Downtown Kenosha is a thriving and vibrant city center that honors traditions, celebrates progress, and engages our community in concerted efforts to foster a comfortable and welcoming environment where businesses, both new and old, prosper; where the community gathers; and where people of all ages and from all walks of life come to live, work, play, and invest.

Downtown Kenosha, Inc (DKI) is an independent, non-profit organization committed to the revitalization and growth of Downtown Kenosha, Wisconsin. Downtown Kenosha is one of over forty designated Wisconsin Main Street Communities.

DKI is funded in part through a partnership with our Business Improvement District (BID), the City of Kenosha, Kenosha Area Business Alliance, the County of Kenosha, Kenosha Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Kenosha Area Chamber of Commerce.

About Downtown KenoshA, Inc

Downtown Kenosha Inc.

5500 6th Ave, Suite 200 Kenosha, WI 53140.

Executive Director - Christopher Naumann

For detailed historical information, please visti:

http://goo.gl/75NtC5

The Orpheum TheaTer

GilberT m. SimmOnS memOrial library

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• By 1895, a small library -- containing over 1, 000 books -- was opened in a room above the First National Bank. The library quickly outgrew this space, and in 1898 Zalmon G. Simmons agreed to donate funds to build a new and larger library if the building was built on City Park and named in honor of his son, Gilbert, who died unexpectedly of pneumonia. • Renowned architect Daniel H. Burnham designed the 9,000 square-foot library and war memorial nearby named "Winged Victory". • On July 7, 1974, the Gilbert Simmons Memorial Library was dedicated as a Wisconsin Registered Landmark. The historical building claims to have a few resident ghosts who haunt the halls, including Catherine Durkee and Gilbert Simmons! Notable homes around Library Park: 1) Reverend Rueben H. Deming’s home was located at 6027 7th

Avenue. A historic plaque marks this site where Deming often housed slaves traveling along the Underground Railroad. 2) Edward Bain's home was located at 6107 7th Avenue. Edward Bain owned the Bain Wagon Works which became the first major manufacturer in Kenosha, and one of the largest wagon manufacturers in the state. 3) Orson Welles’ birthplace located at 6116 7th Avenue. (Information taken from ‘A Walk Around the Park’, provided by the Kenosha Landmarks Commission, Kenosha County Historical Society)

• The Orpheum Theater was built in 1922, it was the first Movie Palace in Kenosha. The theater was built by Martin Tullgren & Sons. The term Movie Palace refers to the large, elaborately decorated theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940’s.

• The theater was originally named Rhode Opera House then changed to Gateway Theater in 1927, and renamed to Lake Theater in 1963.

• On Monday February 9, 1891, Mr. Peter Rhode Sr. closed a deal with J.F. Kimball by which he came into possession of land between what is now 514 56th Street for the new opera house. It opened on May 25, 1891 as the Rhode Opera House. The first act to appear was the Milwaukee Schlitz Park Comic Opera Company’s production of “Fra Diovolo.”

• The original Rhode Opera House was destroyed by fire in 1896. Peter Rhode’s son, Joseph, who managed the theatre for his father from the age of 15, rebuilt the opera house with a seating capacity of about 900 in the same year. The main floor had roomy comfortable seats. The opera house had cheaper seats in the first and second balconies. Up near the ceiling were the cheapest of all, the uncomfortable wooden seats of the gallery, with a separate entrance and stairway.

• In September 1989, the Lakeside players purchased the building for $50,000 from the Lakeshore BID. In honor of the family and the history, Gary Stamm, president of Lakeside Players recommended renaming the building to the Rhode Opera House. The east auditorium is named the "Donna Steigerwaldt Auditorium". In 2004, the Lakeside Players changed the name of the Rhode Opera House to Rhode Center for the Arts, and the Pollard Gallery and Gifts operates out of the west side of the building.

Cover photo courtesy of The State of Wisconsin Collection

• Kenosha's Movie Palaces like the Orpheum featured e x o t i c a l l y d e c o r a t e d i n t e r i o r s w i t h l a r g e ornate auditoriums -- the Orpheum Theater interior was done in the French provincial style, which had big stages, and oftentimes organs to accompany silent pictures.

M o v i e P a l a c e s w e r e designed to make “the average citizen feel like royalty.” In the peak of the movie heyday, Kenosha

• Movie Palaces were a follow-up to the early 20th century Nickelodeons. The name Nickelodeon came from the words nickel, the five-cent coin required to gain admission, and Odeon meaning an enclosed theater.

