March 8, 2018 – Barton, WI – The building formerly home to Barton State Bank, Barton TV and currently Woodland Iron & Firearms, 1715 Barton Avenue in West Bend, has been sold.
According to real estate records at City Hall the property sold Feb. 21, 2018 for $91,200.
Joseph and Mary Eisen of West Bend bought the parcel from Roger and Barbara Landvatter.
The 2017 assessed value was $77,000.
The Landvatters purchased the property from the VFW in July 1983 for $22,000.
Records show an addition was put in the back in 1985. The commercial lot is identified as “Old Bank Bld (building) – T.V. Showroom and Store. An added note: Women’s toilet room – plumbing disconnected.
The Eisens are owners of Eisen Arms LLC, 409 Main Street, in Kewaskum. The store carries handguns, rifles, shotguns, and ladies lines of concealed-carry purses and Glock clothing.
The Eisens opened in Kewaskum in October 2016. “Barton will be our second location,” said Mary Eisen. “We were welcomed with open arms in Kewaskum and we’re just going to see if both stores will work out.”
The Eisens happened to be looking for a property. They said they made an offer on the Barton location because it basically “fell into our lap.”
“We’ll have the stores running simultaneously, but we’ll make the Barton location the hub,” she said.
The timeline includes an update on the Kewaskum store and, with a tenant in the Barton building, that opening will be this summer possibly in June.
“We liked the Barton location because it’s closer to home, the property is larger and we’ll have more retail space and more space for classes,” Mary Eisen said.
On a history note: The building at 1715 Barton Avenue was built in 1915. According to the book A History The Village of Barton by Richard H. Driessel the bank “was a substantial brick building with a fireproof vault and a burglar alarm system.”
Also written by Richard H. Driessel:
The stock market collapse of 1929 is well-remembered. Locally a rather large manufacturing plant, the Barton Axle Company, at first created much optimism and employment but did not survive.Several housing developments, ambitious for the size of the village no doubt for the hurt the local economy.In 1930 the bank was strain to the point were it closed its doors and eventually declared bankruptcy, which was the fate of so many others soon afterward.The assets and liabilities were assumed by a bank in West Bend and eventually the depositors recovered almost all of their funds, although several years elapsed.At our time in history it’s hard to understand why a bank would fail during that so-called period of prosperity.The fact is that the prosperity was not on a solid foundation and they were basic flaws in the post-war economy.To put the Barton State Bank situation in proper perspective it’s only fair to point out that between 1921 and 1928 the number of banks in the United States which close their doors was 5,214.The bank was vacant for several years but later was used for other purposes. It was purchased by Joseph Kirsch in 1932 and used as a harness shop. In 1941 Louis Kritz had as a tailoring and dry cleaning establishment.In 1945 Baltus Rolfs bought it and started the Ivo Chapstick Company which manufactured a lip balm and applicators.The Veterans of Foreign Wars Adrian Neubauer Post 8658 but the building from Lip Ivo Inc. in 1954 to use it as their clubhouse. Later it was used as a commercial building.
