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Octagon House
Click to enlarge
1904
Concord Ave, below Octagon House, in the
distance
1933
04 10 OCTAGON HOUSE, WHERE RELICS
ABOUND
The first step in the
formation of a historical society in Watertown
“Oh, mommy, lookit at
that big, around house on that hill,” cried the little curly-haired girl as she
pressed her nose against the window of a Milwaukee Road train while it slowed
its pace on entering Watertown.
“That’s the ‘Octagon
House’ – the old Richards home, girlie,” the conductor intervened as he
strolled through the coach. “It’s one of
the most famous landmarks along this route.
Almost everyone asks about it on my run.
Folks in Watertown don’t pay much attention to it though, it’s been
there so long.”
The little child listened
and stared, just as countless other little girls and grownups alike have
admired it for years – the old mansion of the Hon. John Richards, Watertown
pioneer, business leader and statesman.
May Become Museum
As the conductor mused –
folks in Watertown don’t pay much attention to it. It’s been there so long – he probably spoke the
truth, but Watertown folks are beginning to take more than casual pride over
this architectural gem. They plan to
make it a museum of Watertown relics, the headquarters of the newly-organized historical society. How the association plans to accomplish its
goal still is undecided, yet that is the aim.
Erected on a high bluff
of the roaming Rock River valley, the Richards home has seen three generations
pass as it looked down like a fortress from its lofty, natural acropolis. Since 1853, for 80 years, the eight-sided
brick home has housed the Richard family.
Today two persons occupy
the rooms which once were those of a large family, Mrs. Anna R. Thomas, daughter of the Hon. John Richards, and her
son, William R. Thomas, realtor
whose present ambition is to see the old homestead developed into a Watertown
museum.
Houses Many Treasures
Truly a treasure house is this old home. Many a simple bauble or home and farm
implement of another day has become a relic to be cached
away in this great Watertown relic that once was a shining example of domestic
building grandeur.
Three stories above the
ground this home remains intact in all effects as it
was the day on which it was built. A
builder’s level proves that the structure has not sunk its well-planned
foundations in its battle with the elements during those long 80 years. In all it is unchanged. No electric lights shed their twentieth
century glow over the fancily-decorated rooms; no
radio barks out jazz notes and oily gutturals of crooners; no roller shades to
keep out the strong summer rays of the sun.
Blinds Shade Windows
Instead oil lamps, which replace
their crude predecessors – candles – years ago, provide the only light after
the sun had departed for the day. For
music there is an old spinet-style piano in one of the parlors for those who
would play on it. Old, wooden blinds
cover the many windows on the structure’s eight sides.
When John Richards went
to build his home 80 years ago, he did so with a resolution that it should be
totally apart from anything in the city.
A journey to the grounds and through the home will prove to the most skeptical
that he accomplished his purpose. From
Milwaukee came the thousands of bricks, the real cream brick which gave the
Wisconsin metropolis its nickname. With
an octagon for a geometrical pattern, he selected the plans for the remarkable
house which wastes not an inch of precious space.
Bible Stands on Table
Entering from the west
door a few feet from the ground, one finds himself in a parlor, oddly shaped,
yet beautifully decorated in the finery of a hundred years ago. In the center of the room is a low table with
the family bible standing on it. To the
right are chairs and a lounge all of which have passed
the century mark in age. To the left is
the oblong spinet piano, the first instrument of its kind in Watertown. Piled on its closed hood are photographs,
albums and trinkets, each having some honored connection either to the Richards
family or to Watertown.
This room Mr. Thomas
plans to turn over to the historical society temporarily, so that it may
preserve the other objects of interest, which it has gathered, here in one of
the oldest homes in the city.
A door to the right leads
to a second parlor, decorated with bright wall paper and its ceiling ornate
with carved moldings. Chairs, cabinets,
stools and tables, all homemade of valuable woods and
carefully preserved, dot the room.
These, too, have stood in their places since the earliest days of the
home. Their master looks with pride upon
them for to him they are more than antiques.
Both he and his mother have grown from childhood about them; they are
relics.
Oil Lamp Hangs Above
Overhead a fancy oil lamp
of chandelier proportions hangs.
Windows, with blinds turned ajar, permit the deep sunlight to filter
through the finely-paned glass.
Continuing the walk along
the lower floor, the visitor passes through an anteroom off
of the east door and finds himself in still another section of this
mammoth octagon. This time it is the
dining room, with chairs lining the long linen-covered table, and the buffet
carefully serviced with valuable old silver and china. Paintings line the walls of this room just as
they did the others, carefully hung and safely
preserved.
A door to the right again
leads back to the first parlor where the visitor entered but a few minutes
before. The trip about the lower floor
is ended, the octagon has been circumscribed.
