Always represents the Robinson Hill Historic District listing
Written by Chris Leonhart
Editor in Chief
Louise – The Robinson Hill Historic District in Louise is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NPS).
“The Robinson Hill area was approved by the NPS in 2021, but we postponed the celebration event until a few weeks ago due to supply chain shortages on street signs, staff turnover on our streets, and then road projects that have been disrupted,” said Trevor Fuller, director of planning and community development. The project ended last month.
“Property owners would have first become aware of the area’s eligibility following an extensive architectural survey report for the entire village in 2012-13. We then invited residents who lived in any eligible property identified in this area to information sessions in 2015, 2016 and 2017 Based on who was in attendance in 2015, we moved forward with listing our first district – the Miramar Drive Historic District.
“Based on attendance in 2017, we have moved forward with our second district, this one – the Robinson Hill Historic District. We then held subsequent meetings with the property owners and kept them informed via email, physical mail, and neighborhood groups throughout the entire process.
The Historic District consists of an area including South Jackson Street and South Van Buren Street, bounded by Catherine Street to the north and the Wisconsin Central Railroad to the south.
The neighborhood is filled with homes in the Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, bungalow, and ranch styles—architecture important to the time period from 1910 to 1953.
“The area consists of 74 small to medium-sized residential buildings. Its development began with the construction of the Matthew and Annie Parizak House in 1910 and ended with the construction of the Daniel and Jetta Pettin House in 1953. An example of the dominant residential architectural styles of the period, Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, Ranch and other styles are popular and often demonstrate integrity and quality.“During the period of significance, railroad crews referred to Robinson Hill as ‘Diaper Alley’ because of all the cloth diapers hanging on clotheslines behind the houses on Louise Terrace,” the Park Service nomination form says Nationalism.
“The area contains 57 contributing buildings and 17 non-contributing buildings. Of the non-contributing resources, 15 have been excluded due to loss of architectural integrity and two because their construction dates fall outside the period of significance. Individually, the contributed resources include fine representative examples of some of the most common approaches applied On residential architecture in Wisconsin during its period of importance.
The village is now working on the third and final area — the Sunset Circle residential area, Fuller said.
“The district’s nomination will be reviewed by the state Historic Preservation Review Board on November 17, and then by the National Park Service at a later date,” he added.
Listing on the Register provides official recognition of the historical, architectural or archaeological importance of a property.
Under federal law, the list places “no restrictions on what a non-federal owner may do with their property including destruction, unless the property is involved in a project receiving federal assistance, typically funding or licensing/permitting,” according to the National Park Service website.
Owners may be eligible for potential government tax benefits or grant opportunities.
For more information, visit www.nps.gov.
