The Adelsberger House

The Adelsberger House. 116 East Third. The land on which Hopskeller now stands dates back to March, 1816, when William Lemon purchased nearly 255 acres at a cost of $2 per acre. This land encompassed all modern-day downtown Waterloo., For unknown reasons, in January of 1817 (only ten months later) Lemon sold his claim to George Forquier alternatively spelled (Forquer) and his wife, Ann for $127.29 , the price of Lemon's first installment on the land. It was Forquier, along with friend and business partner Daniel P. Cook (of Cook County fame) who set about planning the town of Waterloo. Forquier sold the southeastern quarter of Section 25 in July of 1836 to David and Hannah Ditch, his brother-in-law and sister. The Ditches further subdivided their purchase and sold Lot #51 to Jesse Wiswell in May of 1842 for $200 , a good profit, considering what Forquier sold to the Ditches ultimately encompassed all the lots in what is now the heart of downtown Waterloo. Tax Lot #51 is the property that holds both Hopskeller and the Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, making Wiswell the first owner of the property., Jesse Wiswell and his wife Sarah sold their prime real estate in August of 1853, turning their $200 into $500 in less than ten years, as the demand for downtown space increased following a major influx of German immigrants to the region. The buyers, William and Cecilia Adelsberger, quickly set about constructing a grand home on the vacant lot just south of the public square. The increase in the property's tax value strongly implies that construction began on the family's home in late 1853 or early 1854 and was completed by 1855 at the latest., Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing the layout of the original two-story home. Although we know the soft brick exterior is original. Based on the foundational architecture, the home likely held four rooms on its first floor, with the eastern wall supporting two (no longer extant) fireplaces that stood where the bar now resides, as well as a coal chute that is currently a sealed window facing Main Street. Renovations during the construction of Hopskeller revealed the foundation to a long-since razed outbuilding (probably a summer kitchen) and an expansive underground cistern constructed with the same soft brick that made up the exterior of the original home., The Adelsbergers sold their home in April of 1858 to John Moeller for $3,800. John Moeller and his wife, Catharine, built the western wing of the home in 1872. If you look closely to the left of the main doorway, you can see a shift in brick pattern that shows the later construction. The last major construction during the Moellers' time in the home came in 1910, when they built the eastern wing of the home; this section is now the Waterloo Chamber of Commerce. The Moellers built these additions to their home for their daughters as they started their own families., The home stayed in the Moeller family until 1925, at which point it was sold to Dr. Justin and Julia McConnell. Dr. McConnell used the second floor as his dental office through the 1960s, and the lower floor was turned into apartments throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Glenn Grosse, the great-grandson of John Moeller, bought the property right before 1970, and the building was used as a residence and rental apartments downstairs; upstairs continued to hold a variety of offices. From 1994 onwards, Nancy and Glenn Grosse transformed the building into the Echoes of the Past antique shop; it continued as this until its renovation into Hopskeller Brewing Company, which began in the summer of 2014.