Stairway Winds Upwards
In the geometric center
of the house is erected a circular stairway, exactly as constructed by hand
labor years ago. Its fine railing is
turned perfectly and the stairs spiral their path
upward to the cupola from where one can scan for miles around the countryside
of Watertown – the winding river to the east, the business section to the west
and the fringe of the city and the adjoining outskirts to the north and south,
with the tall spires of churches piercing up from lattice of roofs that covers
the vista.
The second floor is given
over totally to bedrooms, furnished with soft, comfortable appearing beds,
carved of fine wood and finished with all the turns
and curves that characterized interior decoration of generations past. Bureaus and wardrobes all are finely kept and
possess the luster that the years have failed to blemish. Curiously, on the second floor the interior
octagon is divided once more into a polygon of 16 sides and where, on the first
floor, one room stood, here two, a large bedroom and a smaller one, complete
with window and closet, take up the space.
The designer of this home well knew the means
of conserving space.
Cross reference to info on stairway
Soft Water Runs
At each landing on the
spiral stairway is a small door, inside of which one will find a little faucet
from which flows soft water. As the rain
pours onto the tin-covered roof above it drains into a tank, well-hidden, from
whence the water is fed to the series of tappets on each floor.
Up the stairway once
again is the third floor, all given over, except for one room, to the store
space for furniture, clothing and other belongings.
Treasures Fill Room
In the one room set aside
are to be found a myriad of old treasures.
Along the walls, on the floor and on the table in the center, are
countless gewgaws that have played parts in the
growing life of Watertown.
On the floor are old
trunks, good in their day, but hardly strong enough to stand the knocks of modern day rail handling.
Against the wall lay oxen yokes and on the side
hangs an old saddle which had been in the Richards family long before the house
was erected. In one corner is a sample
of Indian beadwork, brought from the then territory of Montana. Against one wall hangs maps of the United
States in 1854, the western states of 1849 and Jefferson county in 1872.
Photos Cover Walls
Quaint old etchings of
such scenes as the “Fall of Richmond” in the Civil War, photographs of the home
and grave of Jesse James in Missouri and pictures of early Watertown streets
and people, adorn other sides of the wall.
Below is a book on an
antique desk used by Mr. Richards in his mill.
This is the register which Mr. Thomas has started and in which tourists
from coast to coast, a thousand or more of them, have inscribed their names.
Along the highway, they have noticed the house, paused and found a genial host and guide in Mr. Thomas to
show them about.
In the center of this
curio room is a table on which innumerable articles are kept. Here is a little dinner bell, set up in a
fancy bronzed frame adorned with mother-of-pearl. Next to it is the bell which one day called
carefree pupils to the school which John Richards built to the south of his
mansion.
Keep Surveyor’s Chain
Next to it is the chain
which was among those used in surveying the strip of land for the laying of the
famed Watertown Plank Road into Milwaukee years ago. Then there is a toy cannon and a mold for the
manufacture of home-dipped candles.
Nearby rests a candle snuffer.
Most curious of all is a
small bagatelle board with which Mr. Thomas said he played 60 years ago. Bagatelle is the game from which the now
popular marble game developed. Nowadays
it costs a nickel to send 10 or more marbles rolling around the frame, bouncing
off pins and then falling into slots for a score, but this little box puts on
the same entertainment for the player at no cost except the original payment.
Cradle Still Rocks
In the corner is the
hand-made wooden cradle which has passed through generations in the Richards
family. Mrs. Thomas, now 91 years of
age, is one of the many who slept in it in their baby days. On the table is a
leather pouch which another member of the family wore in the Civil War. In the pouch were carried the messages from
one battalion to the other. Truly this
mute piece of worn leather could tell a romantic tale if only it could speak.
On a shelf is a miniature
replica of the Richards home which Mr. Thomas fashioned for an exhibition years
ago. The model shows the house in its
original design, which a porch surrounding the entire
structure on each of the three floors.
This porch endured for years on the house, but the wood could not
withstand rain and snow as well as its brick supports with the result that it
was removed.
Lawn Possesses Beauty
And so
the tours ends. The visitor winds his
way down the spiral stairway again and walks out on to the well-landscaped lawn
that rolls like a huge billow to the east and overlooks the winding river
valley. The house in the background
stands in its weather-beaten grey, its blinds setting off the many angles of
its sides. Here is, indeed, a museum of
history of pioneer days. Only the
concerted efforts of the new Watertown Historical Society are needed to make it
one permanently. WDTimes
1934
12 21 ODD SHAPED, THOMAS HOUSE HAS HELD
MUCH INTEREST
A place of interest in
Watertown, and one which is not well-known to the people of the city, is the
Octagon House on Richards Hill, the home of Mrs. George Thomas and her son,
William.
