Waukesha Biota

Waukesha ( WAW-ki-shaw) is the seat of government of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Its population was 71,158 at the 2020 census, making it the seventh-most populous city in Wisconsin. The city is adjacent to the Village of Waukesha.

First Baptist Church is an American Baptist Church in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The church was designed by E. Townsend Mix in the Gothic architecture style and was built in 1872. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 28, 1983, for its architectural significance.Baptists first met in Waukesha in 1836 in Nathaniel Walton's cabin. In 1844 they built their first dedicated church building on the site of this later church. In 1871 it was moved to make space for this building.Mix designed a rectangular main block with walls of rock-faced stone, pointed-arch windows, and buttresses lining the walls. On the front corner stands a tall tower and steeple set diagonally. The main entrance is through that corner tower. A rose window decorates the end with the tower.

On November 21, 2021, Darrell E. Brooks Jr. drove a sport utility vehicle (SUV) through the annual Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States, killing six people and injuring sixty-two others.Brooks pleaded not guilty to six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and seventy-one additional charges, and chose to represent himself at his trial, which began on October 3, 2022. Brooks presented pseudolegal arguments from the sovereign citizen movement and was repeatedly removed from the courtroom for failing to comply with decorum and courtesy. On October 26, 2022, a jury found Brooks guilty on all seventy-six charges. On November 16, 2022, he was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 762.5 years, to be served consecutively.

First German Reformed Church was a historic church built in 1891 at 413 Wisconsin Avenue in Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. The 1891 building burned to the ground in 2005. First German's congregation began in 1866, when Prof. H. Kurtz, a missionary from Germany, organized the Erste Deutsche Reformite Kirche (First German Reformed Church) among the German-speaking immigrants in Waukesha. By 1880 the congregation had grown to 190 communicants and was worshiping in a large stone structure built in 1840 to house the Prairieville Academy, which had moved on to become Carroll College. By 1890 First German had outgrown its building, so they decided to tear it down and build a new church on the same site.The floor-plan of the 1891 building was a 39 by 71 foot rectangular. The walls were wood frame clad in cream brick, on a raised foundation of rock-faced Waukesha limestone blocks. The walls were broken by tall round-arched windows, and separated into bays by pilasters in the brick. At the center of the north end stood a large rectangular tower, with the church's main entrance originally at its bottom. The first stage of the tower was brick, the second stage was a wood-sided lantern, and the third stage was an ornate belfry and steeple, topped with a cross. The style was High Victorian eclectic, with the symmetry and vertical lines drawn from Gothic Revival style, the rustic foundation and round arches from Romanesque Revival style, and the pilasters perhaps from Greek Revival. The architect is unknown. This 1891 building cost $8000.Inside, two rows of pews faced the altar at the south end. Walls were plastered, with wooden wainscoting at the base. Space inside the nave rose to the collar beams, which supported a flat ceiling.Services were conducted entirely in German until around WWI, when they shifted to both German and English. Gradually, use of the German language dwindled.In 1924–25, an annex (chapel) was added east of the nave to handle membership that had grown to 716. H.C. Haeuser of Milwaukee designed it to match the 1891 building, with a bit of Tudor Revival style added - yet another style. At the same time, Haeuser directed renovations inside the old nave.First German added a Wangerin-Weickhardt pipe organ in the early 1900s. In the late 1940s the congregation bought a house at the corner of Wisconsin and Maple for a new parsonage, and the old parsonage was converted to a parish house, and the old garage to a youth cottage. By the 1950s membership passed 1000, and in 1956 a modern-styled brick educational building and new vestibule entry replaced the old parsonage.In 1934, First German's denomination merged with other similar denominations into the Evangelical and Reformed Church, and First German Reformed Church changed its name to First Evangelical and Reformed Church of Waukesha. In 1956 the parent denomination merged with others to become the United Church of Christ, and the Waukesha congregation again changed its name, to Evangelical and Reformed United Church of Christ.In December 2005 a fire destroyed the old 1891 building. Little was left, so the congregation built a new church on the same site.

St. Matthias Episcopal Church is a Gothic Revival-styled limestone-clad church built from 1851 to 1855 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. It was built by St. Matthias parish of the Episcopal Church, now in the Diocese of Milwaukee, and is the oldest church building in Waukesha that survives basically intact.The Waukesha congregation began in 1839 or 1840 when Rev. Lemuel B. Hull of St. Paul's in Milwaukee walked out into the wilds to conduct the first Episcopal services there. In 1843 those early Episcopalians built a little chapel on Barstow Street. In 1844 the parish was formally organized with the Rev. James Lloyd Breck as the first rector. Breck was invited to choose the patron saint of the church. In 1848 Rev. James Abercrombie became rector.In 1851 the parish began constructing the large limestone-clad building that still stands today. The cornerstone was laid that year with initial pledges of $1,000, but that proved insufficient, and Rev. Abercrombie had to go back east for $4,000 more for the building. The building's style is Gothic Revival, with its emphasis on the vertical clear in the spire and the pointed arches topping the windows and doorways. The walls are of local limestone, dressed, and randomly coursed. The main entrance is through the corner tower. The tower is square, with the lower parts flanked by diagonal buttresses, and the top capped with a spire that rises to a cross.A side-chapel was added to the building in 1887, built by Eales and Dresden.On October 28, 1983, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places as an exemplar of Gothic Revival style in Waukesha and for its fine stonework.

The Camillia Smith House is a Queen Anne-styled house built in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 1883. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and to the State Register of Historic Places in 1989.The house has many standard features of Queen Anne style: asymmetric design, corner tower, complex roof, and shingled wall surfaces to vary the textures.

