Plank Road

This barn, built by Wenzel Quis in the early 1850s and moved here in July 1963, was originally situated across the Rock River to the east of this spot on the old Plank Toll Road which ran between Watertown and Milwaukee, having been built in 1848. The eastern end of this road is marked at the Miller Brewing Company in Milwaukee. The western extreme was at the bridge below this Octagon House hill. Toll was collected along the route and at toll houses at the eastern and western ends of the road. Early settlers throughout the area used this barn as a stopping off place for feeding and bedding down their livestock for a night en route to market in Milwaukee. A general store and tavern next door supplied the travellers with lodging and food and necessary feed for the cattle, who were allowed to graze within a fenced in area around the barn. After several years of use the barn burned down but was promptly rebuilt. Because the patrons recognized the value of the stopping off place, Quis was able to collect over $80 from visitors and neighbors in contributions to rebuilt it on the same foundation at a cost of $200. Mr. and Mrs. Harry S. Moore, 1423 Willow Street, Watertown, were the latest owners of this property. Being potterers, they converted this building into a little shop, adding the fireplace and windows. The fireplace is made of fieldstone with the mantel fashioned from a cypress wood beer cask found in the old Hartig's Brewery here. The windows with their original wavy glass are from the old Buchheit house, built in 1861 on the S. Fourth Street site of the present Trinity Lutheran Church. The Moores donated the barn to the Watertown Historical Society in 1963.