Property Record
1265 2ND AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Cumberland Municipal Light Plant |
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| Reference Number: | 242100 |
| Location (Address): | 1265 2ND AVE |
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| County: | Barron |
| City: | Cumberland |
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| Year Built: | 1940 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2020 |
| Historic Use: | public utility/power plant/sewage/water |
| Architectural Style: | Astylistic Utilitarian Building |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | Surveyed in July 2020 by UWM-CRM as part of the WisDOT USH 63 reconstruction project. The Cumberland Municipal Utility building was built as the Municipal Light Plant around 1940. The existing building is irregular in plan and was constructed as a series of additions. The oldest portion of the building, located near the center of the 2nd Ave. elevation, originally had a one-story, five-bay portion facing 2nd Ave. and a taller three-bay deep generating room on the river (west) side. At an unknown date, a six-bay addition was constructed to the north, and projecting three-bay addition was constructed to the south. The plant also contains a large addition on its southwest corner, located behind the commercial buildings fronting onto 2nd Ave. The existing front (east/2nd Ave.) elevation is clad in brick, with aluminum-framed windows with concrete sills. The brick infill in the windows in the oldest part of the building is believed to be original to the building, based on an undated historic photo that shows tripartite, multi-light windows with transoms, recessed into the large openings and with brick around the sides and top of the windows. The openings remain unchanged, although the upper transoms were replaced with opaque panels, perhaps at the same time that one of the later additions was constructed. The window openings in the additions are similar in size and rhythm to the original building; in the addition, the windows have concrete sills and opaque panels below and above the windows. The first electric generating plant was established in Cumberland in 1897, when the city council approved the installation of electric lights on streets, parks, and public buildings. A building housing both the municipal waterworks and electric light generating plant was built at the edge of Beaver Dam Lake at the west end of present-day Veterans St. The boiler in the building was replaced in 1905, and an additional 100-horsepower generator was installed in 1908. In 1918, the city closed the municipal power plant and began purchasing electricity from the Farmers Light & Power Co., a subsidiary of the Apple River Milling Co. Sometime after 1939, the city re-established a municipal electrical utility and built the oldest part of the existing building on 2nd St. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Undated historic photo in photo files at the Thomas St. Angelo Public Library, local history room. Gordon, Newton S., ed. History of Barron County, Wisconsin. Minneapolis: H.C. Cooper, Jr., & Co., 1922. 1092-1093. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |