| 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, State Historic Preservation Office.
Finely-detailed and well-preserved, this spectacular frame house, built in 1869 (A), is an architecturally significant example of the Italian villa style, rare in Beloit but executed here with elegance and grace. Balancing classical forms in an asymmetrical composition that evokes the picturesque, the two story house is built in an L-shaped plan with a corner tower rising three stories. The west section has a low-pitched gabled roof with heavy cornice returns that suggest the pedimented temple forms of classical inspiration, while the side wing has a hip roof with projecting eaves. Beneath the cornice, a wide and unornamented frieze provides a strong formal emphasis. A segmentally arched entry portico with entablature is supported by two unfluted Ionic columns and the door is surmounted by a segmentally arched transom. The sash windows--two-over-two on the upper stories, four-over-four on the first story--are surrounded by simple frames and capped by projecting flat windowheads, except on the top story of the tower where a rounded windowhead evokes Tuscan villa design. A rounded ventilator in the west gable repeats the motif. Narrow clapboarding provides a smooth finish highlighting the classic simplicity of the design. The only significant alteration is the substitution of lacy wrought iron for the original porch posts.
Sereno T. Merrill was one of Beloit's most important early industrialists. As an inventor and businessman, he was involved in the formation of some of Beloit's largest industrial concerns. Sereno Merrill was born in Gill, Massachusetts in 1816. His father was a blacksmith, machinist and inventor who patented "Merrill's goose-necked hoe" in 1814. Merrill studied in New England and was a teacher and school principal for many years, specializing in Latin.
He moved to Beloit in 1846 and became principal of the Beloit Seminary. He held his post until 1849 when Beloit Seminary was merged into Beloit College.
He then sought an occupation more suited to his strong interests in industry and inventing. In 1850-1851, he built the first paper mill on the Rock River at Rockton, Illinois, in partnership with T. L. Wright. During this time, the first strawboard for sheathing was made into rolls with an invention patented by Merrill. He was involved with milling on the Rock River for many years and was President of the Rock River Paper Company for 15 years.
In 1858, the O. E. Merrill Company was organized by three Merrill brothers, including Sereno, to produce spare parts for Sereno Merrill's paper-making machines at the Rock River Paper Company. This later became the Merrill & Houston Iron Works, of which Sereno Merrill was president for eight years. This company, as reorganized, eventually became the Beloit Corporation, a worldwide company, still producing paper making machines. (B)
In 1873, Sereno Merrill helped organized the Eclipse Windmill Company and was its president for six years. This company was the forerunner of Fairbanks, Morse & Company, another of Beloit's leading industries, manufacturer of engines. (C)
Other positions held by Sereno Merrill include: President of both the Citizen's National Bank and Beloit Savings Bank, Beloit alderman, state commissioner to the World's Exposition at Vienna in 1873, honorary Commissioner to World's Exposition at Paris in 1881, member of the Wiscnsin Legislature in 1876 and 1877, member of the Rock County Board of Supervisors for eighteen years, and trustee for Beloit College for thirty-six years. (B) Perhaps no other individual was as significant in the development of Beloit as a manufacturing center.
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