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State Bank of Ladysmith

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1912, W. E. Maddux. 100 W. 2nd St.

In 1900, the fledgling community of Ladysmith gained stability when the Menasha Woodenware Company established a stave mill at Flambeau Falls. Hundreds of former lumberjacks flocked to this village in the cutover, seeking a fresh start. Key to the community’s economic development was the State Bank of Ladysmith, chartered in 1903. Contractor Maddux used rock-faced red granite quarried in Waushara County to create a building whose simplicity and sturdiness trumps imported ideas about style. Classical but rustic, the former bank’s design seems to contradict the formalism of similar ones in larger cities. A one-story portico distinguishes the entrance. Paired polished-granite columns support a blocky granite entablature and a balustrade, which echoes the blind balustrade along the roof. The first-story windows are recessed into vertical panels and feature leaded-glass transoms with a delicate floral motif. The second-story windows are mostly tripartite sashes of the type known as Chicago windows.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Marsha Weisiger et al.
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Data

Citation

Marsha Weisiger et al., "State Bank of Ladysmith", [Ladysmith, Wisconsin], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/WI-01-RU1.

Print Source

Buildings of Wisconsin

Buildings of Wisconsin, Marsha Weisiger and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017, 314-314.

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