Property Record
W202 STATE HIGHWAY 11
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Lemuel R. & Melissa Smith House |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 9927 |
| Location (Address): | W202 STATE HIGHWAY 11 |
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| County: | Walworth |
| City: | |
| Township/Village: | Spring Prairie |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | 3 |
| Range: | 18 |
| Direction: | E |
| Section: | 25 |
| Quarter Section: | SE |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: | SW |
| Year Built: | |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 20062011 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Side Gabled |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Cobblestone |
| 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, State Historic Preservation Office. Smith was believed to be involved with the Underground Railroad. BRICK QUOINS. THE ORIGINAL ONE-AND-ONE-HALF-STORY SIDE GABLE FORM MAIN BLOCK IS STILL HIGHLY INTACT AND APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN RESTORED. THERE IS ALSO, HOWEVER, A LARGE MODERN ONE-STORY-TALL VINYL CLAD WING ATTACHED TO THE REAR ELEVATION THAT IS TWICE AS LARGE AS THE ORIGINAL MAIN BLOCK. This house is believed to have been built for Lemuel Smith (1812-1874), who was one of the early settlers of the Town of Spring Prairie and who is believed to have been active in the underground railroad prior to the Civil War. A building belonging to L. Smith is shown at this approximate location on an 1842 map of the Town of Spring Prairie and an 1857 map of the Town shows L.R. Smith as being the owner, with a house again being located in the same location. Two former agricultural outbuildings that were once associated with this farm have also survived as well, the largest being a long one-story tall rectilinear plan building that probably dates from the twentieth century. Lemuel R. Smith was born in Hamilton, New York, in 1812. He moved with his parents to Ohio in 1819. In December of 1835, Lemuel and Benjamin C. Perce were brought to the Burlington area by Lemuel’s brother, Moses Smith, who had just staked a land claim there. Each laid claims to unsurveyed land just west of Burlington in what is now the Spring Prairie Township of Walworth County, making what are believed to be the first land claims in Walworth County. The following spring, Lemuel, his elderly parents, and Perce settled permanently on their claims. Around 1842, Lemuel married Melissa Campbell and constructed a cobblestone residence at W202 State Highway 11 in the Town of Spring Prairie. It is highly suspected that his home sheltered fugitive slaves as a part of the Underground Railroad. Lemuel and Melissa operated a farm on their property until his death in 1874. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Early History of Burlington, 1835-1935, by Francis Meuer and Mrs. Louis Zweibel (Burlington Historical Society, 1935.) The Underground Railroad in Burlington and Vicinity, Burlington Historical Society, 2002, pp. 10-11. General Files. On file at the Burlington Historical Society, Burlington, Wisconsin. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |