Property Record
238 W WISCONSIN
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Vandercook Block; Emder Hotel; Bank of Portage |
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| Other Name: | First Star Bank |
| Contributing: | No |
| Reference Number: | 46108 |
| Location (Address): | 238 W WISCONSIN |
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| County: | Columbia |
| City: | Portage |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
| Range: | |
| Direction: | |
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| Year Built: | 1855 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1992 |
| Historic Use: | bank/financial institution |
| Architectural Style: | Commercial Vernacular |
| Structural System: | Brick |
| Wall Material: | Cream Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Portage Retail Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 4/27/1995 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 10/24/1994 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | Corbelling below parapet; windows altered or filled; first floor facade covered. Dave Eulberg (1993) identified the building as part of the bank, Vandercook Block. Sanborn-Perris Map Co.: 1929: Express Office first, printing second, hall third. 1918: Express Office first, millinery second, Knight of Pythias Hall third. 1910: Emder House with saloon and Express Office and sleeping rooms second. 1901: Emder House saloon, U.S. Express Office, and sample room with sleeping rooms upstairs. 1894: Emder House with saloon and Express Office. 1889: Emder House, grocery, and barber first, sleeping rooms second, and public hall third. 1885: Emder House, sample room and boot and shoes, room second, and public hall third. (Note Emder was no longer proprietor by about 1893.) Columbia Co, Treasurer 1863- 1915-30: Catherine Helmann, Roas Smith, and Valentine Helmann. 1900-10: Mrs. Valentine Helmann. 1895: V. Helmann estate. 1875-90: Mary Miles. 1863-1866: Bank of Portage. According to Rugen, the property as a three story building is present in 1868. The tax records suggest it was erected sometime before 1863 when the Bank of Portage. Columbia Co. Treasurer 1863- 1955: (234-236) Kleist's, Color Spot, Eulberg Ins. Agency, Justice of the Peace, John E. Wells (Johnson Printing Co.). 1929: Railway Express Agency (236): Helmann Building: Miss H.E. Thompson, first floor; Portage Beauty Shop, Dr. J.A. Roberts, oculist, Hazel May Gift Shop and Art Studio, Niemeyer Printery, second; Helmann Hall, third (Smith-Baumann Directory Co.). 1917: (234) Wells Fargo & Co. Express, Western Express Co.; (236) Dr. Frank B. Ernsperger, dentist; Knights of P. Hall, Fred Koroch, saloon. 1908-09: Western Express Office (Emder House used much of this building from at least 1885 to shortly after 1910.) The Vandercook Block at 238 W. Wisconsin was constructed in 1855. Decatur Vandercook established the city's second bank, the Bank of Portage, in 1857 locating it in the 1855 Vandercook Block at 238 W. Wisconsin (24/32). It also closed during the panic of the 1873 (Butterfield 1880: 585; Register-Democrat 7/13/1923; River Times 1853 [8/27; 6/4); City Bank of Portage 1949; Columbia Co. Treasurer 1863- [1863-1866]). Columbia County also located its offices in the Vandercook Block between 1856 and 1865 when they were moved to eth new courthouse (Wisconsin State Register 11/8/1929; Jones 1914 [1]: 111-114; Turner 1903: 35; Columbia Co. Treasurer 1863- [1882]). In 1853, John A. Graham and William K. Miles clerked at the drug and grocery store of Samuel Edwards who established his business in that year in the Pettibone Block. After Edward's retirement from the business in 1856, Miles and Graham continued the drug company under the name of Miles & Company. Miles and Company occupied the Vandercook Block at 238 W. Wisconsin (24/32) by at least 1865 to 1867 (Portage Public Library n.d. [photo]; Columbia Co. Treasurer 1863- [1863-73]). He advertised the sale of drugs, medicines, chemicals, etc. (Hawes 1865). At the death of Miles in 1867, John Graham acquired the company and maintained the business at 238 W. Wisconsin. John Graham advertised as a (Farnham and Vivian 1867-68): "...Wholesale and Retail Druggist and Grocer. Dealer in Stationary, Yankee Notions, Fine Liquors, Cutlery, Wall Paper and Crockery, Paints, Oils, Varnishes, Water Lime, Land Plaster, Builders' and Painters' Materials. Garden and Field Seed, Window Glass and Glassware. Agents for Mail, Steamship and Sail Vessels to all parts of the world. In 1873, Graham completed his two story and basement, wood post and beam, brick block at 301 DeWitt (Harrison and Warner 1873 [date block] (25/17). Serving as apothecary and druggist, Graham manufactured his own medicines. He served as the agent for the Anchor, Cunard, White Star, Inman, and State Line Steam Ship companies, maintained a Minnesota Paint Dealership, and continued his broad line of goods such as wall paper, stationary, books, varnishes, tar, picture frames, glassware, shades, and engravings through the nineteenth century. Graham also printed a small tabloid known as the Graham Quarterly Review between 1861 and 1872. John A. Graham, Jr. joined his father in 1895. John Graham, Sr. incorporated the business as the John Graham Drug Company to conduct a mercantile business and manufacture and sell medicines before his death in 1916. After his death, his son operated the store under a lease from the drug company. J.C. Stegman and Bryon Taylor purchased the company and building from John Graham, Jr. in 1926. Clinton Daugherty and B.Y. Taylor acquired the drug store in 1962. Daugherty bought Taylor's interest in the store in 1969 and the building from Mrs. Norman Stegman Brenner in 1981 (River TImes 1853 [8/15; 2/3]; Wisconsin State Register 6/13/74; Farnham and Vivian 1867-68; Jones 1914 [2]: 631-32; Portage Daily Register 12/23/1889, 1908 [2/8; 3/6];, 7/21/73, 8/23/1969; Register Democrat 10/27/1953; Democrat 7/30/97; Hotchkiss 1913; Columbia County Historical Society 1982; Graham 1875; Daugherty 1898-1992). Between at least 1885 and 1910, the Emder House which was erected in 1869-1870 expanded into the Vandercook Block from 228-230 W. Wisconsin. The two were joined by a balcony between the two second floors (see 228-230 W. Wisconsin, 24/31). The Western Express Office also occupied the building for a long period between at least 1894 and 1929. By 1918, several more short-term businesses and the offices of physicians and the legal profession occupied the building. Fred Koroch's saloon by 1918 and the Niemeyer Printery by 1929 located in the building. The third floor included a lodge hall. The Knights of Pythias held its meetings in teh Vandercook Block from about 1917 to 1929 when it relocated to the Eulberg Building (137-139 W. Cook, 56/26) (Register-Democrat 4/20/1922; Portage Daily Register 7/2/1952; Jones 1914 [1]:222; Smith-Baumann Directory Co. 1929: 28; Sanborn-Perris Map Co., 1885, 1889, 1894). The Fort Winnebago Lodge NO. 33 of the Masons chartered in 1850. By 1880, they occupied the hall above the Vandercook Block at 238 W. Wisconsin (24/32) (Butterfield 1880: 653, 656; Portage Public Library [Democrat, 1883]; Jones 1914 [1]: 220-222). The Catholic Knights, the Knights of Columbus, and the Foresters held their meeting in several different lodge halls in the retail district including 228-230 W. Wisconsin (24/31) and 238 W. Wisconsin (24/32) by 1918 until they purchased and remodeled the Underwear Factory Building at 312 W. Wisconsin in 1940. This building no longer stands. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Sanborn-Perris Maps. (B) Columbia County Treasurer 1863- (C) City Directories. (D) Dave Eulberg (1993). Historic Portage, WI: Downtown & Waterfront Walking Tour, 1995. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |