About Walldogs Murals
Who are The Walldogs?
"The Walldogs" is an internationally renowned organization of sign and mural artists. Every year The Walldogs organize a festival where hundreds of artists descend upon a village or small town to paint several dozen murals in one 3-5 day festival. The tradition of painting wall advertisements dates back long before today. Evidence of this can be seen as "Ghost Signs" throughout cities of all sizes. These mural painters of old were often called Walldogs.
The Walldogs Come to Beaver Dam!
In 2013 the Walldogs painted the Monarch Range mural on the Richards Insurance building just off (N Spring St.) In 2015 The Walldogs came back and completed the Kamrath's Mural on the side of the Inter-Quest building (S Spring St.)
June 28th - July 2nd, 2017 a mural festival was held. The mural festival took place over the entire downtown when another 10-15 murals throughout downtown Beaver Dam were created. There are a total of 17 murals from the Walldogs!
1.
Project Leader: Manfred Didier, Bavaria Germany
Subject: Ziegler Brewing Company
Champion: Stooges Sports Bar, Morry's Bar and Adam Rehberg-Adam's Apple Games
Location: Stooges Sports Bar
Ziegler Brewery was established in 1905 when Louis Ziegler of the Mayville brewing family purchased the former Goeggerle Brewery on Madison Street. After a number of improvements, moves and expansions, a California firm purchased the brewery in 1949. It was closed in 1953. Portions of the original cellars, which date to the 1870s, remain intact under Madison Street.
2.
Project Leader: Joy Kjer, Lincoln Nebraska
Subject: Williams Free/ Beaver Dam Library
Champions: Beaver Dam Community Library, Foulkes Foundation
Location: Beaver Dam Community Library
The first library in the city, it opened as one room in the city hall on Dec. 1, 1884. In 1890 John J. Williams, a successful business owner in town, donated $25,000 for the construction of a new facility if the city would provide the site, which the city did. The renowned firm of Edward Townsend Mix designed the structure in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The library was dedicated on July 15, 1891.
3.
Project Leader: Tom Seibert, California
Subject: Salute to Veterans/WWII Glider Pilots
Champions: Koepsell-Murray Funeral Home, Beaver Dam VFW Post 1163, The Beaver Dam Exchange Club, Beaver Dam Elks Lodge 1540, Kay and Terry Appenfeldt, Schacht & Schacht, Wisconsin LST Association, Women’s Auxiliary and AARC
Location: Beaver Paint and Glass
The mural honors Harold Reif, owner of Beaver Dam Paint and Glass, who was a glider pilot in World War II. The artistic rendering is based on a snapshot of glider planes tethered to a C47. When the planes are released they float soundlessly to their destinations. Reif is the pilot in the middle of the three friends depicted.
4.
Project Leader: Dave Petri, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Subject: Moraine Park Technical College
Champion: Moraine Park Technical College
Location: Ming's
Launched in 1912 as a Continuation School, (above the elementary level enabling young people in trade or industry to continue their schooling) it operated until 1967 as a city institution funded by municipal tax dollars. The state of Wisconsin stepped in at that point mandating that all districts provide a facility for vocational, technical, and adult education. In 1989 the school received its current name.
5.
Project Leader: Dan Luckin, Essex England
Subject: Gould's Nursery
Champion: Marilyn Thomas
Location: Fast Eddie's
Born in Maine, Ingraham Gould gave up farming there and moved to Beaver Dam in 1854. Not a trained nurseryman, he hired Caleb Perry who grew the endeavor until it was the largest west of Rochester, New York. Millions of trees and shrubs were shipped from the nursery to all parts of the country. In 1870 he added a cider mill to the large greenhouse he had already built. Whenever a new family moved to Beaver Dam, Gould planted a tree in their yard as a sign of welcome. He donated the land for Oakwood Cemetery where he is buried.
6.
Project Leader: Andrew Patrick Henry, Barnesville Georgia
Subject: Raymond Gallun, Pioneer of Sci-Fi Writing
Champion: The Beaver Dam Area Arts Association
Location: Raaske's Renewed Appliances
One of the three most influential pioneers in the science fiction genre and a Beaver Dam native, Ray Gallun is considered to be one of the fathers of modern science fiction. Beginning with “Star Climber,” written to fulfill a high school English assignment, Gallun’s resume includes five novels, an autobiography, an anthology of his best works edited by Arthur C. Clarke, and more than 100 short stories. In 1934 he received the Jules Verne Award for Best Story of the Year, “Old Faithful.”
7.
Project Leader: Deri Russell, Ontario Canada
Subject: Swan City Park
Champion: City of Beaver Dam
Location: The Watermark
Interested in homeopathy before its time, Dr. George E. Swan set up his medical practice in Beaver Dam in 1876. Female representatives pedaled “Pastilles for Women’s Weakness,” across the country. Swan purchased 12 acres of land that included a ‘healing spring that never ran dry.’ Present-day Swan Park, was once the site of an elaborate spring house, a bottling plant, a bathhouse where patrons soaked in tubs, a bandstand, roads, lagoons for fishing and boating, ‘Castles in the Air’ with observation platforms in the treetops, strolling paths and entertainment. A hotel housed up to 100 guests.
