Property Record
114 E FRANKLIN ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Baldwin Blacksmith and Wagon Shop |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 27923 |
| Location (Address): | 114 E FRANKLIN ST |
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| County: | Monroe |
| City: | Sparta |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1914 |
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| Additions: | 1981 |
| Survey Date: | 1989 |
| Historic Use: | blacksmith shop |
| Architectural Style: | Commercial Vernacular |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Water Street Commercial Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 11/12/1992 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 7/3/1992 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | The present structure was built in 1914 and its earliest function was a wagon/blacksmith shop owned by A. Fayette Baldwin. The Fayette Baldwin Wagon and Blacksmith Shop occupied the building until at least 1916. This site was also a traditional location for blacksmithing, beginning as early as 1866, when blacksmith and wagon maker F. Herbst worked there. Prior to 1914, previous wooden structures on this location included F. Herbst's early blacksmith and wagon shop. F. Herbst manufactured wagons in his blacksmith shop here on Franklin Street until at least 1881. His operation was most likely taken over by A.F. Baldwin. By 1931, the building housed the Spart Brush Factory. In 1905, Edgar Nichols started the Sparta Brush Company in Sparta in a small building on East Oak Street on the banks of Beaver Creek. In 1921, their building on North Water Street was destroyed by fire. After the fire, the Sparta Brush Company moved first to West Oak Street next to the Sydney Hotel and then the building at 114 East Franklin Street. It stayed at this location until 1949, when the Sparta Brush Company moved to find larger quarters. It is associated with the topic Miscellaneous Small Businesses and Light Industries in Sparta's industrial theme. The Fayette Baldwin Wagon and Blacksmith Shop was an established wagonmaking and blacksmithing business when the building was constructed in 1914. Thereafter, the building also was the location of the Sparta Brush Company - an important light industry in Sparta's past. The building's period of historical significance ranges from 1914 when it was constructed to 1949, when it no longer functioned as the home of the Sparta Brush Company. This small vernacular brick [presetly painted] industrial building displays a brick facade characterized by red tile coping and by a central entrance yopped by a straight flat lintel. The entrance door has a transom window above and is flanked by short sidelights. Large rectangular windows with divided two over two lights and flat straight lintels in the east and west bays flank the entrance. Segmental arched windows [presently filled-in] that originally lighted the attic story are located on the upper part of the facade. Segmental arched windows with two over two lights are located on the west elevation. An addition is located at the rear. Generally well-preserved, the Baldwin Blacksmith and Wagon Shop has been altered by the filling-in of the attic windows and by the construction of additions at the rear. Constructed in 1915 for A. Fayette Baldwin, this brick building, originally 25 x 100 replaced earlier frame buildings on this property owned by the Baldwin family since the turn of the century. This long narrow industrial building, used to house the Brush Factory building beginning in the mid-1920s, originally was used to house Fayette Baldwin's blacksmith and wagon shop business. The Baldwin Blacksmith Shop is significant under Criterion C representative of the small industrial building type. The Baldwin Blacksmith Shop has undergone minimal alteration over the years it served as a blacksmith shop and wagon factory and as the site of the Sparta Brush Factory beginning in 1920. Other small industrial buildings in the proposed historic district include the blacksmith shops located at 116 East Franklin (MO27/120) and at 109 East Main. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Sparta Herald 1/19/1915. (B) City of Sparta, Tax Records, 1870-1928. (C) Sanborn Insurance Map, City of Sparta, 1884, 1889, 1894, 1900, 1911, 1922, 1931. (D) City of Sparta Property Tax Rolls, 1870-1940. (E) Annual Directory of Sparta, Wisconsin. Vol. 1. Chicago: Interstate Directory Co., 1897. (F) City Directory of the City of Sparta, Wisconsin, 1916. (G) "Ex-Host to Soldiers Seeks New Horizons." Milwaukee Sentinel, 3/8/1953. (H) Middeman, Julia E., "Summary of History of Sparta Brush Company," typescript (n.d.). (I) No author, History of Northern Wisconsin: Containing an Account of its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources: an Extensive Sketch of its Counties, Cities, Twons, and Villages...etc. Chicago: the Western Historical Company, 1881, p. 636. (J) Map of Sparta, Wisconsin. Milwaukee: Phoenix Map Company of Milwaukee, 1875. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |