| Additional Information: | THIS TWO-STORY BRICK STRUCTURE WITH FLAT SLOPING ROOF AND A BRICK (NOW PAINTED) FRONT HAS PILASTERS ON THE SIDES WITH A RESULTING RECESSED 2ND STORY FACADE THAT IS CROWNED WITH A BRICK CORNICE IN A DENTICULATED AND CUT-BRICK PATTERN. LONG WINDOWS IN THE 2ND STORY HAVE CORBELED, ROUND ARCHED WINDOW HOODS ACCENTED WITH A KEY-STONE ELEMENT. THE STREET LEVEL ARCADED FRONT TOPPED WITHA CORNICE HAS BEEN FILLED IN AND ALTERED FOR CONTEMPORARY USE.
AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF 19TH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE IN DARLINGTON, THIS BUILDING IS IMPORTANT TO THE HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT OF THE COMMERCIAL DISTRICT. THE ALTERED FRONT HAS DIMINISHED ITS ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE.
THE LAFAYETTE COUNTY BANK BUILDING HAS HOUSED TWO OF THE OLDEST INSTITUTIONS IN DARLINGTON--THE LAFAYETTE COUNTY BANK AND THE DARLINGTON REPUBLICAN JOURNAL. THEREFORE, IT IS A HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT STRUCTURE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF DARLINGTON'S COMMERCIAL DISTRICT.
THE LAFAYETTE COUNTY BANK IS ONE OF THE OLDEST MONETARY INSTITUTIONS IN THE COUNTY, IF NOT THE OLDEST.(B) THE BANK WAS ESTABLISHED IN SEPTEMBER 1866 BY JULIUS ROGERS, JAMES JUDGE AND E. M. FITCH. THE BANKING FIRM WAS CALLED ROGERS, FITCH AND CO., AND LOCATED IN A BUILDING WHERE THE PRESENT CITIZENS NATIONAL BANK IS NOW (LT 5-14). ON FEBRUARY 27, 1867, ROGERS DISPOSED OF HIS CONTROLLING INTEREST TO HIS PARTNERS AND RETIRED. THE NEW FIRM WAS KNOWN AS FITCH, JUDGE AND CO. IN 1869 THE FIRM WAS DISSOLVED AND J. B. DOTY PURCHASED CONTROL AND REORGANIZED THE BUSINESS. THE NAME AGAIN CHANGED TO DOTY, FITCH AND CO. THE OFFICE MOVED TO A SECOND STORY OF ANOTHER BUILDING. SOON AFTER THE NEW ARRANGEMENT, FITCH MOVED TO CHICAGO AND ON JAN. 1, 1873, GEORGE S. ANTHONY BECAME A PARTNER, WITH JUDGE SELLING OUT. ON JULY 27, 1874 THE FIRM OF J. B. DOTY WAS SUCCEEDED BY P. A. ORTON AND CO., WITH P. A. ORTON, G. S. ANTHONY AND C. F. OSBORN. ORTON AND OSBORN WERE PROMINENT ATTORNEYS IN LAFAYETTE COUNTY. THE FIRM SOLD ONE-HALF INTEREST IN ITS BUSINESS TO D. B. AND J. E. OTIS IN FEBRUARY 1878 AND THE FIRM NAME WAS ONCE MORE CHANGED, THIS TIME TO ORTON, OTIS AND CO. DURING THE FALL OF 1874, THE FIRM COMPLETED THEIR NEW BUILDING.(B)
THE LAFAYETTE COUNTY BANK WAS REORGANIZED AS A FIRST NATIONAL BANK IN MAY 1884.(C) P.A. ORTON REMAINED PRESIDENT OF THE FIRM UNTIL HIS DEATH ON JUNE 17, 1919. HIS SON ROBERT E. ORTON WAS VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE BANK AND LATER BECAME PRESIDENT.(C) THE BANK REMAINED IN THIS BUILDING UNTIL 1921 WHEN A NEW BUILDING WAS ERECTED ACROSS THE STREET ON THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF MAIN AND ANN STREETS.(A)
AFTER THE BANK MOVED INTO ITS NEW QUARTERS, THE "REPUBLICAN JOURNAL" NEWSPAPER MOVED ITS OFFICES AND PRESSES INTO THIS BUILDING. THE "REPUBLICAN JOURNAL" IS A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER THAT HAS PRINTED THE NEWS OF DARLINGTON AND THE COUNTY FOR OVER 100 YEARS. THE NEWSPAPER IS A COMBINED WEEKLY FROM ORIGINALLY THE "DARLINGTON REPUBLICAN" AND THE "DARLINGTON JOURNAL." J. B. MONAHAN WHO HAD A HALF-INTEREST IN THE "DARLINGTON REPUBLICAN" IN 1880, BECAME THE SOLE OWNER OF THE PAPER IN 1885. IN 1900 HE BOUGHT THE "DARLINGTON JOURNAL" AND CONSOLIDATED THE TWO PAPERS, RENAMING THE NEWSPAPER THE "REPUBLICAN JOURNAL."(D,E) IN 1919 HE SOLD THE "REPUBLICAN JOURNAL" TO M. P. PEAVY.(D)
THE "REPUBLICAN JOURNAL," WHICH NOW SERVES AS THE OFFICIAL COUNTY NEWSPAPER, STILL IS PUBLISHED IN THIS BUILDING TODAY. |
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| Bibliographic References: | SANBORN-PERRIS MAPS, DARLINGTON, 1884, 1889, 1894, 1900, 1908, 1915, 1924.
C.W. BUTTERFIELD, "HISTORY OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY," 1881, P. 544.
DARLINGTON "REPUBLICAN JOURNAL," JUNE 26, 1919.
"WISCONSIN NECROLOGY," VOL. 21, P. 201-202.
JULIUS BLEYER, "FREE MASONRY IN WISCONSIN," 1900, PP. 131-132. |
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