Joseph H. Blied

Background

Joseph H. Blied bought the plot of land and erected the buildings we now call 444 and 448 W Mifflin.

He was born in 1861 in Madison. After finishing parochial school, he learned the sheet metal trade, apprenticing for the Kayser brothers. Evidently, his career was successful, or the Blieds were quite wealthy, as he was able to open a shop across State Street from the former Commercial State Bank building at 102 State. He had many alternate business forays during his life, working for a time with the family hardware business known as Blied & Sons, or formerly Blied Bros.

Joseph married Mathilda Starck on November 27th, 1883. The couple had four children: A.J., Walter, Matilda, and Josephine. These children would continue the Blied legacy in Madison.

101 State Street in Madison in 1880, when Joseph was 19 years old. His shop would eventually be next door.

1885

Joseph Blied purchased the plot of land from Albert W. Potter for $900.

1889

Joseph Blied is featured in the newspaper in an excerpt titled "The Building Boom." He has a building built on W Mifflin for $1,500, which we can assume is 444 (446) from the following Sanborn map and the 1951 article. Strangely enough, he is also recorded to be living in 448, not long after.

1892

1894

* We can not confirm whether Joseph Blied built 448 as well as 444, but we find it a likely option, being that they are on the same plot of land and he was recorded to live there at the same time. That being said, he could have had family or renovation logistics and subsequently lived in 448 for a brief period. Yet, the evidence is clear that he had his hands in multiple pies at W Mifflin.

Architects and In-Laws

According to an article from 1951, Joseph Blied had help from a famous contractor and designer in Madison. The architect, Edward Starck, of the Claude and Starck architectural firm, is the brother of Joseph Blied's wife, Mathilda Starck.

Not only did Joseph Blied have significant wealth from his immediate family, but he also had a relationship with the well-established Starck family. This is a privilege that allowed him and his family to build this house and keep it for many decades without having to sell out.

1902 - Renovation

In 1902, J. H. Blied orchestrated the two-story renovation of 444 (446), which included the addition of a porch. Blied gets the jump on the rest of the block in adding an extra floor and continues the infamous Mifflin porch, which further perpetuates the Mifflin style. The prominent family made a stylistic statement that undoubtedly set a precedent for their neighbors due to their status and wealth.

As Richie Garrison illuminates in his article on the Stearns, vernacular architectural style diffusion is often motivated by wealthy landowners who could afford special designs. The Blieds are similar; they were watched by the general locale as they continued the Queen Anne porch combination that we see now proliferated across Mifflin. It also helps that the building itself was designed by the aforementioned Claude and Starck architectural firm to establish their influence.

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