USA > Wisconsin > Columbia County > A history of Columbia County, Wisconsin : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 22
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CITY BANK OF PORTAGE
The City Bank of Portage was incorporated April 16, 1874, and com- menced business May 4th, with the following officers: Ll. Breese, presi- dent; E. L. Jaeger, vice president; R. B. Wentworth, cashier. After several years, Mr. Wentworth was succeeded by his son, W. S., as cashier of the bank, Mr. Breese remaining at its head until long after. The present officers of the bank are : C. L. Alversou, president ; R. E. York,
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vice president ; John A. Raup, cashier. At the close of business Decem- ber 31, 1913, its deposits amounted to $485,670; surplus and undivided profits, $17,943; capital stock, $50,000.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
The First National Bank was established in 1890, with a capital stock of $75,000. At the close of business March 4, 1914, its books indicated a surplus fund of $25,000, and deposits of $835,000, with total resources of $1,059,000. The First National is the depository for the United States Government, at Portage; for the State of Wisconsin, the County of Columbia, and the City of Portage. Its officers are: E. A. Gowran, president ; W. S. Stroud, vice president ; A. R. Barker, second vice presi- dent : W. M. Edwards, cashier; W. H. Roehm, P. J. Parkman and W. S. Stroud, directors.
PORTAGE LOAN AND TRUST COMPANY
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The Portage Loan and Trust Company was incorporated in 1905, its name indicating the general nature of its transactions. Loans are all made on real estate, principally in the country within a radius of fifty miles from Portage. The company also acts as administrator, executor and guardian, the deposit of its capital stock with the state treasurer being a pledge for the faithful performance of any trust which may be undertaken. Mortgages are also bought and sold, and time deposits con- stitute another branch of its business. The capital stock of the concern is $50,000; surplus, $2,300; deposits, $432,638. R. N. McConochie is president of the company and W. J. Scott, secretary and treasurer.
THE EULBERG BREWING COMPANY
The largest of the industries located at Portage are represented by the Eulberg Brewing Company and the Portage Hosiery Company. The brewing plant comprises a large three-story brick building, fronting along the entire block between Cook and Conant Streets (or about three hun- dred feet), with a frontage on Cook Street of over one hundred feet. The cellar (or basement) is all used for beer storage, carrying a large stock, with brew house outfit on first and second floors, having a capacity and output of fifty barrels at cach brew. The ice machine which is a 20-ton machine, furnishes ample refrigeration for the entire plant and is located in machine room, adjoining boilers, using a York ice machine from the
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York Manufacturing Company, of York, Pa., and all of their cooling is done by the indirect or brine system (using ammonia and brine).
The brew house is located on first and second floors, the latter being also used for storing malt, hops and all other brewing supplies, having a large capacity and all of their supplies in barley and hops are pur- chased in car lots, using both domestic and imported hops, the latter being imported from Bohemia (Austria), while domestic hops are largely brought from Oregon and barley from points in Wisconsin. The annual capacity of this brewery is 15,000 barrels. The bottling works in a separate building are well equipped with special machinery, operated by electric motor and have a capacity of about five thousand barrels a year. Their special brand of bottled beer is known as Crown Select. The Eulberg brewery supplies the bulk of the local trade, while their product, both in bottled and bulk goods, reaches distant parts of the United States and even goes abroad.
The business was first established in its infancy about sixty years ago by Charles Hartell, who carried it on until his death in 1876, when it was changed to the Charles Hartell Brewing Company, continuing as such until July, 1884, when they were succeeded by the Eulberg Brothers, composed of Adam and Peter Eulberg, who carried on the business until the spring of 1895, when Adam Eulberg became sole owner, continuing until his death in 1901. The business was then continued by the Adam Eulberg estate until the spring of 1907, when the present company was incorporated with a capital stock of $50,000. The officers are J. J. Eul- berg, president and general manager; Julius A. Eulberg, secretary; J. N. Eulberg, treasurer; all of whom have had nearly a lifelong experi- ence in connection with the business.
EPSTEIN BROTHERS' BREWERY
There is also a small brewery at the corner of Jefferson and Canal streets, established in 1875, by Henry Epstein, and owned and operated since the death of the founder in 1901, by his sons under the name of Epstein Brothers. The capacity of the brewery is about 5,000 barrels yearly and of the bottling works, 1,000 barrels.
THE PORTAGE HOSIERY COMPANY
The Portage Hosiery Company, under the management of Ll. Breese, the widely known pioneer and public character, and his son, Ll. Breese, Jr., is an industry of wide fame and growing character. Its extensive plant is located on Mullett Street north of Wisconsin, and comprises an
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office building 100x45, a mill 148x45, and two large warehouses, one of cement.
The office building is two and one-half stories with office on second floor, while the balance of second floor and the entire lower floor are used for stock and finishing rooms.
