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| Contributor: Maynard Schuster, Winton and Cirena Lenz, Florian Laper Source: Personal Collections |
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| Contributor: Maynard Schuster, Winton and Cirena Lenz, Florian Laper Source: Personal Collections |
"Doctors" House, Church
Street, ca. 1914-1930
Located at the northwest corner of Church and Main streets, the house in the foreground was the office and home of Dr. Buckland during the early 1930s. Beyond it are the village hall, the Zion Lutheran Church building, and the parsonage.
According to Frances Stelter, prior to Dr. Buckland the residence was occupied by Dr. Moquin, Dr. Riese, Dr. William Johnson, Dr. F. B. Moore, and Dr. Krause, prompting the home to be called "Doctors House." Dr. Klosterman replaced Dr. Buckland in the home late in the 1930s. It was later home to the Loechelt, Schuster, and Weinbender families. (Postcard photo, ca. 1930, from the estate of Maynard Schuster)
The lot occupied by the home was originally the site of the Free-Will Baptist Church. The original building, the village hall shown above, was moved to its new site following construction of the new Baptist church in 1903, and the house took its place. The spruce trees were planted for the church, and were matched by a similar pair immediately across Church Street on the lot of the Baptist parsonage.
Pictured below is an earlier photo of the home, predating the one above by perhaps a decade. Although the activity represented by the two wagons and drawing the interest of village children is uncertain, it may have been related to the construction of a stone wall separating the property from the one in the foreground. The wall allowed for a leveling of the lot and resulted in a 4 foot drop down to the adjacent lot. (Postcard photo, ca. 1920, from Winton and Cirena Lenz)
A third picture, dated between 1920 and 1925, only a few years after the construction of the house, presents a view looking down Church street. Of particular interest is a view of the east side of what is thought to be the original Free-Will Baptist church just west of the house and, to the north, Louis Frei's house. (Photo from Florian Laper, courtesy of the Bryden family)