Historical Walking TourCentral Downtown

Edition

Design Intern: Lu Zhuwas home to three theaters; the Kenosha Theater, built in 1927 and claimed by some to be haunted, the Gateway Theater, now renamed as Rhode Center for the Arts, and the Orpheum Theater.

CiviC CenTer plaza 1

Welcome to Downtown Kenosha!

• In the 1900s, the 'City Beautiful' movement gained national recognition. As a result, cities like Kenosha sought to develop aesthetically pleasant town centers. The Civic Center Historic District you see today is largely Neoclassical in design. • The Kenosha Civic Center Historic District is significant because it was the culmination of two movements of city reform during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century: the movement to physically improve the city and the movement to politically reform the city. • Also on the square is the County Court House, post office and school. Kenosha native Joseph Lindl, in association with Charles Lesser and Albert Schutte, designed the Kenosha County Courthouse, which was completed in 1925. Kenosha High School, planned by school design specialist Charles D. Chubb, was completed a year later. The new post office was the third building on the square, followed by the Kenosha Historical and Art Museum (which later became the Kenosha Public Museum, and now houses the Kenosha Dinosaur Discovery Museum) .

2 KenOSha dinOSaur diSCOvery muSeum

• Did you know the building was moved to its present location by pulling it with winches along a bed of heavy timbers? • The old Beaux Arts-style post office was built under the supervision of architect James Knox Taylor between 1908 and 1910. It was offered to the City for one dollar, but the City of Kenosha had to move it! The building was moved to its current location on February 22, 1934. In 1935, it became the Kenosha Historical and Art Museum.

• In 2005, the Kenosha Historical and Art Museum was renovated as the Dinosaur Discovery Museum by the City. It functions not only as a fascinating museum but also as a working research museum. The Dinosaur Discovery Museum opened its doors in 2006, with a unique

3 KenOSha COunTy COurThOuSe

• The Neoclassical revival Courthouse and Jail was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

4 elKS Club/heriTaGe hOuSe

• The Elks Club is a fraternal order with nearly one million members throughout the country and a history spanning over 140 years. The Elks Club generously donates millions of dollars in scholarships through its charitable foundation each year.

• Plans to construct a club house for the Kenosha chapter of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks began in 1916 when 300 members pledged $65,000 for the purchase of land that formerly housed the Petit Malt House. The Malt House had burned down in 1914.

• In 1916, building plans by R. Messmer & Brothers had been approved and the Immel Construction Company began the work on the site. Heritage House closed in the mid-2000s and the building was damaged by a fire in 2011.

5 library parK

• In 1853, the Kenosha High School principal, Colonel John McMynn, wrote that “the early settlers brought their books with them, and their love of learning gave a tone to their social life.” And today, Library Square remains a true gem of Kenosha. • During the Civil War, Library Park became active as a stop on the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses for slaves trying to escape to freedom in Canada and free northern states. Ruben H. Deming, an early settler and Methodist minister, was a prominent Wisconsin leader in the fight to end slavery and often housed slaves in his attic until they could board ships in Kenosha’s harbor.

• Other key destinations in the park • Civil War Memorial - Statue of Nike, goddess of victory. This was a gift from Zalmon Simmons and was designed by Daniel H. Burnham. • The Abraham Lincoln Statue - It was a gift from Orla Calkins, a Kenosha business man. It was designed by Charles Henry.

STOpS:1 - CiviC Center Plaza 2 - Dinosaur DisCovery MuseuM

3 - County Courthouse

4 - elks Club/heritage house

5 - library Park

6 - gilbert M. siMMons MeMorial library

7 - the orPheuM theater

8 - rhoDe Center for the arts

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Photo courtesy of Kenosha County Historical Society

Old Civic Center Plan Rendering, 1924

Moving Beaux Arts Building to the Present Location, 1934

Elks Club, Circa 1938Photo courtesy of Kenosha County Historical Society

Photo courtesy of Kenosha County Historical Society

Other LOcatiOns YOu MaY need

• Inside, you will find murals and stained glass in the building's interior foyer, with the words 'Law, Order, Justice, Peace' paying homage to the duties of the court.

Water fountain

tour Parking

focus on theropods or meat-eating dinosaurs. The museum is home to the largest exhibit of meat-eating dinosaurs in the world and a unique tourist destination for Kenosha.