Property Record
1523-1525 COMMERCIAL
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Bangor Variety Store / Bangor Independent Newspaper Office |
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| Other Name: | Bangor Area Historical Society |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 72455 |
| Location (Address): | 1523-1525 COMMERCIAL |
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| County: | La Crosse |
| City: | Bangor |
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| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1898 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19922020 |
| Historic Use: | retail building |
| Architectural Style: | Commercial Vernacular |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Bangor Commercial Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 10/11/2022 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 2/18/2022 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | This two-story Commercial Vernacular building was constructed in 1898. It is rectangular in plan with brick walls and a flat roof. The building shares party walls on both sides and is comprised of two distinct storefronts. The western storefront is symmetrical in plan with a recessed center entrance flanked by large, single-pane shop windows. The entrance consists of a wood-framed glass door sheltered by a wood storm/screen door and is accessed via a pair of concrete steps with a metal handrail on one side. A single-pane transom is located above the door. Iron columns with modest ornamentation are located on each side of the center recess. Large transom panels are located above the shop windows and entrance; these currently feature photographic images of historic scenes of the Bangor area. The bulkhead wall below the shop windows is clad in T1-11 siding. A brick pilaster separates the western storefront from the eastern storefront. A single wood panel door with upper glazing is located immediately east of this pilaster; this door historically provided access to the residential space at the second story. A large transom opening containing a photographic panel is located above this doorway. A narrow iron column with modest ornamentation separates this doorway from the eastern storefront; a matching column is located at the opposite (eastern) edge of the storefront. The eastern storefront contains a recessed center entrance flanked by large, single-pane shop windows. A horizontal band of wood-framed transom panels spans the width of the storefront; these panels currently contain photographic images of historic scenes from the Bangor area. An iron lintel with regularly spaced rosettes spans the wall above the eastern half of the first story (historic photographs suggest that the western storefront did not feature an iron lintel). The second story of the building’s front elevation contains three regularly spaced 1-over-1 windows in its western half and three regularly spaced 1-over-1 windows in its eastern half. All windows feature stone sills and lintels. Brick corner pilasters are located at the outer edges of the façade at the second story with brick corbelling spanning the width of the building above these. This double-storefront building was constructed in 1898 for Richard M. Jones, the son of early Welsh immigrants. Jones’ 1902 business calendar identified him as a dealer in “farm machinery, buggies, harnesses, and binder-twine.” His business occupied both retail spaces with the eastern space serving as a carriage repository and the western space serving as retail space for the sales of harnesses and related accessories. By 1911, the eastern space served as a sales room for farm machinery, and within about ten years, both retail spaces had begun serving as a hardware store. During this period, local funeral director Olaf O. Holmlund also briefly sold tombstones and caskets in the building. In 1936, Henry Thick, Sr. established a Plymouth and Desoto dealership in the building which operated until 1941. From the late 1940s through the 1950s, the eastern retail space served as Barney Vehrenkamp’s barber shop. However, the longest lasting business to occupy either of the first-floor retail spaces was the Bangor Variety Store (owned by Ray and Florence Chapiewsky) which opened in 1946 and remained in operation until 1986. Initially occupying the western retail space, the Bangor Variety dime store expanded to include the eastern space as well following the closure of Vehrenkamp’s barber shop in the late 1950s. By this time, a metal cornice with a small rectangular parapet bearing the name “JONES” had been removed from the façade. This building is also notable as the long-time home of the local newspaper, the Bangor Independent, which maintained its offices and printing shop on the second floor of the building’s western half from 1898 through 1970 (the eastern half of the second floor served most often as a residential apartment, although it also served as a dentist’s office for a period in the early twentieth century). Following the closure of the Bangor Variety Store in 1986, a granddaughter of the building’s original owner deeded the building to the Bangor Area Historical Society. This building is currently the home of the Bangor Area Historical Society museum; the museum occupies the building’s first floor while the western half of the second floor (the former newspaper office) serves as museum storage. The eastern half of the second floor is currently a residential apartment. |
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| Bibliographic References: |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |