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| Before preservation can begin, focus is on fundraising |
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| Written by By Carol L. Paur/For Walworth County Sunday | ||||||||||||
| Friday, 16 September 2011 12:22 | ||||||||||||
 A banner outside the Israel Stowell Temperance House advertises the effort to restore the 19th century building, located at 67 E. Walworth St. in downtown Delavan. Dan Plutchak/staff. DELAVAN — Few buildings can survive the ravages of 171 years’ existence and a raze order. For the Israel Stowell Temperance House on East Walworth Street, however, you might say it’s the comeback kid. (Read the full story in the Sept. 25, 2011 e-edition of Walworth County Sunday, HERE.) The brown, wooden structure with a saggy roofline was slated for destruction in July 2010. Delavan Fire Chief Neill Flood gave the order because of structural deterioration and a very crowded interior. He feared for his firefighters’ safety, and for the safety of the community. “There are structures very close to it. There’s a possibility of fire transmitting to those buildings,” Flood said. “I would be very reluctant to send my firefighters in, I want to protect the lives of my firefighters.” After thwarted attempts by then-owner Edward Chesko to sell the structure to Old World Wisconsin or the Wisconsin Historical Society, the building finally changed ownership to the Delavan Historical Society. Since this change, Flood is reluctant to comment. “I don’t want to be the culprit to say this building is in a deteriorating state like I did before,” Flood said. “I’m hoping they’ll be able to come up with the funds to do something with the building.” Patti Marsicano, president of the Delavan Historical Society and the force behind the Save the Israel Stowell Temperance House movement, agrees the building has structural issues, among other problems. “It’s 100 percent wood,” Marsicano said. “It’s 100 percent very, very old wood.” Furthermore, most people would find it hard to navigate, she added. “It’s a long house,” with many doors, “not in usual places. It’s a maze.” The biggest concern at the time of the raze order was books, thousands of books crowding shelves and walking spaces. Marsicano said the historical society promised to remove the books, which kept the building standing. But removal of the books is just a small part of keeping the structure alive. “We saved it from being razed, but we still have work to save the building,” she said. “If we didn’t take care of the building, the raze order would go back on it in a heartbeat. We’re keeping it alive until we get the heart transplant.” Until they’re able to come up with funds for the proper historical restoration, the group is trying to maintain the structure without compromising its historical integrity. Outside, the house had become overrun with weeds and scrap trees. A landscaper donated his time to clear out the overgrowth. Inside, a mason donated his service to fill in cracks to the foundation. Marsicano and others do their part to maintain the structure while keeping vandals and raccoons out. “We’ve had so many businesses donate services to us,” Marsicano said. “Everything that got us to closing was donated.” But their eye is on the big prize — a complete restoration of the Israel Stowell Temperance House. Right now the group has only about $6,000 toward the total restoration cost of about $1 million. “It’s hard to take on a task that size,” said Claire Josten, president of the Wisconsin chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Still, she pointed out the restoration of another temperance movement landmark, the home of early WCTU leader Frances Willard, in Evanston, Ill., and said there’s hope for the Delavan structure. The Stowell house project was highlighted at the national WCTU conference last month, Josten added. “It think it would be wonderful to have a piece of history right where it originally was,” she said. To work toward the restoration, members of the Stowell house group will attend a fundraising seminar in November. They’re hoping to learn how to catch the big-fish donors to underwrite the expense. Getting those donors on board, however, will require some convincing as to the importance of saving the non-inspiring, salt-box house. “I know there are negative feelings toward this,” Marsicano said. “I’ve heard someone say they’d pay for the gallon of gas to burn down the building. “Some say if we get rid of this house, we’ll get rid of the oldest structure in Delavan,” she said. But, age is not what keeps the group clinging to the structure. If the Stowell house goes down, there’ll be other buildings to take the place of being the oldest in Delavan, Marsicano said. “It’s not just the age. It was a social movement at the time. It’s the Phoenix brothers wanting to take that movement (the temperance movement) to the West. Did it succeed? “Its significance is not just to our community, to what Delavan was born as, but to Wisconsin,” Marsicano added. Many people falsely assume the circus is what made Delavan, but according to Marsicano, the circus followed the temperance movement. Removing a reminder of this would remove an important element of Delavan. “You cannot say, ‘Oh, we have a historic downtown area,’ and not have anything historic,” Marsicano said she tells the naysayers. “Ten years from now, the building will become a destination, a tourist attraction. They’ll forget the negativity. It’ll make people forget the way some of them feel now.” Dreams for the restoration include a fresh coat of white paint, one that mirrors the original coat back in 1840. Once the building is structurally repaired, they would like to divide it into three spaces — to house the historical society, to house the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and to serve as retail space. “Realistically, can we do it?” Marsicano asked. “I don’t know, but for now that’s what we’re thinking about.” Marsicano is shooting to have the project done in 10 years. “It took eight years to do Black Point (a mansion in Lake Geneva) and they had the money for it. I truly have no idea. I just hope it happens in my lifetime.”
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Hits: 1220 Comments (5)
Joanne Babic
said:
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... What do you mean it isn't historical enough?! This building is the number one most historic building in Delavan. All the rest have been torn down. Without it there is nothing left in Delavan that is historic. The original buildings at the deaf school - all gone, the knitting mill, solely responsible for the industrial evolution of the county - gone, the original Lake Lawn, the resort that started the tourist industry in Delavan - gone,if this building is not saved the only thing "historic" that will be left is the brick street and two thirds of that is less than 20 years old. Keep up the fight Patti! I'm proud of you and DHS! |
SAndy Behn
said:
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... I don't know how much more historical you can get - the oldest building in Delavan and it represents what Delavan Was built on. Its a lot of money, but I agree with Ms. Marsicano, people will forget they felt that way when its done |
SAndy Behn
said:
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... how much more historical can you get - the oldest building in Delavan, and also what Delavan was built on in the beginning....Its a lot of money but I agree with Ms. Marsicano, when it is all done, people will forget they said it isn't worth it.. |
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