Property Record
W1010 County Road H
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Kerska Farmstead - house |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 246120 |
| Location (Address): | W1010 County Road H |
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| County: | La Crosse |
| City: | |
| Township/Village: | Washington |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | 15 |
| Range: | 5 |
| Direction: | W |
| Section: | 20 |
| Quarter Section: | SE |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: | SW |
| Year Built: | 1900 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2023 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Two Story Cube |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | Y |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
| State Register Listing Date: |
| Additional Information: | 2023: The house is a two-story cube type house constructed circa 1900. It is rectangular in plan with a hipped roof featuring gable dormers in the west and south roof slopes. The foundation is rock-faced concrete block topped with a cast stone sill. The exterior is clad predominantly in red brick laid in running bond with cream brick accentuating the corners of each elevation, windows, and doors. A wide band of trim delineates the eaves. The roof is clad in standing seam metal. The windows in the first story are set in segmental arches with keystones whereas the windows in the second story abut the eave trim. All windows rest on cast stone sills. The windows have been replaced with one-over-one hung sash windows. A one-story open-air hip roof porch wraps the northeast corner of the house. The Kerska Farmstead, first under the ownership of Anton Kerska and subsequently his son Stanek, was constructed in Bohemian Coulee in the Town of Washington, La Crosse County. Plat maps from 1874 and 1906 indicate the farmstead was initially constructed lower in the valley east of Coon Creek but was later reconstructed west of the creek adjacent to the road. The farmstead consists of a historic-age house (246120), bank barn (246121), small animal barn, smokehouse (246124), machine shed (246122), and garage (246123). At least two outbuildings were lost or removed circa 1992. Anton Kerska emigrated from Bohemia to the U.S. with his family in 1871. The family established a farmstead in Bohemian Coulee in the Coon Creek Valley shortly there after. The Kerska Farmstead is associated with Bohemian settlement in the Town of Washington, La Crosse County which became known as Bohemian Valley or Bohemian Coulee. The Farmstead is further associated with agricultural practice of combined dairy production and tobacco cultivation in the Coon Creek Valley and the broader Northern Tobacco District. |
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| Bibliographic References: | “Stanek Kerska,” The La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, Wisconsin) 7 May 1938:4. Ancestry.com. Wisconsin, U.S., State Censuses, 1855-1905 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007; Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Map of the County of La Crosse, Wisconsin (La Crosse, Wisconsin: H.I. Bliss, 1874) Electronic publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society. La Crosse County, Wis. [plat map] (Rockford, Illinois: W.W. Hixson and Company, 1900) Electronic publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society. Atlas of La Crosse County Wisconsin… (La Crosse, Wisconsin: Roth Realty Company, 1913. Electronic publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |