When school was uphill both ways...

The Former Schools of South High Street in Olden Times

Aerial view of South High Street, Fort Atkinson, circa 1970s

Blogger TjH as the Beaver

South High Street -- or, as it's known to some, the one-way street up on the hill by the old Water Tower -- was, for more than a century, the site of many of Fort Atkinson's schools. As a student of the Fort Atkinson School System in the 1960s and 1970s, I lived on the South East side of town and so I went to many of these South High Street schools: kindergarten at Emery School; 1st thru 3rd grade at Hoard Elementary School; 5th and 6th grade again at Emery; and High School (10th, 11th, and 12th grade) at the old 1911 High School building until 1980. To the right is a picture of me about the time I went to Hoard School: (any resemblance to Beaver Cleaver is purely coincidental, and actually, somewhat flattering.)

BTW, I've been collecting old pictures of Fort Atkinson for many years, and friends of mine are always sending me JPEGs and scans of old postcards and whatnot, so forgive me for not crediting where these pictures come from, because, to be honest, I don't really know. I'm sure the library or the museum or the newspaper have many of the same photos and of much better quality than I am presenting here. This blog is just my way of putting them in some kind of order while at the same time enabling my nostalgia addiction. 

Another aerial view of South High Street, circa 1950,  from an old Tchogeerrah yearbook

The above photo is cut out of an old Tchogeerrah Fort Atkinson High School yearbook of the early fifties, before any additions had been built onto the 1911 High School building (although the cinder track and athletic field are evident at the far right, which I believe were added to the school grounds around 1950 or 1951. Also seen, from left to right, are the old Emery Junior High, Hoard Elementary School, and "our own Sputnik" the 1901 Water Tower.

But let's go back to the 19th century, before you were born, (remember kids?)

On the South High Street of today, only the Fort Atkinson Middle School exists, on the site of the old 1911 High School. All the school buildings from the 300 block (between South 3rd Street and South 4th Street) have been leveled and are now a big parking lot between St. Paul's Lutheran Church and the 1901 Water Tower. So power up your Flux Capacitor* now, as we go back in time to investigate The Schools of High Street in Olden Times...
*Flux Capacitor is a reference to the movie Back to the Future. Sorry. I talk this way so I write this way, too. Bear with me. It's the photos that you're really here for...

Late 19th Century South High Street

Click to enlarge

Map of Fort Atkinson - 1870

If you have ever seen the reproduction Bird's Eye View Map of Fort Atkinson 1870 (available here) you can see that South High Street already had a couple of schools on it as far back as 1870. My version of those schools are shown in the diagram above. Click on it to enlarge it slightly, if you so desire.
They are: 
The first (wooden) incarnation of St Paul's Lutheran Church (1863), a residence or two, the first Fort Atkinson Senior High School building (#1) (1866), and a two story schoolhouse known as the South Side School (1859), which was Fort's first brick school house. The South Side School was located on the site just north of where the 1901 Water Tower currently stands, near the corner of South High Street and South 4th Street. The South Side School housed elementary students on the ground floor, and high school students on the upper floor.

South High Street detail from 1870 Bird's Eye View Map of Fort Atkinson.

The highlighted area of the 1870 map (above) shows (from left to right) the old wooden incarnation of St Paul's Lutheran Church (replaced in 1901 by the gothic masterpiece which stands at that location to this day), a couple of houses (one of which would later become the church rectory), the first official Fort Atkinson High School, and, on the corner of South High Street and South 4th Street, the South Side Schoolhouse. No Water Tower yet; not till 1901.

South Side School, Fort Atkinson's first brick schoolhouse, built in 1859.

This is a photo of the South Side School (above) probably taken after 1901, because it looks like the Water Tower is hovering above it. There also seems to be a small wooden structure to the right of the school, at the base of the Water Tower. Or perhaps it's a building across the street. (The 1870 map detail above this photo shows a dwelling on the South East corner of Fourth and High on the site of the later -- 1911 -- High School building.) The South Side School (above) was built in 1859 and it also appears in photos next door to Hoard School which was built in 1903. What I don't know, however, is when the South Side School was demolished. Anybody know? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Fort Atkinson Senior High School #1, circa 1866, (on the site of the future Emery School building).

A few years after the South Side School became the first school on South High Street, Fort built it's first proper High School, just down the street a ways, to the North. I say first "proper" High School because, remember, South Side School held High School classes on its upper level. But in 1866 Fort's first Senior High School (#1) was built. I call it Fort Senior High, but I'm not sure if it needed the distinction of "Senior High" back then, as I believe there was no "Junior High" at the time. It was probably just Fort Atkinson High School. I also add the distinction of #1 because this school only stood for a little over 20 years. It burned down around 1888 and they built a new one on the same spot.

Incidentally, these first High Schools stood on the 300 block of South High Street, not the 400 block, where the current Middle School and the old 1911 High School (#3) was located for so many years. Baby Boomers who remember where Emery School stood -- halfway between St Paul's Lutheran Church and the 1901 Water Tower -- that was the location of the first two High Schools. (See the detail close up of the 1870 map, above.)

Turn-of-the-Century (19th-20th) South High Street

Click to enlarge

High School #2 seen from its right side, a.k.a. the girl's entrance...

Around the turn of the century -- and by that I mean from the 19th to the 20th century -- South High Street featured some pretty iconic Fort Atkinson architecture. First of all, as I said, in 1888, High School #1 burned down. It was replaced that same year by a wonderfully gothic new High School (#2), complete with turrets, towers, belfries and lightning rods. Harry Potter himself would've felt at home there. The new High School had two arched entrances: one for boys, and one for girls. Ne'er the two shall meet... till they got inside.

High School #2 seen from its left side, a.k.a. the boy's entrance...
Again, if you remember where Emery School was, that is the site of this school.

In 1901 the new High School was flanked by two iconic structures that stand to this day and can be seen for miles around as part of Fort's infamous South High Street skyline: to the south of the High School, on the end of the block, (South 4th Street) was a new 112-foot cylindrical brick Water Tower, built next door to the South Side Schoolhouse. And just North of the High School, on the other end of the block, (South 3rd Street) arose St Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, a new brick sculpture of gothicism replacing the previous wooden facility.

The 1901 South High Street Water Tower. 

In the photo above,  directly behind the Water Tower, you can see the belfry of The South Side School, and just beyond that is a chimneytop and spire from neighboring Hoard Elementary School, which dates this photo sometime after 1903. Note the block-long brick wall along South 4th Street, which kids -- myself included -- felt compelled to walk on each morning as they made their way to school.

St Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, built around 1901.

Coming into Fort Atkinson on Highway 106 from the East, or Highway 12/89 from the South, or Highway 12 from the West, or Highway 26 from the North, you can see from miles away the steeple of St Paul's Lutheran Church up on South High Street. This building was erected around 1901 -- same as the Water Tower on the opposite end of the block, which can also be seen for miles. I believe the clock just beneath the steeple has kept the correct time for over a hundred and ten years. I, for one, can certainly hear it chime every quarter hour from where I live.

St Paul's Lutheran School, circa 1901.

Notice in the above photo that there's a building behind the church. Like most schools on this block, that building isn't there any more. It was St Paul's Lutheran School located on the corner of South Third Street and Bluff Street. The front doors (again, one for boys and one for girls) were facing South Third Street. Currently this is part of the parking lot behind the church.


Alright, back to school...

The 1st Ward School, also known as Hoard Elementary School.

Next to the new High School (#2), a couple hundred feet to the South, in 1903, they built the 1st Ward School, a.k.a Hoard Elementary School. I'm happy to say I went here from 1st to 3rd grades (Hello Mrs. Hammer, Mrs. Westphal, and Mrs Turner, wherever you are!) I didn't know anything about architecture back then (still don't, really), but I felt important, as a first grader, walking into this seemingly massive stone and brick structure. It's atmosphere and its smell made me feel like I was in an important institution that had been there forever. Notice in the photo above -- scanned from a gorgeous tinted postcard -- that the South Side School can be seen between Hoard and the Water tower. Notice also that the Water Tower tank seems to be painted black in all these old photos. It was silver or grey as long as I can remember.

Hoard School and Caswell School shared the same blueprint. This one's Caswell.(No water tower next to it.)

What's this? Another picture of Hoard School (above)? No. This -- another beautiful hand-tinted postcard -- is, in fact, the 3rd Ward School, a.k.a. Caswell School, which was located on North Third Street, across the river. The building is still standing and currently exists as The Caswell School Apartments. The two schools shared the exact same blueprint and were both elementary schools. Hoard School was demolished in 1976 and is now part of the parking lot by the 1901 Water Tower.

The 300 block of South High Street circa 1903, looking South, from ground level.

So let's get the whole turn-of-the-century South High Street lineup, shall we? In the above photo, looking South, we have the turreted High School #2, next to that is Hoard Elementary School (barely visible behind the trees, although a bunch of kids are walking in front of it (Lumpy, Gilbert, Whitey, Larry Mondello, and The Beaver, undoubtedly), beyond Hoard we see the South Side School (just past the group of kids) and, towering over it all at the end of the block, the 1901 Water Tower.

The 300 block of South High Street circa 1903, looking North,  from roof level. Roll mouse over for annotations.

Undoubtedly the above photo was taken from up on the railing that surrounds the Water Tower. For years, only workmen (and pigeons) got to see this view, but nowadays the Water Tower is open to the public on select days in the summer. Check here for information: http://fortpreserves.org/ (Water Tower tours are seasonal so there may be nothing listed when you check. If that's the case, look for a phone number and give them a call.

But right now, let's get to the bottom of these rooves...
(Rooves is the plural of roof, right?)

Hoard School

Roll your mouse over the above photo: The blue area represents the topmost portion of Hoard School, which would be the small square belfry with the lightning rod sticking out of it at the center top of the building. See Hoard photo (right) for comparison. (By the way, that belfry wasn't there when I attended the school in the early 1970s.) The violet area represents the many shaped roofs of High School #2. The gold area is, of course, the unmistakable St Paul Evangelical Church. But the most interesting part of this photo (to me, anyway) is the green area. That tiny little building visible behind the steeple is actually across the river up on North Third Street and is, in fact, Hoard's twin, the Caswell School. Although only portions of each can be seen here, it is rare that both schools appear in the same photo.

One more interesting thing about the Roofs photo: If this picture was indeed taken from atop the Water Tower, either the camera did not capture the roof of South Side School, which would be nestled between the Water Tower and Hoard School, or the South Side School had been torn down by the time this pic was snapped. I must do more research on the timeline of the South Side School. (It was before my time.)

The South High Street skyline on the horizon, seen from the North side of town. Roll mouse over for annotations.

The above photo was included just to show how prominent the South High Street schools were to the city's skyline for most of the 20th century. This picture was taken on the North end of town looking South East. Imagine yourself today in the Sentry Foods parking lot near Sherman Avenue, perhaps standing on the top of the Johnson Bank building. The North Western Mfg. Co. (shown) would be right about where Ken & Betty's Hoagie Sandwich Shop is today. Based on the School Skyline, this photo must have been taken between 1903 (Hoard School is present) and 1911 (there is no school to the right of the Water Tower).

20th Century South High Street

Click to enlarge.

Emery Public School, originally Emery Junior High School

Okay, High School #3 was built before Emery School, but I'm going to cover Emery first because it stands on the site of the old gothic High School #2, which burned down in 1926 (but stopped being the High School in 1911). Between 1911 and 1926 the gothic high was a Middle School, handling 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. When it burned down they built this new "modern" structure (above), Emery Junior High School around 1927. Junior High meant it encompassed 9th graders -- or Freshman -- as well as under classes.

I can still smell this ball...

This building was located next door (North) to Hoard School and acted as Junior High until the construction of the J.F. Luther Junior High in 1969. The above photo shows a nice grass lawn between Hoard and Emery. I never remember grass there. We had a good sturdy paved playground the whole time I went to school on South High Street. This then-grassy area was the site of the tether ball poles when I went there.

For awhile Emery School had a Kindergarten in the basement. I know because I went there. (Hello, Miss Rhineck wherever you are!) By the time I reached 5th grade, this building was basically just fifth and sixth graders. Besides the kindergarten, the downstairs also had a small gymnasium (in the above photo the lower ten windows were where the gym was.) I once got a bloody nose in that gym by taking a kickball to my face. Remember those reddish brown rubber kickballs that made a sproinging sound when you bounced them and they kinda smelled like lunchmeat? It was one of those. I don't remember who kicked it, but I think it mighta been "Toad." Today this building is gone and is part of the same parking lot that was once Hoard School.

But the third one stayed up!

High School #1 burned down; High School # 2 burned down... Remember the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail? In the movie, the history of Swamp Castle was explained much like Fort's history of High Schools... "... the first one sank into the swamp... the second one sank into the swamp... the third one burned down fell over then sank into the swamp... but the next one stayed up!" And that's what happened to Fort's High School #3. It stayed up for seventy years. This one wasn't built on the site of the first two (nor was it built on a swamp) (although the J.F. Luther Junior High was, but that's a story for another day...) This High School was built across the street from the Water Tower, the first school to reside on the 400 block of South High Street.

Aerial view of the 1911 High School sometime around, well, 1911

This old school was built in 1911. The above photo was probably taken not long after it was built (and not long after the invention of the aeroplane.) This basic building was added-onto several times over the next century. In fact -- today -- most of the additions are still standing, but this original portion was demolished in the 1980s. I think my class (1980) was one of the last to have actual classes in this building. It stood on the site of the current Fort Atkinson Middle School, on the corner of High Street (seen along the bottom edge of the photo) and South 4th Street (running along the left side of the school, going downhill towards Haumerson's Pond). Just barely visible -- at the extreme left of the photograph -- is the 1901 Water Tower across the street.

Front of the 1911 High School building, looking North. 

Here's a great view (above) of some students in front of the 1911 High School Building with the 1901 Water Tower in the background. Recognize any of your parents or grandparents or great grandparents? Just beyond the Water Tower, behind some bare trees -- and one very Charlie Brown-like pine -- you can see Hoard School, and beyond that, to the extreme left of the photo, is the steeple to the Evangelical Church. What I don't see in this photo is the South Side School, obviously demolished by the time this picture was taken. Trouble is, I have no idea when this picture was taken. The Water Tower was still black, but that doesn't help me date the photo. 

Photo of the 1911 High School #3 scanned from hand-tinted postcard.

Here's a nice street level view of the 1911 High School (above) from an old hand-tinted postcard. Again, this photo is from the first half of the 20th century before any 'additions' were built onto this school. The main entrance was the concrete arch you can see centrally located on front of the building, flanked by two globe lamps. Just beneath one of the lamps was a block of concrete with the date '1911' embossed out of it. I believe they kept that block of concrete and incorporated it into the main lobby of the new High School.

I can't recall if these doors were forest green or maroon?
Actually, they'd probably been painted a zillion times. By maintenance man Reuben  Stark!

You can clearly see the 1911 plaque in the above photo (above), to the right of the doors. But I have two questions about this undated photo: (1)  Who's books are those under the 1911 plaque? and (2) Why is the handle on the left hand door lower than the handle on the right hand door?

Meanwhile, 40 Years Later...

Architect's sketch of first proposed High School addition from 1951 Tchogeerrah FHS Yearbook

Above is an architectural rendering of the first proposed addition to the 1911 Fort Senior High building from around 1951. It encompassed new offices, music and art rooms, and a new gymnasium and even an indoor swimming pool. Below is an actual photograph after construction was completed. But note the windows on the new addition are slightly different from the drawing. More importantly, notice that the farthest right section (south wing) was not built. The new gymnasium, which is visible in the photo below (far right, above the No Parking sign), was built, but the music rooms and art rooms in front of it would have to wait until later. (Construction continued eventually in the early 1960s.)

First addition to High School #3, circa 1952. Original 1911 structure seen to the left; new gymnasium to the right.

Color plate from 1950s-era Tchogeerrah FHS Yearbook.

I for one never knew that this early addition to the 1911 High School only consisted of two stories. Compare to the later three story photo below. Also of note, to the extreme right of this photo is a big brick addition -- clearly the new gymnasium. Later (see the color postcard, a couple photos down) another addition was built in front of this gym which housed art rooms and band rooms. The two-story addition was built around 1952. This was the start of a plethora of additions to come. You like that word? Plethora? I learned it here at this very school! Thank you Mrs. Carlson wherever you are.

Later construction adds a third story to this addition.

Compare the two photos (above) and you'll see that at some point in the High School's history a third story was added to this addition. This portion of the building still stands to this day as part of the Fort Atkinson Middle School. See below for yet another addition.

One of many additions to the old 1911 High School building, this section was constructed in the 1960s (?)

and is still standing; the only school left on High Street.

This portion of the old High School/current Middle School (above) is also still in use. This was built in the 1960s, added onto the front of the new 1952 gymnasium. This portion housed music rooms, art rooms, and I think -- if memory serves -- the swimming pool was (is?) in the basement level. You can see the 1911 building in the background, to the extreme left. The earlier addition -- built in the 1950s  -- is located between this section and the 1911 section, but you can't see it in this photo. Even after this addition, there was yet one more expansion of the gymnasium in the 1980s added onto the end of this wing.

Just One (or two) (or four) More, Please...

Remember LIFE magazine? The last page always included a photo feature called "Just One More, Please." Well, people keep sending me photos, so I've got a couple of stragglers of the old 1911 FHS I'd like to post here, so allow me just one (or two) (or six) more please...

Rare Southeast shot of the 1911 FHS building.

One rarely sees the old High School from this angle (shown above) because this would be the side of the building that all of the additions would eventually be built onto. But here we can see that the south wall was pretty much a mirror image of the north wall, with a side entrance door.

The 1911 High School. Note the extended rear of the building, housing the large lecture hall and old gym.

Assembly Hall w/stage, a.k.a. "The Barn"

In this view (above), notice the portion of the 1911 FHS sticking out of the back of the structure. This was not an addition, but part of the original building (compare to aerial view earlier in this blog post). This section was the Assembly Hall/Stage/Large Group Room -- or as we called it, The Barn. The Barn was a huge lecture room, with high ceilings, and it was out of commission by the late 70s due to disrepair. I don't think they even heated it. Many of the windows were broken, and pigeons actually flew around INSIDE The Barn. It wasn't condemned, per se, just disused. It wasn't locked or boarded up or anything, so a few of us 'outcasts' -- who didn't like to mingle with the other 'cliques' in the main lunchroom -- would sneak in The Barn to eat our lunches. Apparently we preferred the company of pigeons to that of our own classmates. Which is why, today, we are sitting home alone blogging instead of commiserating with the successful people in our society.

The 1911 "Little Gym" as it was known
(that is, after the 1952 "Big Gym" was built).

Also, below The Barn was a neat little gymnasium with a creaky wooden balcony all around it. Now this was a gym! (See photo at right.) It had rings hanging from the ceiling, climbing pegboards attached to the walls, locks and buckles built into the floor to hold the Pommel Horse and Uneven Parallel Bars into place. And a balcony all around the perimeter that us kids would jog around, always assuming it would come crashing to the floor at any moment. In fact, by 1980 every floorboard, stair step, and ceiling rafter in this 1911 building creaked like an old pirate ship. Even on weekends when the building was completely empty, one could hear the spooky creeeaaak, creeeaaaks. (If a wood floor creaks and there's no one around to hear it, does it make a noise?) 

But I digress (don't you hate when people say that?) What I have not covered in this post is the additions that were added onto the backside (East wing) of this original structure. In the 60s and 70s there were additions of shop classes, including wood shops, auto mechanic garages, and even a small greenhouse built onto the back of this building. Then, around 1982, this old structure came tumbling down and they built an all-new state-of-the-art High School on the west side of town on Lexington Boulevard. The remains of the South High Street High School became Fort Atkinson Middle School.

21st Century South High Street

Click to enlarge

Grungy photo from GoogleMaps street level. On a nicer day I'll take a proper photo. Sorry.

The above photo is a (relatively) current view of the Fort Atkinson Middle School, taken from approximately the same angle as the small photo to the right. This is where the 1911 High School used to stand. Not much to compare it to, however. Although I'm quite sure the sidewalk has been replaced, it looks to be in the same spot as the 1911-era photo. So there's that. In the background of the big photo you can see some of the 1950's additions that are still standing. These were once known as "the new part of the building" and are now undoubtedly referred to as "the old part of the building." Time will do that. The above photo was taken by Google Maps in 2007 and will be replaced as soon as I get off my duff and take a nicer photo of this site. By the gloomy look of this photo, I'd guess it was taken on a Monday during final exam week. (Heh-heh.)

Still to come: Other Fort Atkinson Schools not necessarily located on South High Street...

Modern Love...

Lein's Cabins a.k.a Haven Modern Motel

I know Lein's Cabins -- a.k.a. Haven Modern Motel -- isn't/wasn't located in Fort Atkinson proper, but I'm pretty sure anyone who lived in Fort between 1931 and 2012 has a memory of the cute-turned-spooky little "Flintstone's Village" on Highway 12 South, between Fort and Whitewater.

Lein's Modern Motel Office and Restaurant building circa 1950s. 
Photo courtesy of the Collection of Vern Zech.

The same building shown above in its later years.

Seeing it in operation in its heyday (above) the Lein's Motel doesn't look spooky at all! In fact it looks charming and welcoming! I would LOVE to have stayed there! But after it went out of business in the 1970s, it sat vacant and deteriorating for many, many years, the woods around it closing in and reclaiming the property until it looked like the set of a horror movie (see right).

The property, about 5 miles South of Fort Atkinson, was part of farmland acreage owned by Lloyd and Myrtle Lein in the early 1930s.

To augment their farming income, the Leins used a portion of their property nestled along US Route 12 (which, in the days before Interstate highways and bypasses, was a main route between Chicago and Minneapolis) and built a small gas station and a couple of overnight cabins out by the road. Year after year they would build more cabins as business picked up and by the 1950s they had 20+ little cabins on their land.

The larger frontmost building -- the one we all remember out by the road -- was the Motel Office and Restaurant. In the early days there were two gas pumps right out by the road so the front office also served as the gas station.

We all remember the buildings as being white in color, but according to an article in The Daily Jefferson County Union featuring an interview with Betty (Lein) Perkins, daughter of the original proprietors, who grew up on this property (see link below), the cabins were originally tan with a rough stucco exterior. Later they were smoothed down and painted white.

For a full Daily Jefferson County Union article about the history and eventual demolition of these motels, click here: Daily Union Article.

Lein's Cabins, as the rooftop sign says, also begat "Rocky's Eats" in the front building, for travelers along Hwy 12.
Photo courtesy of the Collection of Vern Zech.

Here's a similar view, taken around 2006.
Note: the post for the EATS sign was still standing.

Originally the Motel -- or Tourist Lodge, or Motor Lodge, as these roadside attractions were popularly known in the forties and fifties -- was called Lein's Cabins, as is evidenced by the roof sign shown in the black and white photo above.  The word "modern" appeared in smaller letters beneath "cabins." Later it became Lein's Modern Motel, as you can see in the color photograph at top. Interesting in the black and white photo is the decorative, curly-cue topper that used to sit on the rooftop sign above the word LEIN'S, not seen in later photographs. One wonders if the signage was outlined in neon back then, the way it would be in later years. The fact that there's a wire running from the main building to the Rocky's EATS sign, one can probably assume, yes. Rocky was the nickname of the gentleman who ran the restaurant for many years. Mr. Lein also had a neon business in the old barn that used to stand at the back of the property (sans the hay loft) where he made all the neon signage himself, as well as signage for other businesses in the area.

Detail of Pueblo-style 
roof-supporting
wooden logs.  At Lein's
Cabins these were
probably for decoration.

The cabins were designed to resemble Adobe huts, the type of which the Pueblo people of the Southwest United States built from sticks and wooden poles covered in clay and mud, (though modernized by the time Lein's Cabins were built -- they weren't literally mud, but brick and stucco -- complete with wooden poles poking out from the roofline). In later years these poles had been sawn off, as shown in the color photo above. The Lein's reportedly had seen this type of building in postcards from similar motels out West (source, the Daily Union article).

The beauty of this style of motel, and probably the explanation for the word "Modern" in the later signage, is that they are stand-alone units, which shared no walls with neighbors. Most motels (not just then, but even today) were housed in the confines of a single building divided into several rooms, each room sharing a wall with the room next to it. So it was considered modern in the 1920s and 30s to have each customer's room surrounded by his own four walls. No neighborly noise.

Originally Lein's Cabins' front building served food and gas. Despite this postcard (circa 1930s)
being a sepia-toned photo,  the restaurant appears to be its original tan color. Note no signage on the roof.

By the 1950s there were over 20 cabins on the property.
 (Note the addition of the neon roof sign and the new white paint job on all the cabins.)

Lein's Inspiration

Postcard from Pueblo Motor Lodge, New Mexico. Similar Adobe styling to Lein's Cabins.

In the days of Route 66 (and Route 12), between the 1930s and the 1970s, individual "huts" and "cabins" and, in some cases, "wigwams," built along the roadside for use as Motor Lodges popped up all across the country.

Wigwam Village was actually a motel chain, with its teepee-shaped cabins, all across the country.

One of the most famous (or infamous) "modern" motor lodges was The Coral Court in St Louis. The claim-to-fame of Coral Court was not only that each "room" was an individual unit with no neighboring walls, but that each unit had it's own garage. Probably started as a newfangled "catering to the motorist" bonus feature, it soon became a way for people to "hide" their cars when they weren't supposed to be at a motel in the first place! I believe this is where the phrase "Motel No-Tell" came from.

Postcard from Coral Court Motor Lodge, Route 66, St Louis. Complete with individual garages for your privacy.

But getting back to Lein's Cabins... 

The following information was gathered from the Daily Jefferson County Union website. Click here to read the whole article. In the late 50s, Leins got out of the motel business and sold their little village. A family from Rockford owned it for a few years and changed the sign to read Haven Modern Motel, replacing the neon that used to read Lein's. Around 1962, the property was purchased by Donald and Ruth McCord, who ran it -- still as the Haven Modern Motel -- for the next ten years. (Personal note: Mrs. McCord used to shop at Piggly Wiggly when I was a bagboy there, and Mr. McCord always drove Cadillacs, which once littered the property.) I believe they kept the restaurant portion open until the early 1970s, but by then Highway 12 was no longer a main route, except to get from Fort to Whitewater, (and there was no need to spend the night in between.) The Interstate System, initiated in the 1950s by President Eisenhower, made it easier and faster to move around the country without stopping. Little "Mom-and-Pop" Motor Lodges disappeared as quickly as they arrived. As for the Haven, it struggled to remain "modern." Somewhere along the timeline the canvas awnings were removed from the main building and the wooden posts that protruded from the top were sawed off. Perhaps this was to make way for more modern-for-the-times neon decor. The awnings and wooden posts were probably removed to update the look of the place in the 40s and 50s (?) If you look closely at this photo (above left) taken in the 1980s, you can see neon tubing casting a shadow as it runs along the top edge of the main building. The smaller rental units were not outlined in neon.

I'll bet this was a beautiful roadside sight at night as one drove one's 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air at the then-legal speed limit of 70mph coming down Highway 12 heading to Whitewater to meet Peggy Sue at the college, and seeing that neon glow while the AM radio blared:

"I guess I just wasn't made for these times."

~Brian Wilson, from The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album.

Amen, Brian!

Computer-generated. I can dream can't I?

Permanent Vacancy and Deterioration

Detail photo of surviving Haven neon outlining the top of the main building/restaurant, circa mid-1980s.

Above is a close up of some of the remaining neon before the buildings fell into total disrepair. These photos were shot when I went to college at UW Whitewater (circa 1986). As I drove by it on the way to school everyday, I -- like hundreds of other local travelers along 12 -- always wished I could buy the place and restore it. The neon above was probably white, based on the white tubing. Red neon, on the other hand, was always in clear tubing; the neon gas was colored red. The white neon was in white-tinted tubing in order to tone down the blinding brightness of it. (Something I learned at UW Whitewater.) The inset picture to the right shows detail of the Vacancy/No Vacancy sign that stood by the roadside in front of the Haven Motel. Although the glass is missing from the word Vacancy, the No tubing is hanging on by a thread in this 1980s photo. The fact that it's clear tubing leads me to believe the neon glowed red. Most of the signage on this property at the time was painted red, white and black (good Fort Atkinson High School colors) so I'm only guessing the neon tubing around the premises was red and white, which were popular neon colors. 

Also of note in the inset photo above, there appears to be small metal rails above and beneath the word NO. One can assume a fitted metal cover was designed to slide over these rails to obliterate the word NO when there was indeed VACANCY at the motel. Clever eh?

Another neon sign hidden beneath the pines in the 1980s.

This neon sign (above) was not attached to any of the buildings, but stood on a post to the south of the main Office/Restaurant building out front. There was a similar free standing sign to the north of the Office building which read "Rocky's EATS". The fact that the "Private Bath" portion of the sign was painted on a wooden plank and bolted onto the sheet metal sign leads me to believe this was done to cover up "Rocky's Eats" after Lein's had sold the business. I have also seen photos where the signs say "drive-in" above the word "vacancy." Perhaps the wooden bolt-on signs were added to cover up "drive-in," as the phrase may have confused motorists into thinking it was a drive in restaurant (?) The restaurant was sit-down (perhaps they had carry-outs) and served 32 patrons at a time.

Speaking of the private baths, each cabin had it's own bathroom (the signs don't lie!) Having surveyed many of the cabins before their demise, I believe the bathrooms consisted of a toilet and a hand sink and a standup shower. The remnants of one of the cabins (shown in the photo at left) gives us a glimpse of how the bathrooms looked -- at least in their last incarnation. They were painted in a pastel turquoise/green color with matching tiles and black trim. Very 1950s. I don't know if all the cabins had the same interior paint scheme, since they weren't all built at the same time. As mentioned before, as the motel business grew, Mr Lein built more and more cabins, maintaining the consistent Pueblo styling for the exterior, but who knows what the interiors looked like? According to the Daily Union Article, some famous 20th century names indeed saw the interiors of these little cottages: The (Von) Trapp Family Singers (of whom The Sound of Music is said to be based upon) stayed here in the forties; world heavyweight champion boxer Joe Louis reportedly ate in the restaurant; and apparently members of the Kennedy family made the Haven their rest stop of choice when visiting Rosemary Kennedy during her years living at the nearby St. Colletta Home in Jefferson.

What are you waiting for, come on in already...

Interior view of one of the rental cabins, circa 2006. Roll mouse over this image for detail of furnishings left behind.

By the look of things, prior to its demolition, many of the Haven's cabins had pretty much fallen down or been reclaimed by nature. Surely there was a certain amount of vandalism that went on too, as the property was unattended for many years. The photo above shows the condition of the interior sometime around 2006. Most of the cabins had no roofs by this point, and it looks like the interior plaster had all fallen off the tile walls. Right up until demolition many of the cabins still had their beds in place (the metal frames and springs of the beds, anyway), dozens of those fiberglass molded chairs from the 1950s, and several television sets. Roll your mouse over the above image to see the type of furnishings that were left behind in these cottages.

A basic single rental unit looked like this: Cabin #11.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe there were 22 cabins when the Haven closed its doors for good. They varied in size, from single-bed units to double-bed units. I seem to recall a large "adjoining" unit on the South end of the property which had two separate entrances and a shared wall. And way in the back there were three or four units that looked to be "economy" -sized, about 1/2 the size of a standard single unit. These consisted of pretty much just a bed and a bathroom. Near the rear of the property was a small bungalow. I remember the McCord's actually lived on-site, in that bungalow, because I visited them a couple of times around the late seventies. Years later, shortly before demolition had begun, the house was a pile of timber. Nobody had lived there for years, so I assume the house was knocked down intentionally to prevent it being occupied by vagrants, thrill seekers and other ne'er-do-wells. I'm not sure if the house was the original farmhouse that was here before the cabins were built. There was a also a barn located in the south lot at the back of the property from the farming days, but when the motel was built, the barn was eventually used as a neon sign workshop. Leins had removed the hay-loft portion of the barn so it didn't make the property look like a farm from the road. They wanted the motel to look "modern." The barn was eventually torn down, probably to make way for more cabins. In fact, the only thing left standing on this site today -- as of 2013 -- is a small brick shed which stood between the house and the barn, way at the back of the property.

A small group of rental units, circa 1980s. Long out of commission by this time but still salvageable.

Gravel drive still visible, circa 1980s.

By the 1980s, the cabins had been sitting for over a decade unattended. Given another twenty years the one-time prairie-like landscape would become a thick overgrown woods. The trees literally grew through the floors of the cabins and eventually out through the roof. The above photo, and the one to the left, show the Haven Modern Motel units after only about ten or fifteen years of inactivity. Looking at the photo above, you can see where the wooden posts used to protrude above the door, having been sawed off many years before. It appears there used to be canopies over the windows, as evidenced by a wooden support mounted above each of them. At one time, the Main Office/Restaurant had a red awning all around it. I would assume the awnings over the windows of the rental cabins matched that style. Also visible in the above photo, in the upper right corner of the cabin, is a small cylindrical tin chimney, suggesting the units were heated with stoves, although I'm told the operation usually closed during the winter months. Based on the photo to the left, the driveway and parking lots were gravel. I believe there was space next to or in front of each cabin for customers to park their cars, somewhat like you would find at a campground.

But alas, all of us who had driven by the Haven day after day wishing we could buy the place and refurbish it -- or hope, at least, that someone else would -- had our enthusiasm curbed when we read in 2011 that the place was going to be demolished, or were surprised one day when we drove by and saw the bulldozers. Once they cleared out the brush and the cabins were visible again it was a beautiful sight! Even though we knew it was stage one of the demolition process, we all kind of hoped, "maybe someone will see this and save it!" Oh to be an eccentric millionaire! But all too soon it was leveled.

"Polly! What have you done to my hotel?!" ~ Basil Fawlty.    Demolition circa 2012.

 And today...

*crickets... crickets... crickets... crickets...*

Thank you for visiting. Y'all come back now, y'hear?