| Additional Information: | 2016 survey recommendation write-up:
This one-story, bungalow-type house is constructed of rock-faced concrete block and topped with a hipped roof that includes hipped-roof dormers along the primary (east) and south slopes. An open (and formerly screened) porch is located beneath the roofline and shelters a central entrance, along with a large single-pane window to either side. Windows throughout much of the house are six-over-six-light, double-hung replacements. A modern, hipped-roof garage is located behind the house, while a large, concrete block industrial building/warehouse-type facility is located to the south. The concrete-block building is comprised of a central, one-and-one-half-story, gabled section from which a one-story, shed-roofed wing extends to the north and a two-story, flat-roofed wing to the south. Glass block windows and wooden doors are located throughout the structure.
The house on the property was built in 1916 by Earl Page who was born in 1892 in Sparta, Wisconsin. Page would move to Onalaska circa 1913 to work for his uncle, C. E. “Ed” Randall, a cement contractor. His firm is identified as having produced the cement for much of the early sidewalk in the city. Earl would learn the trade and build the subject house out of concrete blocks that he made himself. The following year Page would serve in World War I, during which time he was exposed to mustard gas and subsequently lost a lung. After recovery in a hospital in France, he returned to Onalaska and the cement contracting business. In 1920, he wed Ida Schnick and they had two children, Earl and Anita. In 1927, Earl obtained from his uncle the parcel, along with a warehouse-type building to the south (at least a portion of which is believed to have already been built). Earl remained in business—as Earl Page & Son Contracting—until retiring in 1958. He died on 15 December 1961. Ida remained in the home until her death in 1989. |
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| Bibliographic References: | On 21 April 1936, the house was signed over to the bank (167/592, 350450) but on 24 February 1938, following a payment of $2,100, the Pages got the house back in their name (183/153). The Page family retained the property until 1990.
Dolbier, From Sawmills to Sunfish, 120, 276; U.S. Federal Census, Population, 1900, 1910, 1930, 1940; World War I Draft Registration (for Earl Page), 5 June 1917, Available online at www.Ancestry.com, Accessed July 2016; Isabel Gabrielson to Earl M. Page, Quit Claim Deed, 1 July 1916, 127/347; C. E. and Linda Randall Jr. to Earl M. Page, Warranty Deed, 4 February 1927, 160/69; Earl M. and Ida Page to the Banking Commission of the State of Wisconsin, Warranty Deed, 21 April 1936, 167/592, #350450; Banking Commission of the State of Wisconsin to Earl M. and Ida Page, Warranty Deed, 24 February 1938, 183/153; “Retired Onalaska Contractor Dies,” The La Crosse Tribune, 16 December 1961, 1/5. |
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