Anderson Warehouse

Aslag Anderson, who immigrated to the United States from Norway, and his friend Peter Peterson purchased 166 acres of shorefront property with the agreement that they would build a large deepwater dock for community use. This would ensure that goods such as cedar posts, shingles, salted fish, and cordwood could be exported from Ephraim. The first Anderson Warehouse was constructed on the edge of the Dock to house these exportable goods in 1858.

The original warehouse was destroyed in a storm, and the second warehouse was destroyed by fire in 1880. It was replaced with the Warehouse that stands today. The Dock and Warehouse were vitally important to Ephraim's well being and stood as the commercial center of the village until the 1920's. Profitability faded, however, as roads replaced shipping and by 1932 both the Dock and Warehouse had begun to deteriorate. A 1950 ice shove damaged them to the point of being dangerous.

In 1951 the Anderson family sold the Dock and Warehouse to the village of Ephraim. The Village in turn leased the warehouse to the Ephraim Historical Foundation, which assumed responsibility for its maintenance. The U.S. Department of the Interior placed this structure on the National Register of Historic Places.

From 1961 to 2000, the Ephraim Historical Foundation sublet the warehouse to the Hardy Gallery of the Peninsula Arts Association (PAA). Since 2001, the village of Ephraim has leased the warehouse directly to the Hardy Gallery.


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