Property Record
103 WATSON ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | A.W. Pettibone Block |
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| Other Name: | Campus Theatre |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 28877 |
| Location (Address): | 103 WATSON ST |
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| County: | Fond du Lac |
| City: | Ripon |
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| Year Built: | 1872 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1989 |
| Historic Use: | large retail building |
| Architectural Style: | Italianate |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Watson Street Commercial Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 9/27/1991 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 7/26/1991 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | Ben Marcus established the first Marcus Theatre here in 1925. Built by AW Pettibone in 1872 for his dry goods business, later in the nineteenth century the block was split into two stores, a dry goods house and a drug store. During the turn of the century years, the dry good sstore was operated by the Mattice family and the drug store by Ottmar Schallernn. By 1909, the building was again combined to house the Mattice-Foster Company Department Store. The business was in operation until 1925 when Ben Marcus established the Campus Theatre, the first in his movie empire that stretched across the Midwest. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Date of construction: NR nomination. Take a Walk on Main Street: Historic Walking Tours in Wisconsin's Main Street Communities, Wisconsin Main Street Program, 1998. Ripon Historic Walking Tour brochure, 2015. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |