| Additional Information: | Rectangular openings with stone lintel; segmental arched door. Related buildings: MO34/19, 20, 22, 23.
This gable roofed vernacular form has been altered by the closure of a door and the replacement of the original stone construction with concrete block around another entrance door on the west end of the building.
This stone industrial building, one of the oldest buildings in the Sparta Iron Works complex, was constructed between 1869 when the complex was established and 1884 when it was recorded on the 1884 Sanborn Insurance Map. This building was used as the moulding room in the early 1880s and as the foundry in the late 1880s. Also it was used as the finishing room for the iron works at the turn of the century and the tool room in the early 20th century.
The Sparta Iron Works, established in 1869 when L.M. Newbury purchased the burnt out remains of the Lowrie, Irwin and Gilbert Foundry. New buildings, according to the Sparta Tax Records, for the foundry were constructed on the corner of East Oak and South Chester beginning in 1872. This building, apparently the first of the remaining buildings constructed on the site, was built while Newbury was in partnership with Mr. Ward.
The Sparta Iron Works moulding room is significant under Criterion C as an example of a stone gable roofed vernacular form and a 19th century industrial building. This fairly well preserved, early industrial building is one of the very few 19th century industrial buildings remaining in Sparta and apparently one of the few mid-nineteenth century stone buildings remaining in Sparta. The only other examples of mid-19th century industrial buildings identified in the 1989-1990 survey of Sparta are the accompanying buildings in the Sparta Iron Works including the machine shop (MP34/23) and the office and storage building (MO34/22).
In 1867, the Sparta Iron Works began. Sparta's second foundry was built by Lowrie, Irwin and Gillette on East Oak Street. This foundry was purchased by the Sparta Manufacturing Company, but thereafter the foundry was damaged heavily in a fire. In 1872, they rebuilt the main building of the foundry on the southwest corner of East Oak Street and Chester Streets. Subsequently, many other buildings were added over time. In the 1870's, this foundry did an annual net business of $20,000, most of it from well-drilling machinery for digging artesian wells. In 1888, the Sparta Iron Works advertised that it manufactured iron and brass castings, rotary saw mills, shingle mills and boilers. In December, 1893, it was turned into a stock company and incorporated as Sparta Iron Works Company. The officers of the company were L.M. Newbury, J.U. Durant, and C.M. Newbury. By 1894, the plant occupied two acres of land with a foundry, machine shop, planing mill, pattern shop, pattern house, blacksmith shop, engine room, paint shop and storage house. At this time, the Company employed twenty-five hands, and it was well equipped, including a steam hammer weighing over 11,000 pounds. Later, the operation passed to Carl Newburg and T.N. Durant, and then even later Robert and Lee Canfield assumed control over the business.
By 1900, the Sparta Iron Works continued as a foundry and machine shops, bu the foundry casting business had dropped off. In 1900, they continued to make special lines of well-drilling apparatus and furnaces, as well as engines, boilers and all kinds of agricultural machinery, employing forty men in the works and five traveling salesmen. In 1910, Samuel Kent Dickinson assumed the management of the business, which did a large amount of work during World War I. However, sometime after 1922, the business was discontinued.
The Sparta Iron Works Moulding Room/Foundry Building gains local historical significance under Criterion A in association with the Primary Metal Processing and Metal Products Industries topic of the Industry Theme. The Sparta Iron Works was a major contributor to the growth and economy of Sparta in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, serving the community and the region at large with their metal products. The building's period of historical significance ranges from its erection in 1869 to the closing of the foundry sometime after 1922. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Sanborn Perris Insurance Maps 1889, 1894, 1900, 1911, 1922, 1931.
(B) City of Sparta Property Tax Rolls, 1870-1940.
(C) Map of Sparta, Wisconsin. Milwaukee: Phoenix Map Company of Milwaukee, 1875.
(D) Sparta Herald May 11, 1869; March 6, 1894.
(E) Barney, Tyler Davis, "A History of the Growth of Sparta, Wisconsin, 1850-1890." B.A. Thesis. University of Wisconsin, 1922, pp. 31b and 36.
(F) "History of Sparta," Installment 31.
(G) Koehler, Lyle P., From Frontier Settlement to Self-Conscious American Community: A History of One Rural Village (Sparta, Wisconsin) in the Nineteenth Century. Evansville, Indiana: Unigraphic, Inc., 1977, p. 43.
(H) No Author, History of Northern Wisconsin: Containing an Account of its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources: An Extensive Sketch of its Counties, Cities, Towns, and Villages...Etc., Chicago: The Western Historical Company, 1881, p. 634.
(I) Richards, Randolph A, History of Monroe Country, Wisconsin: Past and Present, Including an Account of the Cities, Towns, and Villages of the County. Chicago: C.F. Cooper & CO., 1912, pp. 273 and 323-324.
(J) Ellsworth, C.S., Views in and Around Sparta, Giving a Brief History of the City and Setting Forth its Advantages for Manufacturing and as a Place of Residence, Together with some Account of its Celebrated Magnetic Mineral Water. Portage, Wisconsin: Register Printing Company, 1888, p. 41.
(K) Gregory, John G., West Central Wisconsin: A History. Vol. 4, Indianapolis: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1933, p. 87.
(L) Jones, Ida Lucille, "A History of Sparta, Wisconsin." B.A. Thesis. University of Wisconsin, 1915, p. 5.
(M) Wisconsin State Gazetteer and Business Directory (Chicago: R.L. Polk, 1876, 1879).
(N) City of Sparta Tax Records, 1868-1930. |
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