East Park Walking Tour
“Note: The following ‘online tour’ has been adapted from The East Park Historic District: A Walking Tour, a booklet produced by Landscape Research, Ltd. for the Commission in 2005.
“Our citizens were abroad at an early hour, and the star spangled banner and Scandinavian flag were seen floating in the morning breeze. People from the surrounding country, clothed in holiday attire, began to arrive, and before 10 o’clock our streets were swarming with humanity, comprising all ages, sects, and nationalities.”
The Stoughton Fair held in present-day East Park,
as described in History of Dane County (1880)
The East Park Historic District occupies a picturesque corner of east Stoughton that is perched on a hill above the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad Depot and a group of historic tobacco warehouses. This area had no residential development until 1913, unlike the neighborhood just to the east (the East Side Historic District), where the first houses were built in the 1880s.
As created in 2002, the East Park Historic District includes 19 houses along Park and S. Lynn streets. The first five were built between 1913 and 1915, and were followed by seven between 1919 and 1921, and four between 1926 and 1935. The last house was built in 1952. Many are good examples of the bungalow and Period Revival styles popular in Wisconsin cities in the early 20th century.
Before its residential development, the East Park area was used as a fairground and a driving or trotting park. The chief land developer was O.M. Turner, the son-in-law of city founder Luke Stoughton. In 1875 Turner subdivided some of his holdings, but his additions sold slowly. In 1879, he leased a parcel to the Stoughton Fair Association. The first fair was held on October 24, 1897. The History of Dane County (1880) noted that “a large gathering was in attendance ... six races took place, affording an exciting amusement.” At the November 1879 fair, a farmer gained attention by driving two yoke of oxen hitched to a wagon. One observer noted that the farmer “understands well how to wield the whip and shout saw and gee.”
Many driving or trotting parks that featured horse and harness racing were opened in Midwestern cities in the late 19th century.
The Stoughton Fair Association built a race track and grandstand on the grounds. The fairs ended after a few years, and the driving track then became known as the O.M. Turner Driving Park or Turner Park. In 1903, Turner platted the parcel as the Turner Park Addition, but there was no residential construction until 1913. After some controversy, the City of Stoughton acquired the triangular central parcel as a public park. One advocate of real estate development argued in 1913 in the Stoughton Courier Hub that the entire area should be developed with house lots, noting that “at present some of our people don’t know where to live ... the Moline Plow Company can’t increase their force at the Mandt plant because men can’t secure homes for their families.”
Architectural Highlights
The first house erected on East Park was a bungalow, and was followed by five others. Both a dwelling type and an architectural style, the bungalow enjoyed great popularity across the United States in the early 20th century. In this period it was the all-American family house. The six examples in the East Park Historic District comprise Stoughton’s best collection of bungalows. In Wisconsin, one or one- and one-half story bungalows were typically clad in brick, stucco, or wood siding and shingles, or a combination of these materials. The bungalow featured a low-pitched roof and deep eaves, as well as some type of front porch. “Honest” motifs such as exposed rafter ends, simple knee-brace brackets, and other simple trim replaced the decorative excesses or the late 19th century.
Home builders could obtain plans from many sources including periodicals such as The Craftsman and House Beautiful. Local newspapers were another source, and the Stoughton Courier Hub occasionally printed “The American Home,” a nationally syndicated column by William A. Radford. Radford’s column featured many varieties of bungalow designs, as well as practical construction advice. Sears Roebuck & Co. offered prefabricated bungalows, ready for construction, as did other manufacturers. The generally low-cost bungalow appealed to many working men and women. Developers in some cities erected entire bungalow neighborhoods.
The compact bungalow represented a revolution in domestic design, a turn away from Victorian complexity in favor of simple, efficient plans adapted to modern appliances and conveniences. At the interior, the use of dark-stained oak and pine millwork, built-in cabinets, and a prominent fireplace established a sense of unity and coziness. The interior could be furnished with a complete of collection of lighting, hardware, ceramics, textiles, and furniture. The English Arts and Crafts movement was among sources for “Mission” or Craftsman style decorative arts, and was well-translated by American craftsmen such as Stickley Brothers of Grand Rapids, Michigan. By 1907, firms such as the Come-Packt Furniture Co. offered mail-order Craftsman furniture ready for the customer to assemble.
The bungalow was not the only popular house style in the teens and twenties. A number of Period Revival styles -- such as the gambrel-roofed Dutch Colonial, the Colonial Revival and Cape Cod, and the simple “Foursquare” or “Front Gable” -- were built in new sections of Stoughton and on vacant lots in older neighborhoods. Some of the same books that advertised bungalow plans also showed these attractive, affordable designs.
The 1920 and 1930 U.S. census provides an early portrait of East Park. Most of the original residents of East Park were born in Norway. Their occupations were a good cross-section of Stoughton’s industries after World War I. Lumber, tobacco, and wagon manufacture were still strong businesses, and home ownership was available to many. By the mid - 1920’s, however, the tobacco industry declined dramatically because of soil depletion and a decrease in demand. The wagon industries that once employed hundreds also declined after World War I, and the Depression years of the 1930s were especially hard on Stoughton’s population.
East Park, unlike the city’s late 19th - century neighborhoods, was developed just as Stoughton was becoming a modern city with a new generation of modern conveniences. Many households owned an automobile, as reflected in the small garages at the rear of many houses. Improved roads, including the construction of Highway 51 in 1927; daily passenger trains to Madison, Chicago, Milwaukee and beyond; a modern education system; and movies and other entertainment linked small towns like Stoughton to the rest of the world like never before.
East Side Park
~Stoughton native Carl Sampson remembered summer concerts in the East Park bandstand in the 1930s. Concerts were held every Wednesday night. People sat on the grass and also in their cars, and some of the drivers would honk their applause. Ice cream cones were 5 cents.~
~According to Carl Sampson, the Robertson players were the stars of East Park entertainment in the summer. Their tent shows included a Sunday matinee for children that cost 15 cents and offered “Hansel and Gretel.”~
~”In a discussion of the park question it is well to remember that in a city of our size, and especially located as we are, a park is after all, a luxury -- a desirable luxury. The larger the place the more desirable does this luxury become, until, amid the sky scrapers and smoke of the really big city, park as “breathing spots” for the congested population have come to be imperative necessities. But our most optimistic dreamer of dreams surely will not delude himself with visions of a metropolitan Stoughton.”
Stoughton Courier Hub, June 13, 1913~
~Does Stoughton need a park? Ought it to indulge in the luxury in view of its present financial condition?
... at the present time there is not a foot of unappropriated ground within the confines of the city for another to take. We have 5,000 people, 4,200 of whom are without their chunk of land. There is none left for them unless we buy a spot, where they may go without special permit or license. Sociability, the opportunity to meet and chat amid pleasant surroundings, to picnic and dine together, are conductive to good citizenship ... In a public park we touch elbows, mix, fraternize and become acquainted. There we can hold fairs and exhibitions, patriotic doings and civic entertainments; there children may romp and frolic without trespassing upon any man’s land, for it will be no man’s land, and every man’s land.~
108 South Lynn St.
“Mrs.” Stoddard
1913 - 14
This bungalow was one of the first houses built in the Turner Park Addition. It may have been the home of Gladys Stoddard, the widow of Valentine, who was a shipping clerk at a wagon shop.
116 South Lynn St.
Ben and Bertha Gilbertson
1915
Ben Gilbertson was a native of Norway and a Stoughton police officer. After his retirement, he was employed as the engineer at the East Side Public School.
Gilbertson and his German-born wife had at least three children: Ethel, William, and George.
With its front porch and gabled dormers, the hip-roofed Gilbertson house is similar to many built in Stoughton in the early 20th century.
124 South Lynn St.
Olaf and Anna Haugen
1914
In 1920 Olaf Haugen listed his occupation as a grocery salesman; ten years later he worked as a painter. Like most of his neighbors, Haugen was born in Norway; Anna was born in Wisconsin to Norwegian parents. By 1920 they had two children: Ingeborg and Olaf, and the household also included another young family, Alfred and Clara Ehle, and five-year old Beulah Gryttenholm. In 1930, they had another daughter, Marie, and no renters or boarders.
The Haugen house appears to be based on the same plan as 116 S. Lynn St.
208 South Lynn St.
Carl & Tena Hanson
1921
Carl emigrated to the U.S. from Norway in 1909, and Tena in 1900. Carl was a sawmill laborer. In 1930, their household included their son William, a 24-year old packer at a tobacco house.
The Hanson house retains a few of its original bungalow details, including the knee-brackets at the eves.
216 South Lynn St.
Peter & Beret Klaboe
1914
The Klaboes emigrated to the U.S. with their daughters Esther and Signa in 1908. All became citizens by 1915. In 1920 Peter was employed as a laborer in a tobacco business; ten years later he was working in a sawmill.
The Klaboe house is very similar to 224 S. Lynn St., but retains its original open porch with a balustraded deck
224 South Lynn St.
Aleda Sampson
1914
The National Register of Historic Places nomination calls this building “by far the most imposing house in the East Park Historic District.”
Aleda Sampson, the widow of Sven Sampson, worked in a tobacco factory. By 1930, she rented part of her house to John Bostrom and his family. He was a wagon shop mechanic.
232 South Lynn St.
Sigvald and Mabel Fosdal
1947
This one-story house retains much of the scale and feeling of earlier bungalows although it was among the last additions to East Park. The exterior is partially limestone faced.
Sigvald Fosdal was born in Wisconsin to Louis and Andrea Fosdal, both natives of Norway. In 1930, at the age of 24, he worked at a Stoughton gasoline station. His wife Mabel worked at the Stoughton Courier Hub.
300 South Lynn St.
Sverre and Lille Brekke
1937
Sverre Brekke came to the United States in 1923 at the age of 15 from Norway. In 1930 he was working as a bookkeeper and lived with his aunt Anna Thorviek on S. Monroe Street. He was later a driver for the Standard Oil Co.
