| Additional Information: | Two story brick original block with low hip roof with overhanging eave. Rear clapboard portion is a later addition as is the porch roof.
This home at 709 Park Street was built in 1858 as the home of George Reed, an early Manitowoc attorney who played an important role in the history of this community as well as several others in this part of the state.
George Reed arrived in Manitowoc in 1850 from Waukesha where he had served in the last territorial legislature. H was one of the first attorneys in Manitowoc. His political career was meteoric in that he was elected first President of the new Village of Manitowoc. In 1853, he was elected as County Judge and was, thereafter, referred to as Judge Reed. He was a candidate for Congress in 1862, but was defeated. He represented Manitowoc in the State Senate from 1864 to 1870.
Reed was also a notable promoter of railroads to and from Manitowoc. Reed was among a number of local incorporators of the Manitowoc and Mississippi Railroad which received a charter from the State in 1851. Ground was broken in 1855 and grading completed to Brillion in 1856. The Village of Reedsville was founded as part of this effort by promoter George Reed in 1854. The project collapsed in 1856 and the right of way eventually became part of the Chicago and Northwestern system. The original company became the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Central Railway and began purchasing other charters and constructing other lines in 1872. Reed was President of this new company which later became the Wisconsin central Railroad. He remained in that capacity until his death on January 10, 1883 in the tragic Newhall House hotel fire in Milwaukee.
This building is considered significant as the only remaining building connected with the life of George Reed, First Village President attorney and promoter in Manitowoc. Reed later became the President of the Wisconsin Central Railroad and helped found the City of Reedsburg, which is named after him. |
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| Bibliographic References: | A. County Tax Rolls.
B. Manitowoc City Directory, 1856.
C. Story of a Century, p. 129.
D. Falge, Louis J., History of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin vol. I, pp. 78, 97, 225, 236, 242, 317-18, 356.
E. Milwaukee Sunday Telegraph, February 25, 1883.
Falge, Dr. Louis, editor. History of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Chicago: Goodspeed Historical Association, 1912, Volume I, 317.
Gard, Robert E. and L. G. Sorden. The Romance of Wisconsin Place Names. New York: October House, Inc., 1968, 107.
Plumb, Ralph G. A History of Manitowoc County. Manitowoc, Wis.: Brandt Printing & Binding Co., 1904, 181.
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