Owner of historic button factory seeks help with repairs

The owner of the historic Button Factory building in Waubeka is seeking investors to help repair the building’s foundation, which he says has shifted several inches in recent days.

Charles Sheridan Sr. said he has received estimates that it will cost about $50,000 to jack up the building, lay a new subfloor and build a new foundation for the riverside property.

“If I could find a partner, I’d be delighted,” Sheridan said.

Sheridan bought the building from Ozaukee County in a 1990 auction and has proposed at various times turning it into a single-family residence, a kayak rental business or combining it with the nearby Waubeka mill, which is owned by a company for which Sheridan is the agent, to create a hotel and whitewater rafting business.

Sheridan, who lives in Illinois, was alerted to the situation by a local man who walked by the property and noticed the building shifting. 

“He was correct. This looks really bad,” Sheridan said.

“It’s been shifting at times over the years. Maybe I can find someone to work with me to restore the building.”

Sheridan is also investigating grant opportunities because the Button Factory is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The building’s historic designation requires Sheridan to use materials that look like the oldest part of the structure, which dates back to the 1800s.

Meanwhile, Sheridan said, he is in the process of surveying the mill to establish its property lines. He hopes to install a holding tank as the next step toward restoring it.