figure 4) shows that the house’s original wraparound porch has been removed and replaced with a front stoop with a gable awning and turned porch supports. There also appears to be a modern sunroom addition on the southeast corner of the residence. A detached c.1980 gable-roof shed is located to the southwest of the house. This house stands on the site of town founder Rodney Gillett’s former residence, a frame house erected in 1858. He sold the house and land in 1906, and it was destroyed in a fire in 1908. Walter W. Smith bought the land in June of 1909 and constructed the current house in 1910. Smith was the son of John Smith, who started the Gillett Woodenware plant in the early twentieth century. The Woodenware plant eventually became the Great Northern Pail Company, one of Gillett’s most vital industries. Walter W. Smith managed the factory in the early-twentieth century. His descendants lived in this house until 2005. In 2007 the house was sold to the Gillett Area Historical Society, and it now serves as a local history museum. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Marie Darrow, History of Gillett, 1856-1976 (Gillett, Wis.: Gillett Public Library, 1976), 13. William Benjamin Henry, “The History of Oconto County” (B.A. Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1921), 18. “A Brief History of the House that is now a Museum,” Gillett Area Historical Society, http://www.gilletthistorical.com/history.html. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |