324
First Universalist Church
1858
S.V.Shipman, architect

The Universalist congregation chose Milwaukee cream brick for their Greek Revival style church.  The low-pitched gable roof still has a full pediment across the gable end, and the steeple is decorated with pilasters and an entablature. The exterior is decorated with shallow pilasters.

The Universalist congregation held their first services in Stoughton in a schoolhouse. This building cost $4,000 to erect. It was in use until the 1940s and 1950s. In 1962, the Stoughton Historical Society Museum was established here.

Architect Stephen V. Shipman (1805-1905) was a native of Pennsylvania, where he learned the builder’s trade from his father. After superintending the construction of a number of buildings, he moved to Chicago and in 1855 to Madison, where he opened an architectural office.  Among his early commissions in Madison was the Central State Hospital for the Insane, begun in 1857.  He remained in Madison until the early 1870s and then returned to Chicago, where he was involved in the reconstruction of the city after the great fire of 1871.

511
John and Emma Evans
1889

Look for the richly decorated two-story bay decorated with pilasters and single-light sashes, and an octagonal oriel.  The main entrance is covered with a porch decorated with elaborate Queen Anne style millwork, including a carved frieze, large brackets, and turned posts.  The carriage house at the rear of the property echoes the details of the house.

John Evans, a Stoughton lumber dealer, and his wife, Emma, were natives of Wisconsin.
 

500
First Lutheran Church Parsonage
1884

The former First Lutheran Church Parsonage is a hipped-roof italianate style house which occupies a prominent corner in the historic district. Local histories state that many marriages were performed in the parlor. It was used as a parsonage until 1941.

A fine porch spans the first-story facade. It has slender turned posts decorated with delicate brackets. The balustrade is composed of spool-and-spindle posts.  This type of hipped-roof, square-plan Italianate house was popular with builders on the southwest side, especially as seen on W. South Street.

516
Stoughton-Falk
1856, 1890

Part of this cream brick house was built by town founder Luke Stoughton. It originally had a Greek Revival main block with two large wings. The wings were removed when remodeled by the Falk family, who resided here for much of the twentieth century.  The 1890 changes included elaborate window mouldings, picturesque porches, and a Queen Anne style bay window.  Luke Stoughton died in 1874 and his wife, Eliza, in 1891.

Ole Nelson Falk was born in Norway in 1841 and emigrated to the U.S. as a child. Ole became the owner of Falk Brothers Drug Store, and was also an organizer of the Dane County Bank. He was married to Mary J. Gjerde, a Dane County native. The house remained in the ownership of the Falk family until 1984.