Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI
June 6, 2007, Front Page
Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.


 

Local historic home makes National list

The Decatur Dickenson House in Neillsville is the latest in the long list of sites in the city that have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Located at 411 State St., the two-story residence that is currently home to Allan Hoesly is within a short distance of the city’s historic downtown business district and the 1897 Clark County Jail Museum, two of a number of other locations in Neillsville previously making the prestigious list.

The Decatur Dickenson House, which was built in 1891, has been accepted on the registry based on the significance of its Victorian Queen Anne style of architecture characterized by its ornate porches, multiple gables and bay windows.

National register consultant Pat Lacey, of Neillsville, first submitted the application on Hoesly’s behalf to the Wisconsin State Historical Society in May, 2006 for inclusion on the state historic listing. Following its approval, the State’s Historical Society recommended the Decatur Dickenson House to the US Department of the Interior’s National Park Service for placement on the National list.

In the application form she compiled, Lacey detailed features of the home both inside and out, commenting on the remarkable original condition of the house that exhibits a remarkable degree of historical integrity.

One of the home’s most captivating elements is the multitude of roof planes created by the cross gabling of all 15 gables. “When standing at street level, your eye dances from one roof to the next on all four sides of the structure,” Lacey wrote. Photos providing various views of the house were submitted, as well.

In her presentation, Lacey also recounted the life history of Decatur Dickenson, who came to Neillsville in 1866. He became a prominent businessman who owned and operated a general merchandise store in the city. He was declared, by the Neillsville Times newspaper as the “dean of Neillsville merchants,” she noted.

The house was built by G. W. Trogner, who also constructed other prominent homes in Neillsville. The house cost $5,000 to build.

When construction was completed in December of 1891, the home was deemed by the Times to be “one of the finest, if not the finest residence in the city and sets the pace for which others are to follow.”

After the death of his wife in 1912, Dickenson sold the house to Markus Hoesly, a prosperous farmer who later in life moved into the city to live. His daughter, Ann, purchased the home in 1932 and continued to live in the home until 1985 when she sold it to her nephew, Allan.

Allan Hoesly continues the remarkable 94-year residency of the Hoesly family in the historic home. Hoesly, a retired educator, is the current chairman of the Neillsville historic Preservation Commission.

The 19th-century Decatur Dickenson House, located at 411 State St. in Neillsville joins 24 other structures in the city already on the National Register of Historic Places.