| 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, Division of Historic Preservation.
T-shaped Italianate residence constructed for John B. Macy; John B. Macy was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts on March 25, 1799. Upon the completion of his education, he embarked in a series of influential business transactions, contracts and speculations. Working his way west, he spent time in New York and Cincinnati, and was one of the owners of a commission firm that laid out the town site of Toledo, Ohio. Macy was also active in promoting steam boating on the Great Lakes, and in the 1830s became a large stockholder in the Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad. In 1845 he moved to Wisconsin, settling in Fond du Lac, where he engaged in the real estate business. In 1850 he made “his home on a farm in the Town of Empire….” Presumably, that home is the subject of this document. Macy worked hard to attract capital to Fond du Lac County through repeated visits to the East, to induce other wealthy capitalists to invest in the Rock River Valley Railroad, one of the predecessor roads to the Chicago & Northwestern. A democrat, he was elected to Congress in 1852 and served from March 1853 to March 1855. Macy was noted as being a friend of Nathanial Tallmadge, who served as territorial governor of Wisconsin between 1844 and 1845. Macy was defeated for re-election to Congress. He resumed his former business pursuits, and shortly thereafter lost his life on September 24, 1856 when the steamer Niagara burned in Lake Michigan off Port Washington. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Historic name, date of construction: DOE.
Architecture and History Survey: USH 45 Eden to East Village Limits. WHS project number 14-0408/FD. June 18, 2013. Prepared by Rachel E. Bankowitz, CCRG.
FOND DU LAC TALKING HOUSES AND HISTORIC PLACES BROCHURE, FOND DU LAC CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU.
-Vogel and O’Brian, “Determination of Eligibility for the John B. Macy Historic District,” 1991
-History of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin (Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1880), 471-472;
-Risjord, The WPA Guide to WI: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s, 360
-Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress, 1774-2005, “John B. Macy,” (United States: Government Printing Office, 2005)
-Titus, William A., “Empire: A WI Town,” in The Wisconsin History Magazine, Volume 6, Number 3 (Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society, March 1923), 297;
-Glaze, A.T. Incidents and Anecdotes of Early Days and History of Business in the City and County of Fond du Lac from Early Times to the Present (Fond du Lac, WI: P.B. Haber Printing Company, 1905), 192;
-Journal Sentinel, “Lake Michigan Shipwreck of 1856 Almost Claims 2 More Lives,” 5 July 2010;
-Titus, William A, History of the Fox River Valley, Lake Winnebago, and the Green Bay Region (Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1930);
-Wisconsin Historical Society Dictionary of Wisconsin People, “John B. Macy,” accessed at (http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=1620&term_type_id=1&term_type_text=People&letter=M) on 15 March 2012. |
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