Appleton Historical Society purchases Tudor building for museum and research center

APPLETON — The Appleton Historical Society purchased the former Sitzmann Law Firm building at 231 W. Franklin St. to serve as its new home.

The deal was finalized Wednesday, and the renovation of the Tudor-style structure will begin soon.

Gwen Sargeant, vice president of the historical society, said the building is two or three times the size of the society's History Museum and Research Center at 128 N. Durkee St.

"The floor space for displays will be twice the size," Sargeant told The Post-Crescent. "The upstairs for all of our archiving is about three times the size, and then there's actually space in the lower level that we've not had at our current building."

The Durkee Street property, which the historical society has occupied since 2016, will be sold after the move to the Franklin Street property. It will continue to serve as the society's home until then.

The proceeds of the sale will be placed in an endowment to fund operations of the new building.

The Franklin building dates to 1931. It was built by Wichmann Funeral Home and operated as such until 1959. It served as Alex's Manor House restaurant from 1961 to 1970 and as JJ's Hot Fish Shop from 1970 to 1977.

Rollie Winter Realtors occupied the building starting in 1977. It also housed G Whillikers Tavern in the early 1980s before becoming Green Streets Pub and Appleton Teen Scene. In 1988, the building opened as Mongo's Mongolian Barbecue.

Chris Sitzmann bought and restored the property in 2007, and Sitzmann Law Firm occupied it until its sale to the historical society. Sitzmann retired after 46 years in practice.

"Chris was concerned that the building might be torn down and was anxious to see it preserved," the historical society said in a Facebook post.

Sargeant said the historical society is conducting a $1.5 million capital campaign to support the purchase, renovation and move.

"We are currently raising money through different donors, and then we'll go public and announce our future matching grant," Sargeant said. "We have a $200,000 matching grant."

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com . Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke .

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton Historical Society purchases Tudor building for museum and research center