Property Record
541 VERNAL AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | BUTTON BLOCK |
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| Other Name: | CHAMBERS AND OWEN STORE |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 84609 |
| Location (Address): | 541 VERNAL AVE |
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| County: | Rock |
| City: | Milton |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
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| Year Built: | 1890 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19752013 |
| Historic Use: | retail building |
| Architectural Style: | Commercial Vernacular |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Cream Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Merchant Row Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 8/3/2015 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 2/27/2015 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | THIS BUILDING IS A SIGNIFICANT RETAIL BUILDING HOUSING A BUSINESS THAT GREW INTO A MAJOR REGIONAL WHOLESALER OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND OTHER RETAIL ITEMS TO CONVENIENCE STORES. CHAMBERS AND OWEN STARTED THEIR WHOLESALE TOBACCO BUSINESS IN THIS BUILDING, BUT ALSO HAD A LONG TIME NOTIONS STORE IN THE STOREFRONTS. THE BUSINESS DEVELOPED IN THIS BUILDING UNTIL IN THE 1920S, IT NEEDED BETTER FACILITIES AND MOVED TO JANESVILLE. IT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT WHOLESALER OF TOBACCO IN MILTON DURING THE ERA WHEN TOBACCO WAS A SIGNIFICANT BUSINESS IN ROCK COUNTY. LATER IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, THE BUILDING HOUSED A LONG-TIME GROCERY STORE. |
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| Bibliographic References: | BICENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MILTON, 1976 TAX ROLLS FOR MILTON, ROCK COUNTY COURTHOUSE, JANESVILLE, WISCONSIN |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |