Property Record
10-19 E SUMNER ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Hilt Block |
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| Other Name: | |
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| Reference Number: | 119380 |
| Location (Address): | 10-19 E SUMNER ST |
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| County: | Washington |
| City: | Hartford |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1915 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 20002011 |
| Historic Use: | large retail building |
| Architectural Style: | Commercial Vernacular |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | John Etzel (carpenter); Thorn Brothers (masonry) |
| Other Buildings On Site: | N |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
| State Register Listing Date: |
| Additional Information: | The $35,000 Hilt Block was constructed by Jacob Hilt in 1915 to replace his saloon on the same site. John Etzel was the carpenter and the masonry was completed by the Thorn Brothers. The building originally contained Hilt’s saloon, G.W. Chaplin’s billiard hall, Reno Gehrke’s barbershop and Roy Spiker’s restaurant. Hilt and his wife lived in a flat on the second floor and rented out rooms on the remaining part of the upper floors. Prohibition forced the saloon to convert to a drug store and the Hilt’s eventually would take over the restaurant and run Hilt’s Café into the 1950s. In 1937, the Hilt’s turned the rooming house into a hotel. Jacob Hilt died in 1957. The building currently houses a pet store and the other commercial spaces are vacant. Storefront transom window replaced with wooden siding between 2000 and 2011. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Hilt Block File, Hartford History Room, Hartford Public Library, Hartford, WI. "History/Architecture Survey of STH 83", WisDOT #1330-24-00, Prepared by Heritage Research (2011). |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |