Property Record
128 W WATER
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | J. H. Blakey Building (Pick and Gad Newspaper, Skewis Bros) |
|---|---|
| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 80753 |
| Location (Address): | 128 W WATER |
|---|---|
| County: | Lafayette |
| City: | Shullsburg |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
| Range: | |
| Direction: | |
| Section: | |
| Quarter Section: | |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: |
| Year Built: | 1861 |
|---|---|
| Additions: | 1965 |
| Survey Date: | 1982 |
| Historic Use: | small office building |
| Architectural Style: | Commercial Vernacular |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Stone - Unspecified |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Water Street Commercial Historic District |
|---|---|
| National Register Listing Date: | 6/28/1990 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/23/1990 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A rough stone (rubble construction) two-story commercial structure that has a flat sloping roof and a brick front. Simple stone lintels and a full length stone lintel across the center of the facade characterizes the building. A restrained denticulated and cut brick cornice decorates this simple building. Exterior iron stairs give access to the second story. The store front has been filled with siding, altering the building to function as a residence. This building is architecturallly significant as a good example of a substantial mid-century commercial building in Shullsburg. This building is important because it is built of natiev materials by local construction techniques. It is also important as one of the earliest buildings in its original state, for the most part, remaining in the commercial district of Shullsburg. The building is significant to the commercial development of Shullsburg. It served as a butcher shop, photographer's studio, and later Pick and Gad Newspaper Office. The Skewis Brothers operated a butcher shop in the building from about the 1880s to the 1930s. Harry Chamberlain had a photography studio upstairs in the 1880s through the turn of the century. The building is known as the Pick and Gad Building; the newspaper office was not located here until 1947. Prior to that, the newspaper was published across the street in Dorothy's Store. The Pick and Gad, named for the tools miners used in the mines, was the first published for a time in the 1850s. The newspaper was resurrected again by T.J. Law, a prominent lawyer, miner and politician in 1882. The newspaper became a trademark of the Law family. T.H. died in 1910, leaving the Pick and Gad to his son, A.W. Law. A.W. sold it and the newspaper changed hards three times -- H. Williams, J.W. Blackstone, Flint Gratiot. A.W. Law boughtit back in 1923. He died in 1936. Abe, John and Harty Law inherited it. Harty and his wife acquired it in 1947. That year the newspaper moved to this building. Eventually the Pick and Gad was sold to E. Bowden Curtiss, who then had it become a section of his newspaper, The Republican Journal of Darlington. |
|---|---|
| Bibliographic References: | (A) Seq. History of Shullsburg, 1827-1977 (Shullsburg, WI: Badger Historical Society, 1977), p. 70, 114. (B) Lafayette County Atlas, 1874, 1895. (C) Pick and Gad Newspaper, 1884-1886. (D) Wisconsin State Gazetteer, 1868-1912. (E) Wisconsin Newspaper Directory, p. 438. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |