Hearthstone was the first house anywhere in the world to be incandescently illuminated by a water powered Western Edison Electric Light Company dynamo power station and an Edison Electric System.
Completed in 1882, for Henry J. Rogers, an entrepreneur and visionary, who not only built the house, he brought electrification technology to Wisconsin. The house was placed just feet from the Fox River that was used to power the house.
Henry built the house as a showplace for his wife, Cremora.
The woodwork and carvings were amazing. The craftsman doing the woodworking was 19 and paid $1 per day. Servants were paid $1 per week.
So many antiques in one place - there was almost too much to look at.
Family Living Room
Where the term “Turn on the Lights” came from. The switch below had to be turned to “turn on” the light.
Each bulb’s cost was $1.50. Remember the servants were only paid $1.00 per week.
Dining room
Painted ceilings
I have never seen this type of storage for silverware before.
Butlers pantry with copper sink
Kitchen
Ringer box to notify servants which room needed attention. Still works!
Bedrooms
One of the few houses of its time with indoor plumbing.
They did studies and analyses of the walls and determined that they were originally painted. This would have been unusual in the 1890s but Sherwin Williams was just getting started and these folks wanted the best. It is believed that the color of everything now is very close to what was selected in the day.
Laundry room
Mark trying out a period bicycle!
Following our GPS to Madison. We passed through the tiny community of Waupun with a huge maximum security prison in the middle of the town. You gotta read this history!
July 4, 1851, the Governor selected Waupun to be the site of the Wisconsin State Prison. Using prisoners for labor, the first permanent building was completed in 1854, and is still in use today.
Archive- image of original prison
Additions were made over the years in 1855, 1906, 1913, 1940, and 1998.
Houses - well the whole community- surround the prison. Houses on one side of the street and maximum security prison on the other! And we worry about our property values! LOL.
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