Property Record
COUNTY HIGHWAY E, 500 FEET SOUTH OF COUNTY HIGHWAY MM
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | George Horneck Cheese Factory; Rhine Center Cheese Fa |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 82066 |
| Location (Address): | COUNTY HIGHWAY E, 500 FEET SOUTH OF COUNTY HIGHWAY MM |
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| County: | Sheboygan |
| City: | |
| Township/Village: | Rhine |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | 16 |
| Range: | 21 |
| Direction: | E |
| Section: | 14 |
| Quarter Section: | NW |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: | NW |
| Year Built: | 1880 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1977 |
| Historic Use: | cheese factory |
| Architectural Style: | Boomtown |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Fieldstone |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
| State Register Listing Date: |
| 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. Philip Horneck had a cheese factory ("Riverside Cheese Factory") 2 miles to east in 1889. Since the 1860s, Sheboygan County has been known for its cheeses. Farm families produced the first commercial cheeses, but in the late 1860s local entrepreneurs established independent factories, purchasing milk from farmers and processing it. By 1875, forty-five cheese factories operated in the county. Among the most architecturally interesting survivors is this one, constructed sometime between 1875 and 1889. The polychromatic fieldstone building has an Italianate appearance, with its pedimented parapet, bracketed cornice, tall narrow windows, dressed-stone quoins, and segmentally arched window heads. Large dormer windows along the side elevations lit the interior, where milk was first converted into curds and then into wheels of cheese. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Sec. of State, Certified List of Cheese Factories..., 1916. (B) County Atlases, 1875, 1889. (C) Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |