Celebrations Take Center Stage in the Kenosha Area in 2011

Kenosha, WI  (February 23, 2011) – Travelers to Southeast Wisconsin this year will discover friendly faces celebrating in the Kenosha Area. Located on the Lake Michigan shore, fulfilled dreams from Kenosha’s past will be celebrated in the here and now. How an Italian immigrant seeking a better way of life for his family founded a successful soda fountain and gift shop, now 100 years old. How visionary citizens worked during the Great Depression to establish an art and historical museum. 75 years later, a popular museum - that spawned an entire museum campus - is celebrated. And how a very influential pioneer, businessman, politician and patron of the arts made his home along the lakeshore - a pristinely preserved Victorian mansion that is now 150 years old and open to the public. This is the Kenosha Area. Then. And Now. 

Durkee Mansion, located on the lush Kemper Center grounds in Kenosha’s Third Avenue National Register Historic District, is celebrating its 150th anniversary. Listed on the national register of historic places and set along the breathtaking shore of Lake Michigan, Wisconsin senator Charles Durkee built the home in 1861. The stunning cream-brick, Italianate Victorian home retains its historic charm, complete with period décor. One of its most striking features is its suspension stairway; the largest stairway of its type in Wisconsin.

In 1865, Senator Durkee gifted the home and its property to the Kenosha Female Seminary and eventually it became an Episcopal girl’s school run by the Sisters of St. Mary. Over the next 100 years, the campus grew to include several buildings including a chapel, auditorium, and classrooms and is known today as Kemper Center. The Durkee Mansion is open for free self-guided tours Saturdays and Sundays from April through October and during select special events such as Christmas at Kemper. Celebratory events are being planned that will take you back in time, including Dining at Durkee, Passport to Kemper, and a vintage inspired baseball game. (6501 Third Avenue, 262-657-6005, www.kempercenter.com)

Family owned since opening in 1911, Andrea’s is still a Kenosha landmark after 100 years. The shop features classic gifts, jewelry and accessories, and indulgences for bath and body. It also includes an award-winning cigar shop, historic soda fountain cafe and a hometown corner with nostalgic toys and mementos. It was at Andrea’s that the rippling process in fudge-ripple ice cream was invented. But long before then, the Andrea’s family story is much like others of Italian immigrants seeking a better way of life in the small towns and big cities of America. Arriving from the Italian province of Calabria to Kenosha in 1905, family legend has it that Giacomo “Jack” Andrea’s first “store” was actually a piano crate from which he sold tobacco, candies and newspapers to nearby factory workers on a Kenosha corner. It was successful enough to enable Jack and his brothers to have an actual storefront nearby within a few years time.

For the first fifty years Andrea’s claim to fame was its candy selection and legendary homemade ice cream at the marble soda fountain in Jack’s Café at Andrea’s. Stop in today and you’ll find the same soda fountain still in place – the only original soda fountain in continuous operation in southeast Wisconsin. Over the past fifty years, Andrea’s has introduced premium cigars, a candy and gourmet department, nostalgic toys, and exquisite accessories and jewelry. Andrea’s plans a Centennial Year worth celebrating. (2401 60th Street, 262-657-7732, www.andreasgifts.com)

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Kenosha Public Museum, a natural sciences and fine and decorative arts museum. Visionary citizens worked to establish the Kenosha Art and Historical Museum during the early years of the Great Depression. The U.S. Post Office building was painstakingly moved several blocks to create a physical home for this dream. Collections from around the world were donated, and what soon became known as the Kenosha Public Museum quickly grew to include travelogues, children's programs and high quality exhibits. Over time, generations have come to rely on the Museum for enrichment, education, and entertainment. Accredited by the American Association of Museums, it hosts world-class exhibitions and boasts a permanent collection of more than 90,000 natural science, history and art artifacts and specimens.

In 2001, the Museum moved ten blocks away to a new, state-of-the-art facility overlooking Lake Michigan. In the past ten years, the museum has become part of a museum campus with the Civil War Museum rising next door, and the Dinosaur Discovery Museum moving into the Kenosha Public Museum’s old digs. Several events are planned this year to commemorate the special anniversary, including a museums crawl via streetcar on Friday, July 15 and a Museum-athon: 75 hours of museum programming Aug. 19-22 at the Kenosha Public Museum. (5500 First Avenue, 262-653-4140, www.kenoshapublicmuseum.org)

As 2011 unfolds, more celebrations will be unveiled. The Civil War Museum kicks off its Civil War Sesquicentennial commemoration on April 16 with the Grand Union Ball. The commemoration will span across the coming years. Petrifying Springs Golf Course, Kenosha County’s oldest public golf course, will be rolling out its own big anniversary celebration as its 75th season opens this spring. All are invited to join the revelry in the Kenosha Area – where we acknowledge our past and embrace our present.

During this year of celebration, stay informed with the Kenosha Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, who for twenty five years now has had its finger on the pulse of all there is to see and do in the community. For more information about the Kenosha Area, including event information and a 2011 Kenosha Area Visitors Guide, log on to www.kenoshacvb.com or call the KACVB at (262) 654-7307 or (800) 654-7309. The Visitors Guide is also available by visiting a Kenosha Area Visitor Information Center. The I-94 location is at I-94 & Hwy. 165 East Exit 347, while the Downtown Kenosha location is at 812 - 56th St.

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