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John P. and Mary Runkel House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.

From the record

“Fox River Station ; born on the left bank of the Rhine, between the cities of Bingen and Mentz, in Germany, Oct. 7, 1827 ; he is the son of Anthony and Susan Runkel ; his father was bom in Germany in 1788 ; in 1805, he went as a substitute in the army for his brother under Qen. Bonaparte, under whom he served gallantly ; during their service in Russia the soldiers suffered severe exposure to the extreme frost; many of them had their limbs severely frost-bitten, of whom he was one ; other soldiers were frosen to death.”

The History of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin .. (1879). Machine-read text.

One of 25 National Register listings published here for Kenosha County · listed in 2020 · category: Building.

Sources: the county history on the Internet Archive · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Listed as. Runkel, John P. and Mary, House - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
  • Address. 33301 Geneva Rd., Wheatland, 53105
  • When was it listed? March 2020
  • Category. building
  • Town. Wheatland town
  • National Register reference number. 100005013 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

The ground it stands on

7,323 words

The chapter on Wheatland Town in The History of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin .., published 1879 names Wheatland. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.

JOHN DYEB, farmer, Sec. 30; P. 0. Burlington; was bom in -Shelby Co., Ind., in 1840; came to Wisconsin in 1852. Married, in 1863, Miss C. A. Bunth ; she was born in Wheatland. Tliej have two children living ; have lost one. Mrs. Dyer is a member of the Free>Will Baptist Chnrdi. Mr. I)yer owns 130 acres of land.

Passage source: The History of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin .., published 1879.

HERHAIV EPPINO, farmer, Sec. 10 ; P. 0. Wheatland ; bom in Munster Province of Weetphalia, Prussia, February, 1826. Came to Wisconsin in 11^54 ; located in Wheatland Township ; engaged at farming. Married, in September, 1854, in Burlington, Miss Adelaide Arning, who was born in Holland in February, 1826. They have had ten children, seven are living - Henry, born in July, 1855 ; Mary, March, 1859; Joseph, February, 1861; Herman, October, 1865; Elizabeth, -January, 1866; Benaid, March, 1867 ; Anna, June, 1870. In 1857, Mr. Epping bought a farm consisting of 120 acres of good land, which he has nicely improved. A few years ago, he bought an addition of forty acres, sold off eight acres. He now owns altogether 152 acres of land in one farm. Members of the Wheatland Catholic Church.

Passage source: The History of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin .., published 1879.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Wheatland Town - 7,323 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.

Fires near this property

15 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 15 fires within 5 miles of John P. and Mary Runkel House between 2010 and 2020, burning about 98 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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/undetermined9
Debris and open burning4
Arson/incendiarism1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
1 June 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources62
30 May 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources667
19 May 2018Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources44
4 April 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2000370
30 April 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources857
2 April 2010Equipment and vehicle use80 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 March 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources42
8 March 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources307

Every fire recorded in Kenosha County

Mines and quarries near this property

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of John P. and Mary Runkel House: 3 past producers, 1 occurrence, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: 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.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Bassett Sand DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrence
Burlington PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Fischer PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Hillard PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Powers Lake Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Kenosha County

