The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1924-01-31
HOME Is FILLED
WITH ANTIQUES
Thomas Home at Water
town is a Most Inter
esting Place.
EIGHT SIDED HOUSE

/ Watertown, Wis. = A remarkable
eight-sided three story house of fifty
seven rooms, stocked from cellar to
garnet with ancient mahogany furnl-
tnre nearly century old and sur
rounded by countless traditions OF the
past; is the home of Mrs. Anna
Thomas, and her son, w. r. Thomas,
of WATERFOWL.
This strangely built residence stands
on Richards hill in the environs of
WATERFOWL, overlooking the city. 1t is
reminiscent of the ox-team trails OF
the days when the state was young
and furniture came from the east by
way of the Erie canal and the Great
/ Lakes to Milwaukee, and thence inland
| by ox-team. 1t was built by John
Richards, the first lawyer in Water
| town, in 1854, eighteen years after he
! came here from Hindsdale, Mass, a
graduate of William college.
Why House Was Built.
! a How Attorney Richards came TO
! build so huge house, constructed in
/ the shape of towerlike octegon is not
definitely known here, but his grand
son, Mr. Thomas, believes that it was
1 fancy prompted by keen desire on the
part of other WATERFOWL settlers to
out do each other in the matter of
| building homes. The house is located
on what then. was a section of land
owned by Richards, but which now has
diminished by frequent lot sales TO
about twenty acres of land, attracted
| by its strange shape.
! Use now is made of two floors of the
house by Thomas and his mother, who
are the sole tenants. An uncle of
Thomas, C. c. Richards, Chicago, is
joint owner with Mrs. Anna Thomas
in the property. In the early days Of
| its existance, the third floor of the
structure was used by mill hands en-
ployed by Mr.. Richards, as living
quarters, but now used as storeroOm
for relics of another day.
Has Spiral Staircase.
A spiral staircase is the means of
ascent from one story to the next. 1t
was used by the mill hands when they
climbed to their place of abode. Mr..
Thomas, now nearing sixty five years
of age, relates that boys of the neigh
borhood, when he was young, used to
climb to the top to take the 'long,
steep slide down the banisters and this
sport was more exciting then sports
nowadays"
In building the house, Mr.. Richards
was his own architect. 1t is of brick,
partly of local manufacture and
veneered with Milwaukee brick
brought to Watertowr in ox-carts.
Stove $50 Years Old.
A cook-stove more than one hundred
and fifty years old, and mahogany
furniture bought in Sheffield, Mass.
in 1854, are some of the contents oi
the house. The furniture came by way
of the Erie canal and the Great Lakes
to Milwaukee, whence it was trans.
ported to Watertown also by ox-team
| according to Mr.. Thomas, who says
three years were consumed in building
A huge furance in the basement
burning wood, furnished heat for Tho
many rooms. There were hot and colo
water apputenences even in that early
day, Mr.. Thomas states.
The first turned" bed made il
Watertown still is in use in the Rich
ards residence.
When the pioneer lawyer, Richards
came to Watertown in 1886, he was
accompanied by two others, Mr.
Chadwick and a Mr.. Richards who
made the trip from Chicago on foot
He settled on a farm outside of the
Watertown city limits. Here he built
a saw mill and later a -four mill
manufacturing lumber and "Rough anC
Ready -four" The -four mill after
wards was sold to KONG & Binkdorf
! but Mr.. Richards was still the owner
of the saw mill at the time of his
death, Feb. IL, 1878, He was mayer o.
Watertown one term, beginning il
1859. His opposition to the move tt
sell the railroad bonds in the city il
said to have retarded the growth o.
Watertown, but there are grea
achievements listed to his credit here