This home was built in 1899 by John O. Melby, Whitehall’s first banker. Melby founded the John O. Melby & Co. Bank in 1888, and that institution carried his name for nearly 125 years. He donated the city park that bears his name, and also contri-buted to the community’s betterment in many other ways, donating to churches, civic organizations and the public library.
John O. Melby This home was built before 1896 by J.B. Beach, long-time editor, owner and publisher of the Whitehall Times, which he purchased in 1880, when it was the Trempealeau Messenger. It later served as a nursing home, and an accounting office. Beach’s wife was the former Hattie Olds, one of the first residents of Whitehall, age four when her family moved to the new village.
Joseph B. Beach The Hopkins House was built between 1897and 1900 by James and Angeline (Van Sickle) Hopkins. The Hopkins family immigrated to the county in 1855 and were farmers in Preston Township. The Greek Rival home is reminiscent of Mt Vernon, the front porch, small gate houses, and a wall were replicated from George Washington’s home by their grandson, Harley Hopkins, a nationally-known interior designer. The home remained in the family until 1956, and became known for its flower gardens under the care of the elder Hopkins’ son and daughter-in-law, Florison and Nellie Hopkins, and grandson. This home is considered historically significant by the Wisconsin State Historical Society.
James Hopkins Florison D. Hopkins |
This home built in about 1895 by John O. Melby, Whitehall’s first banker. It was later occupied and purchased by Melby’s daughter and son-in-law, Robert and Kathryn Cowie. R.S. Cowie was a lawyer, county district attorney and county and circuit judge. He also served on the state board of control and as warden of the Waupun state prison.
Robert S. Cowie This home was built by Ole Larson in 1891. O.P. Larson, a native of Norway, was one of Whitehall’s most successful businessmen, although it seems he never operated a business here. His first store was in Independence, but at one point he had interests in 20 firms in Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas, including the John O. Melby & Co. Bank and banks in Eleva and Melrose. The house later served as a dormitory for nurses working at the nearby White-hall Community Hospital and attending the nursing school there.
Ole P. Larson This home was built in 1897 by William J. Webb, for many years the owner of the nearby lumber yard, and a long-time member of the John O. Melby & Co. Bank board of directors. It now serves as the Farnam House community-based residential facility, a part of the Trempealeau County Health Care system.
William J. Webb This home was built in the fall of 1873, soon after the Green Bay and Minnesota Rail Road laid its tracks through Whitehall, and was the village’s first private residence. It was built by Theodore H. Earle, one of Whitehall’s first businessmen, manager of the community’s first lumber yard and son-in-law of Henry Ketchum, president of the G.B. & M.R.R. Earle laid out the first plat of Whitehall for his father-in-law. The house was later owned by another early local businessman, George H. Olds; his daughter Hattie, one of the first children to reside in Whitehall, married Joseph B. Beach, long-time editor and publisher of the Whitehall Times. It is now a two-unit private rental.
Theodore H. Earle |
This home was built in 1897 by Dr. William Parker, a Whitehall physician in the 1890s and early 1900s. It later served as a funeral home and law office, and is now a private residence.
William S. Parker This home was built in 1926 by long-time Whitehall physician Dr. Robert L. MacCornack, on the site of an existing house that was moved to Hobson St.. “Doc Mac,” who served the area for four decades, and his older brother, Dr. E.A. MacCornack, built the city’s first clinic in 1920.
Dr. Robert L. MacCornack Sr. This home was built by Hans A. Anderson, school teacher, lawyer, Trempealeau County District Attorney and Judge. He also was one of the founders of the Trempealeau County Historical Society, and in 1931 built the county history museum known as the House of Memories. H.A. Anderson gifted it to the city of Whitehall, which could not maintain it, and his heirs eventually sold it to the Whitehall Masonic Lodge. Judge Anderson was well-known for this lengthly and detailed obituaries, published in the Whitehall Times.
Hans A. Anderson This home was built in 1899 by James Larson, a native of Denmark who was owner and operator of the Whitehall flouring mill (which was located just north of the house, across Scranton St.) from 1894 to 1909. Larson did not establish the mill — it was originally owned by a group of prominent early Whitehall businessmen — but made major improvements to the facilities after purchasing it.
James Larson |