Property Record
17611 1ST ST (CTH KR/ COUNTY LINE RD)
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | House, Frederick & Matilda Biehn Farmstead |
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| Other Name: | HENRY AND MARGARET BIEHN HOUSE |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 225107 |
| Location (Address): | 17611 1ST ST (CTH KR/ COUNTY LINE RD) |
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| County: | Kenosha |
| City: | |
| Township/Village: | Paris |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | 2 |
| Range: | 21 |
| Direction: | E |
| Section: | 4 |
| Quarter Section: | |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: |
| Year Built: | 1909 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 20142019 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Gabled Ell |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Wood |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | Y |
| 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: | Only this house on the property was previously inventoried in the AHI, at which point it was called the Henry & Margaret Biehn House. Frederick & Matilda Biehn are more appropriately associated with the property. This farmstead stands on the south side of County Line Road (CH KR/1st Street) in the northwest quarter of Section 4 in Paris Township. It is comprised of a house, barn, two machine sheds, two pole barns, and a small barn with pole barn addition. The house was previously inventoried in the AHI as the Henry and Margaret Biehn House (225107), but the other buildings on the farmstead were not. Maps show the homestead has been located in the same general area of the farm since 1861. County plat maps note that members of the Biehn family owned this property for more than 70 years, though the spelling of those names varied. Owners included J.F. Briehn in 1861; F. Beihn in 1873; F. Biehner in 1887; F. Biehn in 1899, 1920, and 1924; and the Fred Biehn Estate in 1934. Johannes Frederick Biehn (1797-1872) likely came to America from Germany in 1852 with his son Frederick W. Biehn Sr (1822-1890). Frederick married German native Bertha (1841-1914) and they resided in Paris Township in the 1860 US census. Following Johannes’ death in 1872, Frederick Sr became owner of the farmstead. When Frederick Sr died in 1890, his son Frederick W. Biehn Jr (1871-1930) took over farming operations. He died in 1930, and the property was owned by the Fred Biehn Estate in 1934. Research has not revealed their familial connection to Johann Heinrich (Henry) Biehn (1827-1892), whose name the house was inventoried under, but it is likely that he and Frederick Sr were cousins. Records indicate Henry emigrated from Germany to Paris Township in 1851 and established an 80-acre farm in Section 12. He married fellow German native Margaret Myers (1836-1897); they raised nine children and became a prominent family in the community. When Henry retired in 1888 their son Henry Jr (b. 1858) bought the “old homestead farm” and went on to become a “well-to-do farmer and stock raiser” (Lyman 1916: 628-29). Henry Sr. and Margaret removed to a “residence [on] 120 acres of land in [Section 4] of Paris Township,” owned by Frederick Biehn Sr. The pair lived there for less than a decade; Henry died in 1894 and Margaret in 1897. Maps show that between 1873 and 1887 Frederick Biehn’s farm grew from 67 acres to 144 acres. The farm’s original homestead remained active, and a second was built on the eastern edge of the enlarged property. Although Henry and Margaret Biehn lived on the property during this period, records do not clarify which house they lived in. In 1919, a Kenosha County Farmers Directory listed Fred, his wife Matilda, and five children at this 147-acre farm in Section 4. The 1909 house is intact and retains a fair amount of integrity, but those elements are outweighed by the cumulative effects on the alterations and additions to the farm buildings. The recent additions to the large barn are out of scale and built of modern materials. The Frederick & Matilda Biehn House and Farmstead is recommended not eligible for listing in the NRHP. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Kenosha County Assessor. Kenosha County Property Information Web Portal [Property Info, GIS Map, Historic Aerial Photos] (2020). Retrieved from http://propertyinfo.kenoshacounty.org/Search.aspx (1/20/20). Lyman, Frank H. The City of Kenosha and Kenosha County, Wisconsin; a Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement (1916). Chicago: SJ Clarke Co. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_City_of_Kenosha_and_Kenosha_County_W/Flw0AQAAMAAJ (1/30/20). |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |