301 S 4TH ST

301 S 4TH ST

Jefferson

Watertown

1928

1984

1986

social recreational/fraternal hall

Commercial Vernacular

Cream Brick

Messmer, Rbt. & Bro.

No

This building is the second Turner Hall in Watertown, erected in 1929.

The Watertown Turnverein, a German social/political organization, was founded in 1860. German insurance businessman, Ernest Grossman, reportedly, was a leader in the organization of this group. The Watertown Turnverein was typical of most of the Wisconsin Turnverein group. It promoted gymnastics as a means of physical development, and held many activities including plays, concerts, dances, meetings, and political events. These activities were held in the old Turner Opera House, built in 1869 at this location. This building burned in 1928 and this new Turner Hall opened in 1929. It has served the Turners and other groups often during the twentieth century.

Turner Hall is significant for local history under National Register Criterion A because it is the home of one of the most important institutions in any community with a large settlement of Germans: the Turnverein.

Wherever Germans settled in Wisconsin, they established many social, cultural and political institutions to help them maintain their cultural heritage as well as adapt to a new environment. The Turnverein was one of the most important of these groups. It was a home for social and cultural activities for German immigrants, and also acted as a community center. Because Watertown had such a large German immigrant settlement, the German community established a Turnverein at an early date. Unfortunately, the historic Turner Opera House, the first Turner Hall, burned in 1928. But even though this building is less historic, it still is the main resource connected with this important German organization, and represents the fact that the Turnverein was still an active enough group to build a new, large hall, even after World War I, when anti-German sentiment had a negative effect on many German groups. Because Turner Hall is one of the most significant and visible remnants of the German influence on Watertown, and was the home of such an important German organization, it meets the criteria for local historical significance.

Built in 1928 and dedicated in 1929, the Turner Hall is a rectangular cream brick block ornamented by geometric tile patterns set into the brick surface and round arched windows with white and red brick voussoirs and red keystone accents interspersed with plain rectangular windows. Paired flat roofed vestibules with triangular pediment shaped parapets and round arched entrances with recessed doors and arched over-lights placed on either side of a one-story enclosed porch projects from the facade.

Turner Hall was remodelled and rennovated in 1984.

The Turner Hall is one of a very few social institutions from the historic period remaining in the city of Watertown. Although fairly well preserved, Turner Hall is not a remarkable example of architecture. However, it may be significant as the best preserved historic example of social architecture remaining in the city. The other extant example of architecture constructed for the social needs of the residents are St. Mary's Hospital at 1301 East Main (34-9) and the Concordia Opera Hall at 117 No. 1st St. (64-33), the Masonic Temple at 2 East Main (72-25).

(A) Cornerstone. (B) Watertown Daily Times, Jan. 10, 1984. (C) "Turner Society Matches Strides of Watertown in Attaining Historical Age," Watertown Daily Times, Centennial Issue, June 26, 1954. (D) C.W. Buterfield, The History of Jefferson County, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical Society, 1879, p. 438. (E) Master Builder Sept. 1928, p. 25. Drawing and caption in the Milwaukee Journal, 18 November 1928; also cites RA Messmer & Bro. as architect.

Not Listed