Communal Neglect: More buildings bite the dust

Four photos by David Farmbrough show old houses in Wisconsin Rapids before they were razed.

621 Saratoga Street, Wisconsin Rapids The fine old “farmhouse,” first on that block, was probably built in the 1880s. Neglected for years, tenants and landlord allowed sewage to flood the ground floor and the city demolished it in 2012.

Civil War era house from 1st Street North, Wisconsin Rapids. The city demolished it in 2012, in spite of its good condition and historical importance.

Another Civil War era house from 1st Street North, Wisconsin Rapids, also seen at left in previous photo. The city demolished this house in 2012.

The Love House, or Lamplight Inn, built when railroads arrived in 1872, was demolished in November 2016. (Note that (Uncle) Dave Engel obtained the Lamplight Inn sign when the bar of that name closed.)

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3 Responses to Communal Neglect: More buildings bite the dust

  1. Sherri Jo says:

    Looking for pictures on the Lamplight Inn and the story behind it

    • angelica.engel says:

      Lamplight Inn was a railroad-based hotel named the Love House. The Green Bay and Western came through Rapids in the 1870s and later was a big supplier of Consolidated paper co. The hotel, later a rooming house, was built well before 1900 and torn down with the complicity of the city as a blighted structure. I used to hang out there with Ellen Sabetta and her sidekick, Pat Orcutt. The bartender was last-named Skoog. –Wisconsin Rapids City Historian Dave Engel

  2. Susanne Stuckey says:

    I worked there for Edward Skoog doing housekeeping and bartended in the late1980’s.I also cooked plenty of fish fry meals for customers in the neighborhood along with Ed, his Mother Dottie. My late husband, Ben Stuckey and I took care of Ed until he no longer could manage the bar or reside there. He then moved to Marshfield until his death. Lots of memories of patrons like Ellen Sabetta , Skelly and Bart , the Wirls, Gordy and Deb Bates. It was like a second home.

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