John R. Morgan Residence / Irving-Church Historic District

John R. Morgan Residence, also, Irving-Church Historic District. . , [Side 1] , This Queen Anne style home was built in 1884 for John R. Morgan (1833-1906) Eleanor (Hughes) Morgan (1832- 1909) and their three children. John and his brother, Richard, arrived in Oshkosh in 1855 and established one of Oshkosh’s earliest and prosperous saw mills, Morgan Brothers and Company. The mill fell victim to financial hardship several times as a result of fires. The fire of 1875 that devastated North Main Street started in the Morgan lumber yard. Despite setbacks, the Morgans’ business went on to be one of the leading Oshkosh saw mills into the 20th century.

To reflect the family’s new-found success and wealth, John hired local contractors Adam Bell and Edwin Cole to design and build this home. The Queen Anne style was popular in post-Civil War America. The ornately decorated house, with 1880’s modern conveniences, cost approximately $12,000 to build at that time. After John And Eleanor Morgan died, the house was owned for a brief time by their children but was soon sold outside of the family. Constance Misky bought the home in the 1940’s and operated her cosmetology school and salon on the first floor and lived on the second floor. The Winnebago County Historical and Archaeological Society acquired the home from Miskythrough bequest and purchase in 1987 and began an extensive effort to restore original features of the home. The structure has since been restored and furnished to reflect how a family of the Morgans’ social status lived in late-nineteenth century Oshkosh. The Morgan House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

[Side 2] , The Irving-Church Historic District encompasses homes built between 1850 and 1939. Some styles preserved in the district include Queen Anne, Greek Revival, Italianate, Craftsman, Tudor and Prairie. The boundaries are West Irving Avenue, Church Avenue, Franklin Street and Elmwood Avenue. The district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

This area was originally part of a 155-acre section of land claimed by George Wright Sr., one of the original settlers of Oshkosh, circa 1838. Upon Wright’s death in 1841, he divided his land between his three sons. William Wright received 106 acres of his father’s estate, divided the land into city lots and sold them at affordable prices to encourage settlement in Oshkosh. His civic pride earned him the reputation as the “Father of Oshkosh.”

Oshkosh’s middle- and upper-class citizens, such as lumbermen, lawyers, merchants, bankers, doctors, educators and politicians, resided in this area of the city. One of the neighborhood’s influential residents was Rose C. Swart, a teacher at the Oshkosh Normal School (University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh) for 51 years and a leader of the Women’s Suffrage Movement. The wealthy lumber families of Morgan, Radford, Choate, Campbell, and Conlee also lived in the district.

Several of the ornate homes were designed by renowned Oshkosh architects Adam Bell, Edwin Cole, and William Waters. Waters resided in the neighborhood and is well known for designing many commercial structures on North Main Street built after the fire of 1875. He also had the honor of designing the Wisconsin Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. . This historical marker was erected by Oshkosh Landmarks Commission. It is in Oshkosh in Winnebago County Wisconsin