This file portion of www.watertownhistory.org website
Brandt-Quirk
House
410 S Fourth
Edward
J. Brandt
(1980 Owner:
Catherine Jean Quirk)
Frederick William Brandt,
great-grandfather of Miss Quirk, built this house in modified Greek revival
style at the beginning of the Civil War.
Until recently it housed two generations of the family, and at times
three, with separate quarters for parents and grandparents.
Mr. Brandt, a native of
Lippe-Detmold, Germany, came to Watertown in 1853. He was the city's first
drayman and later established a general store which was carried on by his elder
son and grandson and eventually became a dry goods store, F. W. Brandt &
Son Co., on southeast corner of Main and Third Streets.
Early in this century, after the
death of his parents, Edward Julius
Brandt, younger son of F. W. Brandt, remodeled his parents' house to
accommodate his daughter and family, the Earl William Quirks. He created two front entrances and built an
attached garage and porte-cochere. About
twenty years later Mr. Quirk further remodeled the house on the north side,
adding a bay window, fireplace and many decorative furnishings. He eliminated the double entrance, but
maintained the two-family interior division.
A three-inch thick inner entrance
door with double elongated panels and transom of etched glass, some parquet
flooring, tile fireplaces, decorative moldings and door panels, marble wash-
bowls and porcelain doorknobs attest to the age of the house as do the plaster
medallions and coving in the south part of the house and the carved scrollwork
at the base of the south front stairway.
The plaster work was executed by
a family friend and artist, J. B. Murphy, following
the direction of Mr. Brandt, who also placed the imposing ionic pillars in the living-dining
areas and designed a lyre motif that is carved in the base of the column in the
music room.
Many musicales were held in this
room, and here Mr. Brandt often improvised on the little pump organ he bought
with his early savings. He became a leader
in local musical affairs and president of the Concordia Musical Society. In 1921 he composed a "Festival
Gloria" for St. Bernard's Church choir which
he directed for nearly fifty years. He
participated in church and community musical programs as baritone soloist, in
duets with his wife, Thekla Wiggenhorn Brandt, soprano, and with his daughter,
Eugenia Brandt Quirk, as accompanist.
As civic leader Mr. Brandt headed
the Board of Park Commissioners when Riverside Park
was established and in 1905 organized the Outdoor Art Association for the
beautification of homes.
Mr. Brandt's inventive talent
came to the fore while he was employed as a cashier in the Bank of Watertown following his studies at Northwestern College. Tiring of counting money for railroad
payrolls, he invented an automatic cashier and in 1890 founded his own company
to manufacture this product, known now as Brandt Inc.
In 1926 upon Mr. Brandt's
becoming Chairman of the Board his daughter's husband, Earl William Quirk,
succeeded him as president of the company; the latter upon his death in 1960
was succeeded by their son, Edward James Quirk, who was president until 1980
when he became Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. His son, James Brandt Quirk, Assistant Vice
President, is the great-grandson of the founder.
Brandt Inc. has expanded its line
from the original cashier to a comprehensive line of money-handling equipment
and sells its products throughout the world.
_______________________________________________________________
The history of the Brandt Quirk
family is well known by Jim and Deborah Quirk.
Jim is a member of the Watertown Quirk family. The couple recently purchased the 1875
Victorian mansion after it spent years as a bed and breakfast. The Quirks are working to register the house
as a historical building and plan to make it into a museum.
Edward Brandt, inventor of the
Brandt Automatic Cashier and founder of what was known as Brandt, Inc. for many
years, purchased and converted the once two family property into a family home
when he remodeled it in 1919. At this
time he also enlarged the Brandt home to 5,500 square feet with a maid's
quarters on the second floor.
1923
04 25 Lecture on "Foreign Cathedrals," given by Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Brandt WG
Cross references:
2007 - The Edward J. Brandt House
is being
considered for placement on the National Register of Historic Places WDT 10 10
