The Historic Sixth Street Business District is a set of largely intact two and three-story shops along the main road coming into Racine, Wisconsin from the west. Most of the buildings were constructed from the 1850s to the 1950s. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Racine's settlement began in 1834 when Gilbert Knapp claimed 140 acres of land on both sides of the Root River, platting them in 1836 as the Village of Racine. Meanwhile, Stephen Campbell claimed another area to the west, which ended up platted as the Harbor Addition. At first, most of the village's buildings (cabins and houses) were in a clearing south of the river at the foot of Main Street, and the area that became this business district was far out in the woods. But in 1838 Congress allocated money to build a military road from Racine to Janesville, and it ran through the area of Sixth and Seventh Streets. With that, this area became an important route in and out of Racine from the west. The first businesses developed along Main Street south of the river, but in 1848 when the Racine and Rock River Plank Road was built from Monument Square west along Sixth Street and heading out of town to the west, the business district turned west and began to grow along Sixth Street.
Here is a sample of the district's significant buildings in the order built, showing the progression of styles and functions through the years. The Ernst Hueffner Building at 409 Sixth St is a modest 2-story, cream brick shop with living quarters above, built in 1861. The style is Italianate, with round-arched windows on the second story with window hoods of molded limestone. The detail on the second story is intact. The Stephen Campbell Building at 407 Sixth St is a 2-story building with elaborate brickwork in Italianate style. In this one the three second-story windows have windows topped with segmental arches built of three layers of brick which suggest hood moldings. Above that is a cornice with corbels and crosses in the brickwork. Osborn and Osgood's Block at 205-207 Sixth St is a 3-story building in Italian Renaissance revival style built in 1863. The windows on the upper stories are framed with round arches and pilasters which form arcades. On the third floor the original windows remain, with a trefoil design in the upper sashes.
St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Chapel, Guildhall, and Rectory at 624 Main St. is an Episcopal church built in Gothic Revival style in 1866 and 1867. The Jacob and Charlotte Schad Building at 308 Sixth St was built in 1873, a 2-story Italianate building with brick hood moldings, limestone sills, and a brick cornice. It is rightmost in the photo above. It was built as a saloon for Charles Madory who lived upstairs. Just left of it in the photo is the very similar August Garnkaufer tailor shop at 310 Sixth St, built in 1874. Garnkaufer also lived in the quarters above his shop. The Fire Museum at 700 Sixth St was built in 1881 as Racine Fire Department Engine House No. 3. The building is a two-story flat-roofed Italianate structure with a three-story tower designed by David R. Jones. Company 3 was one of two volunteer companies formed in 1849, and consisted almost entirely of Welsh immigrants. The First Augustine Furniture Company Building at 221 Sixth St is a 3-story furniture store designed in Italianate style by David R. Jones and built in 1881. Samuel Augustine and his son John ran the store until 1920.