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ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
Richard's Grove
Richard's Grove School
FIRST
SCHOOLHOUSE IN WATERTOWN
1854 or later
RICHARDS GROVE SCHOOL
Former Richards’
school, built by John Richards in the late 1840s.
c.1920
RICHARDS GROVE SCHOOL, distant view
c.1920
VIEW TO THE EAST FROM OCTAGON HOUSE
Oconomowoc Ave bridge
Richards Grove School,
built by John Richards in the late 1840s
Watertown Plank Road came
into town along Oconomowoc and Concord avenues
Boston House Hotel
Little Bohemia area of
Watertown
1920s
DISTANT VIEW, with ski slide/jump
Sledding and skiing were popular and the best place for
these sports in Watertown was located on Richards
Hill, near the Octagon House, then still a private home. William
Thomas, grandson of John Richards and himself a quirky sort of fellow, erected
a large ski slide on the south side of the house, along what is today Charles Street.
From this slide, one could, if the wind was at your back, slide down the
chute and sail clear across the frozen Rock River and end up on the east side
of the river.
This was a popular spot on winter afternoons until one day
in 1924 when two brothers. Hubert and Leonard Born, decided to slide down the
hill at nightfall. Normally, there was a
look-out placed at the base of the hill along Concord Avenue to watch for
passing cars and wagons, but since this was at night, there was no one to watch
for the traffic. As the boys came down
the hill, they were struck by a horse-drawn cutter and after lingering for a
day, they both died. Since then, it has
been illegal to slide down Richards Hill.
[Derived from Watertown: A History,
by Bill Jannke]
c.1925-26
DISTANT VIEW, with ski
slide/jump
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Richard's Grove |
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Richard's Grove |
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Richard's Grove |
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Richard's Grove School House |
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Richard's Grove School House |
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History of Watertown, Wisconsin