Celebrating the Wisner Tercentennial

Editor’s note: In commemorating the tercentennial of the Wisner family in Warwick, Town Historian Dr. Richard Hull and Village Historian Jean Beattie May will present a program on Feb. 24 celebrating the life of Clinton Wheeler Wisner, who served as village president (or now mayor) from 1890 until his death at age 48 in 1904.

Wisner was a six generation descendant of Johannes Weesner, a Swiss soldier who settled with his family in Warwick near Mt. Eve in 1713 and whose later descendant, Albert Wisner Buckbee, and family were responsible for the acquisition of the former Albert Wisner Library by the Warwick Historical Society.

What follows is an article by Village Historian Jean Beattie May:

Although Clinton Wisner never received formal training as an architect, his love of Warwick and his creativity merged with his design of many buildings still gracing our village, including his own home, “The Anchorage,” which he built for his wife, Martha, the daughter of Thomas Welling and Caroline Van Duzer. Here they raised their six children.

The “Anchorage”and its neighbor, “Dulce Domum” on Oakland Avenue, which was built for his cousin, were both constructed in 1884.

Mr. Wisner had a natural taste for pen and ink sketching and water color painting, not only in Warwick but also on trips that he and Mrs. Wisner took to England and to Europe.

Some of these sketches will be on view at the Buckbee Center at the time of the talk. One is a delicate watercolor of his design for the stained glass windows which were incorporated into some of his houses.

Mr. Wisner enjoyed supervising the planning and construction of his buildings and made it a custom to open his houses when finished to show the work of local craftspeople and contractors.

Among the houses he built, in addition to “the Anchorage” and “Dulce Domum,” are “The Warwickshire,” “ The Pansy” and “The Primrose” and “The Avon” on Clinton Avenue (named for Mr. Wisner) as well as “The Devonshire” on Linden Place.

Writing about “The Avon” in 1899, one of the local newspapers reported: “It was as quaint inside as without ... indeed there is probably nothing like it in this country and only lacks a thatch roof to look like … a sketch of cottages in Sussex or Hampshire, England.”

If you go
To reserve a seat for the talk and slide presentation on Sunday, Feb. 24, at 4 p.m., call the Warwick Historical Society at 986-3236. There will be a $ 10 charge. Refreshments will be served.