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Government A number of different buildings played at least partial roles in housing the various functions of city and town government in the period before the present Modern Movement style Port Washington Municipal Building constructed in 1958 (100 W. Grand Ave.) to a design by the Port Washington architectural and engineering firm of Blong & Kempf. The predecessor of this building occupied the same site and was a frame construction Italianate style concert hall built by the Port Washington Gesang Verin (singing society), a German-American social organization that put an emphasis on music and group singing. "In 1872, a new hall, 50x88 feet, was built by the association at a cost of $4000; the foundation is so arranged that a brick wall can be raised to enclose the present frame structure; this can be done at an additional cost of $3000. The auditorium is handsomely finished throughout, and has a seating capacity of 800. The stage is neatly fitted up, with all the necessary accommodations, such as scenery, dressing-rooms and stage properties in general."(1) Subsequently, this building served as the Port Washington Opera House and still later as the Port Washington City Hall, which, among other things, housed the city offices and the local library. The building was demolished when the new Municipal Building was built. Other surveyed historic buildings and structures associated with local government in Port Washington that were built between World War I and World War II and just after are varied in type. The earliest is the Port Washington Fire Engine house (102 E. Pier St.), a Mediterranean Revival style fire station that was designed in 1928 by Milwaukee architect John Topzant and which was built in 1929 on the site of the previous city fire house.(2) The earlier building was clad in clapboard and built in 1884 and was a fine example of eclectic Late Victorian design that also served as the City Hall until this function was moved to the old Port Washington Opera House when the new fire house was built as noted above.(3) Two other buildings that were surveyed are associated with municipal recreation. These are the Lake Park Bath House and the Lake Park Band Shell, both brick-clad Georgian Revival style buildings that were designed for the newly developed Lake Park in 1934 by the Milwaukee landscape architecture firm of Boerner & Boerner of Milwaukee, the firm that also designed the Park.(4) Two other later buildings designed for the City are the Modern Movement style City of Port Washington Repair Garage and Storage Building (333 Moore Rd.), built in 1950, and the adjacent Modern Movement style Street Facility Building at ca.201 N. Park St., built after 1955. The newest City building to be surveyed is the W. J. Niederkorn Public Library (316 W. Grand Ave.), an elegant Wrightian Style library building that was designed by Milwaukee architects Grassold-Johnson & Assoc. and donated to the City by Port Washington industrialist W. J. Niederkorn in 1961. Port Washington has only two surveyed buildings associated with Ozaukee County government. The first and by far the most spectacular is the Ozaukee County Courthouse and its associated Ozaukee County Jail (109-121 W. Main St.). The outstanding limestone-clad Courthouse was completed in 1902 to a design by Milwaukee architect Fred Graf and it was listed in the NRHP in 1976. The Courthouse was built on the site of the previous Courthouse, an excellent brick-clad Italianate Style three-story building that had been built in 1854.(5) Attached to the 1902 Courthouse today is a Modern Movement addition built in 1969 and the Modern Movement style Ozaukee County Jail building, which was built in 1954 to a design by Green Bay architects Foeller, Schober, and Berners. The 1954 Jail Building was itself built on the site of a previous County Jail, which was a large brick Queen Anne Style house that contained both the jail itself and the residence of the jailer.(6) The only other Ozaukee County building that was surveyed is the Neoclassical Revival style-influenced Ozaukee County Highway Garage (410 S. Spring St.), the first portion of which was built between 1922 and 1938 and which was added on to after 1955. The earliest building in Port Washington associated with the Federal Government is the Port Washington Light Station (311 N. Johnson St.), a fine brick Greek Revival style building built in 1860 on the site of an earlier, privately owned light house, and located on the top of the north bluff where it looks out over Lake Michigan. This building was declared eligible for listing in the NRHP in 1993 and is currently the subject of a pending NRHP nomination. The next surveyed building associated with the Federal Government is the John Uselding Building (210 N. Franklin St.). This was a privately constructed and privately owned Twentieth Century Commercial Style building built in 1917 that Uselding leased to the government for use as the local post office and it continued to be used as such until 1937, when the U. S. Postal Department decided to construct a new and larger building a 104 E. Main St. This later post office is a fine limestone clad Neoclassical Revival style building designed by the Supervising Architect’s office of the U. S. Treasury Department under the direction of William Simon, the Supervising Architect and it is still in a highly intact state and is still in use as the local post office. EXTANT RESOURCES SURVEYED
NOTES ON SOURCES The best source of information about the development and history of Port Washington's municipal services from 1934 on are the published Annual Reports of the City of Port Washington, many of which are in the collection of the Port Washington Historical Society. BIBLIOGRAPHY History of Washington & Ozaukee Counties, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1881. Ozaukee Press, September 5, 1985. Sesquicentennial Issue. FOOTNOTES 1. History of Washington & Ozaukee Counties, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1881, p. 519. See also: Port Washington Star, July 4, 1898 (Photo). Semi-Centennial Issue (Illustrated Souvenir Supplement). 2. Ozaukee Press, September 5, 1985, Part 7, p. 14, 16 (photo). 3. The Jobber & Retailer Magazine. Milwaukee: June, 1910, p. 6 (photo). 4. Port Washington Centennial; 1835-1935. Port Washington: 1935, p. 2 (photos). 5. Ozaukee Press, September 5, 1985, Part 5, p. 18-19 (photos), Part 6, p. 20 (photo). 6. The Jobber & Retailer Magazine. Milwaukee: June, 1910, p. 8 (photo). 7. A stone plaque bearing the inscription "Post Office" is still intact above the storefront of this building. |
