Leopold Jochem Residence

Leopold Jochem is another interesting individual here in Cedarburg. The house that was his residence is now the Cedarburg Art Museum. His story is also another great example of the German immigrant experience to Wisconsin and the United States, the full history of this residence shows the immigrant experience here.

Leopold Jochem came to the United States in 1840, and originally lived in Mequon for a time. Before this however, being born in 1853, Jochem was one of twelve children in his family. When he was a teenager at sixteen years old, he came to Waupun, Wisconsin and learned how to be a Blacksmith and learn how to handle and sell carriages. In the village of Hamilton (Now today, a part of Cedarburg) Jochem would return to Cedarburg and acquire a firm from a merchant named Henry Hentschel. Establishing a business partnership, Hentschel and Jochem would establish a store in 1877. Leopold would marry his sweetheart, Mary Bodendoerfer in 1878 and would have four children together. Leopold was the owner of the grocery store and the general merchandise store. Leopold also for a time was a representative for American Express, he also was a postmaster for a couple of years where he used the storefront as a post office. Sadly, his business partner Henry would die in 1888. Even more sadly, his wife Mary would die in 1894.

After Wittenberg established the Woolen Mill, his daughter Johanna would eventually become the daughter-in-law of Fredrich Hilgen would helped her father establish the mill. Just like Leopold, Johanna would experience death and grief. Johanna's mother would die in 1888, years before Leopold's wife Mary died. Johanna would have to care for her siblings until they became independent. A year after Leopold's wife died, Leopold and Johanna would meet and marry each other in 1895. They would move into their residence in 1898 where it now stands today, and they would have a child named Mabel Johanna Gertrude Jochem in 1900 and had two sons as well. Seventeen to eighteen years later, Leopold would die of a stroke in 1917, his sons Albert and Edwin would help settle the estate and took up their father's business and the two brothers became business partners. Since the store would change its name many times, the brothers would own Jochem's Brother's Grocery. The store would close years later in 1946.

His residence is an enormous late-Victorian mansion in the town. Its diverse design incorporated many aspects of the Romanesque, Queen Anne, and Classical Revival fashions. The residence is built out of red pressed brick on a stone foundation and shows extravagantly ornamented styles, like lead potmetal and prism glass windows, with shingle siding and wooden molds that also feature sculptured terra cotta. This mansion is the largest of its kind here in Cedarburg. William Hilgen made the design for the building in 1898 for both Leopold and his daughter-in-law Johanna as a home for them.

Ross, Pat, Hepburn, Jill. History, Cedarburg Art Museum. Accessed April 22nd 2022. https://www.cedarburgartmuseum.org/our-story.

Zimmermann, H. Russell. The Heritage Guidebook: Landmarks And Historical Sites In Southeastern Wisconsin. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Heritage Banks, 1976. 194, 197.

Zimmermann, H. Russell. The Heritage Guidebook: Landmarks And Historical Sites In Southeastern Wisconsin/Highlights Of Historic Cedarburg. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Heritage Banks, 1976.

A Walk Through Yesterday: In Cedarburg, Wisconsin. 2005.

Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, Leopold E. Jochem House, Cedarburg, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, 13417.

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI13417