South Washington Street Historic District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

From the record

“The South Washington Street Historic District is a residential historic district located in Watertown, Wisconsin. The district includes 39 buildings, 32 of which are considered contributing buildings to its historic character.”
Wikipedia article South Washington Street Historic District (Watertown, Wisconsin), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 52 National Register listings published here for Jefferson County · listed in 2003 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

Address. Odd numbered 201-309 S. Church St. and S. Washington St. from Emmet St. to West St., Watertown, 53094
When was it listed? November 2003
Category. district
City. Watertown city
National Register reference number. 03001220 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

16 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 16 fires within 5 miles of South Washington Street Historic District between 2018 and 2020, burning about 6 acres in total. 2 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	8
Debris and open burning	5
Natural	2
Equipment and vehicle use	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
5 August 2018	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	33
30 August 2019	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	1901800
20 August 2020	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	2001619
15 June 2018	Natural	1.0 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	1801158
30 May 2018	Natural	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	1801057
7 April 2019	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	13
30 April 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	1800842
29 April 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	1804119

Every fire recorded in Jefferson County

Mines and quarries near this property

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of South Washington Street Historic District: 4 unknowns, 1 producer, 1 past producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Schmidt Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Martin Kaddatz Gravel Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Sherwood Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
City of Watertown Quarry	Stone	Unknown
Own Crews	Stone	Unknown
Watertown Quarry	Stone	Unknown

Every working recorded in Jefferson County

Storms near this property

47 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Watertown, the town this property stands in, in 47 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 17 thunderstorm wind, 15 hail, 6 lightning, 5 flash flood. The reports record 2 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 1996	Flash Flood	Watertown	1 hurt, $400,000	no account filed
July 2003	Lightning	Watertown	1 hurt	no account filed
May 2001	Hail	Watertown	$300,000	no account filed
July 2010	Flash Flood	Watertown	$150,000	Training thunderstorms produced 3 to 5 inches of rain in two hours or less across mainly the northern two-thirds of the county. Many roads were rendered impassable for a time due to the heavy downpours. Localized flooding of roads and some basements, with damage to contents, were reported by the county emergency manager in Waterloo, Watertown, Lake Mills, Jefferson, Ixonia and Johnson Creek. STH 19 was closed east of Watertown due to high water over the road. Some storm total rainfall reports include 5.45 inches at Palmyra; 4.97 inches in Milford; 4.70 inches at the National Weather Service office in Sullivan; and 4.59 inches in Waterloo.
July 2005	Lightning	Watertown	$100,000	no account filed
May 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	$50,000	Numerous trees and power lines were reported blown down by damaging thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 56 knots in a swath from 2 miles south of Watertown to Watertown. A tree fell on a home, with minimal damage reported by firefighters responding to the scene. The winds blew over a shed that damaged fencing, a viewing platform and a horse trailer at the Avalon Therapeutic Equestrian Center. Damage in the area totaled $50,000 dollars.
June 1997	Flood	Watertown	$50,000	no account filed
April 2026	Flash Flood	Watertown	$40,000	Flash flooding of streets in Watertown. A few stranded vehicles across the city. A 3 to 4 foot sinkhole occurred due to the floodwaters.
June 2010	Flash Flood	Watertown	$25,000	Three to five inches of rain fell with a severe thunderstorm complex that crossed southern Wisconsin. Many streets were flooded in Watertown where a measured 3.25 inches of rain fell in 4 hours. Law enforcement officials closed Industrial Road in Ixonia due to flooding. Water depths on some roads reached 1 to 3 feet. A few gravel shoulder washouts on country roads were reported.
May 2000	Flash Flood	Watertown	$25,000	no account filed
August 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	$20,000	no account filed
July 1997	Lightning	Watertown	$15,000	no account filed
May 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	$10,000	Multiple trees and powerlines down throughout Watertown. The combination of winds and heavy rains caused an old brick building to partially collapse.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	$10,000	The Jefferson County Emergency Manager reported trees and power lines were blown down in Watertown from damaging thunderstorm wind gusts that were estimated up to 60 mph (52 knots).
July 1997	Lightning	Watertown	$5,000	no account filed
June 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	$2,000	no account filed
July 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	$1,000	no account filed
July 2005	Lightning	Watertown	$1,000	no account filed
May 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	$1,000	no account filed
May 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	$1,000	no account filed
April 2026	Hail	Watertown	-	Public report of 1.25 inch diameter hail in Watertown.
April 2026	Hail	Watertown	-	Trained spotter reports 1.75 inch diameter hail in Watertown.
April 2026	Hail	Watertown	-	Public report of 1 inch diameter hail in Watertown.
August 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	-	Large tree down along West St. in Watertown. Winds estimated at 60 mph. Pea size hail also occurred.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	-	A trained spotter reported a severe thunderstorm wind gust estimated at 60 mph (52 knots).
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	-	A tree two and one half feet in diameter blew down partially blocking the intersection of Highway 26 and Milwaukee Street in Watertown. Time estimated from radar.
October 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	-	Powerful thunderstorm winds knocked down large trees.
July 2004	Tornado (F0)	Watertown	-	A weak F0 tornado (40 to 45 mph) briefly spun up 3.4 miles southwest of Watertown and produced no damage. Specifically, it spun up about one-half mile west of STH 26 in the center of an area bounded by CTH Y, Ebenezer Rd., and High Rd.
April 2023	Hail	Watertown	-	no account filed
May 2018	Hail	Watertown	-	no account filed
July 2017	Hail	Watertown	-	no account filed
May 2015	Hail	Watertown	-	no account filed
May 2012	Hail	Watertown	-	no account filed
May 2011	Hail	Watertown	-	no account filed
June 2008	Hail	Watertown	-	no account filed
April 2007	Hail	Watertown	-	no account filed
October 2006	Hail	Watertown	-	no account filed
May 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	-	no account filed
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	-	no account filed
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	-	no account filed
August 2002	Flood	Watertown	-	no account filed
May 2000	Hail	Watertown	-	no account filed
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	-	no account filed
August 1998	Funnel Cloud	Watertown	-	no account filed
April 1996	Lightning	Watertown	-	no account filed
August 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Watertown	-	no account filed
August 1995	Hail	Watertown	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Jefferson County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Beals and Torrey Shoe Co. Building	0.1 miles	1984
Albert F. Solliday House	0.2 miles	2003
Saint Bernard's Chruch Complex	0.2 miles	2003
St. Paul's Episcopal Church	0.2 miles	1979
Fuermann, August, Jr., and Eliza, House	0.2 miles	1989
Brandt House	0.3 miles	2008

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 03001220 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Jefferson County	All 52 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.