Property Record
201 N MAIN ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Creamery Package Manufacturing Co. |
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| Other Name: | Hartel Building |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 74552 |
| Location (Address): | 201 N MAIN ST |
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| County: | Jefferson |
| City: | Fort Atkinson |
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| Year Built: | 1919 |
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| Additions: | 1931 |
| Survey Date: | 19832019 |
| Historic Use: | industrial bldg/manufacturing facility |
| Architectural Style: | Twentieth Century Commercial |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | Martin Tullgren & Sons, Milwaukee |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Main Street Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 6/7/1984 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| 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-Public History. Five story reinforced concrete fireproof factory structure, commercial style; trimmed in red brick with stone details. Modern colorful painted mural on north side. After this structure was erected the plant was a huge complex covering the entire block, but all of the earlier 1840's buildings to the north have been demolished. Only the 1919 factory, the one-story cream brick 1931 tank and welding shop and the 1919 poured concrete enamelling building remain. This building is a major landmark in the district because of its sheer size. 2019 - Resurveyed - appearance unchanged. Begun in 1866 as Cornish and Curtis, the firm began as a joint interest with a lumber dealer to produce rectangular butter churns, a revolutionary design requiring no inside mechanism. The company later branched out to make ice cream, cheese and butter-making machinery of all kinds. In 1898 the firm was consolidated with other major dairy machinery interests and became known as the Creamery Package Manufacturing Co. By 1917 it was the largest company of its type in the world, employing 400 people in Fort Atkinson, with sales branches in 7 major cities and factories in 8 other midwestern and eastern cities. At the Fort Atkinson plant the company made cream ripeners and pasteurizers, bottle washing outfits, fillers, cappers, coolers, etc. H.H. Curtis, its president from 1912-1919, also served as Mayor of Fort Atkinsno for one term. In the 1950s the firm was bought by the St. Regis Corp, which continued operations as its "CP" Division. The Creamery Package Manufacturing Co. is historically important as one of the primary industries in Fort Atkinson. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) J.C. Union 5/2/1919. (B) Sanborn-Perris Maps. (C) Ott, J.H. Jefferson Co., Wis., 1917, p. 62-64. (D) Creamery Package Manufacturing Co., The First Fifty Years, 1937. (E) Manufactory and Manufacturers of the Cornish, Curtis & Greene Manufacturing Co., 1898. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |