Property Record
117 N PERKINS BLVD
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | SILAS PECK HOUSE |
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| Other Name: | |
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| Reference Number: | 63605 |
| Location (Address): | 117 N PERKINS BLVD |
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| County: | Racine |
| City: | Burlington |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1836 |
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| Additions: | 1917 1951 |
| Survey Date: | 1989 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Front Gabled |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Granite Stone |
| Architect: | SILAS PECK |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
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| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation. This building is Also known as the Joel Henry and Persis Allen Cooper house where Joshua Glover is reported to have stayed at one point during his 1854 journey to freedom. Dr. Cooper, who originally settled in Spring Prairie, studied medicine with Dr. Jesse C. Mills, at whose farm home Glover and his family moved to Burlington in 1853. Dr. Mills lived with the Cooper family in the early 1860s when he had an office in Dr. Cooper's downtown drug store. Cooper was also Burlington's postmaster from 1861, when he was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln, until 1874. His son, Henry Allen Cooper, served as U.S. Congressman from this district for 31 years. The Cooper house has been extensively remodeled over the years. The original portion was built by Silas Peck in 1836 or 1837, using beaten grass and clay for mortar for the fieldstone walls. According to a former owner of the house, a room under the kitchen, which is no longer there, was used to harbor runaway slaves. The Bienemann's lived in the house from 1941-1949. |
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| Bibliographic References: | The Underground Railroad in Burlington and Vicinity, Burlington Historical Society, 2002, p. 2, 8. Southeastern Wisconsin: A History of Old Milwaukee Co., vol. 2, John G. Gregory, Editor-in-Chief (Chicago: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1932), p. 769. Burlington Gazette 5/12/1860. Bur Spur of Wisconsin's Underground Railroad. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |