The Wade House was built by Sylvanus Wade in 1850, and during the 1850s and 1860s it was the most important stop for travelers on the plank road between Sheboygan and Fond du Lac. The road itself was first constructed in 1837-1838, and its wooden planks laid on wooden rails provided a technological advance on the dirt roads, often rutted and muddy, that prevailed almost elsewhere in the state. A second plank road company was chartered in 1851. Plank roads were no solution to Wisconsin's transportation problems, however, because they quickly deteriorated and had to be rebuilt every five or six years. Neither was the plank road to answer to Wade's economic dreams. Greenbush declined in importance after the first railroad in the area passed through nearby Glenbeulah instead.

The image appeared in the November section of the 1991 Wisconsin Historical Calendar.