Sheboygan's first hotel was likely Warren House Hotel, which opened in the 1830s
SHEBOYGAN – Perhaps Sheboygan's first hotel, the Warren House was among one of the first buildings built in Sheboygan sometime during the 1830s. The exact date has been lost to time, according to clippings from the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center.
Prior to 1850, the Gibbs brothers ran a hotel at that spot on Pennsylvania Avenue. Following the Gibbs brothers, Francis Geele and Edwin Gaertner formed a partnership in 1850. They operated a hardware store in one part of the building for a few years.
In those early pioneer Sheboygan days, a hotel was especially important to travelers because towns were days apart — unlike the quick trips we have today with our modern highway systems.
According to a letter submitted to the Evergreen City Times in 1859, the Chilton Times wrote a note about Sheboygan. The Times said Sheboygan had one great advantage over many other western towns: "She has got a good hotel. We mean the Warren House kept by J.H. Gibbs. Mr. Gibbs gives good accomodation and his charges are reasonable. We advise any of our citizens who travel that way to give the Warren House a call, and we will warrant them to be satisfied."
A visitor from the Chilton Times gave a review of the Warren House in the Evergreen City Times on July 30, 1859, touting the operators of the hotel.
In the early days, the Warren House Hotel was a popular place to stay, have a supper and bid on property via an auction at the firm. Local papers would advertise the particulars.
Nicholas Burkhardt purchased the property and operated a saloon in the part of the building where the hardware store operated. In the early 1860s, Teddy Levec leased the saloon, which was later taken over by a man named Mudge. A stage was created in the building, and Mudge ran vaudeville shows in connection with his saloon, which attracted sailors from the Great Lakes shipping trades.
The Warren Hotel was the location of a public auction of land from the estate of Isaiah Groot to be scheduled October 1851 in Sheboygan. This is from the Sheboygan Mercury, Saturday, Oct. 11, 1851.
Later, the Evergreen City Bank — the first banking institution in Sheboygan — operated on the ground floor of the structure.
Around 1911, the Warren House was torn down. The Milwaukee-Northern Railway built a building on that spot using some of the timbers from that original Warren House. That building, too, met the wrecking ball in the early 1930s, according to a Press clipping.
Today, as best that can be estimated, the area where the Warren House stood is primarily a parking lot near Stefano's Slo Food Market. No known photo or sketch of the city's first hotel is in existence today.
Gary C. Klein has written Throwback Thursdays since 2017, covering dozens of businesses, people, sports and events from the early days of the area to recent history. He has been a photographer for the Press since 1993. He can be reached at 920-453-5149 or [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @leicaman99. Check out his other work at www.sheboyganpress.com/staff/4383066002/gary-c-klein/.