8.
Project Leader: Anne McDonald, Christchurch, New Zealand
Subject: Crystal Lake Beach
Champion: City of Beaver Dam
Location: The Watermark
In addition to donating Vita (Swan City) Park to the city, Dr. Swan purchased and then donated Drake’s Pond to the city with the proviso that always be used for “swimming, park, and recreation purposes.” Fed by natural springs, the lake soon gained popularity with its piers, diving platforms, water wheel, and a beach house, which was added in 1969. Covering 43 acres today, it is a popular place to enjoy many other recreational activities.
9.
Project Leaders: Tom & Kathy Durham, Hermann Missouri
Subject: The American/German National Bank
Champion: The American National Bank
Location: The American National Bank-Downtown (inside above the vault)
Opened in 1891 as German National Bank, anti-German sentiment preceding World War I caused the business to change its name to American National Bank in 1912. M.A. Jacobs, assistant cashier at its founding, lives on his heirs, the M.A. Jacobs family, who are now principal owners/officers of the business. It has grown from 2 employees and $50,000 in capital to 40 employees and over $125 million in assets today.
10.
Project Leader: Wade Lambrigtsen Menomonie Wisconsin
Subject: Dodge County Fair-Replica of the 2nd Annual Fair Poster
Champion: Dodge County Fair Board
Location: Ming's
Held in 1886, the first Dodge County Fair featured competitions in agriculture, livestock and implements. Participants exhibited and sold household wares as well as arts and crafts. A special feature was harness racing on “one of the finest half-mile tracks in the state.” The railroad offered special excursion rates for attendees who came from all over the Midwest to enjoy the three-day event, propelling Beaver Dam into prominence as Dodge County’s largest and leading city
11.
Project Leader: Steve Luck, Godfrey Illinois
Subject: History of Industry
Champion: Jeff and Shirley Kitchen- Century 21, Breuer Metal Craftsman Inc.
Location: Boost Mobile
- Rowell Manufacturing, established in 1855, made plows and repaired threshing machines. Intent on improving old methods Rowell manufactured a cultivator that also seeded. By 1861 the company was selling seeders, drills, cultivators, harrows, hay rakes, fanning mills, and the renowned ‘Tiger’ threshing machine.
- With his roots in Germany, Ben Breuer immigrated to America in 1920 as a trained locksmith and found employment at Western Malleable Iron Foundry. It was his son Bernard who, having learned metal working skills from his father, founded Ornamental Brass and Iron Works in 1946, which became Breuer Metal Craftsmen Inc.
- Paramount Knitting Co./Bear Brand Hosiery moved to Beaver Dam from Waupun in 1911. Owner Henry Pope built a concrete dam and spillway on the site, which had formerly been occupied by a cotton mill. A worker strike in 1934 dealt the death blow to the company when the owner, having been spit upon, moved the entire operation to Gary Indiana.
- Weyenberg Shoe Mfg. Co, opened in 1937, occupied the building left vacant by Bear Brand Hosiery. At its height the factory employed about 750 local workers with an annual payroll of more than $700,000. The plant closed in the 1990s, reputedly the last shoe manufacturing plant operating in the United States.
- Beaver Dam Overall Mfg. Co., opened in 1906, manufactured jackets and overalls using foot-powered sewing machines. Two years later water power was harnessed to operate the machines. In 1913 electric power was introduced and the work force increased from 15 to about 25 workers. The company closed in 1920.
12.
Project Leader: Kurt Gaber, Chippewa Falls Wisconsin
Subject: Welcome to Beaver Dam/Vintage Cars and Racing
Champion: Countryside Automotive Group
Location: Cigelske Transmissions Building, Al and Judy Beyer, Chevron
The left side of the mural welcomes visitors to Beaver Dam. To its right is Fred MacMurray in the flying car he invented for the Disney film, The Absent-Minded Professor. His mother was descended from one of Beaver Dam’s founding fathers and considered a great beauty. MacMurray became a leading man in Hollywood starring in films such as Double Indemnity, The Caine Mutiny, Flubber and The Shaggy Dog. Speedway Race Park is remembered for three racers: Miles Melius (the mouse) Fuzzy Fassbender (the hound) and Billy Johnson (the cat). They made a name for themselves by starting at the back of the pack, with one of them always ending as the winner.
14.
Project Leader: Noella Cotham and Elaine Wallis
Subject: McKinstry's & Co.
Champion: McKinstry's Home Furnishings
Location: McKinstry's Warehouse
Born in Quebec, Canada, John McKinstry set up business in Beaver Dam in 1855 making furniture and caskets for early settlers. The business included a funeral home. Fred MacMurray of Hollywood fame worked in the store while a high school student. He used the tape measure painted on the chair in the mural, the chair being the first manufactured by the business. The glue pot in the mural also represents the kind actually used in the business’ early days.