The former treasurer of the Hearthstone Historic House Museum in Appleton, Wisconsin—touted as “the only building still standing from the dawn of electricity” on its website—admitted to stealing $70,000 from the institution.
According to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday, Steven Jahnke confessed to embezzlement and now faces one count of theft in a business setting. As reported by the local radio station WTAQ, “board members became suspicious of transactions apparently not related to museum operations, including cruises, vacation travel and vehicle repair. Additionally, some accounts deposited through the community foundation were depleted, despite having a restricted status.”
Other suspicious charges included property taxes for Jahncke’s residence and Amazon purchases sent to the former treasurer’s home.
According to the criminal complaint, Jahncke claimed he sometimes “confused his personal cards with the museum’s card” and stated: “I did embezzle funds to pay for my own expenses.”
On the National Register of Historic Places, the Hearthstone Historic House Museum states a claim to being “the first house anywhere in the world to be incandescently illuminated by a water powered Western Edison Electric Light Company dynamo power station and an Edison Electric System.” Among its features are “original Edison electroliers, original light switches, and some of the world’s only examples of original Edison wiring in situ.”
The Queen Anne–style dwelling was built by Henry J. Rogers, who helped develop Appleton with his paper mills and work on services related to water and gas. Exhibits at the Hearthstone house include “Victorian Christmas: Naturally Yours,” about the history of holiday decoration, and “Lewis Latimer: Self-Made Renaissance Man,” a distinguished Black inventor who worked with the likes of Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell.
