Most small town history and genealogy intersects in multiple ways, often crossing interesting people with interesting buildings. Such is the case of Mr. Thomas Anderson. He had associations to the Brown family who helped establish Rhinelander and whose farm was located where the University’s Old Main building stands today, as well as his own Anderson Rhinelander family relations. He also has local connections to another well-known Stevens Point family and links to three beautiful homes, two of which he had built and still stand today.
Thomas Wesley Anderson married Lucy Bortel in 1852 and soon after went to work with his brother-in-law, his sister’s husband, Edward Brown, lumbering on the Plover River. The couple officially came to Portage County in 1857. Anderson later purchased an 80-acre farm in the town of Stockton where he became a successful wealthy farmer, expanding his land to around 400 acres before moving to Stevens Point.
The first home Anderson lived in when he came to Stevens Point in 1889 was located on the southeast corner of Clark and Church Streets, which today is a blacktopped area. No known photos are currently known of the house, but it does appear on several maps as early as 1891 and seems to have been razed around 1950.
Across from the house at what was 603 Clark Street, on the opposite corner, was the first house he had built in the city, a wedding gift for his only daughter, Ada, and her new husband, none other than Gustav F Andrae. Known as the Sanders or Andrae house today, this well preserved, well known home, located on the southwest corner of Clark and Church Streets, still appears much as it did in 1877 when it was built. This beautiful historic home is one of the rare homes still owned by descendants of the original family.
In 1897, Anderson had work begun on the large Victorian Eclectic Queen Anne style home at 1127 Main Street, today 2133 Main Street. The home remained in his hands until his death in 1916. The house passed through his son, Charles, and then family until it ended up being owned by Donald Warner, son of a Hardware Mutual Insurance executive from who he inherited the house, and the first to make extensive changes to the building.
In 1968, Warner, a photographer, expanded the front house to make space for a studio, forever changing the facade of the house. In the 1970s a portion of the house was rented out for living quarters as well. When Don retired in 1976 and moved to Arizona, the studio house was sold to Larry Phillips who operated under the name of Warner Studio. In 1982, Doug Foemmel purchased the property. Foemmel Photography remained in business into the past decade. Last sold in 2018, today it is being used completely as a private residence once again.
Incredibly, in spite of the addition to the front, this home has retained much of its original woodwork and beauty. It is one of two known houses to still have a barn/carriage house on the property in the downtown area, as noted in Wendell Nelson’s invaluable book, “Houses That Grew.”. Located in the newly designated Clark Street Main Street Historic District, this home and it’s interior, on many levels, is breathtaking. We can be grateful to the owners who had taken the care to keep their renovations much in sync with the home’s original interior while adding modern amenities as well as redesigning the front in a complimentary manner. Unfortunately, at time of publishing a photo of the original facade was not available..
Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society
It isn’t often that one of Stevens Point’s Historic Main Street houses shows up on the market, but when they do, it is a rare opportunity for a glimpse inside the home.
Follow this link to see photos of the current inside of the home on Zillow.
Courtesy of Tori Fletcher Schultz
Sources used: Stevens Point Daily Journal, The Portage County Gazette, Wisconsin Historical Society, and Wendel Nelson’s “Houses That Grew”
Historic Stevens Point 