Historical and Architectural Resources Survey
Village of Thiensville                                                      Page 51
cottages on the upper Milwaukee River. Good hotel accommodations and good transportation
combined with the well known beauty ofthe village, tend to make Thiensville one of the most popular
resorts of the state.81
While many did build summer cottages, significant numbers of these tourists would stay at the
village's hotels including the popular Memmler's Hotel, which was constructed in 1886 (and added
on to between 1892-93) by Frederick G. Memmler. In 1910, it was purchased by Gerhard Aussem
and the building was known as the Hotel Aussem for a number of years. Although a fondly
remembered landmark, the building fell into disrepair and was razed in 1963. Thiensville's other
hotels were also extremely popular with tourists and extant examples include the Thiensville Hotel
at 109 Green Bay Road (Photo Code 76/9), the Park Hotel at 166 Green Bay Road (Photo Codes
77/15, 77/17), as well as the Commercial House Hotel located at 105 S. Main Street (Photo Code
76/10). Other commercial businesses like bowling alleys, billiard halls as well as the Star Movie
Theater in Henry Mohrhusen's saloon in 1914 opened in Thiensville to provide bothtourists and
locals with entertainment. Extant examples currently include the Thiensville Recreation Parlor at
128-130 S. Main Street (Photo Code 75/17) and Hein's Billiard Hall located 159-163 S. Main
Street (Photo Code 76/16)--both of which were built in 1927.82
The most notable extant resource concerning Thiensville's recreational evolution is Village Park
located at the east end of Elm Street (Photo Codes 85/14-15, 85/19-20, 85/22-24), which is a tract
of land that had a recreational focus long before it was owned by the village. At the turn of the
twentieth century, Max Poeltzig moored a number of boats at the site that he rented to tourists. In
1923, the Thiensville Athletic Association organized to construct a baseball field and sought to
obtain Poeltzig's fourteen-acre parcel, which he sold for $4,800. The association raised funds by
conducting a series of carnivals, picnics, dances and card parties at the former Park Hotel--what was
then called Thiensville Gardens--located at 166 Green Bay Road (Photo Codes 77/15, 77/17), as
well as other hotels. The association developed a number improvements to the park to include an
athletic field, grand stand and parking lot. In 1933, the village government obtained the park and,
in 1935, hired local landscape architect Robert Boerner to landscape the facility. Many local
organizations have held activities at the park and some have sponsored improvement projects. Most
notably, the Thiensville Fire Department sponsored the construction of a pair of stone pavilions in
1956.83
81Newsbrief (re: Thiensville tourism), Cedarburg News, 21 July 1915.
82Mohr, ed., History of Thiensvulle, 35-39; Newsbriefs, Cedarburg News, 17 March 1914.

83Mohr, ed., History of Thiensville, 100-03.