DOWNTOWN! Part One

"Listen to the music of the traffic in the city;

Linger on the sidewalk where the neon lights are pretty..."
~Pet Clark

Downtown Fort, circa early 1960s

"Downtown! Everything's
waiting for yooou!"

Certainly Petula Clark was singing about Fort Atkinson when she had a hit with Downtown in 1965, wasn't she? That's probably about the time this photo (above) was taken of Downtown Fort. This color Post Card remained on sale at Tuttle's Drugs -- and anywhere else fine postcards were sold -- well into the 1980s. The newest car I see is a 1961 Oldsmobile parked in front of what would today be Humphrey's Florist but was at the time Schulz Bros. Variety Store. A lot of people are probably saying right now, No, Schulz Bros. was on the next block, across Milwaukee Avenue from Humphrey's Florist. And those people would be right, but for awhile it was located at 201 S Main. Later, when Gambles moved into that building, Schulz's moved across the street to the 100 block, which is now JM Carpets, which is the three story building in this photo, but is indeed a two story building in real life...

But wait... we're getting way ahead of ourselves here...

This is going to be a casual look at Fort Atkinson's Main Street, which, since 1984, has been on the National Register of Historic Places. By casual I mean not a text book historical document, rather one dude's memoir based on his own memory and lots of old photos. I wouldn't do a book report based on this site if I were you, that's all's I'm saying. I do passive research, which means I wait for the research to come to me or I remember it; I don't go out and seek it on my own. That's why I date things with the vague designation "circa" and "early 60s," or "late 40s," etc..

So let's start with North Main Street. Some might call that uptown, but Petula Clark never sang a song about that, so from Madison Avenue (on the North end) to Whitewater Avenue (on the South end), we'll call the whole thing DOWNTOWN! (Now I've put that song in your head, haven't I? Sorry 'bout that.)

Where Walgreens is now...

Going way back to the turn of the century (and by that I almost always mean 19th-to-20th) the North end of Main Street was still fairly residential. On the East side of the street anyway. On the West side of the street was mainly factories. More on that later. Let's start with the big ol' house on the North East corner of N Main and N Third (see right). Unless you were alive in the early fifties, you probably don't remember this house. It was demolished in 1955 when they built St Joseph's Catholic Church. The house was built in the 1870s and was the home of Lucien Bonaparte Caswell, (they sure had the names back then!) Caswell was a politician and an early Fort Atkinson lawyer as well as the namesake of the Caswell School (just a few blocks east of this residence).

Current view of LB Caswell's former property at the corner of  N Main and N Third Streets

In 1955 the Caswell home was torn down and a very modern looking St Joseph's Catholic Church was build on the property. Baby Boomers will remember this building (below) which stood on the corner for umpteen years (see what I mean about my vague research?)

St Joseph's Church on N Main and N Third Streets prior to Walgreens

St Joseph's School, 300 block of N Main, circa 1950s

Besides the church, (and beside the church) St Joseph's Catholic School was also located on what is now the Walgreens lot on N Main Street. The school was right next door, to the immediate North, of the church (see photo left). And next to that I believe was the church Rectory (?) which is still standing but has been converted into a community based residential facility. St Joseph's Catholic Church is currently located on a huge property on the South end of town by Endl Blvd and Hackbarth Road.

The 200 Block

Faith Community Church in the 1950s
Across from today's McDonald's.

Across the street from what is now McDonald's in the 200 block of N Main Street (the numbering system starts at the river, so I'm kinda going backwards here...) finds the beginnings of today's Faith Community Church.

A small brick steepled church stood on that site for many years. It was actually a parish hall for St Joseph's Catholic Church until the late 40s when it was purchased by Faith Community, then known as The Open Bible Church. It became Faith Community Church in the early 60s. (This information and photos come from FCC's 75th Anniversary Membership Directory, 2012, compliments of Nedra and Jim Lemke.)

Faith Community built a new modern church structure on the same site in the late 1960s with additions built on to it several times throughout the 70s, including a school and a sanctuary (see 70s photo below).

This structure is still standing today, but is now the Jordan Apartments building.

Faith Community Church in the 70s. 
Today it is an apartment building across from McDonald's.

Fort Hardware circa 1950s, corner of N Main and E Sherman Ave.
Photo borrowed from the collection of Vern Zech.

In order to expand as such, Faith Community Church eventually had to buy and demolish this building, (above). This was (at one time) Fort Hardware, as it clearly says on the sign. This building stood on the NE corner of N Main and E Sherman Ave. (That tow truck is on Sherman Avenue.) This would be directly across the street from The Creamery Package Building (a.k.a Verlo).

City Hall and Fire Department, N Main and E Sherman (Germany Ave), at the turn of the century (19th >> 20th)

N Main and E Sherman view today.
The fire hydrant is still there!

The Fort Hardware building (above) was originally Fort's City Hall in the late 1800s and early 1900s, with garage space for the Fire Department (center doors, open in the above photo). The City Hall and Fire Department, prior to this, were housed in the old Lyric Opera House (a.k.a. The Arcadia) and moved to the "new" (current) Municipal Building down the street when it was built in the late 1920s. Notice the houses on Sherman Avenue directly behind this building. Also, note where that man in standing: the sidewalk continued across the dirt road. I guess paved sidewalks arrived before paved roads downtown.

TRIVIA: Did you know Sherman Avenue used to be called Germany Avenue before World War One? 

The Fort Hardware building as it appeared prior to demolition in the 80s.
(Why do I think of the words to Lorine Niedecker's poem My Life when I look at this picture?)
Photo from the collection of  Vern Zech.

Current view of N Main and E Sherman
across the street from The Creamery Package Building

Before this structure was demolished and after it became the rightful property of the church, they had wrapped a huge bow around the front of the building -- I'm still looking for a photo of that -- to represent The Gift of expanding the Church and allowing its patrons, safe, off street parking. Today this site is a public parking facility (see photo right) shared with parking for the apartment complex that was formerly the church building itself. Much like its former N Main Street neighbor, St Joseph's, the Faith Community Church outgrew this downtown location and moved to the south end of town to its current spacious campus on Hackbarth Road.

 Stay Tuned... There's More to Come... 

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