National Register of Historic Places

Kendall Cabinet Shop

Fredonia, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin
Listed
November 29, 2016
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
14000887

About this property

The Kendall Cabinet Shop, which later became the Waubeka Pearl Button Factory, is a former factory on the Milwaukee River in the Waubeka community in the Town of Fredonia, Wisconsin. Built in 1863 by cabinetmaker John Kendall, the shop was one of the first industrial enterprises in Waubeka. Until the 1860s, the community's economy was largely agricultural and centered around the local gristmill, and the construction of manufacturing shops such as Kendall's marked a movement toward local industrialization. The community was home seven small manufacturing shops in the 1870s and 1880s, but the diversification of Waubeka's economy ultimately prove short-lived and lost momentum around the turn of the 20th century. The shop shared a dam on the river with the shop the neighboring Schauble Flour Mill, and in 1892, the mill's owners purchased the shop and converted it to produce then-fashionable pearl buttons from the shells of freshwater mussels found in the rivers of the upper Midwest. At its height, the Waubeka Pearl Button Factory employed twenty workers, making it the community's largest business. However, the company closed sometime around 1908. The dam was purposefully breached in 2001 and fully removed in 2003, although the mill race remains, and the structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 2016.

Location

Fredonia, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin
43.46967, -87.99154

Categories

INDUSTRY
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Stony Hill School
Industrial
0.9 mi
Saxonia House
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3.9 mi
St. Peter's Church
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4.9 mi
Rietz, Charles T. and Gertrude, House
Industrial
6.3 mi
St. Augustine Catholic Church and Cemetery
Industrial
6.4 mi

Nearby Battles

Wisconsin Draft Resistance — Washington County
1862Civil War
9 mi

Questions about this property

When was Kendall Cabinet Shop listed on the National Register?

Kendall Cabinet Shop was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 2016.

What type of historic resource is Kendall Cabinet Shop?

Kendall Cabinet Shop is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Kendall Cabinet Shop?

The period of significance for Kendall Cabinet Shop is recorded as the industrial era.

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