History
Kimberly Double House 404 - 406 East Wisconsin Ave
On May 10, 1849, two brothers, John Robbins Kimberly and Harvey Latimer Kimberly, left their hometown of Troy, New York to move to Neenah, Wisconsin. The year before, John and Harvey had visited Neenah to purchase property and have the house built. The house was built as a duplex, one of the first of its kind, to keep the families close and protected. It was also the first two-story home in Winnebago County. Marble mantels, carved furniture, and elaborated hardware came down the Fox River from Green Bay. The house originally had 19 rooms and a butler's pantry.
John was accompanied by his wife and four children and Harvey traveled with his wife and two sons. The brothers built the house and the two families first occupied it on July 18, 1949. John and Harvey created a general store near the boat landing, and eventually built the first Neenah Flouring Mills in 1850. The brothers had about two-thirds of Neenah's total capital wealth with $21,000. In 1861, Harvey moved out of the double house. The same year, Harvey also bought out John's interests in the flour mill. John began a new mill, the Reliance Flour Mill, in 1868 with his son, John Alfred and associate Havilah Babcock. The Reliance was internationally known due to the fact that it exported much of its flour to England. The Reliance closed in 1876 and was absorbed by the newly formed Kimberly-Clark Company.
As a young boy, John Robbins' son, John Alfred, convinced his father to keep a deer as a house pet. The deer, named Ida, was kept in a pen outside the house but often lived in the home.
John Alfred Kimberly, Havilah Babcock, Charles B. Clark, and Frank C. Shattuck joined together and created the Kimberly-Clark Company and added the Globe Mill, the first newsprint mill in Neenah, next to the Reliance in 1872. John Alfred, his family, and descendants occupied the east side of the house.
Helen Cheney Kimberly (1868-1955), daughter of John Alfred, moved into the east half of the house in 1913 after buying it from her father. She wrote about her renovations to the house:
John was accompanied by his wife and four children and Harvey traveled with his wife and two sons. The brothers built the house and the two families first occupied it on July 18, 1949. John and Harvey created a general store near the boat landing, and eventually built the first Neenah Flouring Mills in 1850. The brothers had about two-thirds of Neenah's total capital wealth with $21,000. In 1861, Harvey moved out of the double house. The same year, Harvey also bought out John's interests in the flour mill. John began a new mill, the Reliance Flour Mill, in 1868 with his son, John Alfred and associate Havilah Babcock. The Reliance was internationally known due to the fact that it exported much of its flour to England. The Reliance closed in 1876 and was absorbed by the newly formed Kimberly-Clark Company.
As a young boy, John Robbins' son, John Alfred, convinced his father to keep a deer as a house pet. The deer, named Ida, was kept in a pen outside the house but often lived in the home.
John Alfred Kimberly, Havilah Babcock, Charles B. Clark, and Frank C. Shattuck joined together and created the Kimberly-Clark Company and added the Globe Mill, the first newsprint mill in Neenah, next to the Reliance in 1872. John Alfred, his family, and descendants occupied the east side of the house.
Helen Cheney Kimberly (1868-1955), daughter of John Alfred, moved into the east half of the house in 1913 after buying it from her father. She wrote about her renovations to the house:
"When I came back to Neenah, I wished very much to have the house and bought it from my father, and we modernized it as to plumbing, etc., and I have lived here ever since. I was anxious to have the house insulated and was very much interested to have the men tell me that it was impossible to insulate it, the main part of the house, because under the clapboards it was a brick building. That, no doubt, is the reason it has stood up so well. In excavating under the house, I found the timbers were perfectly sound, huge white oak, hand hewn. There was no central heating and the house was heated by fireplaces, which, of course, in the climate of Wisconsin was not very satisfactory but it was the only method used a hundred years ago. The house was built after a southern type with the main building and the kitchen, laundry, woodshed and ash house detached. Between the main building and the kitchen, there was an open companionway closed only by lattice. In this was a well with a ratchet which supplied the house with water. When my mother came to live here as a bride (1866), she said they never had a hot meal, they had to wade through the snow in the winter from the kitchen to the dining room. This, of course, she altered as soon as possible." |
After Helen died, her brother James C. Kimberly purchased the home and decided with his sisters, Mrs. Jessie Kimberly Paine and Mrs. Mary Kimberly Shirk, to donate the house to the Neenah-Menasha Visiting Nurse Association. The VNA occupied the east half for 39 years and the west half for 15 years. In 1990, the VNA signed an anti-demolition agreement with the Neenah Landmarks Commission but the agreement ended when the house was sold for residential use in 1995.
In 1940, the house was used as a meeting place for workers to make "bundles for Britain." Every Thursday, women would come and sew, knit, and craft to provide supplies for the war. Even after the war, the women still met to assemble supplies to give to the less fortunate.
On the hundredth anniversary of the home, the local newspaper printed, "Events that have shaped destiny of area took place in colonial mansion on East Wisconsin Avenue, built century ago for two households of pioneer Kimberly family" : "The river still flows past the garden of the Kimberly home as it did 100 years ago and the house still stands as a landmark to the pioneering spirit that started Wisconsin on through its first century to the threshold of the second with the motto 'Forward' ever before it."
Other newspaper articles around the 100th anniversary included interesting information about the house. They reported that the house entertained many prominent figures, such as Governor James Duane Doty, the Henry Sherrys, the Babcocks and Shattucks, Congressman Charles Clark, and, in 1935, Amelia Earhardt.
A Kimberly lived in the house for 131 years until 1980. Mabel Kimberly Gilbert, descendant of Harvey Latimer Kimberly, was the last Kimberly to live in the house. In 1980, the house had 7,000 square feet of living space including 32 rooms and 2 full baths, 4 half baths and 6 fireplaces. Originally, the kitchens were not attached to the houses and only connected by lattice work passage ways, but were later incorporated into the homes. It is said that Mrs. John Robbins Kimberly often remarked how they never had a hot meal in the house because it had always cooled when it arrived.
In 2010, The Post Crescent wrote an article about Jeannette McDonald and her daughter Katrina Collins purchasing the house and their plans to restore it. An interview with Susan Kimberly Sutter, a great-great-granddaughter of John Kimberly, revealed family stories about the house. Sutter said that the Native Americans around the property would come and ask for handouts on baking day and when John Kimberly's daughter, Mary, played the piano.
The Kimberly Double House remains the oldest home in Neenah.
In 1940, the house was used as a meeting place for workers to make "bundles for Britain." Every Thursday, women would come and sew, knit, and craft to provide supplies for the war. Even after the war, the women still met to assemble supplies to give to the less fortunate.
On the hundredth anniversary of the home, the local newspaper printed, "Events that have shaped destiny of area took place in colonial mansion on East Wisconsin Avenue, built century ago for two households of pioneer Kimberly family" : "The river still flows past the garden of the Kimberly home as it did 100 years ago and the house still stands as a landmark to the pioneering spirit that started Wisconsin on through its first century to the threshold of the second with the motto 'Forward' ever before it."
Other newspaper articles around the 100th anniversary included interesting information about the house. They reported that the house entertained many prominent figures, such as Governor James Duane Doty, the Henry Sherrys, the Babcocks and Shattucks, Congressman Charles Clark, and, in 1935, Amelia Earhardt.
A Kimberly lived in the house for 131 years until 1980. Mabel Kimberly Gilbert, descendant of Harvey Latimer Kimberly, was the last Kimberly to live in the house. In 1980, the house had 7,000 square feet of living space including 32 rooms and 2 full baths, 4 half baths and 6 fireplaces. Originally, the kitchens were not attached to the houses and only connected by lattice work passage ways, but were later incorporated into the homes. It is said that Mrs. John Robbins Kimberly often remarked how they never had a hot meal in the house because it had always cooled when it arrived.
In 2010, The Post Crescent wrote an article about Jeannette McDonald and her daughter Katrina Collins purchasing the house and their plans to restore it. An interview with Susan Kimberly Sutter, a great-great-granddaughter of John Kimberly, revealed family stories about the house. Sutter said that the Native Americans around the property would come and ask for handouts on baking day and when John Kimberly's daughter, Mary, played the piano.
The Kimberly Double House remains the oldest home in Neenah.
Information from The Kimberlys: A Glimpse at One Family's Years in North America; the Neenah-Menasha Visiting Nurse Association; The Post Crescent
Photo from the Neenah Historical Society flickr
Photo from the Neenah Historical Society flickr