| Additional Information: | 2019 City of New Berlin survey write-up:
Constructed of fieldstone, this one-story plus raised basement, front-gabled structure includes a one-story, shed-roof wing to the west. Windows throughout the building are largely two-over-two-light, double-hung sash, while those along the north entrance elevation are topped with headers comprised of three rows of header brick. A wooden double door is located along the building’s basement level, while the main floor includes a single door. The roof is covered with standing seam metal. A turn-of-the-twentieth century photo of the building confirms that the structure has changed little since it was built.
Following purchase in November 1893 of a single acre from Fred and Mary Stigler, this structure was built in 1894 by the Wisconsin Cheese & Butter Company and appears to have been referenced to as the Calhoun Creamery. Previous research on the building indicates that the structure served as a cooperative and that local farmers brought stones from their farms to help build the structure. The lower level included a cheese factory room, boiler room and a cold storage room, while the upper floor was the buttermaker’s quarters. As of 1896, there were a total of 2,522 creameries and cheese factories in the state, with two located in the Town of New Berlin (the other being the McCanna/McCanna & Frazier (aka Fraser) Cheese & Butter Manufacturing Company at 18540 W. National Avenue, which was established in circa 1892). Although this building is often cited as a creamery, the Wisconsin Dairy and Food Commissioner categorized the subject Wisconsin Butter & Cheese Co. as a cheese factory. The structure reportedly served as a creamery/cheese factory until circa 1904.
The following year, the building was purchased by Albert Elger (b. 1882), who at that time worked as a cattle dealer, along with his brother Gust. He used the structure as a holding location for cattle before driving them to the Milwaukee stockyards. He also built a gambrel-roof house east of the stone building, where he and his family resided.
cheese factory |
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| Bibliographic References: | Historical & Architectural Resources Survey, City of New Berlin, Waukesha County, Wisconsin prepared by tes | Historical Consulting, LLC, 2019.
Footnotes for the 2019 survey information provided below:
Historic photo of the Wisconsin Cheese & Butter Company building in the 1984 New Berlin Historical Calendar (month of November), Calendar in possession of the New Berlin Historical Society.
Fred and Mary Stigler to the Wisconsin Cheese and Butter Company of Waukesha, Warranty Deed, 2 November 1893, 84/481, #25450; Biennial Report of the Dairy and Food Commissioner of Wisconsin, 1895-96 (Madison: Democrat Printing Company, 1896), 259, 279; Biennial Report of the Dairy and Food Commissioner of Wisconsin, 1901-1902 (Madison: Democrat Printing Company, 1903), 184-185; “New Life Planned for Old Cheese Factory,” New Berlin Citizen, 6 July 1979, clipping in possession of the New Berlin Historical Society.
“Albert Elger,” Obituary, Waukesha Daily Freeman, 17 November 1955, 2; “New Life Planned for Old Cheese Factory,” information in article regarding its use by Elger as a cattle holding location was provided by Albert Elger’s son Ken Elger.
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