News: Neillsville - Hediger House (National Register - 2013)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Hediger, Morgenthaler, Haefeli

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 9/25/2013

Hediger House Listed (National Register – 2013)

The Wisconsin Historical Society has announced the listing of the Herman and Hanna Hediger House, 8 Grand Avenue, Neillsville, is 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.

When Swiss immigrants Herman and Hanna Hediger decided to build a new house, they knew they wanted a chalet in the style of their homeland. Herman took three trips to Switzerland to study the chalet and Swiss building methods.

He brought John Morgenthaler, a Swiss Cabinet maker, and Hans Haefeli, a skilled mason, back from Switzerland to assist with the construction of the house.

Completed in 1949, the house exhibits the deep eaves, red-tile roof, stucco walls, half-log siding and full-width balcony and gallery with decorative, scroll-sawn balustrades characteristic of the Swiss chalet.

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 sites, buildings, 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.