Many people entering the
city or driving along the road next to the river have looked up on the top of the hill and have observed this interesting
structure. It has three stories and a
basement, and is octagon shaped. There
are twelve big rooms in the house and many little rooms, which the Thomases use
for store rooms and clothes presses. In
the center of the house is the circular stairway which winds up from the first
floor to the cupola on top. As the house
is so large, Mrs. Thomas and her son use only the basement floor and the first
floor. Even on these two floors there is
ample place for comfortable living quarters.
Not all of the rooms are furnished at the
present time, but most of the first two floors have old-fashioned furniture.
Mrs. Thomas’ mother, the
late Mrs. John Richards, brought several pieces from Massachusetts at the time
she moved to Watertown with her husband, among them a mahogany table and a
sofa.
During the winter months
many of the rooms are closed off, but in summer they are opened
up for use.
Mr. and Mrs. John
Richards moved to Watertown in 1840.
They settled on a farm which was situated in the area
of the Fox Farm on the east side of town. Mrs. Thomas was born on the farm and lived
there until her father, deciding more room was needed for the family, purchased
the home across from the power plant at the bottom of the hill which was one
day to bear his name.
In 1853, Mr. Richards
started to build on the hill in the present
location. While the house was in construction, he became ill and
work was ceased for a short time. He
wanted to supervise the work himself, and therefore nothing could be done
during his illness.
The house was completed
in 1854, and the family moved in. At
this time, Mrs. Thomas was only eight or ten years of age. She has resided in
the old home ever since.
In 1862, she was married
to the late George Thomas, who died more than forty years ago. One son, William, was born to them, and has
lived with his mother ever since. He is
a real estate agent and manages all the Thomas property, which covers a goodly
portion of the area on the hill.
In spite of the fact that Mrs. Thomas is nearing
the age of 91 years, she is in fair health and moves about in her kitchen with
all confidence. She has not gone through
the upstairs rooms for some time, nor does she leave the house very often. When she does, she never walks, but rides in
a car. When asked about her stand
regarding children coming up on the hill to ski or toboggan, she replied, “I
like to have the children come up on the hill.
I don’t mind their playing up here if they don’t hurt themselves or run
into the fence with their sleds.”
Travelers passing through
the city as well as residents of Watertown have gone up to the Thomas home in
curiosity. Due to the
fact that Mrs. Thomas is not well enough to go through the house and
show people around, inquisitive people are requested not to come. If one or two are allowed to enter, Mrs.
Thomas feels that all would be welcome, and she is not in condition
to have them come. Watertown Tribune,
December 21, 1934
Cross Reference to those mentioned above:
Mrs. John Richards (Eliza
Forbes) (1816-1902)
| Anna Richards, dau of John and Eliza
(1842-1936), married George Thomas
| William Thomas, son of Anna
and George (1863-1937)
1936
-- -- DEATH OF ANNA RICHARDS THOMAS,
(1842-1936)
DAUGHTER OF JOHN AND ELIZA, MARRIED
GEORGE THOMAS
Event held on Octagon House grounds assumed to be memorial for Anna Richards Thomas
1938
02 05 OCTAGON HOUSE AS MODEL FOR NEW
HOMES
Watertown’s Octagon House is being used as a model for several new homes being planned in Hollywood by film stars, according to reports. Only in the California homes the house will be shaped like doughnut with a “hole” in the center to allow window space from the round “court.” The furniture is to be built “curved” to conform with the layout of the rooms and the houses will be air conditioned. If the new idea clicks, the homes will be built generally in other sections of the country.
1960
12 10 CUSTODIANS RESIGN
Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Klinger have resigned as custodians at the Octagon House and the First Kindergarten building. The Watertown Historical Society, which owns and operates the two buildings, said the services of Mr. and Mrs. Klinger have extended over a period of approximately eight years and that these were marked by faithful and efficient service. Mr. and Mrs. Klinger and their daughter Kay, who also substituted as a guide at times, are moving into their new home just below the hill on Richards Avenue. The board of directors of the historical society says it regrets losing the fine services they have rendered and have expressed their feelings in a resolution which has been adopted. WDT
1963
06 11 LARGE NUMBER OF TOURS
Watertown’s Octagon House and the First Kindergarten during May enjoyed the largest attendance ever recorded since the two shrines were opened under the ownership of the Watertown Historical Society. A total of 1,700 persons took the guided tours in 30 odd groups from cities and towns close by and from distant places. Many of the visitors were school children transported to Watertown by buses, accompanied by their teachers. A large number were from the second to the seventh grades and they were enchanted with the Octagon House, especially the circular staircase, according to the curator.
