Property Record
15565 W NORTH AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | DIXON SCHOOL |
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| Other Name: | WILSON INSURANCE CO.; Warner Cable |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 7795 |
| Location (Address): | 15565 W NORTH AVE |
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| County: | Waukesha |
| City: | Brookfield |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
| Range: | |
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| Year Built: | 1870 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19792015 |
| Historic Use: | school-one to six room |
| Architectural Style: | Front Gabled |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| 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: | The B in the photo code stands for BKFD. Another Survey map name is City Engineer 10-1-92. John Dixon, an emigrant from England in 1844, bought 160 acres of the present location of North Avenue and Pilgrim Road. He donated land for the Dixon School. The first Dixon School burned, the second was used until its conversion to a residence, later a place of business. 2015 survey information: Oriented to the north, this one-story, front-gabled, former one-room schoolhouse is constructed of cream brick and a plain, wooden cornice runs beneath the roofline. A left-of-center doorway is sheltered by a gabled entrance overhang with wooden knee brace supports. A pair of two-over-two-light sash is located to the right (west) of the entry, while a single, narrow, two-over-two-light sash occupies the opposite side. A series of four windows line the building’s east wall, while three windows and a doorway are located along the west elevation. The rear (south) wall includes a large, single and rectangular plate-glass window. An open belltower rises from the roof ridge. The interior of the building is largely one open space, with a section along the east wall that is enclosed for a bathroom. The floor is a wood laminate and there are no other elements from the former schoolhouse that remain intact. A circa 1925 photo of the school shows that its primary (North Avenue) elevation included two doors near the center with a single window located in the remaining space. The first Dixon School in Brookfield Township was a frame structure that was built in 1850 and destroyed by fire in 1870. That same year, a new brick one-room schoolhouse was built along the south side of W. North Avenue. In 1948, a temporary metal barracks structure was attached to the 1870 building in order to accommodate student overflow. The subject structure served Town of Brookfield students until 1950, when a new two-room schoolhouse (no longer extant) was erected one block north and along the east side of Pilgrim Square Drive. Following construction of the new facility, the one-room school was converted for use as a residence. Thereafter, it was utilized as an insurance office and later as a banking facility, all of which required alterations be made to the building. Today, the building functions as a yarn shop. |
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| Bibliographic References: | 2015 citations: Walling’s Map of the County of Waukesha Wisconsin (New York: M.H. Tyler, 1859); “Upper Grades Moved,” Waukesha Daily Freeman, 16 December 1950, 3/1; “Plan Elaborate Dedication for New $60,000 School, Waukesha Daily Freeman, 17 January 1951, 7/1, photos, 7/2-5; “Large Crowd At Dixon School Dedication,” Waukesha Daily Freeman, 20 January 1951, 3/1; Brookfield City Directory (Brookfield, WI: Brookfield Junior Chamber of Commerce, 1961-62); The History/Landmark Tour of Brookfield and Elm Grove, Wisconsin, 5th edition (Brookfield, WI: Elmbrook Historical Society, 2007). |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |