Property Record
E PARK AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Wisconsin Home for the Feebleminded |
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| Other Name: | No. WI Center for the Developmentally Disabled, Cottage #8 |
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| Reference Number: | 40191 |
| Location (Address): | E PARK AVE |
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| County: | Chippewa |
| City: | Chippewa Falls |
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| Year Built: | 1908 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1984 |
| Historic Use: | dormitory |
| Architectural Style: | Colonial Revival/Georgian Revival |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | John Charles |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | Yes |
| Demolished Date: | 0 |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | A 'site file' (Wisconsin Home for the Feebleminded) 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 State Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation. Rough stone lintels by rough stone belt courses; projecting entrance bay with deck roofed open entrance supported by capped brick piers; decorative brick work along the top of elevations; minor additions. Sited according to a plan by Chicago architect E.G. Nelson of Chicago, Cottage #8 exhibits the hip roof, hipped roof dormers and symmetrical facade arrangement of a very simplified Georgian Revival design suitable for utilitarian turn of the century public institutional architecture. Sandstone window sills, coursings, belt courses, water table and foundation contrast with the red brick in a design originally drawn by architect John Charles for the first dormitory on the site in 1896, that was modified changing the gabled roof dormer to hip roofed dormers and the gabled entrance portico changed to a decked portico. Part of the historic institutional care complex now known as the Northern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled, Cottage #8 is architecturally significant as an excellent representative of institutional architecture as constructed at the turn of the century. Construction dated derived from the fact that a 1907 legislative appropriation provided for the construction of two new dormitories, and bids for the insurance of the buildings were not made until 1909. The Wisconsin Home for the Feebleminded was established by the state legislature in 1895 which appropriated $100,000 to purchase land and construct suitable buildings. The first resident was admitted in June of that year. In 1923, the name was changed to the Northern Wisconsin Colony and Training School. It is currently known as the Northern Center for the Developmentally Disabled. This bulding was probably constructed in 1908, following a 1907 legislative appropriation to build two more dormitories. With the construction of these dorms, the capacity of Home reached 1075. This building is of significant historical interest to the State of Wisconsin because it is part of the historic development of the Wisconsin Home for the Feebleminded. The creation of the Wisconsin Home for the Feebleminded, established the State's commitment to the care of the developmentally disabled. RELATED BUILDINGS: outbuildings (11/33, 34, 36, 37); cottages (15/21, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 34, 36); admin/chapel (15/23, 31, 37); residence (15/33). Demolished in the late 1980s according to the book Island of Refuge Page #144. Demolition would have been after an abatement project #8710-02 with a bid date of 1/27/1988. The book "Island of Refuge" states that the Cottage was closed for patients in 1981. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Wisconsin Blue Book (Madison: State of Wisconsin, 1909), p. 654-655. (B) "Building Inventory," Northern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled, Chippewa Falls (Eau Claire: Department of Health and Social Services), unpublished statistics. (C) A History of the State Board of Control of Wisconsin and the State Institutions, 1849-1939 (Madison, Wisconsin: State Board of Control, 1939), pp. 179-180. (D) Chippewa Falls (WI) Herald 20 March, 1896 and 1 April, 1896. (E) Chippewa County Wisconsin Past and Present, vol. I (Chicago, 1913), p. 289-290. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |