118
Era H. and Harriet Grout Gerard
1886

E. H. Gerard was born in Canada in 1850. His lumber firm, Gerard & Farrington, moved to Stoughton fromGrand Rapids, Michigan. When the house was under construction, the Stoughton Courier Hub followed its progress. At its completion, the newspaper noted that it was one of the “handsomest on the street.”

Era and Harriet Grout were married in 1872 and adopted three children. Gerard was later the Vice President of Stoughton Light and Fuel. The property remained in the Gerard family for more than 75 years.

133
Ole O. and Marie Forton
1885

This house occupied a corner of Ole O. Forton’s Page Street farm until about 1912, when the land was divided and a number of new houses were erected nearby. Forton Street bears the family’s name.

The nansard-roofed tower is a distinctive feature of the Italianate design. Norwegian born Ole Forton was a Stoughton dry goods dealer. Ole and Marie’s son Oscar J., who served as a Fourth Ward alderman, continued as a clothing dealer in the firm of Forton and Eriksmoen.

124
Andrew F. and Thea Olay Scheldrup
1882

The Scheldrup House is a good example of the Italianate style. With its rectangular plan, three-bay façade, and hipped roof, it is typical of houses built in Stoughton in the 1870s and 1880s.

Andreq F. Scheldrup was born in Norway in 1846. He came to Stoughton in 1866. After working for local druggist C.J. Melaas, he began his own drugstore in 1879. He married Thea (Severena) Olay in 1872. Their sons Clarence and Sidney also became pharmacists.

River scenes: Looking up the yahara from the forton Street bridge in 2000. The first bridge at this point was built about 1900.

134
George and Ann Parish
1882

An ornate Italianate bay embellishes the south side of this vernacular house. It was among the first houses constructed on North Page Street.

George Parish (1821-1895) was born in Oxfordshire,England. He arrived in Stoughton in 1851 and farmed by nearby for nearly thirty years. He built two other houses in the area, at 110 N. Prairie St. (1885) and 135 N. Prairie (1891). George and Ann Parish had seven children.

After George’s death, the extended family of Eunicy Tipple, her daughter, Linnea Carr, and grandchildren were the next long-term residents of the house.

George Parish’s residence in the First Ward is nearing completed, as fine a residence as there is in the city.
Stoughton Courier Hub, June 14, 1882