| Additional Information: | Designed in the Italianate style, this two-story retail building was constructed in 1879. (See Bib. Ref. A, B). It features a rectangular shaped plan configuration, a limestone exterior, and a flat roof. An elaborate cornice is composed of wood. Large round arched openings at the second story are accented by stone hoods with keystones. Quoins appear at the building's corners. The first floor was altered from its original design at an unspecifed date. The structure is in good condition.
This building historically functioned as a location for general merchandise from 1879 to 1893, and as a drug store, from 1893 to at least 1933. (See Bib. Ref. A, D).
Architectural/Engineering Significance:
The Rogers Block, located adjacent to another noteworthy stone structure, the H & J Rowe Building (210 N. Iowa Street, 44/14), is an excellent illustration of stone construction and of Italianate architecture in its commercial form. The building's stone facade -- large blocks of limestone laid in regular rows -- is witness to the skill of local builders, many of them natives of Cornwall, England, and a fine background for the distinctive characteristics -- elaborate cornice, round-arched openings, quoins -- of the Italianate Style.
Historical Background:
The "commodious, well-lighted, well-fitted" store of William H. Rogers was located on the first floor of the Rogers Block until 1893 when W. E. Williams and J. Thomas Pryor, Jr. pruchased the building and opened the "Corner Drug Store" which was in operation until at least 1933. (See Bib. Ref. C, D).
The building also housed, on its second floor, a meeting hall used by a temperance group and by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF). The Dodgeville Temple of Honor No. 212 was established in February 1879 when fifty members of Mineral Point's templar lodge held a torchlight procession through Dodgeville, attracting those interested in forming a new temperance society. A charter for the Dodgeville Temple was granted just one week after the dramatic procession. Initially, meetings were held next door in the H & J Rowe Building (210 N. Iowa Street, 44/14), but in 1880 the group moved to the Rogers Block. (See Bib. Ref. E).
The IOOF, which organized in 1868, formed two chapters in Dodgeville -- the Iowa Encampment, No. 27 and the Dodgeville Lodge, No. 147 -- both of which used the block's upper floor. (See Bib. Ref. F). |
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| Bibliographic References: | A. "History of Iowa County, Wisconsin," (Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1881), p. 899.
B. Tax Assessment Records, City of Dodgeville, Area Research Center, UW-Platteville.
C. "Sunday Telegraph," 14 May 1890.
D. Scrap Book, "Along Main Street," Dodgeville Chronicle articles, 1933, Iowa County Historical Society.
E. "History of Iowa County, Wisconsin," pp. 760-761.
F. Ibid., p. 759.
G. Walking Tour of Historic Dodgeville, Wisconsin, Dodgeville Historic Preservation Commission, 1995.
Take a Walk on Main Street: Historic Walking Tours in Wisconsin's Main Street Communities, Wisconsin Main Street Program, 1998.
Wisconsin Main Street News, vol. 8, #2, 1998, Wisconsin Department of Commerce. |
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