| Additional Information: | DESCRIPTION
This one and one-half story Greek Revival house is constructed of uncoursed limestone rubble. It has a side gable form with two additions to the rear. The low pitched gable roof has returned eaves and two-gable roofed dormers projecting from the front and a shed roof dormer projecting from the rear. Windows are six over six light double-hung sashes topped with wooden lintels. The front entrance has sidelights and a transom and is covered by a twentieth century over hang. Also on the property is a fine gable-roofed barn with board siding, large siding doors, a limestone foundation and numerous and doors under the front bay. The rear is banked. A tile cover silo sits at one end of barn.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
This house was built for Gottlieb Hilgendorf, who bought the land it stands on around 1857. Gottlieb was the son of Friedrich and Benigna Hilgendorf, who came to Mequon in 1839 from northern Germay. The Hilgendorfs were part of the Freistadt settlement, a group of German settlers that came to this country for religious freedom. Gottlieb and Christine Hilgendorf owned the property until 1901. Between 1915 and 1931, it was owned by Martin Hilgendorf. [a,b,f,p. 36-37] |
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| Bibliographic References: | [a] Plat Maps for the city of Mequon, 1867-1980, on file at the Mequon Historical Society, Mequon, Wisconsin, or the Archives at the State Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin.
[b] Taxs Rolls for the city of Mequon, 1857-1930, on file at the library, Mequon, Wisconsin.
[c] Field observation based on architectural and historical information.
[d] Information from the owner of the property.
[e] Information from the building's datestone or inscription.
[f] Freistadt Historical Society, Freistadt and the Lutheram Immigration, Mequom: Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1989.
[g] L. Rehm, Mequon History, on file at the Mequon Historical Society, Mequon, Wisconsin.
[h] C.W. Butterfield, History of Washington and Ozaukee Counties, Chicago: Western Publishing Company, 1880.
[i] Information from the Mequon Landmarks Commission, Mequon, Wisconsin. |
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