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Main Street Historic District
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| Location: | Roughly Main St. from Sherman Ave. to S. 3rd St. |
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| NRHP Reference#: | 84003683 |
| Added to NRHP: | June 7, 1984 |
The Main Street Historic District in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The district is composed of 51 buildings[1] on or within a block of Main Street.
Although many of the storefronts have been remodeled over the years, the original decorative brickwork is still visible on the upper levels of most buildings.
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Main Street is the oldest street in Fort Atkinson. It was originally part of a military road that connected Fort Dearborn to Fort Winnebago. The first white settlers arrived in the 1830s and settled on both sides of the Rock River. Soon after, a wooden bridge was built linking North and South Main Streets.
From the 1840s to the 1870s, Main Street had mostly wood frame stores with wide shingled canopies resting on wooden posts. In the 1880s these small frame shops gave way to the buildings that exist today - two and three story brick buildings constructed with local cream brick, and adorned with fancy cornices and dentils. Canvas awnings replaced wooden canopies.[2]
There have been three bridges crossing the Rock River at this location. Prior to the building of the first one in 1843, people and wagons would attempt to ford the river or were ferried across. City founder Dwight Foster operated the first ferry service using rafts and dugout canoes. The first bridge was a flimsy wooden structure built by local pioneers with material that were at hand. In 1870 an iron bridge costing $9,400 replaced it. A second iron bridge was built in 1881. In 1909 this structure was widened, with an elevated bandstand in the shape of a stockade constructed in the center. The present concrete bridge was built in 1917.
The buildings include:[3]