Property Record
4199 MAIN ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Thorp Hotel |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 49636 |
| Location (Address): | 4199 MAIN ST |
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| County: | Door |
| City: | |
| Township/Village: | Gibraltar |
| Unincorporated Community: | Fish Creek |
| Town: | 31 |
| Range: | 27 |
| Direction: | E |
| Section: | 29 |
| Quarter Section: | |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: |
| Year Built: | |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1992 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Side Gabled |
| Structural System: | Balloon Frame |
| Wall Material: | Drop Siding |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| 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: | The Thorp Hotel began when Asa Thorp rented a few rooms in his large house to teamsters or salesmen. The main building was constructed about 1850 and added to many times. Other buildings were moved to the site and used as guest cottages. Thorp planted an apple orchard and a grape arbor. After 1895 the hotel was managed by Asa's son Edgar (Ted). Edgar added a livery stable, and later rented his own Model T with a driver. He also had a Studebaker, Overland, Chevrolet and Ford agency in his stable. Edgar ran the resort until his death in July, 1943. The hotel could accommodate as many as 125 guests in the main building and surrounding cottages. The dining room was also open to outside guests and wa frequented by residents of Cottage Row. Beginning in the 1920s, Edgar's son Leland managed the hotel, and lived in one of the cottages on the south edge of the property next to Cottage Row. They hired a professional chef in the 1940s. In 1968 the business was sold to Polyventure, Incorporated. At the time it consisted of sic shops and eleven cottages. In February, 1984, the main building burned down. The new building on the site resembles the original. Asa Thorp came to Wisconsin in 1844 where he practiced the cooper's trade in Racine. In the late 1840s he came to Door County where he "took up government land and founded the village of Fish Creek and also built the first pier in Door County" [C p. 318] Asa died 7 November, 1907. Historical Significance However, the Hotel Thorp was significant in establishing Fish creek as a recreational destination and as such the remaining buildings rae potential local landmarks, significant for their historic association with the Hotel Thorp. Architectural Description The original existing buildings on this site are a hodgepodge of cabins, many of which have been moved from their original locations. |
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| Bibliographic References: | A. Edward and Lois Schreiber, editors, Fish creek Voices, An Oral History of a Door County Village, (Sister Bay, WI: Wm. Caxton Ltd), 1990. B. Door County Almanak No. 5: Tourism, Resorts, Transportation (Sister Bay, WI: The Dragonsbreath Press), 1990. C. History of Door County Wisconsin, the County Beautiful. Volumes 1 and 2. (Chicago: The S.J. Clarked Publishing Company) 1917. D. Wisconsin Necrology, Volume 49, page 112. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |