The Delafield Fish Hatchery was established in 1906 in

Delafield, Wisconsin Delafield is a city in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States, along the Bark River. The population was 7,185 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The city of Delafield is a separate municipality from the Tow ...

as part of a state system to stock game fish fry into Wisconsin lakes and streams. With The hatchery was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1981.

History

In the 1870s a nationwide movement for

fish hatcheries A fish hatchery is a place for artificial breeding, Egg#Fish and amphibian eggs, hatching, and rearing through the early life stages of animals—finfish and shellfish in particular.Crespi V., Coche A. (2008) Food and Agriculture Organization of t ...

emerged, aimed at supplying freshwater fish for consumers and sportsmen. Wisconsin started its own program in 1874. In 1906 the Delafield Fish Hatchery was established - the second hatchery in this state system. Two bass-rearing ponds were built that first year. Four more were built the following year, along with the stylish stone building that survives today. J.T.W. Jennings designed the building in

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

style, with a steep

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...

, prominent chimney,

parapets A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

above the

dormers A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

, and walls of colorful

fieldstone Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...

. It contained offices and two walleye tanks. The hatchery drew its water from Nagawicka Lake.

Walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...

fry were propagated by placing eggs in Chase jars. Then water was fed into the bottom of the jar, passing up through the eggs. After the fish hatched they swam through the jars to the two large tanks, from which they were transferred to lakes and streams. The Delafield hatchery could produce 50 million walleye fry per year.

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

were grown in the six outdoor ponds - a more natural environment. Adult bass were allowed to build nests and fertilize the eggs. When the youngsters hatched and grew enough, they were transferred from the ponds to the wild. The hatcheries fry mostly went to lakes and streams in southern Wisconsin. It served that original purpose until 1950, when bass were successfully reproducing in the wild, and the state decided to focus its walleye propagation on the northern part of the state. With that, the Delafield hatchery was converted into a research center on bass and walleye. In 1980, the state deeded the site to the city and has since been used for public recreation.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Waukesha County, Wisconsin Fish hatcheries in the United States Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Victorian architecture in Wisconsin Government buildings completed in 1907 Agricultural buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places Agricultural buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Agricultural buildings and structures in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Waukesha County, Wisconsin