HISTORY
his Stately mansion was built by August and Mary (Schott) Westphal in 1913, on a triangular lot overlooking historic downtown Hartford. The English Tudor style home made of a Frank Loyed Wright style brick and stucco. The interior is finished with red oak and birch woodwork, plaster-carved moldings, a grand staircase, central vacuum, intercom system, a two car heated garage with (Hartford’s 1st car wash), and was heated with a state of the art hot water system. A three-foot deep concrete fountain was built in front of the mansion in 1917 on the front part of the property.
August Westphal was well known in the state and nationally as the “Cheese King” and one of the largest cheese manufacturers in Wisconsin. He owned and operated more than 50 cheese factories and built the condensery in Hartford. His brick cheese won many awards and scored highly at the Wisconsin State Fair, and was shipped abroad. In 1919, a large shipment of Swiss block cheese, consisting of 170,000 lbs., was sent to Norway. Condensed milk was shipped to England to be stored for use by the American Army, a quantity that would last that country for the next two years. Later, the condensery was sold to Kraft Cheese Company.
In 1917 Helen Lohr, R.N. of Hartford started the 1st hospital in the Kissel Boarding House. In 1919 Wilson Heights was purchased from John Etzel to start a new hospital. Mrs. August Westphal and Miss Jo Etzel operated the hospital until 1926 when it was sold to the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph. In 1970 ownership of the hospital was then transferred to the Hartford community.