Mishicot Historical Museum

This is a portion of a large photo, postcard, and correspondence collection from the Schmidt and Chloupek families of Mishicot, Wisconsin. The photos in this set are miscellaneous images of the Adolph and Anna Tesarik Chloupek home, located at 238 S Main Street in Mishicot, Wisconsin.

A brief history of the home:

In the 1890s, a number of new large Victorian style houses were being built in Mishicot, and elsewhere. The Chloupek home is an example and still stands at 238 S Main Street today. It was built in 1895 by Attorney Adolph and Mrs. Anna Tessarik Choloupek who were moving to Mishicot from Francis Creek to start his law practice. Adoph came from the family that was responsible for the saw mill and later a brewery in Francis Creek. Their five children were Victor, Edwin, Olga, Blanche, and Lillian. With the house was a small farm.

Unfortunately, Att. Adolph died suddenly of TB in 1905. His wife, Anna, and the children continued to live in the house until 1930. The house has had a number of changes made to it and most recently was turned into three apartments.

One of the Choloupek children, Lillian, eventually became famous throughout the state as an educator and was responsible for improving the quality of education in the rural one- room schools in the county. In 1920 she became the first and only woman to be Manitowoc County’s Superintendent of Schools. (Interestingly, the first Manitowoc County Superintendent of Schools for the county in 1858 was B.J. Van Velkenberg, son-in-law of Daniel Smith, founder of our village.) A number of books have been written on outstanding northeastern Wisconsin women and Lillian is included in them. She married George Schmidt Sr. in 1926 and together they had one son, George A. Schmidt Jr. Lillian died in 1960.