Property Record
200 SPRING ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Wisconsin Refrigerator Company |
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| Other Name: | Professional Education |
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| Reference Number: | 29641 |
| Location (Address): | 200 SPRING ST |
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| County: | Eau Claire |
| City: | Eau Claire |
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| Year Built: | 1888 |
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| Additions: | C. 1931 |
| Survey Date: | 1997 |
| Historic Use: | industrial building |
| Architectural Style: | Astylistic Utilitarian Building |
| Structural System: | Masonry |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | The Gould Company plant is located on the southwest corner of Spring Street and Bellevue Avenue in an area dominated by industry. The complex of buildings is composed of brick, block, and metal structures. Parts of the building may date from 1888 when the company was formed; other parts from c. 1931. "The Wisconsin Refrigerator Co., maker of the 'Wisconsin Peerless' was started in 1888 with five small buildings on 2 1/2 acres and grew rapidly to a 17 acre plant. Founding officers of the company were: W.J. Starr, president (residence at 135 Marston Avenue, 2P/24); G.W. Laurence, vice-president; F.H. Graham, secretary; and F.L. Whetstone, treasurer. By 1898 they were turning out 50 refrigerators a day, shipping them to all parts of the United States. Eau Claire Cold Storage Corporation was an outgrowth of the Wisconsin Refrigerator factory. A disastrous fire in 1931 closed down the plant. The new company was formed and capitalized at $200,000. A newly equipped factory had a capacity to produce 50,000 refrigerators a year. In the fall of 1932, they reported the best year of their history including an extraordinary sale of 1,000 refrigerators to the government. The company became a casualty of the depression and closed down operations in 1936. It was reorganized the following year with new capital, but closed shortly thereafter. In 1943 the factory was purchased by White Machine. The White Machine Company was organized in 1911 by A.E. White, who had come to Eau Claire in 1901 as a sawfiler for the Daniel Shaw Lumber Company. The firm originally produced saw tools but when that market slowed, the company moved to a line of engine parts. The Gould Company, which owned the building in 1981, also manufactures engine parts. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) 1889 Sanborn-Perris Map. (B) Jones, J. 1981. American Ice Boxes, p. 74-75. (C) Eau Claire Industrial Review, 1955, p. 51. (D) Another map code for this building is EC 5L/7 and its corresponding Survey map name is Plat Map #4. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |