315 E MAIN ST

315 E MAIN ST

Racine

Waterford

1915

2012

house

Dutch Colonial Revival

Clapboard

Olaf Hoganson (builder)

Y

No

Charles H. Noll was born in 1860 in Wisconsin to Louis A. and Elizabeth Noll; he was the oldest of the couple’s five children. Louis A. Noll opened in 1863 a general store in Waterford. The store thrived and expanded its offerings to groceries, drugs, dry goods, millinery, feed and flour, as well as providing for a cooper shop. Charles became an active part of the family business along with his younger brother Louis L. The store was destroyed during the aforementioned 1898 fire and Louis A. Noll and his children rebuilt the business at 105 S. 2nd Street and named it the Louis Noll Company. The family’s endeavors branched into real estate and providing loans, which resulted in the chartering of Noll’s Bank in 1907, which was the second such financial establishment in Waterford. Although Charles was the bank’s first vice president and assumed the role of president upon his father’s death in 1910, the institution primarily was managed by his brother Louis L.

Charles married his wife Louise (b. 1874) in 1894 and the couple had two children – Alfred and Cora. In March 1915, Noll initiated plans to build the subject house. A house owned by Edward Leahy was moved from the subject parcel in May and construction on Noll’s house began in June under the direction of contractor Olaf Hoganson of Burlington. The Waterford Post suggested that Noll’s “modern bungalow [when] erected will be a fine improvement to East Main Street.” The architect is not known -- an entry in The American Contractor states only that the $3,500 house was from “private plans”. According to property tax records, the home in 1920 was assessed at $4,200.

Charles Noll in 1919 bought out his siblings’ stakes in the family store and renamed it the Charles Noll & Son Company. Noll died in 1921 and upon his death Louise became a director at the bank. Louise remained in the subject house until her death in 1974. The property has had three owners since with the current occupants owning the house for the past two years.

Nearly identical to the W. Henze House at W230 S9065 Clark Street, Big Bend (AHI 7760).

Surveyed by Heritage Research (2012).

"Waterford: Stories of Our Village and its Busy Life"; Sanborn Maps; Tax Records; Census Records. Date and Builder: Waterford Post, 1 July 1915.

Not Listed