Bungalow

Name

 The Bungalow was the last name of this home so named due its architectural style. The house was previously known by various names depending on the building's function at the time, including the "Janitor's Cottage" and "Veteran's Cottage." 

Facts

Completion Date: 1890s

Cost: ??

Demolition Date: 1969

Original Purpose of Building: Janitors' residence 

Current Use: Demolished

History

The Early Years: Janitor's Cottage

The house was built sometime in the late 1890s as a residence for Oshkosh Normal School's head custodian. In its earliest years the janitor's cottage was listed as 470 Algoma St., the same address as the normal school; by 1903 Oshkosh city directories have the house listed as 472 Algoma St.

The first resident was head custodian Evan Vincent, sometimes identified as Ivan Vincent. In describing Vincent, the 1914 Quiver yearbook states, "It is through his efforts that many of the school activities are made to run smoothly, that the building is uniformly heated, that much lost property is found. At nearly every turn in the halls students are found in search for the janitor, and Mr. Vincent is always willing to aid them." He and his wife Winifred lived there until his death at the end of the 1923-1924 academic year.

David Clayton took over Vincent's job and spent 18 years working as custodian. Clayton and his wife Anne could have lived at the janitor's cottage from 1924 until David's retirement in 1942. At that point city directories list the house as vacant.

In 1939 was the house may have been converted to a health center that proved to be unsuccessful. An March 21, 1957 Advance student newspaper article titled "Two Roving Reporters Plus A Photographer Bring You The Inside Story Of A Building" claims this occurred, but no other records indicate the house became a health center. Furthermore, city directories list the Claytons as residents of 472 Algoma in 1940.

World War II

Because school enrollment was plummeting during World War II, and to help further military efforts, Oshkosh State Teachers College housed the 96th College Air Crew Training Detachment in the Rose C. Swart Training School building (today known as Swart Hall). This led to kindergarten classes being taught in the former janitor's cottage from March 23, 1943 to July 15, 1944. Marjorie King taught the kindergarten students.

After the detachment left in 1944, the house served as an office for Florence Case, the Dean of Women. This arrangement lasted one year.

At some point in the mid-1940s the house underwent exterior remodeling. The house, which up to the early 1940s was a dark color, became a light color after the renovation.

Veterans' Cottage

In 1945 married veterans were returning to Oshkosh from World War II and in need of housing. The house was converted to a veterans' cottage. It was not a dormitory for large numbers of men at once; rather, it was an apartment for two male students, their spouses and their children. Each family had their own floor of the two-story house. According to the Advance," a military husband was permitted to live there with his family for the duration of time he attended school there. The waiting list for occupancy was long, and men were required to be married with at least one child."

The 1948 Oshkosh city directory shows the veteran's cottage was occupied by Milton Lautenschlager, father of former Wisconsin Attorney General Peggy Lautenschlager and grandfather to current AG Josh Kaul. Milton served in World War II from 1944 to 1946 and attended Oshkosh State Teachers College after the war on the GI Bill. He also played on the football and basketball teams while attending school and graduated with a degree in education.

Academic Building - "The Bungalow"

Beginning in the 1961-1962 the veterans' cottage was converted to space for academic instruction and faculty offices. The house began being referred to as the Bungalow in campus publications including the campus telephone directory, the Advance and the Quiver yearbook. A list of office assignments for fall 1961 indicates that a speech professor and an education professor had offices in the Bungalow. An article in the September 29, 1961 Advance states that classes were being held in unusual campus locations including the cafeteria, Albee Hall and the Bungalow because there was a shortage of classroom space that would soon be fixed by the construction of Polk Library and Halsey Science Center. Subjects being taught in the room Bungalow 101 were speech, English and Spanish, according to the January 19, 1962 Advance.

A telephone directory list dated September 1963 indicates that the Bungalow housed six employees from the speech department and the speech clinic. Speech would be housed here through the 1965-1966 academic year. For the 1966-1967 school year, nine English professors and a philosophy professor took over both floors of the Bungalow. In fall 1967 the English teachers moved to Radford Hall, which had just converted from a dormitory to faculty offices.

The Bungalow was demolished in 1968-69 after the Dempsey Hall expansion project was completed. A summer 1967 faculty directory no longer lists any employees in the Bungalow, and the 1968 Oshkosh city directory no longer lists a WSU-O office located at 830 Algoma Blvd.

Photos