| Additional Information: | 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.
Constructed of flat hewn cedar logs. Basement was originally a stable. Also on the property is the first Ephraim school which was built around 1858 and is of log construction. The school has been moved several times in the early twentieth century but has always remained on the same property.
In 1855, Iverson built a contributing limestone wall west of the house. The house was built by Andreas Iverson, Even Nelson of Ephraim and O. Vilborg (Weborg) of Fish Creek.
Andreas Michael Iverson (1823-1907), the Moravian minister who was the leading force in the establishment of Ephraim in Door Co., was born in Christianson, Norway into a family of artisan-farmers. He began training as a Lutheran minister in Stavanger, Norway, but was more sympathetic to pietist Moravian church tenets. When the opportunity to help establish a Scandinavian Moravian congregation in Milwaukee occurred in 1849, Iverson emigrated to the U.S. to undertake the job, although he was not ordained as a Moravian minister until 1850. By 1850, the Milwaukee congregation had decided to seek a new location more compatible with their rural artisan-craftsmen backgrounds. Nils Otto Tank, a wealthy Norwegian Moravian, agreed to finance the move and soon the group relocated to what is now Green Bay. Iverson, an emotional and excitable person, and Tank, a strong willed businessman, had personal differences and mistrust. These differences and a major problem concerning whether land should be held privately, communally, or by Tank alone led to the dispersal of the group within one year of its moving north. Iverson stayed in the Green Bay area while looking for a new place to move with his congregation. Lack of funds proved a problem but in 1853 Iverson, having obtained a loan for the purpose of buying land, and three of the Moravian brethren came to the Door peninsula and decided to purchase 424 3/4 acres of land. Today, this property forms the center of the Village of Ephraim. The land was surveyed by Iverson and split into lots, leaving a parcel for the church. In April, 1853 Iverson sailed his hand crafted boat into Eagle Harbor while his own family and most of the other Moravians followed later. At first living in temporary shanties, permanent log homes were built as soon as possible. Iverson's house, designed by himself, was the third one begun and is the only one extant out of the first five houses built between 1853-1854. His house was used for church services until the church he designed was completed in 1859. Education was an important aspect of Moravian life and a private school had been operating locally since 1854. In 1857, the Town of Gibraltar was formed, including Ephraim within its limits. Iverson became the first school superintendent for the town around 1857-1858 and donated land and a log building for use as a school. This building is located east of Iverson's house and was supposedly the first public school in the county. It continued to be used for classes until a frame school was constructed in 1869. Ephraim, isolated much of the year because of lack of roads and frozen waters, struggled to exist during the first years after it was founded. Iverson helped the community survive by obtaining contracts to cut cedar posts for shipment to Chicago and, in his capacity of community and church leader, he sold Peter Peterson and Aaslag Anderson land with the stipulation that they build a dock that the community could use. The village, located on Green Bay and with few inland streams or trails, needed a dock so supplies could be shipped and received. In addition to his role as clergyman and community leader, Iversoon undertook missionary work throughout Wisconsin and Illinois. Always sickly, Iverson's mental and physical health had deteriorated to such an extent that the Moravian Church headquarters in Bethlehem, PA sent out a church official to investigate after parishioners in Ephraim had complained about Iverson. Although Iverson remained in Ephraim for two more years, local church members finally threatened to form a Lutheran Church unless he was removed from his duties. Iverson left Ephraim and became pastor of a Lutheran congregation in Leland, IL in 1864. He later moved to Green Bay and then Sturgeon Bay where he died in 1907.
House, barn, and school. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Iverson, A.M., "A Brief Account of the Activity (Its Commencement and Continuation Since 1849) of the Evangelical Moravian Church Among the Scandinavians in Wisconsin". (Written between 1896-1899 and translated from the Norwegian by Jno. Boler, 1929).
Interview with Rev. J. Groenfeldt, Sturgeon Bay, WI, 7/1984.
Kahlert, John, Door County Buildings and the People Who Built Them 1849-1910 (Baileys Harbor, WI, Meadow Lane Publishers, 1976.
Door County Advocate 6/3/1905.
Door County Advocate 1/6/1906.
Naess, H.S., unpublished "Introduction" to Iverson's Memoirs. In the possession of Rev. J. Groenfeldt, Sturgeon Bay, WI.
Martin, Charles, History of Door Co., WI, Together with Biographies of Nearly 700 Families and Mention of 4,000 Persons (Sturgeon Bay, WI, Expositor Job Print, 1881).
Door County Advocate 6/1/1916.
Interview with James Field, owner, 7/1984.
Door County Advocate 3/15/1868. |
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