Property Record
1136 Indiana Ave and 1027-1029 S 12th St
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Lizzie Greiner Boarding House |
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| Other Name: | Nicholas and Barbara Leider Boarding House / Leider Saloon |
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| Reference Number: | 82550 |
| Location (Address): | 1136 Indiana Ave and 1027-1029 S 12th St |
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| County: | Sheboygan |
| City: | Sheboygan |
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| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
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| Year Built: | 1890 |
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| Additions: | 1892 |
| Survey Date: | 2002 |
| Historic Use: | boarding house |
| Architectural Style: | Italianate |
| Structural System: | Balloon Frame |
| Wall Material: | Clapboard |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
| State Register Listing Date: |
| 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. Shingles decorate cornice. - The building has two distinct parts. The front portion is a two-story commercial vernacular form with Italianate ornamentation: scallop shingles, cornice, and decorative brackets. The rear portion is a two-story rear Queen Anne residential form, irregular in plan and massing and clad with a combination of clapboards and shingles. Its roof is steeply pitched with a dominant side-facing gable clad with stick work in its gable end. The two portions of the building were likely constructed between 1888 and 1892. The 1884 and 1887 Sanborn maps do not detail this section of Indiana Avenue; therefore, the 1891 map of Sheboygan is the first to depict a building on this parcel at the northeast corner of Indiana Avenue and what was then Spruce Street, now South 12th Street; however, no house number is noted. The building depicted appears similar to the rear portion of the extant building, noted as a two-story ell-shaped main block, with a polygonal southwest corner porch and tower in the elbow of the ell, a 1-and-one-half story addition with 1-story west porch, and an additional rear 1-story wing. The rectangular, 2-story front portion of the building first appears on the 1903 Sanborn map and is noted with the house number 1134. On the 1934 Sanborn map updated through December 1949, the address of the property is updated with the house number 1134 updated to 1136 and additional house numbers of 1027-29 along the building’s west side on South 12th Street. What appears to be the property’s extant, detached, rear one-car garage immediately west of the house was also added on the updated map within what appears to have formerly been part of the South 12th Street right-of-way. During periods of its history the rear portion of the building was also referenced with the address 1134 ½ Indiana Avenue. - The 1889-1890 city directory lists Frank Greiner with an occupation of mill hand residing one block down the street at 1029 Indiana Avenue; and in the 1887-1888 directory, Frank Greiner is listed as a laborer residing at 728 Indiana Avenue. He is not listed in the 1886 directory. The 1891-1892 city directory lists the following residents of 1134 Indiana Avenue: Frank Greiner, a sawyer; Joseph Greiner, a laborer; and Mrs. Lizzie Greiner, operator of a boarding house at the same address. For one reason or another, this was a short lived affair for Mrs. Greiner. The 1893-1894 directory does not list Lizzie Greiner and lists Frank and Joseph Greiner, both laborers, as residing at 1422 South 11st Street. In 1892, Nicholas Leider, Sr. bought the property for $1487.75; where he resided with his family and operated a saloon as listed in the 1893-1894 city directory. It was typical of the time period to have a saloon with some rooms to rent either behind or above the establishment. Nicholas Leider, Jr., formerly listed as a laborer, is listed as operator of the saloon by 1897; while Nicholas Sr. continued to reside at the address. Nicholas Jr.’s saloon and residence is listed at 1505-07 South 12th Street by 1900, while Nicholas Sr. continued to be listed as retired and residing at “1134 Indiana Avenue, rear” through 1904. - Sheboygan experienced an influx of Greek immigrants beginning in the late nineteenth century, predominately farmers who came to work in Sheboygan’s furniture factories, tanneries, and railroads. Sheboygan came to have one of the highest concentrations of Greeks in the state outside of Milwaukee. Greek immigrants settled largely in the neighborhood where this building is located, south of Indiana Avenue between 7th Street and 14th Street, an area that became known as “Greek Town.” A Greek Orthodox congregation formed in the neighborhood in 1902, constructing St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church nearby in 1906; and Sheboygan became a prominent Greek Orthodox center in the upper Midwest, with nearly 300 members. According to Cultural Resources Management in Wisconsin, this period of Greek migration consisted of primarily young, unmarried men who lived in “cooperative housekeeping arrangements” or boarding houses. While no boarding house or saloon was formally listed in city directories at this address throughout much of the 1890s and early 1900s, it appears that Leider utilized the building as a boarding house with predominately Greek boarders by at least 1906, when the city directory lists Nicholas Sr. and his wife, Barbara, residing at the building with 11 other individuals – all male and with Greek surnames, such as Antonopoulos, Kosscilis, Kostopoulos, Papeislion, Pupaes, and Putopoulos. Several years later, the 1914-1915 directory lists fourteen single men by the with surnames such as Kokolos, Manos, Mataxas, Pappas, Poulos, and Thermas, to name a few. There was also a listing for a grocery at this location, operated by James Politas. The names of fourteen completely different male boarders were listed in the 1915-1916 directory, such as Demopulos, Kakutis, Makapulas, Nickolopulos, Sarantopulos, Saridakis, Simpulos and Steffos. Most were listed with an occupation of laborer. It is likely the building was home to a cooperative housing entity for newly immigrated Greek factory workers during the 1910s. - Nicholas Leider Jr. and his wife, Margaret, purchased the property from his father for $2500 in the fall of 1915, and quickly sold it to George Velonis for $3000. As the Greek immigration slowed and demand for immigrant housing lessened, it is likely the building transitioned from a boarding house to a three-unit apartment building when it was sold in 1923 to George Voutsalas, Theodore and Panagiota (Dorothy) Anagnostopoulos, and Gust Anagnostopoulos. In 1931 and 1933, respectively, George Voutsalas and Gust Anagnostopoulos sold their shares of the building to Theodore and Dorothy Anagnostopoulos making them the sole owners. The Anagnostopoulos family resided there for seven decades, continuing the Greek legacy of the building and neighborhood. Theodore worked as a laborer, specifically listed in the city directory as a finisher at Phoenix Chair Company in 1936. By 1940, he was operating a tavern in the building and renting a couple apartments. After Theo’s death in 1942, Dorothy continued operating the tavern until 1951; she then continued living in the building. The tavern had short-lived stints in the 1950s as Fischer’s Tavern, Bunny & Andy’s Bar, and Andy’s 1136 Tap; and then Eleven Thirty-Six Tap from 1961 until 1986. Upon Dorothy’s death in 1970, her three children, Christine, Louis, and Marie, inherited the property. Christine had majority ownership and resided there. The Greek occupancy of the building ended in 2002, when the three children’s estates were settled, and the building was purchased by George A. Brett, who quickly sold the building to BLT of Sheboygan LLC. |
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| Bibliographic References: | City Directories, 1893-1985. On file at Mead Public Library, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Hildebrand, Janice. Sheboygan County, 150 Years of Progress: An Illustrated History. Windsor Publication, Inc., 1988. “1136 Indiana Ave & 1027-1029 S. 12th St. Window, Siding, Drywall, Doors, Trim & Cabinet Replacement.” Request for SHPO Comment and Consultation on a Federal Undertaking. April 30, 2007. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1891-1949. “Sanborn Maps.” Library of Congress website. <https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps/?fa=location:wisconsin%7Clocation:sheboygan+county%7Clocation:sheboygan> Accessed September 22, 2020. Wyatt, Barbara, Ed. Cultural Resource Management in Wisconsin. Madison, WI: Historic Preservation Division State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1986. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |