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A walk through Milton with a popular tour booklet offers a historical view of the city. The Milton Historic Preservation Commission booklet includes 54 buildings. The first 500 copies were quickly snatched up, but the book will be online soon and copies are available at the Milton Public Library. Kyle Geissler reports. You can read more in Wednesday's Janesville Gazette.
5 S. John Paul Road in Milton
112-114 W. Madison in Milton
3 E. Madison in Milton
321 Rogers in Milton
403 College St. in Milton
MILTON — The Milton Historic Preservation Commission hoped its historic tour booklet would be popular when it hit the community in April.
But maybe not this popular.
Residents snapped up all 500 copies in five weeks. Now the commission is waiting for money to print more.
The commission has printed several smaller, black and white tour guides in the last decade, said Chairwoman Peggy Hirschberg. But commission members decided to go all out last year.
“After viewing what (past commissions) had done, we weren’t satisfied with it,” Hirschberg said. “We said, ‘We can do better than this.’”
The commission started by taking a tour of the city and dividing it into zones, she said. Members chose more than 75 homes and businesses, eventually narrowing it down to 54. They spent a year researching those buildings and writing up brief histories to go next to each photo.
City council member Dave Adams took the photos, and the commission had the 24-page booklets bound with glossy, sturdy covers.
“Everything is in color now, which made it beautiful,” Hirschberg said.
The commission spent $1,400 to print 500 copies and distributed them around Milton, she said. The booklets quickly disappeared.
Milton Public Library was one distributor that had trouble keeping them in stock, said Director Lisa Brooks.
“They (were) flying off the shelves,” she said.
But don’t worry if you didn’t nab a copy. The library has a copy for checkout and a couple more in its reference section, Brooks said. The commission also plans to put the entire booklet online soon.
The commission hopes to receive money from the city or a donation to print a second batch, Hirschberg said. An anonymous donor has offered to pay for 500 booklets if the city also pays for 500, Administrator Todd Schmidt said.
The commission eventually might charge a small fee or ask for donations for the booklets, Hirschberg said.
Meanwhile, the commission hopes those who managed to get books are putting them to good use, she said.
“We’d love to know, if somebody picks one up, what did they do with it?” she said.
Tour offers variety, history
It was a beautiful day to be wandering around Milton.
Forecasters had predicted storms, but the sun glinted off the historic homes on Madison Avenue as a breeze tugged at the surrounding trees.
I had just picked up a copy of the “Historic Milton, Wisconsin Tour Guide” from the Milton Public Library, and I was ready to see some of the homes featured in the book.
I had expected a pamphlet with maybe a dozen sites, but instead I got a glossy, bound booklet with 54 buildings listed. Each listing contained a short history of the building and a color photo.
No way was I going to get to all 54 buildings, so I decided to look at the homes listed on East Madison Avenue—12 in all.
I love looking at old houses. I imagine all of the families that have passed through them and what the neighborhoods looked like when they were built.
People of all ages could enjoy a tour like this, I thought as I walked. Youngsters would enjoy matching the photos in the booklet to the houses in front of them, while older children with a history bent might like to hear the stories behind the buildings.
I loved how each historic home looked completely different. The white brick home of Marion and Harris Allen, built in 1852 for Jonathan C. Culver, looked grand and imposing set back from the road. It was just as I’d imagine the home of a southern belle such as Marion Allen.
The home across the street at 3 E. Madison St., on the other hand, looked cozy and inviting with its brown brick walls, peaked gables and arched doorway.
The booklet has special symbols for buildings made of Cream City Brick or grout. The eight grout buildings in Milton are unique because Joseph Goodrich invented a special type of grout similar to concrete for use in Milton, the booklet informed me.
I also enjoyed the background stories. Who knew, for example that the original owner of the home at 112 and 114 W. Madison Ave. was imprisoned in a Japanese prisoner of war camp? She and her daughter were captured while on a missionary trip to China during World War II.
One of my favorite stories was the one behind the home at 19 E. Madison Ave. Stuart and Ethlyn Shadel had the stone house with a red roof built for their impending marriage in 1930. They were married there and lived there until they died, he in 1995 and she in 2008.
There were more stories in the booklet, but those were for other days. As I walked, I thought how the tour would make a fun, free summer project for families. Walking in the summer sun while getting to know your community and learning about history—what could be better?