Storms near this property

15 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wheatland, the town this property stands in, in 15 storm reports between 1999 and 2023: 9 flood, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2007HailWheatland$200,000Large hail up to 1 inch in diameter coated the ground white from Wheatland to Paddock Lake. In this swath, at least 600 acres of corn, soybean, and hay were severely damaged.
August 2007Flash FloodWheatland$100,000Several rounds of thunderstorms with heavy rains on top of a saturated ground resulted in flash flooding from the Sturtevant area into the city of Racine. STH 50 between STH 75 and STH 83 was closed in several spots due to water depths of 3 to 5 feet. Some local residents indicated that this was the highest water levels they've ever seen. The Fox River and Des Plains river exceeded flood stage. Sandbagging occurred and a berm was built in Wheatland. At least a couple dozen homes had water damage to basement contents, or sewage backups. Some soil erosion and crop damage were noted in the area.||August, 2007, rainfall totals include: 11.50 in Kenosha, 10.78 at the Kenosha Airport, 9.96 in Paddock Lake, and 12.18 in Twin Lakes.
May 1999Thunderstorm WindWheatland$38,000no account filed
March 2007FloodWheatland$25,000The Fox River at New Munster (Kenosha Co.) went more than 2 feet above flood stage, and remained above flood stage for the longest period of time (compared to other rivers in south-central and southeast Wisconsin) - from March 12th through March 29th. Low-land river flooding along the Fox River in western Kensoha County resulted in some minor damage to contents in basements of homes and some soil erosion. At the New Munster gage site, the river crested at 12.34 feet at 0245CST on March 15th, 2.34 inches over flood stage.
February 2023FloodWheatland$5,000The Fox River near New Munster reached minor flood stage the morning of February 28th and continued until March 8th. Floodwaters surrounded a home at the intersection of Highway 50 and Highway W in the Town of Wheatland. Water was about 8 inches deep over 77th Street in the Town of Wheatland area. Water is in the backyards of some homes in the Village of Salem Lakes and Town of Wheatland areas.
June 2013FloodWheatland$5,000The river gauge on the Fox River at New Munster remained above flood stage from the afternoon of June 25th into July. The river experienced minor flooding, cresting at 12.79 feet at 1030 AM CDT on June 28th, which is 2.79 feet above flood stage.
March 2013FloodWheatland$5,000The Fox River near New Munster crested at 11.94 feet, 1.94 feet above flood stage, at 9 am CDT on March 13th.
April 2013FloodWheatland$5,000The Fox River at New Munster went into major flood, cresting at 14.5 feet, or 4.5 feet over the flood stage of 10 feet, at 1245 AM CDT on April 20th.The rier remained above flood stage into May.
September 2012Thunderstorm WindWheatland$5,000Law enforcement officials reported trees were blown down by damaging thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 52 knots (60 mph) along a Wheatland to Paris line.
March 2008FloodWheatland$2,000The Fox River at New Munster rose above flood stage early on March 3rd and finally went below flood stage on March 9th. It crested at 12.01 feet at 1750 CST on March 4th, or 2.01 feet over flood stage. The typical bottom-land flooding occurred. A couple homes sustained water damage to their basement contents. Many other rivers and streams in south-central and southeast Wisconsin rose to near bankfull or almost flood stage during the period of March 3rd-9th. Additionally, many of the same rivers would rise above flood stage during the March 21st-23rd period and remain above flood stage into April, 2008.
February 2019FloodWheatland$1,000The Fox River near New Munster reached minor flood stage, cresting at 11.66 feet the early afternoon of February 7th. Water surrounds a home near the intersection of Highway 50 and Highway W in the Town of Wheatland area. Water is in the back yards of some homes in the Village of Salem Lakes and Town of Wheatland areas. Floodwaters are about 6 inches deep over 77th Street in the Town of Wheatland area.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindWheatland$1,000Several tree branches down in the Wheatland area.
March 2019FloodWheatland$1,000The Fox River at New Munster reached moderate flood stage, cresting at 13.38 feet the afternoon of March 15th. Floodwaters are into the lower levels of some homes in the Town of Wheatland and Village of Salem Lakes along Riverside Drive and Shorewood Drive. Deep water is over a portion of 77th St. in the Town of Wheatland.
March 2023FloodWheatland-The Fox River at New Munster reached minor flood stage. Floodwaters were up to the first floors of some homes in the Town of Wheatland and Village of Salem Lakes along Shorewood Drive and Riverside Drive.
April 2014HailWheatland-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Kenosha 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.

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 100005013 in Record Group 79.
Kenosha CountyAll 25 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.