George and Catherine Fox House, “Fox Hall”

George and Catherine Fox House, “Fox Hall”

George and Catherine Fox House, “Fox Hall” Photograph by Jeff Dean, courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society
1856. 5183 County Rd. M. Not visible from the street

George Fox emigrated with his parents from Ireland in the 1830s. Their cluster of family farmsteads, among Fitchburg’s first, came to be known as the “Fox Settlement.” George and Catherine built this handsome two-story sandstone house on a wooded site of more than five acres. Family tradition holds that a local Irish mason was the primary builder. The locally quarried light-brown sandstone is laid in regular courses at the front and in an irregular pattern at the sides and rear, an economical construction method common during the nineteenth century. The Greek Revival style reveals itself in the symmetrical facade, prominent entrance, full-length porch with simple square columns, and attic windows along the frieze.

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