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      Hear Ye, Hear Ye!   You are invited to a once in a lifetime event!  Sunday, June 23, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., the Whitewater Federation of Women’s Clubs and the Whitewater Landmarks Commission will cohost the Whitewater Heritage Day tour of homes. The event, which is a fundraiser for the Bassett House, built in 1858, will contribute to the major restoration taking place at this local landmark and include a tour of the significant homes in the Whitewater Main Street Historic District.

     Partnering in this event are the Whitewater Historical Society, Downtown Whitewater and the Whitewater Arts Alliance. The Whitewater Arts Alliance will sponsor a pop-up, one day art exhibit at the Cultural Arts Center showing contemporary and historic artwork featuring Whitewater places, people, and events. Whitewater Heritage Day is not to be missed!

      In addition, you will find the 2^nd Annual Food Truck Festival at the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library parking lot, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. All proceeds there will benefit the library.

      If you wish to become a true “history lover” you may purchase a ticket for a nominal $15.00 which will allow entrance into the five historic homes on the tour that have not been open to the public for a number of years. Tour tickets are available for purchase only the day of the tour, at the Bassett House, at 708 W. Main Street, and at the Smith-Allen House, at 445 W. Center Street. There is no limited number of tickets.

You may either stroll through Whitewater’s Main Street Historic District which is celebrating its 30^th anniversary or use the shuttle van which will drop people off and pick them up at strategic points on the tour.

       Homes on the Heritage Day Tour include: 

FEDERATION OF WOMEN’S CLUBS

(BASSETT HOUSE)

708 W. Main St.

Built 1858

     The focal point of the tour has belonged to the Whitewater Federation of Women’s Clubs since 1926 when member Florence Bassett bequeathed her family home to this longtime community organization.  Local merchant Thomas Bassett had this home built in 1858, when the site was at the far western edge of the village. 

     The two-story cream brick house is an example of transitional Greek Revival architecture with Italianate details.  The west wing and rear wing of the house were added after 1878.  Remodeling in 1930 removed walls on the first floor to create a large meeting space.  The second floor has recently undergone a major restoration, including new wiring and plumbing.

VICTORIA ON MAIN

(ENGEBRETSEN-DORR HOUSE)

622 W. Main St.

Built in 1895

     Nancy and Jerald Wendt have owned and operated this home as a bed and breakfast inn since the 1980s.  Edward Engebretsen had the home built in 1895, according to a design by George Bradley & Son.  Engebretsen was a local dry goods merchant and served as mayor of Whitewater.

     The stately Queen Anne Revival style house has a single-story classic front porch, a three-story octagonal turret, and leaded stained-glass windows.  Each room features a different type of Wisconsin hardwood including yellow pine, birdseye maple, red and white oak, sycamore, and cherry.  It was the first house in Whitewater to be wired for electricity. 

DELTA ZETA SORORITY

(GEORGE W. ESTERLY HOUSE)

604 W. Main St.

Built 1876

     The Delta Zeta Sorority has occupied this home since about 1978. George W. Esterly had the home built in 1876, from a design by architect Henry Koch.  George W. Esterly worked with his father, inventor George Esterly, who founded the Esterly Reaper Works.  Mr. Koch also designed the Milwaukee City Hall.

     Built of cream brick, the two-story Italianate house has a basic rectangular plan.  Projecting bay windows accent it.  On the first floor, a central black walnut staircase separates rooms arranged on either side.  The home features the original and ornate marble fireplace mantels in the first-floor rooms.  Recently the sorority has done extensive remodeling to the basement, adding a kitchen, dining and lounge area, laundry and restrooms.  The art glass in the inner set of entry doors is of special note.  The front porch was added to the house in the 1950s.

HAMILTON HOUSE

BED AND BREAKFAST

328 W. Main St.

Built 1868

     Current owners Kathleen and Jim Fleming operate this home as a bed and breakfast featuring eight guest rooms with private baths.  Dr. H. H. Greenman, one of Whitewater’s early dentists, had this house built in 1868.

     Built of cream brick, the house started out as a simple gabled ell with Italianate details.  The mansard roof with arched dormers completely changed the look of the house when added in 1881.  Another exterior remodeling took place in 1887.  The home now features Second Empire style bay windows and two Queen Anne style porches, one with turned posts and spindle work, as well as a two-story Queen Anne style bay window. 

SMITH-ALLEN HOUSE

445 W. Center St.

Built 1856

     Dan Richardson and Pat Blackmer are the thirteenth owners of the house.  Whitewater Normal School President, Robert Williams, owned this home from 1946 to 1956, when he had an indoor kitchen and plumbing installed.

     The E.A. Smith family, who owned a local hardware store, had the Italianate Villa style house built in 1856 by Porter and Hunter.  Constructed of Whitewater cream brick, the house features a second floor as well as a three-story tower which dominates the front of the home and distinguishes it from all others in the city.  Architectural details include low pitched hipped roofs, tall narrow arched floor to ceiling windows, wide eaves, and cornices with dentils.

      The tour will also include historical reenactors who will share the exciting history of the city.  Chances are you may be able to meet Mattie Hull of the Pratt Institute, Florence Bassett, or Mary Flavia White, donor of the historic library.  You definitely will be able to learn the history of the Birge Fountain, the Morris Pratt Institute and tour both the White Memorial Library which is now the Whitewater Cultural Arts Center and the Depot Museum which is home to the Whitewater Historical Society all free of charge.

     The Bassett House will also feature a Silent Auction from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. where people may bid on a variety of items that have been donated to the fundraiser.  It is a one stop shopping venue with winners of the auctioned items to be announced at 3:01 p.m.

     Stop by the Bassett House from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. for the old-fashioned Ice Cream Social featuring a slice of pie and ice cream with your favorite toppings.  Cash donations will be gratefully accepted to enjoy the ice cream social, with all proceeds going towards the restoration of this historic home.

     Mark your calendars for this Sunday, June 23 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Remember, the purchase of your $15.00 tour ticket to visit the historic homes is a fundraiser for the Bassett House.

We hope to see you at our 2nd Annual Food Truck Festival. We are excited that this year’s event is connected to the first Whitewater Heritage Day with walking tours and events throughout town, so we are hoping for a bigger crowd this year! We know there may be a little unfavorable weather in the forecast but as of Friday afternoon everything is still a GO. Just bring your ponchos and appetite!

Please join us Sunday June 23 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library parking lot. We hope this will be a great fundraiser for our library. A percentage of the proceeds from the food truck sales will be donated to the library. We received a nice donation from our vendors last year and it went toward library programming. Join the event and have some great food!

Food Trucks scheduled to attend:
Kona Ice
Lefty’s Chicago Style Hot Dogs
Gourmet Kettle Corn
WeGo Waffles
Route 26 Hamburger Stand
Mr. P’s Grilled Cheese
Jolly Frog
Steve’s Deli Dog House
Jakarta Cafe

Don’t forget to check out all the great events going on for Heritage Day too! Check out their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Whitewater-Heritage-Day-146109139658843/?eid=ARBGHoQxrTvYMF9JjRXj_MntIVZhKBDS2OBT3uQfzN3dehCxoaXGHypfA_9fB9LWhbc9fsZlusLKnoIb and event https://www.facebook.com/events/2430312963697977/ if you are interested to learn more.

Do you think you bake the best chocolate cake? Do your friends rave about it? Then you need to enter your cake into Studio 84’s Chocolate Cake War!

The event will take place Saturday, Sept. 14 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Studio 84. All cake baker entry forms must be received by Aug. 1. For details and an entry form visit www.studio84inc.org, email info@studio84inc.org or call 262-473-9845.

The entry fee is $25 with prizes being awarded for the Best Chocolate Cake and honorable mentions. Cake bakers will bake their cakes and serve bite sized pieces to cake tasters (members of the greater community.) Tickets for the tasters are $5 per person and $15 for family of four or more. The tasters will be given a ticket to cast their vote for the best cake after tasting all the entries.

Get your entry form in early as space is limited to the first 20 entries!

Studio 84 is at 121 W. Center St. in Whitewater. It’s a non-profit art studio that provides experiences in the arts for the community. The studio specializes in the creative and vocational development of people with disabilities, including those with autism, physical disabilities, cognitive limitations and mental illness.

To learn more visit www.studio84inc.org or check them out on Facebook.

Heart Prairie Lutheran Church on Whitewater Lake is celebrating its 175th anniversary in 2019.  A celebration will be held on the evening of Sunday, June 30th, and the public is invited. Feel free to wear a Norwegian bunad.

6:30 pm – Festivities will begin with a display of Scandinavian crafts and Heart Prairie memorabilia.  Take the opportunity to sample some Norwegian finger foods.

7:30 pm – Listen to an oral history of Heart Prairie by Pastor Jerry Wendt as well as by Pastor Larry Froemming, who wrote a book on the church for a seminary project in 1974.   Norwegian music will be performed. Siblings Dave Cleven and Cathy Zange will share family memories including excerpts from an 1861 letter that surfaced in 2009 (in Norway). Jørgen Nielsen, a schoolteacher at Heart Prairie, writes, “Sorg og lykke bor side ved side.”  That translates, “Sorrow and happiness live side by side.” He writes of their happiness of eldest son Niels’ wedding to Ingeborg Aslaksdatter at the Heart Prairie church on Friday, November 1, 1861, and their sorrow of youngest son Halvor leaving Whitewater on Saturday, November 2, 1861, to join the 13th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment in Janesville during the Civil War.  Jørgen, Niels, and Ingeborg are all buried in the cemetery surrounding the church. Halvor Nielsen is not.

8:30 pm – The lanterns will be lit and the evening will conclude with an Oil Lamp Service (Høymesse) inside the church.    Please join us.

In 1846, two years after approximately 16 families organized their congregation and before the present building was constructed, bilious fever struck and 22 people (mostly children) died between the months of September and December.  Most of these graves are on a farm near the crossing of Engel and Clover Valley roads near the flowing well.

Heart Prairie Lutheran Church was built around 1857.  It is on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1948, the congregation merged with the First English Lutheran Church congregation in Whitewater.  The Heart Prairie church is still used today for services during the summer as well as on Christmas Eve, without any electricity or indoor plumbing. Many artists have sketched or painted Heart Prairie Lutheran Church over the years, including the renowned etcher, Leon Pescheret.  

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater will feature Summer on the Mall on Wednesday June 19 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event takes place on the North Mall at UW-W. Casual Joe’s will be catering, and there will be live music, art workshops, BINGO, a silent auction, and other activities to help raise money for United Way.

Festival Foods from Fort Atkinson sent their management team to Whitewater with the first order of lunch fixings for students this summer.  Summer brings with it a period of eight weeks during which our schools’ feeding programs do not operate. These feeding programs are the main nutritional support for many of our Whitewater children. Without these programs, or a substitute program, the children go hungry.  Whitewater Unites Lives (WUL), in cooperation with The Community Space, community churches, groups and individuals, fills that feeding gap. 

Festival Foods is providing goods at cost, and their team delivered it this week as a community service. 

Last year, food donations together with cash donations of $7,473 enabled WUL to distribute 1,015 meals that fed 145 children. WUL volunteers acquired the groceries, sorted them, filled bags, loaded the bags into cars, and delivered the food. It’s time to do it again. WUL is preparing to do the volunteer work that keeps our children healthy and adequately nourished through the summer.  

Our fund-raising target is $7,500. Every dollar we receive will be used to feed people who need your help.  Food contributions are welcome and helpful, too. Del Monte Foods, Inc. donated a pallet of green beans to this program.

Please send your gift to:

UCC Congregational Church

133 S. Franklin St. 

Whitewater, WI 53190

In the memo please identify “Lunch Fixings”

If you have questions or would like to volunteer, please contact:

Mary Sue Reutebuch (608) 931-9844

Lauren Smith (262) 490-4326

Marjorie Stoneman (414) 861-4126 or margiestoneman@sbcglobal.net

Whitewater Unites Lives (WUL) Mission:  Whitewater Unites Lives (WUL) is a locally-focused civil and human rights group that works to connect the people in our community and to create opportunities for all people to learn and support each other in our common humanity.

Kiwanis Whitewater Breakfast Club continues to support the work and creative opportunities taking place at Studio 84, in Whitewater.  Studio 84 specializes in working with all people, including those with Autism, physical disabilities, cognitive limitations and mental illness.

Studio 84’s mission is to provide fully accessible opportunities in the arts to enrich lives by focusing on the strengths and abilities of the individual, and by encouraging the creative voice with self-directed activities, thus inspiring self-worth, pride, confidence, and acceptance. More information about Studio 84 can be found online at studio84inc.org where they nurture “A Creative Focus on the Abilities through the ARTS.”

The Kiwanis Whitewater Breakfast Club is made up of dedicated volunteers who help children in the Whitewater community and the world, all with 100 percent of funds raised going directly to projects and zero to administrative costs.  Each year, the club distributes approximately $20,000, with over half going to the Whitewater Unified School District, including Ferradermis, ELL Summer School Transportation, shoes for students, Badger Boys State and Badger Girls State, and scholarships.  Kiwanis helped to build and maintain the Flowing Well Shelter, the shelter and accessible playground at Starin Park and Treyton’s Field of Dreams, the WHS football field lights and press box, as well as adopting a highway to clean up.  In addition, the group donates to the Whitewater Youth Soccer Club, the Friends of the Whitewater Aquatic Center Family Partnership Fund, the Whitewater Food Pantry, Bethel House and more.

Funds are raised through annual Pancake Breakfasts that have been served continuously since the 1950s, the Discover Whitewater Series Half-Marathon Pancake Breakfast since it began, and yearly poinsettia and lily plant sales. More information can be found on the Whitewater Kiwanis Breakfast Club Facebook page.