12 11 ALL TIME HIGH OF VISITORS
An all time high of 15,500 visitors toured the Octagon House units during the 1968 season, according to announcement today by Miss Gladys Mollart, curator. The visitors came from most of the 50 states during the vacation season and many were from foreign countries. The Watertown Historical Society, which maintains the Octagon House, the restored first American kindergarten, and the pioneer barn on the grounds, has completed compiling records for the May 1 to Nov. 1 season. Lee Block is president of the Watertown Historical Society.
07 08 AFS GROUP VISITS THE OCTAGON
1987
10 15 WILLIS OVERLAND CARS
The Octagon House neighborhood harked back to days of old on Friday when vintage Willis Overland cars
parked in the streets. The
cars, manufactured between 1903 and 1941, lined the streets
while the drivers and passengers toured the Octagon House as
part of regional meeting activities of the Willis
Overland Knights Register, an international club. Tours were also given at Reiss Industry
Inc. and Watertown Table Slide by owner Tom Reiss, who owns an Overland
car which is being refurbished. The group also toured the power house
being restored by Reiss on the
lower dam of the Rock River.
Co-chairmen of the regional meeting are Connie and Carol Holcomb of
Watertown, who have a 1920 Overland touring car, and Ward and Chris Bruhn of
Concord, who have a 1917 Overland touring car.
2006
07 06 REFURBISHING OF THE PORCHES
While hundreds
of people tour the Octagon House every year many take note of the shape of the
building and one of its most beautiful attributes — the trademark wrap-around
porches. With rotting boards and posts,
a recent anonymous donation to the Watertown Historical Society will allow for
the refurbishing of the characteristic porches.
The Octagon House was originally completed with porches at its current
location in 1854 by John Richards. In
1924 his daughter Anna tore down the porches because the wooden boards and
beams were rotting and becoming unsafe.
For almost 60 years the house sat with no
porches and the only evidence of the porches was from the small
three-dimensional model of the house.
Watertown Historical Society President William Jannke said he believes
the model was made for Watertown’s centennial celebration and parade the year
Anna died in 1936. The model currently
sits on the lawn next to the Octagon House.
In 1938 descendants of the Richards family donated the house to the
Watertown Historical Society.
2015
07 22 JOHNSONVILLE EMPLOYEES TACKLE
GROUNDS-KEEPING PROJECTS
The
Johnsonville Sausage facility at 104 E. Division St. suffered a fire on May 11
that has shut down meat-processing operations, but it has not stopped the more
than 120 Johnsonville employees. Over
the last two months Johnsonville employees have continued to earn their wages
and benefits by working on civic improvement projects and attending paid
classes at Madison College’s Watertown campus.
Among
their good deeds to the city
the employees assisted with grounds keeping at the Octagon
House. Under the direction of
Johnsonville coach and Watertown resident John Kaliebe, Johnsonville employees
worked for four weeks for a combined total of 410 hours on landscaping projects
at the Octagon House. Projects at the
museum included extensive tree pruning and the removal of several trees that
were in poor condition surrounding the perimeter of the grounds. Extensive
brush clearing also was completed on the wooded
hillside between the museum buildings and Concord Avenue.
The
Johnsonville employees also cleared away overgrown gardens from the museum’s
lawn, trimmed and cleared away underbrush from the line of Arborvitae trees
along the north end of the property and helped to spread many truckloads of
wood chips where vegetation had been removed.
“The
amount of time and talent that has been given to the museum by the Johnsonville
employees has truly been aweinspiring,” said Melissa Lampe, president of the
Watertown Historical Society which owns and operates the Octagon House Museum. “I can’t say enough about what a great
company Johnsonville is to keep their employees active and on
their payroll even though their processing facility is temporarily
closed. I am so grateful for all of the work they have done for us and as a volunteer
organization, we often are unable to
tackle some of the more extensive projects that the Johnsonville crew has
completed for us.” WDT
2019
07 15 THREE INTERPRETIVE PANELS INSTALLED
The Watertown Area Chamber
of Commerce Leadership Watertown Program installed three interpretive
panels on the Octagon House grounds.
2022
12 04 PARADE OF HOMES ENTRY
< 7-min video
clip
Octagon House beautifully decorated for Christmas. A 2022 Watertown Parade of Homes entry
Cross References:
Octagon House Documentary,
MBU Digital Media & Photography class project, 2023 YouTube
video
George Frederick Keck, creator of the
“House of Tomorrow,” used the Octagon House as inspiration for the building’s
unusual form. Full
text of Preservation Magazine online article
History of Watertown, Wisconsin