The Brekke House is a Cape Cod -- one of many Period Revival styles popular in the 20th century. The steep gable roof and pedimented central entry are typical style features.
308 South Lynn St.
Hub City Construction Co.
1921
This brick bungalow was erected by the Hub City Construction Co.; early owners have not been identified. Typical bungalow features include the full-length porch with short columns, and deep eaves with knee brackets. A large addition was made in 2004.
316 South Lynn St.
Axel & Dagmar Mortenson
1929
Axel was a native of Norway and arrived in the United States in 1911. He listed his employment in 1930 as a “trailer assembler,” likely at the Mandt Wagon Company which at the time was making a variety of automotive products. Later, after the end of Prohibition in 1933, he operated Mortenson’s Tavern on Main Street.
With its gambrel roof and side-lit entry, the Mortenson house is a good example of the Dutch Colonial style.
324 South Lynn St.
Haakon & Caroline Tholo
1927
Haakon was a native of Norway and worked as a building contractor. The Tholo household in 1930 included three children. Their house apparently sheltered two families; Dr. Robert and Gladys Schoenbeck and their two children rented a portion of the house.
700 Park St.
L.O. & Lena Felland
1925-6
The Fellands were retired from farming when they built this house. Their bungalow features a low-pitched roof, clipped gables and a full-length porch. The garage at rear echos the same roof line.
708 Park St.
Elling & Bertha Gilbertson
1919
The Gilbertson House is an excellent example of a bungalow. The porch has projecting brick piers with battered wood posts and concrete urns.
Elling was born in Norway in 1852 and emigrated to the United States in 1880. Bertha was a native of Wisconsin. In 1930, the Gilbertson’s 30-year old son Morris lived here; he was a car salesman. Elling reported to the census taker that he was employed on a farm.
716 Park St.
Glenn Blakely
1935
The Blakely house was the last built on East Park before World War II. The entry of the compact Dutch Colonial design is flanked by sidelights; the gambrel roof is a hallmark of the style.
Glenn Blakely was a manager for the Brittingham and Hixon Lumber Company.
724 Park St.
Ted Jacobson
1921
Ted Jacobsen was a Stoughton mason, and it is likely that he was the builder of the only brick house erected along East Park.
Jacobsen later ran the popular “Coffee Cup” restaurant on Main Street.
800 Park St.
Carl & Trena Hoel
1921
This well-conserved bungalow features a hip roof with a shed dormer. The windows have multi-paned upper sash. Carl Hoel owned a nearby grocery store on E. Main Street. The family included three children: Charlotte, Ruth Ann, and Carl John.
808 Park St.
Mrs. Ole Simonson
1921
According to tax records, this Bungalow was originally the home of Mrs. Ole Simonson, but by 1930, it was owned by Alvin and Helma Gjertson. Alvin was the proprietor of an auto repair shop. Helma was born in Norway and emigrated to the United States in 1906.
This was later the home of Walter Eggleson, an insurance agent and local promoter of the Syttende Mai celebration.
816 Park St.
John & Marie Johnson
1921
in 1930, John Johnson, at age 59, was employed as a moulder in a wagon factory. He and his wife Marie were natives of Norway and arrived in the United States in 1906.
John and Marie’s daughter Helma was married to Alvin Gjertson, and the couple lived next door at 808.
Fountain
E. Main and S. Lynn Street (north of Park St.)
2004
The fountain and landscaped center median are new additions to the neighborhood. The fountain was donated in memory of Kathryn Torkelson by her husband Ray and other family members.
Some of the information in this publication is from the “East Park Historic District,” a National Register of Historic Places nomination prepared by Elizabeth Miller in 2002 for the the Commission. Other publications by the Landmarks Commission include:
Historic Stoughton Design Guidelines: A Guide to Renovation and Rehabilitation of Commercial Buildings on Main Street (1993)
Historic Main Street: An Architectural and Historical Guide to Downtown Stoughton (rev. ed. 1998)
Caring for Historic Houses in Stoughton (1998)
Stoughton Historic Districts and Landmarks: A Map of Historic Districts and Landmarks in Stoughton, Wisconsin (2001)
Neighborhood Historic District Walking Tours:
Southwest Side Historic District
Northwest Side Historic District
East Side Historic District
East Park Historic District
the Commission website:
www.stoughtonlandmarks.com
The East Park Walking Tour was prepared by Landscape Research LLC, St. Paul, Minnesota for the the Commission. Photography by Art Wendt. The assistance of Lois Pieper and Alan Hedstrom of the the Commission, Joe DeRose of the State Historic Preservation Office, Stoughton Public Library staff, and Carl Sampson is gratefully acknowledged.
This program receives Federal financial assistance for identification and protection of historic properties. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, the U.S. Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, or disability or age in its federally assisted programs. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility as described above, or if you desire further information, please write to:
Office of Equal Opportunity
National Park Service
P.O. Box 37127
Washington, D.C. 20013-7127
The activity that is the subject of this publication has been financed in part with Federal funds from the National park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, and administered by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. However, the contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of the Interior or the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation by the Dept. of the Interior or the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.