1508 South 80th Street

Summary

Alexander Herschel and Pauline G. McMicken House
1508 S. 80th Street, West Allis, Milwaukee County
Date of Construction: 1909

In 1900, the E. P. Allis Company decided to relocate its manufacturing plant from the City of Milwaukee to North Greenfield (present-day West Allis). As a result, the Central Improvement Company (CIC) was formed the following year to secure the land for that move. That same year, twenty-six-year-old Alexander Herschel McMicken left his job at a downtown Milwaukee furniture store to take a position with the CIC. In 1902, McMicken was charged with drawing the first known map of the village, which was published the following year—the same year that he moved to West Allis. McMicken became the general manager of the CIC in 1905 and then began providing local newspapers with West Allis real estate updates.

In April 1909, McMicken married Pauline Mohr and later that year they moved into their new home at 1508 S. 80th Street. Although essentially a simple Dutch Colonial Revival form—a form that is found throughout the City of West Allis, the McMicken home prominently features a variety of sheathings common to the Craftsman style, including red pressed brick, wooden shingles, stucco and half-timber finish, as well as clapboard. The house also displays decorative window designs delineated in either wood or leaded glass, as well as carved wooden brackets and bargeboards. While the architect of the home remains unknown, it resembles known works of architect Charles Lesser.

Pauline died in 1948; Alexander remained in the home until his own death in 1951. During his tenure in the home, McMicken continued in the real estate business, touting the merits of West Allis. Indeed, he was singled-out by a local paper as a "pioneer in the promotion of West Allis as a suburb." In addition to McMicken’s business interests, he was also a charter member of the West Allis Masonic Lodge; a volunteer member of the fire department; and the man behind West Allis's procurement of funding for its 1915 Carnegie Library.

This house is a private residence; please respect the privacy of the owners.

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