Property Record
321-325 HART ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Watertown Table Slide Co.; Blaesius Table Slide Co. |
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| Reference Number: | 75885 |
| Location (Address): | 321-325 HART ST |
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| County: | Jefferson |
| City: | Watertown |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1986 |
| Historic Use: | industrial bldg/manufacturing facility |
| Architectural Style: | Astylistic Utilitarian Building |
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| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | Segmental arched windows. Among the new additions and remodeling of this site is the old factory for the Watertown Table Slide Company, an important wood-products factory in the early twentieth century. Table slides are those objects under wooden tables that allow them to expand and contract for the insertion or removal of leaves to make tables larger or smaller on demand. In 1889 Emil Schultz and Max Gaebler formed a company to manufacture an improved design for a table slide that had been formulated in the Blaesius wood shop. The first name of the company was the Blaesius Table Slide Company and it employed only three men. But by 1901 it took on its more familiar name and in 1911 was employing 50 people. The company remained successful at least until the mid-1950s. In 1954, for example, the Watertown Table Slide Company was one of only five companies in the country to manufacture both standard and specialized table slides. Between 1889 and the 1950s, several additions were made to the original factory structure here. Since that time a different manufacturer occupies the site and more of the old factory is hidden under additions and remodeling. This factory site has some historical interest as the location of the Watertown Table Slide Company, one of the most unique and successful of Watertown's wood-products industries. But, because of the significant loss of integrity over the years, the site probably does not meet the criteria for eligibility for the National Register. One of the few historic industrial buildings remaining in the city of Watertown, the Watertown Slide Company building is not architecturally significant because of a lack of architectural integrity. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) "Table Slide FIrm Formed Here in 1889," Watertown Daily Times Centennial Issue, June 26, 1954, n.p.. (B) John H. Ott, Ed., Jefferson County Wisconsin and Its People, Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1917, pp. 36-3. (C) Sanborn Perris Fire Insurance Maps. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |