HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 7- Hisotric Plaque 456 Mount Vernon 456 Mt. Vernon - Oshkosh, WI
Designed by architect William Waters for Wm Doe in 1869
I. The house at 456 Mt.Vernon was the very first residence designed and built by
William Waters, who is of national importance to the building and settling of
Wisconsin. It was also the home of William Doe whose son Harvey was the first
husband of the famous Baby Doe Tabor, Elizabeth McCourt, also from Oshkosh. They
were wed in 1877. Her family home was destroyed by fire in one of the Oshkosh
Fires of 1874. This house is a link to her Oshkosh history as well as a link to the
original Waters designs.
The Great Fire of April 1875 came as close as Merritt and Main,yet the Doe House,
only 2 blocks east,was spared. In fact, Wm Doe's house was the meeting place of the
Oshkosh Aldermen in order to plan for rebuilding the town in brick. 700 structures
were constructed in the latter half of 1875.
II. William Doe had a daughter, Cornelia Doe,who married Rufus Choate Brown, SR
in 1877. In 1875, when the town decided to rebuild using brick, RC Brown, SR was
the owner of Cook& Brown, a brick and lime business that helped to rebuild
Oshkosh. This business was a major supplier to the town of Oshkosh until they were
sold in 1984 to Valley Ready Mix now known as MCC, Inc.
The house at 456 Mt Vernon was Cornelia Doe's childhood home and the place she
resided until she married. In 1876, she was the treasurer of the Ladies Benevolent
Society, a philanthropic organization that is still giving out scholarships to this day.
The society began as a way for women to make bandages for soldiers in the civil war
but quickly became a society that aided women in need of assistance.
111. In 1880, Horace McKoy, purchased the house when Wm Doe moved to Denver,
Colorado permanently. Horace lived there until his death in 1899 and his widow
lived there until 1908. HW McKoy was a prominent lumber and cattleman who
worked closely with the Sawyers and Jewells. According to his obituary, he was on a
business trip for the Sawyer Cattle Company in Ft Worth, TX when he passed away
from pneumonia. The wake was at his residence and included EP Sawyer and HA
Jewell as pallbearers. His son, WJ McKoy, who was with him at the time of his death,
was a member of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders in the US Cavalry during the
Spanish American War. From the Oshkosh Northwestern: "So large was the
attendance that the residence was not spacious enough to hold all the people and
many were forced to stand upon the veranda and on the front lawn."
IV. In 1909, Charles Wakeman, treasurer and president of the Oshkosh Bottle
Wrapper Company, purchased the residence from the widowed Mrs. McKoy. He and
his wife made extensive renovations by adding a Queen Anne style sun porch to the
south side of the house and removing the west side front porch. Unfortunately, Mrs.
Wakeman passed away only a few months after moving into the house leaving a 12
year old son. Both her funeral and Charles Wakeman's (in 1934) were in the home.
Charles remarried and Susan Wakeman lived in the home until the time of her death
in 1942. Her funeral was also in the home.
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