Mary Gruhl thought she could fix up the R.D. Pike Building with just a dustpan, broom, a can of paint and a brush. She was determined to have the building cleaned up in a week.
But the building, more than 125 years old and used a fish hatchery and residence, proved to need more work than expected.
Gruhl and other Friends of the R.D. Pike Building launched an initiative to restore the building. The building, gardens and grounds require major restoration and renovation, Gruhl said during a celebration to launch the fundraising initiative and unveil a plaque honoring Robinson Derling Pike that will be placed on the property.
Pike was the major donor of land and sold the property to the Commissioners of Fisheries of the State of Wisconsin on Oct. 10, 1896, for $1. The caveat was that the facilities be used in perpetuity for the propagation of fish for the public. Over the years it has served as hatchery headquarters, a personal residence for various hatchery superintendents and their families, and as a greeting area for visitors. It is now designated a National Historic Building.
The current Lake Superior hatchery operations are now in a newer building on the grounds. Meanwhile, the original Pike is still used to rear fish that are stocked in inland lakes throughout Wisconsin.
Gruhl and friends envision the building being restored in phases, all of which Gruhl insisted are doable.
“The phases have to come one after the other in order for it to really happen,” she said.
Step one is all about abatement, which she said includes getting rid of the asbestos and mold. From there, the goal is to make the building accessible to the public, so “everybody can walk through it and see the magnificent woodwork,” she said.
When restoration is complete, the friends plan on being able to use the facility and campus for educational events and interactive presentations to children and adults concerning the history, process and people that started and continue on with this legacy.
The building is brimming with stories said Todd Berg. Journals and logs that have been kept over the years at the hatchery are a treasure for historians.
“The information they contain is just incredible — some of it monumental, some of it mundane — but all of it pieces together in a puzzle. The things that happened here, the people who did it here, still exist,” he said.
The white pines in the yard illustrate Berg’s point. Thanks to the journals, “we know the exact date they were planted,” he said. The holes were dug on April 5, 1899, and the trees were planted 22 days later.
“These two giants still watch over us today 125 years later,” he said.
At one point the hatchery could have closed. Back in 1972, there was movement to close it and move to the headwaters of the White River near Drummond or to the Fox River Valley. But the plan was quashed, Berg said.
R.D. Pike’s great-grandson, Drake Pike, said “this is always going to be hatchery” and thanked everyone for the continued support towards the cause.
In addition to fundraising, the friends will also pursue grants and other means of funding the project. Restoring the building will take an entire community to aim high, Berg said.
“We have no illusions; this will be a heavy lift, but the longest journeys start with a single step. We are willing and eager to turn over every stone to make that dream a reality. I envision a nice day in May. I envision a group of school kids going through an immersive and interactive tour of the building, learning just what this took and how this happened,” he said.
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