Highland Boulevard was one of the most exclusive streets in the city from about 1895 through 1915 as wealthy Germans and Yankees moved west from downtown to the area around Concordia College. In fact the area was so dominated by Germans that Highland Boulevard was nicknamed Sauerkraut Boulevard.
Among the prominent families on Highland was an enclave created by three members of the Manegold family, who owned the Milwaukee-Waukesha Brewing Company, a flour and grain elevator business. They also owned quarries and other enterprises. William and Milhelda (may have been Mathilda) Manegold built this elegant Queen Anne Victorian, designed by Jacob Jacobi, in 1897. The three-story 7,000 square foot residence has 17 rooms including a third floor ballroom.
By the early 1920s the neighborhood was transitioning and the empty mansions were converted to rooming houses, nursing homes, fraternity houses, or razed to make room for apartment buildings. Despite later use as a nursing home and living quarters for Fathers of the Sacred Heart, the Manegold mansion survived with many of its original appointments intact.
The current owners have been working to lovingly restore the home’s exterior and gracious interior with plans to open as the Manegold Mansion Bed & Breakfast.