The Arlington Apartments is a building in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA, built in 1928. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.It is a three-story red brick block with then-fashionable Tudor Revival style that is about 109 feet (33 m) by 46 feet (14 m). Tudor Revival was used for numerous houses in Waukesha, but this is the only Tudor Revival-style apartment building.It was built as an 18-unit apartment building costing $60,000 that was to provide elegant apartments with modern/luxurious amenities including central heating and incinerator, and shower baths and Frigidaire refrigerators in each apartment. It was designed by George Zagel and Brother architects of Milwaukee, hired by the developer James Mahler, a real estate agent in Milwaukee.

The Sen. William Blair House is located in Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.It was built for State Senator William Blair (1820-1880), who was a prominent businessman and politician. The house's historical significance derives from its association with Blair, as well as its contribution as an example of Italianate architecture in Waukesha. The exterior of the house is still an example of its style, though an addition was added in 1997, as well as a window replacement and other minor changes. The interior was significantly modified.The house has had several uses over the years. The property was deeded to the city in 1957 by Henry Blair. He was the Mayor of Waukesha in 1922. The city first leased the property to the Great Blue Heron Girl Scouts and then to Waukesha Memorial Hospital until 2013.In 2016 the Blair House was purchased by Bob and Lisa Salb from the city, after a Request for Proposal process that started in 2014. It was rezoned as residential and they are restoring the property as their home. The house and landscape are undergoing extensive restoration. The stained glass transom and sidelites were returned to the house and reinstalled with the porch door, found in the basement. The porch walls were reopened to the view from the Blair Hill, which overlooks downtown Waukesha. Suspended ceiling tiles have been removed, revealing tall ceilings with elaborate crown moulding. Under the commercial blue carpeting, quarter-sawn oak hardwood floors in the dining room and terracotta tiles in the sunroom were discovered. A hidden bathroom was found, with subway tiles under drywall on the walls and hex tiles on the floor. Outside many gardens have been added to the grounds, including a butterfly garden, hosta shade garden, and an orchard, connected by paths. After the restoration is complete and a conditional use permit is issued, the Salbs will open the property as the Spring City Bed and Breakfast at the Historic Blair House.

The Chicago and North Western Depot in Waukesha, Wisconsin is a railroad depot built in 1881 and operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway. It is a 1.5-story cream brick building and was originally built for a predecessor of the C&NW. Passenger train service to the Waukesha station ended on June 16, 1957, when trains No. 601 and 620 were discontinued between Milwaukee and Madison. The final train carried just 7 passengers.The depot now operates as a Mexican restaurant, La Estacion. Behind the building are five passenger cars, believed to have belonged to the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad. These serve as extra dining space. Two boxcars and a caboose sit in the front of the depot, however their origins remain unknown. The depot is located next to a Wisconsin and Southern Railroad mainline, with a junction connecting it and the Canadian National Railway's Waukesha Subdivision just to the east. The C&NW track west of WI 164 has since been removed.The depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 and on the State Register of Historic Places in 1994.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church Complex is located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The church building itself was built in 1888. On October 28, 1983, the complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural significance.St. Joseph's Parish was organized in 1842, the first Roman Catholic church in Waukesha. Solomon Juneau donated the first church building, which was a log cabin on the site of the current complex. In 1844 the parish built a stone church building, which has since served as a parish hall, school, and medical clinic. This 1844 building has been remodeled enough that it is not part of the NRHP nomination.In 1888 the parish began building a larger church building. Adolphus Druiding of Chicago designed it in High Victorian Gothic style, with its emphasis on the vertical. The exterior is rock-faced, randomly-coursed limestone, with multiple rose windows, lancet windows, and multiple gables and spires. Each gable is topped with a cross. The layout is asymmetric, with a large tower on one side of the main entrance, rising to a tall steeple topped with a cross.The Brown House is the other part of the complex that is part of the NRHP nomination. It was built around 1878, a two-story brick house with Greek Revival massing and Italianate details. It was originally the home of Martin Brown, a harness maker. The church later used the house as a convent.Both the church building and the Brown house were nominated to the NRHP for their architectural significance. They are some of the best surviving examples of their styles in Waukesha.

WCCX (104.5 FM) was a student-run college radio station licensed to Waukesha, Wisconsin, which served the Carroll University campus and area immediately surrounding it. It was owned by Carroll University. WCCX was also known as "The X" and "The voice of Carroll University," and played an eclectic mix typical of college radio, including music from both major label and independent artists. WCCX is also the only media outlet covering Carroll Pioneer athletic events. The original call sign for the station was to be WCCZ and the frequency 88.1 Mhz. This frequency was found to interfere with the audio of WITI TV channel 6 within the City of Waukesha whenever WCCZ broadcast. Shortly after this, Carroll College applied to change the license to 104.5 MHz and use the call sign WCCX. The station was a completely student run organization at the college. The WCCX studios were located in the lower level of the Carroll University "Campus Center" (student union) building. The Campus Center building also housed the antenna from which WCCX transmitted its 13 watt signal, which could be heard throughout most of the city of Waukesha. Upon leaving the city in any direction, WCCX's signal was overtaken by WSLD, a full-power commercial station broadcasting from Whitewater, 30 miles away. WCCX discontinued operation on May 31, 2022 at 4:30 PM. The university surrendered the station's license to the Federal Communications Commission on May 4, 2023, who cancelled it the same day.

Carroll University is a private university affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Established in 1846, Carroll was Wisconsin's first four-year institution of higher learning.