203 RICHMOND RD

203 RICHMOND RD

Walworth

Delavan

1926

2005

mill

Side Gabled

Stucco

No

A 'site file' exists for this property named 'Jacob Hetzel Mill'. 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. 2005: This property consists of a wooden mill building (1930), a side-gabled outbuilding (ca. 1926) and a concrete silo (ca. 1926). The original mill, mill pond and mill race were built in 1839 by Samuel and Franklin Phoenix. The Phoenix brothers owned it for a short time (three years) and then sold it to Caleb Croswell. The mill went through a variety of owners including circus proprietor Edmund Mabie, Amos Phelps, Byron Brown and Morris Horton and his sons. The mill was sold to Jacob Hetzel in 1921. After a fire in 1930, Hetzel rebuilt the mill to continue the flour mill business. Following Prohibition in 1933, he added a beer distribution center with refridgeration units to the mill property. Hetzel remained in the milling business until 1939, when he changed all operations over to his beer distributorship. He sold the limited water rights to George W. Borg and sold the milling equipment to M.H. Crabtree and sons. Also in 1939, the city filled in the mill race. Jacob and his son, Carl and Jacob Jr. maintained the distribution business until at least 1948; they also utilized the smaller, side-gabled outbuilding as a chicken house. Soon thereafter, Jacob sold his wholesale beer business (with the buildings and land) to Charles Obligato of Beloit. After Obligato, William J. O'Neill and sons of Lake Geneva took ownership. By 1995 Edward Chesko purchased the old mill for storage of his book collection; he sold it in 1998 to the current owners Shirley and Richard Baumann of Madison, WI. No further information was found to prove eligibility under Criterion B. The original mill race and dam have been removed, however, a 1930 mill building remains structurally intact. Regarding Criterion A and C, as a mill property type that remains vestige to one of the earliest industries of Delavan, the Hetzel Mill facility requires further research.

Architecture/History Survey 2005: Heritage Research Ltd. (Kosobucki).

Not Listed