| 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.
Historic Structures Report in RM 312 at WHS.
The Hanchett-Bartlett farmstead (now known as the Bartlett Memorial Historical Museum) is a well-preserved collection of 19th century farm buildings, including a stone house and barn. The house, most commanding of the structures, is at the southwest corner of the complex and is architecturally significant, reflecting both the Greek Revival-Italianate transitional style of the period and the masonry architecture of the area. Built of limestone quarried only a quarter mile away, the front portion of the house is a bracketed two-story, hipped roof block 28 feet wide across the front and 34.4 feet wide on its east side. This block is topped by a bracketed frame observatory or cupola with louvred Palladian windows. A one and one-half story gable-roofed limestone wing extends 40.4 feet to the rear or north. The west side of this wing is a flush extension of the west wall of the house, 74.4 feet long without a seem in construction. The east wall of the wing is recessed about eight feet, but the resulting open space is now an enclosed veranda. The back gable features a returned cornice. The exterior of the house combines Greek Revival detail - including straight lintels, with Italianate features - like the bracketed eaves and hipped roof. The recessed entry features a trabeated door with sidelights and transom. The first floor windows on the front facade are tall four over four double hung sash, heightening the formal and imposing character of the house. The cream buff limestone is varied in color and on three sides of the house tan mortar bands frame the randomly cut, rock-faced stone.
Additional buildings on this property (with separate records in database): a barn; smokehouse; school; and replica log cabin.
The Hanchett-Bartlett farmstead is historically significant for its association with two prominent Beloit families. James Henry Hanchett built the house and barn - a "large, handsome stone residence with barns,etc." about 1857. He had come to Beloit in 1840 and was a contractor and builder of dams. He built at least two dams in Indiana and a number on the Rock River in both Wisconsin and Illinois, including the first dam across the Rock River at Beloit in 1844. In 1856, he built Hanchett's Hall in Beloit, where Lincoln spoke in 1859 and which still stands. He died in 1865, but his family stayed on the farm until Mrs. Hanchett's death in 1887. Their son Charles later sold the land in two parcels.
In 1901, the Bartlett family bought the western half of the property, which included the house, barn and outbuildings. Herrick Bartlett, father of the family, had died by this time, and his children John and Lilly actually made the purchase.
The farmstead's associative significance in the area of medicine derives from the fact that three of Herrick's daughters - Mary (1869-1959), Edith (1871-1949) and Lucy Etta (1872-1962) - after graduating from Beloit High School, took premedical training at Valparaiso University and attended Hahnemann Medical College, where they received their MD degrees (an unusual achievement for women in the early 20th century). Dr. Mary Bartlett practiced briefly in other Wisconsin communities, starting in Eagle in 1899, but returned to Beloit in 1907 where she practiced until the year before her death in 1959. Dr. Edith, after practicing in Troy Center from 1899 to 1905, moved to Janesville and continued to practice there the rest of her life. The third sister, Dr. Etta Bartlett Vaughn, spent her professional life practicing outside the state but returned to Beloit in 1958-1959 and died there in 1962. This homestead, associated with a remarkable family of women doctors, was designated Wisconsin Registered Landmark Number 2 in 1965. |
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