Property Record
404 WELLS ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Daniel and Hannah Gardiner House |
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| Reference Number: | 73187 |
| Location (Address): | 404 WELLS ST |
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| County: | Lafayette |
| City: | Darlington |
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| Year Built: | 1853 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19822020 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Greek Revival |
| 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: | 1982: A VERNACULAR GREEK REVIVAL BRICK VENEERED (NOW PAINTED) TWO-STORY STRUCTURE WITH A SLOPING ROOF THAT HAS THE ENTRANCE TO THE SIDE OF THE STREET FACING GABLE END. CORNICE RETURNS IN THE GABLE END AND A PEDIMENTED DOOR HOOD OVER THE ENTRANCE ACCENT THIS SIMPLE RECTANGULAR STRUCTURE. 2020: Since last surveyed, white paint removed from brick; wraparound porch added and windows replaced. 2020 WisDOT survey information: This one-and-one-half-story, front-gabled, Greek Revival-style, brick house is oriented to Wells Street. A one-story wing is located at the rear of the house, while an additional one-story wing extends to the north (the latter of which appears to be of more recent, albeit early, construction). A one-story, flat-roofed porch with modest wooden posts with scrollwork and a decorative wooden railing wraps around the front (east/Wells Street) and south (E. Louisa Street) elevations. A door and two one-over-one-light, double-hung sash windows line the first floor of the entrance elevation, while a pair of windows are located within the upper half-story. Windows along E. Louisa Street, in both the main block and the rear wing, as well as in the north wing are regularly placed, double-hung sash; all of which are flanked by black shutters. Based on assessor’s information and deeds, the subject house may have been built as early as circa 1853 by John Smith and Elizabeth (Graham) Fassett, who are noted as the first couple to be wed (in 1852) in Darlington [or Centre (Center), as it was originally known]. Fassett is identified as operating the first store in Darlington, along with S.S. Reed, while Fassett’s wife Elizabeth began her own millinery business in 1851. Assuming that the Fassetts resided in the subject home, their tenure there was not long for they sold the house to Lewis Doty in May 1855. The house turned over again just fourteen months later when it was purchased in July 1856 by Daniel Gardiner and his wife Hannah. Born in New York in 1803, Daniel (as of the 1850 census) worked as a miller in Beloit, Wisconsin; however, by 1860 he is identified as a machinist in Darlington. Aside from his wife (age 57), Daniel’s household included son Daniel (age 16) and a thirty-one-year-old female (no occupation noted). The Gardiners sold the house (along with other land) in 1862 to K.M. Freeman; three years later (1865), the home was sold by Elizabeth Freeman to Joel B. Doty. After just three months, Doty and his wife Mattie sold the house to Hugh Campbell (b. 1823) in August 1865. As of 1870, Irish-born Campbell is identified as a speculator and, ten years later, as a farmer. His speculative interests apparently continued for in 1890, the local paper reported that he mined 21,770 pounds of lead on his property located two miles east of Shullsburg. Campbell resided in Darlington since circa 1862, during his second term as County Sheriff. His first wife Sarah Flanagan died in 1873 and he then wed Mary Ann O’Toole in 1880. It is unknown as to how long Campbell owned the subject property (or if he even lived in it), but as of 1881, a county history identified his home as located in Section 1, which would be outside of Darlington’s municipal boundary. Campbell died in 1902. |
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| Bibliographic References: | SANBORN-PERRIS MAP, DARLINGTON, 1884, 1889, 1900. Footnotes for 2020 WisDOT survey information in the additional comments below: Assessor’s information for 404 Wells Street cites an 1856 date of construction, Available online at www.assessordata.org, Accessed March 2020. Based on the sale price of the lot in 1853 ($40) and the sale price as of 1855 ($1,000) it would seem that the house had been built by no later than 1855. Considering the 1852 wedding date for the Fassetts, it’s possible the house dates to as early as 1853, John M. & Cornelia Keep to J.S. Fassett, Warranty Deed (16 January 1853), Book I/Page 468; John Smith & Elizabeth Fassett to Lewis Doty, Warranty Deed (8 May 1855), O/117; Lewis & Emeline Doty to Daniel Gardiner, Warranty Deed (10 July 1856), Q/160; Daniel & Hannah Gardiner to K.M. Freeman, Warranty Deed (28 July 1862), Z/181; Elizabeth Freeman to Joel B. Doty, Warranty Deed (4 May 1865), 4/272; Joel and Mattie Doty to Hugh Campbell, Warranty Deed (18 August 1865), 5/185. These and all other deeds to follow are on file at the Register of Deeds, Lafayette County Courthouse, Darlington, WI. U.S. Federal Census, Population, 1850, 1860, Available online at www.Ancestry.com, Accessed March 2020. Newsbrief (re: Campbell and lead mining), Mineral Point (WI) Weekly Tribune, 19 June 1890, 4; U.S. Federal Census, Population, 1870; 1880, 1900; “Hugh Campbell,” Obituary, Iowa County Democrat (Mineral Point, WI), 10 July 1902, 4; C. W. Butterfield, History of Lafayette County, Wisconsin (Chicago: Western Historical Publishing Company, 1881), 715-16; C.M. Foote and J.W. Henion, Plat Book of Lafayette County, Wisconsin (Minneapolis, MN: C.M. Foote & Co., 1895); Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette (Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1901), 242-43. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |