This tour was curated by: Langlade County Historical Society
The mission of the Langlade County Historical Society (LCHS) is to preserve, advance, and disseminate knowledge in the history of Langlade County, Wisconsin, and the surrounding region. This is done by the maintenance of a museum, local historical artifacts and archives, and historic sites on the museum campus. In addition, the LCHS prepares programs and publications dealing with local history. The LCHS is affiliated with the Wisconsin Historical Society. The museum is managed by a curator and governed by a nine member board.
The Langlade County Historical Museum (historically known as the Antigo Public Library and Deleglise Cabin) was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and serves as a reminder of the proud history underpinning Antigo, Wisconsin. The site encompasses two historic buildings: the Antigo Public Library and the Deleglise Cabin. Built in 1904 and remaining in service until 1997, the Antigo Public Library was integral in providing library services to Langlade and the surrounding counties. In 1997, the Antigo library system moved to a new building, and the entirety of the Antigo Public Library became the home of the Langlade County Historical Society.The Deleglise Cabin was built in 1878 by the founder of Antigo, Wisconsin and is widely recognized as the first home built in the city. In 1914, the cabin was relocated to 404 Superior Street.
For almost fifty years, the men and women who taught in Langlade County’s elementary schools were trained in this building, designed by an architectural firm that specialized in designing schools of all levels. As methods for training teachers were revised, building designs changed. This building, in its design, was ideally suited for its time and purpose and eventually for other uses by other organizations. The building and its current users, the Boys and Girls Club of the Northwoods, are still an important center of community activity.
Founded in 1952 as Antigo Co-Op Credit Union and rebranded in 2001, CoVantage Credit Union is one of Antigo’s most notable businesses, with locations throughout northeastern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula. Its current headquarters, built in 1975, is a prominent landmark in downtown Antigo that has seen significant remodeling and expansion over the decades. The credit union maintains close ties with the community in Antigo through its long history in the town and regular charitable efforts.
The Antigo Post Office is over a century old and one of the many distinctive buildings found throughout Antigo’s downtown district. It represents a new era in Antigo’s development, as well as a peek into a bygone era of ornamental federal architecture. The structure has been in continuous use as Antigo’s official post office since its construction and the exterior remains mostly identical to its original design.
St. Ambrose Episcopal Church is a distinctive stone building located in Antigo’s downtown district. Originally without a formal congregation, the first Episcopalian mission in Antigo was organized by the Diocese of Fond du Lac in 1886, under the name of St. Joseph’s, and the current church building was constructed 1908 at a cost of about $10,000 (approximately $300,000 in 2022 dollars), at which point the mission was renamed to St. Ambrose. It is one of the oldest standing church buildings in Antigo, and stands out for its stone architecture, which is well-maintained and somewhat unusual for this region.
The Depot Apartments building, now serving as affordable housing, was originally built as a train depot in 1907 and renovated for its current usage in 1992. It is one of the oldest extant structures in Antigo still in use, and one of the few remaining symbols of Antigo’s rich origins and history as a railroad town. Serving as an important node in the Chicago and North Western Railway’s network, in the 1940s upwards of 70% of Antigo’s families had someone employed by the railroad. The company served as the anchor for the city’s historical economic and infrastructural development.
The Hoffman House is one of Antigo’s oldest and most well-known bars and social venues, originally opened in 1885 by one of the town’s early pioneers. Owned by the Hoffman family from 1885 to 1971, both they and later owners took pains to preserve the ornate early 20th century decorum of the building, with the cabinetry, floor tiling, ceiling, and stained glass windows all remaining authentic to their 1910s origins. Today, it still operates as a popular downtown bar, and also rents rooms on the upper floors.
The importance of a communal gathering places where individuals may interact with one another and share common experiences is vital to society. This so-called “third space”, in addition to home (first space) and work (second space), may take many forms such as church, a sports venue, museum, club or restaurant, or theater. In the first quarter of the 20th century that space in Antigo was the Opera House. It was a gathering place for live theater, cinema, social gatherings and lectures. The Opera House, one of Antigo’s more imposing buildings, stood at the western end of a thriving downtown, just blocks away from the railroad depot, a focal point of activity, and directly across from one of Antigo’s more luxurious hotels, the Lakeshore Hotel (later renamed the Hoffman House). From its opening in 1903 until the late 1920s the Opera House was the focal point of civic life in Antigo.
Platted in 1880 by the founders of the town, the site of the old Vosmek Drug Store has a storied history that stretches back to Antigo’s beginnings. The northern part of the building, constructed in 1888, and was initially home to a hardware store, and over time would host tenants ranging from barber shops, to pharmacies, to a Masonic fellowship. Most notably, the property was the site of Vosmek’s Drug Store, a pillar of downtown Antigo for much of the latter half of the 1900s.
Originally constructed as a Masonic lodge in 1902, what is today Neve’s Floors to Go Furniture and Mattress Gallery has been a colorful and storied part of Fifth Avenue for most of Antigo’s history. Although the Freemasons of Antigo Lodge No.231 owned the building until 1963, the ground floor was utilized by many different businesses, from a funeral home, to a bank, to a furniture store. Masonic symbols can still be seen on the peak of the structure.
A monumental structure highly visible along the highway, the current Chase Bank building has been an Antigo landmark for a hundred years. Although the current structure was built in 1923, the property has always been used for a bank, changing hands and re-branding many times throughout the town’s history. Originally, it was home to Langlade National Bank, which was Antigo’s primary banking institution until the Great Depression. The exterior of the structure has remained largely unchanged since the 1920s.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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Take a stroll through over 130 years of history in Antigo's downtown commercial district, featuring several unique and interesting local landmarks that have been selected for their unusual appearances, fascinating stories, or cultural-economic significance.
