You can feel the history as you walk around the Astor Street neighborhood in Green Bay.
The neighborhood was designated a Historic District in 1980 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Perhaps the best-known structure in the neighborhood is Hazelwood, a great example of Greek Revival architecture, built overlooking the Fox River in 1837.
Hazelwood served as the home to three generations of the Martin family -- a political and culture force in the city and state for 100 years. Morgan Martin, a prominent attorney and civic leader, bought the land on which Hazelwood is built from John Jacob Astor in 1837.
Martin was elected president of the state convention, which drafted the Wisconsin constitution in 1848 and helped lay the foundation for statehood. He later served in Congress.
Elizabeth Martin, Morgan's wife, wrote about life in early Wisconsin. Deborah Beaumont Martin, the youngest child of Morgan and Elizabeth, was the head librarian of the Kellogg Public Library for 30 years and along with her sister, Sarah, and Ella Hoes Neville, authored, "Historic Green Bay," one of the first written accounts of the settlement.
Hazelwood sits on its original site. It has 10 rooms, filled with art and artifacts. It was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1964 and purchased by the Brown County Historical Society in 1989. Tours of Hazelwood are conducted May through August.
The historic attraction to the Astor Street neighborhood does not stop with Hazelwood. Indian burial grounds can be found along Grignon Street.
French fur trader cabins, dating back to 1745, were located along what now is Adams Street. Charles de Langlade, the first permanent white settler in Wisconsin, made his home in the district in 1765.
In 1797, Pierre Grignon built the first grist mill in Wisconsin on Madison Street. The first Catholic and Presbyterian churches in the state were located in the Astor Street area.
The neighborhood is named Astor for a good reason. In 1835, John Jacob Astor platted Town of Astor. That town united with the Town of Navarino to form the Borough of Green Bay in 1838.
As the borough developed, an area known as "The Hill" in the Astor district became a place for many of the finest homes in the community.
The first electric street car ran along Webster Avenue in the neighborhood. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a great deal of construction occurred in the area.
From 1955 until the late 60s, many of the original homes were converted to apartment buildings. Then, in the 1970s, many young couples started to move into the neighborhood and restore the buildings to single family homes.
The Astor Neighborhood Association was formed in 1974, and a comprehensive plan was developed for the district in 1975. That eventually led to the historic designations.
You can view many of the old Victorian homes by strolling through the neighborhood. The Astor House is a fine B&B within the district and provides a good example of the Victorian homes built during the neighborhood's hey day.
The stick-style Victorian home was built by local attorney F. Adolph Watermolen in 1888. Major remodeling was done at the turn of the century by the home's most famous resident, Dr. Julius J. Bellin, M.D.
Bellin was a prominent physician and surgeon in Green Bay in the early 1900s. He founded Bellin Hospital and Bellin School of Nursing. The restoration of the home received the Mayor's Award in 1994 and it has been featured in many television reports, newspaper and magazine articles, and Bed & Breakfast guidebooks.
The Astor Street district is not the only historic district in Green Bay. Walking tours of the Historic Broadway District are offered. After decades of decline, the downtown district of the original Fort Howard (before merging with Green Bay in 1895) has returned to its original glory, becoming Green Bay's Mallternative. Very artsy and trendy, the district features unique shopping, diverse dining and economical housing.
Just south of town, along Highway 172, you can tour the Heritage Hill State Historical Park, a 48-acre living historical education center. Beautifully nestled on the banks of the Fox River, Heritage Hill brings history to life for thousands of visitors annually. The park has been featured in a previous Beyond Milwaukee column.
Of course, you can go back to history before white men even came to the area at the Oneida Nation Museum. That facility also was profiled in a previous "Beyond."
