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Brickner Woolen Mills Apartments (Brickner Woolen Mills)

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1880; 1884, 1920 additions. 639 Monroe St.
  • (Photograph by Paul J. Jakubovich, courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society)

In 1835, Silas Stedman of Massachusetts happened on the cascades of the Sheboygan River. Recognizing this as an ideal site for a sawmill, he and several land speculators founded a town at the falls. Industries soon clustered along the river to take advantage of the abundant water power. Among these was the Brickner Woolen Mills. The firm began as a custom mill for local farmers, but George Brickner, its founder, later added a mass production department. By 1900, his employees were weaving 250,000 pounds of wool annually into shawls, blankets, dress goods, and yardage.

The mill is a dour utilitarian building of cream brick, mostly three stories tall, with a monotonous rhythm of segmental-arched windows, characteristic of Victorian industrial buildings. A five-story tower with a tin-covered mansard roof makes the building more impressive. A smokestack balances the composition and reminds us of the building’s former industrial function. The Alexander Company rehabilitated it into apartments.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Marsha Weisiger et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Cole Historic District
Riverbend
Kohler Village
Walter Jr. and Celeste Kohler House, “Windway”
Sheboygan County Museum (David and Mary Taylor House)

Citation

Marsha Weisiger et al., "Brickner Woolen Mills Apartments (Brickner Woolen Mills)", [Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/WI-01-SB11.

Print Source

Buildings of Wisconsin

Buildings of Wisconsin, Marsha Weisiger and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017, 268-269.

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