Morris Cutler House

In May of 1834, Morris Cutler and his brother Alonzo arrived in what would become Waukesha along with two others. Two years after the Cutler's arrival, the Native American tribes formaly lost title to the land and were removed by the Federal Army. Although he briefly returned to Indiana for the winter of 1834-5, Cutler remained in Waukesha until his death on January 22, 1897. During his life he contributed to the development of the settlement on several different occasions. Originally Cutler lived in a log claim shanty, but he built his house when he married Miss Ruth Head in 1845. Perhaps Cutler built such an impressive house to showcase the wealth that he had earned from the selling of his land. 

Cutler’s claim was originally sized at 160 acres; see the Google maps image above to see his approximate holdings. Throughout his life he sold or donated parcels of land, which helped further develop the area and the community. In 1840, Cutler leased land to Lyman Goodnow who opened the county’s first official limestone quarry on the land where schneider stadium now stands. This was one of the first introductions of industry into the area. The quarry attracted workers and the railroads to Prarie Village (now Waukesha).

Cutler supported education in the area when he donated land for Union School (now the Les Paul Middle School campus) in 1850 and when he donated the land for Carroll College in 1853. Institutions for higher learning are important for the development of an area, and Carroll College was the first four year, post-secondary institution in the state. Cutler also made a brief attempt at politics in 1876 when he ran for the position of village president against Col. Richard Dunbar. Cutler lost the election by a narrow margin.

Many of the early advancments in Waukesha's development occured on land that was leased, sold, or donated by Cutler. Selling and donating his land gradually decreased the size of Cutlers claim down to the area of Cutler Park. In 1902 the city bought the last of the land and made Cutler Park, the house was then moved to its current address on Central Ave.

HNTB, "Intensive Survey Form: Cutler Morris House," State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Survey submitted February 10, 1982, https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/83004330_text

Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, Morris Cutler House, Waukesha, Waukesha, Wisconsin, 16788.