(Published Thursday, January 25, 2007 11:34:26 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Carla McCann Gazette staff
WHITEWATER-The Bassett House has been a bystander at the corner of Main and Prairie streets for 150 years.
It was standing sentinel 11 years before ground was broken for the forerunner to UW-Whitewater, which now abuts the home's back yard.
While the city grew, the two-story cream brick house at 708 W. Main St. became an elegant historic treasure.
Today, the Whitewater Federation of Women's Clubs owns the landmark house. In honor of the house's 150th anniversary, the federation is hosting an open house from 5:30 to 7 tonight.
Under the federation's watch, the Italianate style home that features transitional Greek Revival architecture has retained its beauty and receives much loving care.
The historic Bassett House in Whitewater was built before ground was broken for the UW-Whitewater. The Whitewater Federation of Women's Clubs own the building and are hosting an open house today from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Bill Olmsted/Gazette Staff
The house was willed to the Women's Federation in 1926 by Florence Bassett.
As the only child of Tom and Bessie Bassett, who built the house in 1857, Florence lived in the home all but one year of her life.
Her photo and that of her father now hang in the main downstairs room.
Tom was the owner and proprietor of the Boot and Shoe Store downtown. He also sold groceries, provisions and garden seed.
After falling ill in 1864, Tom sold the store and moved to the seashore. He was 50 when he died there in 1878.
Florence and her mother continued to live in their Whitewater home, which was considered a showplace for that era.
And it still is.
"The house has a life of its own," said Irene Potocki, a member of the club's landscaping committee. "It has a personality."
The home was remodeled in 1930 when partitions were removed on the first floor to make space for a large meeting room and coatroom.
Today, the club rents the house for meetings, showers, parties, wedding, recitals and family gatherings.
For Maisie Condon, who joined the federation in 1951, the house is a longtime friend.
As a former federation president, Condon has watched the changing face of the federation as member clubs died and others evolved.
The federation now has four clubs-Alpha, Emerson, Florence Bassett and Minnieska-and about 100 members. Regardless of which clubs hold meetings in the house, all have goals centered on maintaining the home's stately presence.
The second floor of the house was an addition in 1878. Today, it serves as a rental apartment for the club's part-time custodian.
"We chose him for his love for the house," Potocki said.
Last year, the federation formed a landscape committee to plant a memory garden, containing flowers and hedges commonly grown during the 1850s.
All year around, another glimpse of the city's past stands tall in the back yard. Condon said the burr oak trail tree once had a limb pointing the route to Lake Koshkonong for traveling Native Americans.
If you go
In celebration of the Basset House's 150th anniversary, the Whitewater Federation of Women's Clubs will host several events at the historic home at 708 W. Main St., Whitewater.
Tonight, the club will open its doors from 5:30 to 7 for an open house. On July 8, the home will be the site of an old-fashioned picnic and ice cream social. A Victorian tea is planned Dec. 16.
The home also is available to rent.
For more information, call Marion Burrows at (262) 473-5173.
