Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Cornelius, Billmeyer
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 12/18/2013
Cornelius House Listed in National Register (Historic Place - 2013)
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The Cornelius House is located on the corner of West Second and Clay Street in Neillsville.
(Photo by Nancy Halterman/Clark County Press)
The Wisconsin Historical Society has announced the listing of the Charles and Theresa Cornelius House in Neillsville in the National Register of Historic Places. National Register designation provides access to certain benefits, including qualification for grants and for rehabilitation income tax credits, while it does not restrict private property owners in the use of their property.
In 1909, Neillsville merchant and banker Charles Cornelius built an impressible bank building and commissioned Wisconsin Rapids architect Anton F. Billmeyer to design his new home. Constructed at the very end of the Queen Anne period, Billmeyer incorporated several of the stylistic elements of the emerging colonial revival style, with classical columns replacing turned posts on the 70-foot long front porch.
The Cornelius house was built toward the end of a period of great expansion and prosperity in Neillsville’s history. The Cornelius family home, which once sat in a large private park, physically displayed Charles Cornelius’ success and status in the community.
The register is the official national list of historic properties in America deemed worthy of preservation and is maintained by the National Park Service in the U. S. Department of the Interior. The Wisconsin Historical Society administers the program within Wisconsin. It includes sits, building structures, objects and districts that are significant in national, state or local history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture.
To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org/hp.
