South Germantown Village Tour - Scene 2 of 5

See Scene 3 of 5 for additional South Germantown village tour information or Scene 1 of 5 to go back a page. To see the Germantown Picture Gallery, go here.

Main Street: (proceeding west from Fond du Lac Avenue)

Flemming Residence south side; SW corner Fond du Lac and Main; Julius and Wilhelmina "Minna" (Ott) Flemming with daughter Anna and son Julius.

Straub Residence south side; second house; 1915, Fred Straub; the house with all the character.

Siegl Hotel-Bar-Dance Hall-Park

Joseph John and Anna (Ott) Siegl proprietor. Ownership through the decades: patentee Adam Bookman, then P. Riess, ... John Bluem, Charles Strehlow who sold it to Phillip Beuscher on 14 January 1899 and called it "Old Town Inn", on 4 November 1921 under Joseph John and Anna (Ott) Siegl known as the 'Siegl Hotel', in 1945 under Clarence and Mary (Bellman) Boyung called 'Boyung's Inn', in 1952 under Roman and Madge Keifer known then as 'The Moonbi Inn'. On 1 January 1978 ownership changed to Gerald and Laura Grosenich becoming "Jerry's Old Town Inn". The facility is located on the south side of Main Street.

The hotel was established in 1875. The picture upper left is of the Beuscher Hotel taken after 1898. As passed down from Al Brandenburg, on the steps are Sarah (Kurtz) Beuscher and her son Phillip Beuscher. At the time the picture was taken, a sign on front the building read "V. Wabitsch Music, Orders taken for Concerts, Balls, and Parties." On the lower right is Jerry's Old Town Inn in 1999. The original building was expanded after 1898 adding a dance hall to its east. The picture upper right is of the Siegl Hotel in the 1920s. The dance hall contained a basketball court used by the Purity Milk mens and Badger Milk Maids ladies basketball teams sponsored by Gehl's Dairy. It also contained a small stage on the south wall where bands played and performances were given. The picture lower left is of the dance hall. Pictured are Joseph, Ann, and Anna. Sarah and and her son Phillip are buried in Last Home Cemetery, South Germantown. Joseph and Anna are buried in St. Boniface Cemetery, Goldendale.

Blacksmith Shop: Kupfel later Diefenbach: As recalled by Dan Sennott, the blacksmith shop was directly across from the east side of the restaurant. The owner was George and Anna Diefenbach and in summer I would watch him shoe horses and repair wagons. There were numerous times he would give me a bucket and I would have to go down to Schwartz's Tavern and get a bucket of beer which he kept in a small wood stove at the rear of his shop. I believe he had one daughter. The building is no longer there. Just west of the hotel was our house. My parents were William and Kathryn. Two doors to the west of our house was the Knetzger Harness shop. I don't remember to much about it except it had a lot of leather products. Right across the street from our house was a driveway that led to the east side of the dairy, the house to the east was George Haschke, the next to it was a Schessow, and east of that was the Blacksmith Shop. Next to his shop was his house which was on the point of highway 55 and Main Street.

Main Street Beyond Hotel, View West

Greulich Residence, north side, just west of the east entrance to Gehl's. Before Greulich was the family Zander.

Weber Residence north side, west of Greulich; Clarence and Tilly Weber; before Webers the family Strong.

Sennott Residence south side, west of the hotel; William and Kathryn Sennott; built by Jacob Staats in 1890, then owned by John and Eva (Beuscher) Beck. Today it is a German Beer Stube.

Original Fire House

Kraetsch Residence south side, west of Sennott; Elizabeth Kraetsch; Built in the 1880s by P.H. Braun. Later Bill and Viola Smith lived here.

Knetzger Harness Shop south side; west of Kraetsch; 1930, Leonard and Kunigunda (Girisch) Knetzger with children Leonard and Almira.

Schmidt Residence next house west, south side; 1930, Carl and Mildred Schmidt with son Robert.

J.A. Dozler Residence next house west, south side; 1915, Sophia Dozer.

Schmidt Residence next house west, south side; 1915 Carl and Alvina Schmidt.

Residence next house west; south side; first firehouse located west of it.

Gehl's Dairy Factory
(north side; originally called Badger Milk Products Company)

John Paul Gehl proprietor, later Eugene Gehl, later Eugene's brother Paul, later Paul's son John. Originally located east of the corner South Main and Western Avenue on north side, now [1927] NE corner at Main and North Streets. Property previously owned by H.R. Bond & Company operating Cream City Lime Company. Eugene is buried in St. Boniface Cemetery, Goldendale. Paul and John are buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee.

Walterlin Brothers Meat Market

Aaron and Matilda "Odelia" (Hauser) and Herbert and Rose (Greulich) Walterlin, south side west of rail spur, first building; originally John and Magdalene (Friess) Walterlin. Right picture as the building looked in 1999. John, Magdalene, Aaron, Odelia, Herbert and Rose are buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee.

Please note in the right picture on the left side of Main Street, in the background, you will see the Feed Mill and Ben Duerrwaechter's facility. Actual pictures of the feed mill, Schaetzel Oil and Ben's facility have yet to be found.

Schwalbach Residence south side, west of Walterlin; 1930, Frank and Emilie Schwalbach.

Schwalbach Residence south side; west of Frank and Emilie; 1930, John L. and Caroline Schwalbach.

Wolfe Residence north side; west of Gehl's Dairy, NW corner Main and North; 1930, Elvestre Wolfe; the bulding was removed to allow for expansion of the Gehl complex.

Schmidt Residence north side, west of Wolfe; 1930, Arthur and Mae Schmidt and children Arthur and Jean.

See Scene 3 of 5 for additional South Germantown village tour information or Scene 1 of 5 to go back a page. To see the Germantown Picture Gallery, go here.