October 12, 2026 – West Bend, Wi – As of 9 p.m. Sunday night there was still no official statement from West Bend police or fire regarding a Sunday morning fire at the old Praefke Brake building, 133 Oak Street. That grey, boarded-up building tagged with graffiti holds a lot of history in West Bend, Wi.
According to a record search there are five buildings on that property, with the earliest that dates to 1919. Primarily referred to as the Praefke Brake building, records show the first business on site was the Schmidt & Stork Wagon Company. That small mom-and-pop manufacturer of caskets and horse-drawn wagons was initially located in Young America and later moved to the site in West Bend, Wi, because of growing industry in the community.
Some of the early companies surrounding the area of 2nd Avenue and Oak Street included Amity Leather (currently Amity Apartments on S. Main Street), Lithia Brewery, West Bend Aluminum, and the Enger-Kress factory.
According to “The Spirit of West Bend” by Dorothy E. Williams, “by 1912 West Bend was supplying the world with pocketbooks, aluminum ware, cheese boxes, canned peas, barn fixtures, silage cutters, lumber wagons and buggies, Lithia beer and wool yarn.”
By 1941 Pick Manufacturing moved to the site, located to the west of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, now the Eisenbahn State Trail. Some of the names surrounding Pick Industries included Alan Pick, Robert Pick, Larry Kuhl, and Bob Kiefer. Over the years Pick Manufacturing expanded at the site and grew from making tent poles for the war to auto parts and an iron foundry.
Praefke Brake & Supply Corp. entered the picture in 1988 as an after-market car parts manufacturer. In 1990 it shared the lot with Gehl Manufacturing Inc. which built farming equipment.
The industrial area off 2nd and Oak Street is about 7 acres and the building is nearly 105,400 square feet.
Some other tenants included Heartland Woodcraft Inc., which manufactured store fixtures and signs moved in around the late 1990s and was out by April 2006. At the end of 2014 a recycler out of Ladysmith, WI set up shop but that was short lived too.
September 16, 2025 – West Bend, Wi – The location of the former 5R Processor, 133 Oak Street, in West Bend, Wi, has been cleaned up according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Locals are familiar with the building as the former home of Praefke Brake & Supply Corp.
The cleanup was part of an effort associated with 2021 Wisconsin Act 234 and the multi-year federal fraud case involving former Wisconsin-based electronics recycler 5R Processors and related firms.
5R Processors was established in 1990 and processed primarily electronic waste, including cathode ray tubes from televisions and computer monitors. Due to the high lead content in the glass, these wastes are classified as hazardous wastes.
Between 2011 and 2016, R5 Processors concealed the illegal storage and transport of crushed leaded glass at facilities in West Bend, along with Ladysmith, Glen Flora, and Catawba, WI.
“Restoring five different contaminated sites across Wisconsin where hazardous waste was illegally stored and transported was a large undertaking, involving legislative action, partnerships with local municipalities and third-party contractors,” said Natasha Gwidt, DNR Waste and Materials Management Field Operations Director.
The state appropriated $4.5 million in total for these cleanup efforts through 2021 Wisconsin Act 234. This act was passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers.
The combination of restitution and state-appropriated funds was meant to help ensure that the properties affected by 5R’s illegal activities could be restored to productive use. In total, cleanup efforts cost $4.6 million.
Total dollars expended for site locations included approximately $824,000 in Ladysmith, roughly $1.3 million in Catawba and approximately $2.4 million in West Bend.
Clean-up efforts resulted in the removal of 1.5 million pounds of crushed cathode ray tube glass, 64,858 pounds of non-crushed cathode ray tube glass, 694,571 pounds of mixed electronics with monitors, 87,076 pounds of mixed electronics without monitors, 139,633 pounds of equipment with refrigerant, 264,156 pounds of scrap plastic, 65 pounds of elemental mercury and other hazardous waste materials.
The city of West Bend removed an additional 64 roll-off dumpsters of solid waste from the West Bend site, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also led an asbestos abatement effort to ensure this site was suitable for cleanup efforts.
“Community support and partnerships were vital to these cleanups. These included partnerships with the EPA, Price County, Rusk County, Washington County, the village of Catawba, the city of Ladysmith and the city of West Bend,” said Gwidt. “All five sites have the interest of the respective city or county to return them to full functioning service in some way.”
As of 2016 the location has been vacant. Windows have been boarded up, gates surrounding the property are padlocked, and the site at the dead end of Oak Street has become a target for vandalism.
