Remember when Madame Kuony taught culinary arts out of her mansion? Here’s the story of the Postilion.
FOND DU LAC — Heralded in books and history as a culinary cornerstone, the Postilion on Old Pioneer Road has been famous as an estate, restaurant and cooking school, all at once.
John Kuony and his wife Liane — Fond du Lac's famous Madame Kuony — bought their house in 1949 after John Kuony started working at Fond du Lac's Canvas Products Co.
He was a native of Wauwatosa, but she was born in Belgium to Dutch and French parents. The two met and were married in Milwaukee, and Madame Kuony liked the idea of Fond du Lac because the name sounded French and reminded her of home.
The property included three buildings across more than 2 acres, and while the pair had yet to establish their names in Fond du Lac, the house itself was already historically famous: it was the home of Keyes Darling, whose father, Dr. Mason C. Darling, was called "the father of Fond du Lac," according to archives.
Madame Kuony did the interior design of the house herself and served tea in the afternoons, introducing Fond du Lac to her culinary specialties. Over the next 10 years, however, tea turned to luncheons, then to dinner and special events, marking the Postilion dining house a sought-after spot for gourmets in Wisconsin and beyond.
In 1960, John Kuony became the director of the Oshkosh Public Museum, and Madame Kuony continued to dedicate herself to French cuisine, eventually opening the Postilion School of Culinary Arts. By the 1970s, she was also using her voice as a culinary expert to advocate for the use of natural, unprocessed food.
"It is a functional school, what is needed to cook well," she said in a beef dissecting class in 1976. "I am not trying to impress anyone here with glamor."
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Madame Kuony was known for keeping her classes light, but packing them with a lot of learning material. In the same class, she also taught the basics of beef cuts, hygiene in the kitchen, how to use every part of the animal without waste and how to correctly cut the meat.
"If you don't hear the noise of metal — this could be very dangerous — you're probably cutting your arm off or something," she had said.
She closed her restaurant in the Postilion by 1980, but kept the school going as she opened a restaurant in Milwaukee called the Great House alongside a second cooking school, the Postilion II.
The Great House burned down in 1984, and she opted not to rebuild it, instead returning to Fond du Lac's dining scene. When the Postilion reopened in May the next year, it was already fully booked until September.
In 1993, concern for the Postilion property arose in the wake of plans to extend Park Avenue, which would cut across the property and possibly make it necessary for one of the buildings to come down.
Madame Kuony, the Fond du Lac County Historical Society and area residents spoke out on the plan, noting that even though the property wasn't officially historically registered, its significance in Fond du Lac couldn't be ignored. Kuony presented an alternative route that didn't cut the property, which was ultimately approved at the expense of several oak trees.
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The Postilion lived on for several more years, until Madame Kuony died in 2005, and since John Kuony died 10 years prior, that left the estate in the hands of caretaker Nan Gray while it sat on the market for several years. Kuony's children, Suzanne Smack and John Kuony, had both moved to California by then.
When it went to auction in 2009, the historical society bid on it for fear another buyer would tear it down. The organization spent months negotiating on it and fundraising to cover the cost, intending to use it to expand its programming.
The historical society got the Postilion later that year, and its first event was a masquerade. In 2011, the organization decorated the house for Christmas and opened holiday tours for the first time.
By 2013, however, the cost of operation and maintenance didn't make up for the revenue the house brought into the society, so it made a unanimous decision to sell.
At the time, John Kuony told The Reporter he had been afraid the property would go into the hands of a developer, but it instead went to a family.
"I'm thrilled that the home that our mother cherished is going to a family that will bring lots of life and energy, and that the other two residences on the property will also be filled with their extended family members," he said at the time.
More history: It happened this week
April 10, 1970: Crowds flooded the two-day American Association of University Women book sale at the fairgrounds' Cow Palace, with patrons of all ages waiting for the gates to open so they could get access to more than 10,000 books at bargain prices.
April 9, 1984: Fleet Farm announced the grand opening of its newly expanded store with three days of activities — starting with a log-cutting ceremony in lieu of a ribbon-cutting. The expansion added a carpeting section, major appliances, recliner chairs and semi-custom wood cabinets.
April 10, 1991: Area schools announced a five-year computerization plan that would bring an equal amount of technology to Fond du Lac School District schools, but would cost $900,000. The goal was to bring computer use into every school subject and increase computer proficiency in staff.
April 9, 2000: Fond du Lac High School celebrated its groundbreaking for the brand-new high school on Campus Drive, marking a near-end to Goodrich High School.
"Remember when ..." is a bi-weekly column from Streetwise Reporter Daphne Lemke that looks back at businesses of Fond du Lac's storied past. Tell her what you'd like to see next by emailing [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: The Postilion in Fond du Lac is remembered for Madame Kuony's cuisine
