SHEBOYGAN – Since its early days, the city has needed hotels. People arrived in Sheboygan on steamships via Lake Michigan, by stagecoach or by train. In 1860, according to the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, the Washington House was built. The 25-room hotel became a well-known place to stay.
Washington House became a Sheboygan hotel landmark
The hotel, at 823 Center Ave., was situated on 97 feet along Center Avenue, with the lot extending back 150 feet. The facility featured a 90-by-40-foot storage barn that served horses in the early days and later included space for horseless carriages.
During those early days, The Sheboygan Telegram often advertised Silbernagel & Liebel’s stage line to Ada, Franklin and Howards Grove. The stage left the Washington House daily in the early afternoon, carrying mail, freight and passengers.
The hotel later was popular with the Franklin, Mission House and Kiel bus lines, which made the hotel their headquarters.
Sheboygan Dairy Board brought farmers to Washington House
The Washington House was not only a popular place to stay, it was a popular place for the dairy industry to meet. Every Monday, farmers gathered at the Sheboygan Dairy Board, located at the hotel, to sell cheese through the board. It was claimed that 50 to 60 buyers arrived each week. The Sheboygan Dairy Board closed sometime in 1919.
The hotel also served as headquarters for visitors to the city for many years. Small German bands that played throughout the area made stops there. Scissors grinders, organ grinders and patent medicine shows were frequent visitors to the facility.
Unusual visitors and stories made stops at the Sheboygan hotel
One such visitor, Prof. Kennedy, a trance medium, fell ill for several days, according to the Sept. 19, 1894, Sheboygan Telegram. He decided to remain in Sheboygan for an extra week because of the many callers visiting him at the Washington House.
Well before Sheboygan had homeless shelters, on a cold January day in 1890, 17-year-old Minna Kirsch, a factory worker making 40 cents a day, lost her housing at a boardinghouse on Beach Street.
Kirsch, poverty-stricken, was found by Officer Jacobs walking aimlessly on streets where the temperature was 14 degrees below zero. Jacobs took her to the Washington House, where she was given lodging for the night. Kirsch soon found work in a private family situation.
If something unusual happened, it often ended up at the Washington House. The Sheboygan Telegram reported the following in 1893: “A large number went to see the grey wolf, which was shot by Harry Ford in the town of Greenbush and which was on exhibition at the Washington House today. The animal is a fine specimen of its kind, and did a good deal of damage among the sheep in that vicinity.”
Washington House changed ownership before its demolition
According to a 1923 Sheboygan Press article, August Seisemeyer sold the property to Henry and Albert Blanke in 1895. The Telegram reported in 1895 that Blanke was going to install waterworks in the building. In 1909, Henry Blanke sold his interest to Albert.
In 1915, Peter Pfister became the proprietor of the Washington House and, five years later, bought the facility from Albert Blanke. In 1923, after Pfister’s death, his widow chose to sell the firm to a new corporation named the Washington House Company. At the time, Frank H. Kruse took over management of the hotel, and Thomas Kernen of the Majestic Taxi Stand took over supervision of the storage garage.
At one time, the YMCA wanted to build a new facility at the address. The organization purchased the property in 1946 for $50,000 for its expansion project. That plan was dropped when the YMCA was able to buy the fish hatchery property on Broughton Drive, where the YMCA is today.
The building’s fate was sealed in 1953, when the 1860 structure was torn down to make room for a parking lot near City Hall and today’s bus transfer station. The site still is used for that purpose.
Gary C. Klein has written Throwback Thursdays since 2017, covering dozens of businesses, people, sports and events from the early days of the area to recent history. He has been a photographer for the Press since 1993. He can be reached at 920-453-5149 or gklein@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @leicaman99. Check out his other work at www.sheboyganpress.com/staff/4383066002/gary-c-klein/.
This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Inside the strange history of Sheboygan’s Washington House
Reporting by Gary C. Klein, Sheboygan Press / Sheboygan Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Gary C. Klein, Sheboygan Press | USA TODAY Network
