Walgreens to Replace Rare Wisconsin Cobblestone Barn

Story by Margaret Foster / Jan. 7, 2008

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The city has condemned the National Register-listed barn, and Walgreens plans to clear the site for a new store. (Steve Frevert)

This could be the last winter for a 19th-century cobblestone buildings in southeast Wisconsin.

Last month, the owner of the 1846 structure sold the site to Walgreens for a new store in Beloit, Wisc. The city issued a condemnation order to owner Mark Finnegan on Nov. 29, three weeks before the Dec. 18 sale, saying it was unsafe and too expensive to repair.

"The status of this special building always concerned me," says Steve Frevert, former chair of the Beloit landmarks commission. "Southeast Wisconsin has the only significant concentration of settlement-era cobblestone buildings outside of New York State. The city of Beloit has less than half a dozen left. I believe this is the only non-residential cobblestone building in the region."

Finnegan bought the barn in 1996 and has used it for storage for his family's recreational-vehicle company.

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