Knapp House

Built 1855, for Brigadier-General Julius T. White (1816-1890), when it was jokingly referred to as "The White House". Construction had started in 1854 on a plot of land that had belonged to Mrs White's brother-in-law, James Duane Doty (1799-1865), 2nd Governor of Wisconsin Territory. Later occupants included George Patten Delaplaine (1814-1895) and after him Senator Joseph Gilbert Thorp Sr. (1812-1895), President of the Eau Clair Lumber Company. Thorp's son, Joseph Jr., married the youngest daughter of the celebrated poet and educator, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). In 1882, Jeremiah McLain Rusk (1830-1893), 15th Governor of Wisconsin, purchased the house from the Thorps and three years later the State of Wisconsin paid $20,000 to make it the official governor's mansion, as it would remain until it was replaced by the present day Wisconsin Governor's Mansion