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GREEN BAY, Wis., May 26 /PRNewswire/ — Most sports fans know that the home of the Green Bay Packers is Lambeau Field. But, for all these years, the birthplace of Packers founder, player and coach, Earl “Curly” Lambeau, was unknown. Now, thanks to some history detective work, his birthplace home has been found by a father and son team of Packers fans.
After reading a book about Lambeau, Green Bay native Ken Calewarts and his 17-year-old son, John, became curious about Lambeau’s childhood home. When they visited the Register of Deed’s office to learn about the address in the book, they found the Lambeaus didn’t live there at the time of Curly’s birth. So they began what they thought would be a quick project: looking through city archives to find Curly Lambeau’s home when he was born.
“Library records showed that Curly’s family lived at 615 North 12th Street when he was born,” John said. “But that street doesn’t exist anymore. We were stumped, but didn’t want to give up.”
They combed through land records and maps, but kept hitting dead ends. Their break came when a family friend mentioned that Green Bay’s Eastside streets were numbered at the turn of the century. “We took out a map, began counting streets and found that the current Irwin Street was 12th Street more than 100 years ago,” John said. “We went to 615 North Irwin Street to see what was there and, sure enough, there was a house and it looked old.”
A trip to the City Assessor’s office confirmed the house was built in 1868 and that the Lambeau family had lived there in 1898, the year Curly was born. It also turns out that the house is one of the oldest homes in Green Bay still on its original foundation.
The Calewarts family and several investors purchased the home and announced today they’ll renovate the exterior and put up a plaque commemorating the location and its significance.
Long term, the group will sell the house, with a minimum of $50,000 from the proceeds going to Nicolet Elementary School, located across the street from Lambeau’s home. “You might say we’re using the past to help build the future,” investor Rudy Hanamann explained.