At the September 16, 2026 meeting of the Washington County Executive Committee – On behalf of the City of West Bend, Approval is requested from the SRC to allocate up to $9,975 in Washington County Brownfields Assessment Funds for use to conduct pre-demolition, hazardous building materials inspections for three buildings (63,451 square foot (SF) one-story vacant factory building and two 13,640 and 5,640 SF one-story storage sheds) at the Praefke Brake Site located at 133 West Oak Street in West Bend, Wisconsin (the Property). “133 Oak St Irrev Property Tr (LC)” currently owns the 7.08-acre site which is bound by the Eisenbahn State Trail to the east, Oak Street to the north, residences and the West Bend School District to the west, and West Decorah Road to the south, as depicted below:
The Property is currently vacant and has a long history of industrial use since at least 1919, but most notably operated as an asbestos brake shoe manufacturing facility (from the 1980s through the early 2000s) featuring one large one-story manufacturing building on the northern portion of the Property, a shed west of this large building, and two storage sheds on the southern portion of the Property (ALTA Land Title Survey, June 1996).
compounds (VOCs), petroleum VOCs, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons within the subsurface. Hazardous building materials (asbestos, lead-based paint and other restricted wastes) may also remain at the property.
The proposed pre-demolition ACM, LBP, and restricted waste inspections in this funding request are required to identify remaining hazardous building materials within the Property buildings. The findings of these inspections will inform decisions on proper management of these materials during future demolition activities. Hazardous Building Materials Inspections Pre-demolition ACM, LBP, and restricted waste inspections will be conducted of each of the three structures within the Praefke Brake Site (63,451 SF one-story vacant factory building and two 13,640 and 5,640 SF onestory storage sheds) by NorthStar Environmental Testing under contract to Stantec Consulting Services Inc. (Stantec).
This information can be used to plan management of materials and associated costs as part of demolition and can be provided to prospective purchasers. Timing This project is expected to take one month from the time of the County’s approval (September to October). Funding Request Estimated Project Cost: $12,475 20% Applicant Match: ($2,495) Total SRP Funding Request: $9,980
On a side note:
-Calls were placed to WB Police and Fire on Sunday evening regarding the fire at 133 Oak Street. The case is still under investigation. No details were released regarding the extent of damage nor the cause.
-Questioned whether authorities believed this could be arson related, the answer remained “the case was under investigation.”
-West Bend has seen two recent arson cases including an 11-year-old boy facing 5 counts of arson and one count of burglary following multiple fires in the Barton area. Click HERE for details.
-Also a 50-year-old West Bend man is facing arson charges after allegedly trying to set a cross on fire at Pilgrim Lutheran Church. Click HERE for details.
-Sunday’s fire wasn’t the first at that location. Records show a fire June 6, 1947 that burned building No. 1 to the ground.
-A junkyard owned by a Mr. Al Luff was operated in the back of the site from the mid-1940’s until 1967.
Below is the initial article and video regarding the Sunday fire on Oak Street.
October 11, 2026 – West Bend, Wi – Four departments on scene at a fire call Sunday, October 11, 2026 at the old Praefke Brake & Supply Corp. building, 133 Oak Street, in West Bend, Wi. The fire call came in around 11:15 a.m. Departments from West Bend, Kewaskum, Allenton and Jackson were on scene.
Firefighters raised two aerial ladders at the scene including one on 2nd Avenue and the other closer to the Eisenbahn State Trail at the end of Oak Street. Neither aerial ladder was used.
Initial sounds of chainsaws were heard as a haze of smoke in the area blurred the sun. Firefighters, armed with pike poles or ceiling hooks, dragged box fans into the building. Yellow fire hoses crisscrossed Oak Street.
The mood on scene was pretty relaxed by noon. Firefighters were seen leaving the west side of the building, shedding their coats as bottles of water were distributed. An ambulance was on scene with a empty wheeled stretcher sitting curbside.
Neighbors said there was initially a lot of white smoke coming out the roof but no flames could be seen. One neighbor said witnesses saw two young men leaving the building. They reportedly took off north on 2nd Avenue on their bicycles. A West Bend police squad was visible on scene parked on S. 2nd Avenue.
The building itself has been empty for years. According to archives at Washingtoncountyinsider.com the structure dates to the 1920s. Years ago it was home to the Pick Manufacturing Plant. The building is just nearly 105,400 square feet. Heartland Woodcraft Inc. moved out of the space in April 2006. At the end of 2014 a recycler out of Ladysmith, WI set up shop but that was short lived too.
Neighbors said police were called rather frequently to the empty building because kids may have been getting inside. While cyclone fencing with barbed wire circles the building, it has been tagged with graffiti on all sides.
As of 1:15 p.m. there has been no official statement on the cause of the fire.
This is a working story and more information will be posted when details are available.