The first floor of mill building contains the machinery for making yarns. On the second floor are the knitting machines, operating 185 machines and giving employment to a force of 185 hands, all experienced help. This is the only hosiery plant in Columbia County and one of the best equipped in Central Wisconsin, the works throughout being equipped with all conveniences, including electric lights.
The productions comprise a full line of men's woolen hosiery and mit- tens, having a capacity of 500 dozen per day, which are supplied to the general trade throughout all northern states, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The business is of long standing, having been established in May, 1880, as a private co-partnership. It was owned and conducted by Loomis, Gallett & Breese, merchants, and R. B. Wentworth, grain dealer, all of Portage.
On January 28, 1893, the business was incorporated with the follow- ing officers: President, R. B. Wentworth ; vice president, W. C. Gault ; secretary and treasurer, Ll. Breese. Mr. Wentworth retired from active participation in the business soon after its incorporation, but retains stock in the company. The present officers are: Ll. Breese, president, treas- urer and general manager; W. C. Gault, vice president ; Ll. Breese, secre- tary; W. C. Gault, Jr., superintendent.
LL. BREESE
Ll. Breese, who has but just entered his eighty-second year, still has a controlling hand upon this important industry. For more than half a century he has been before the people of his home city and his state, both in business and publie capacities, and something more than an informal review of his life is due him and the history of Columbia County.
Born May 13, 1833, at Abermyuack, parish of Malwyd, Merioneth- shire, Wales, he immigrated with his parents to the United States in May, 1846. Settling on the home farm in the town of Randolph, his education was drawn from the district schools and the experience he received as a cultivator of the soil. His health was far from good, and in the fall of 1858 he accepted the position of deputy sheriff of Columbia County, hop- ing thereby to get into more active work and extend his knowledge of men and of business. Previously he had held several town offices; there-
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fore had had a taste of official life. In November, 1860, he was further advanced along this road by being elected county treasurer on the repub- lican ticket.
After holding the county treasurership for three consecutive terms of two years each, in January, 1867, Mr. Breese became a partner in the drygoods firm of N. H. Wood & Company. Besides Mr. Wood, his asso- ciates were R. O. Loomis and C. R. Gallett. In 1869 Mr. Wood withdrew, and the firm name became Loomis, Gallett & Breese.
Mr. Breese was elected secretary of state in November, 1869. The office then carried with it the ex officio honor of commissioner of insur- ance, and in May, 1870, he represented the latter official at the National Insurance Convention held in New York City. For several meetings of that body thereafter, he was elected either vice president or president of the convention.
At the expiration of his second term as secretary of state, Mr. Breese returned to Portage and resumed his connection with the mer- cantile world, besides being president of the City Bank of Portage, presi- dent of the Portage Iron Works, and president of the board of education. Not long after he became identified with the Portage Hosiery Company.
Mr. Breese was married June 9, 1853, to Miss Mary E. Evans, of Milwaukee, by whom he had three boys and three girls, one of the latter dying in infancy. For years he has been one of the most prominent mem- bers of the First Presbyterian Church, as well as a leader in all the rites, activities and benevolences of Masonry.
MINOR INDUSTRIES
There are a number of other manufactories worthy of note, aside from these mentioned, such as the Portage Underwear Company, the Freeland Tank Works and the Portage Boat and Engine Company.
CHAPTER XIV PORTAGE SCHOOLS, CHURCHES AND SOCIETIES
HIGH SCHOOL AND GRADED SYSTEM ESTABLISHED-HISTORY OF THE POR- TAGE HIGH SCHOOL-THE STUDY OF GERMAN-PRESENT SCHOOL BUILDINGS-CITY SUPERINTENDENT CLOUGH-LIST OF SUPERINTEND- ENTS AND CLERKS-EARLY CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES-FOUNDING OF ST. MARY'S PARISH-PASTORS OF ST. MARY'S-SCHOOL BUILDING ERECTED -THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF PORTAGE-FIRST METHODIST CHURCH-ST. JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH-FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH- ST. JOHN'S EVANGELICAL. LUTHERAN-OTHER PORTAGE CHURCHES- THE MASONS FORM PIONEER LODGE-CHAPTER, COUNCIL AND COM- MANDERY-I. O. O. F. BODIES-THE PYTHIAN BROTHERS-THE ELKS LODGE-D. A. R., OF PORTAGE-KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS AND FORESTERS -LODGES OF RAILROAD EMPLOYEES-PORTAGE LIEDERKRANZ-THIE NATIONAL VERBAND --- COUNTRY CLUB OF PORTAGE-THE Y. M. C. A.
The history of the present system of schools of Portage had its birth on the 2d of May, 1859, when the first meeting of the municipal Board of Education was held at the office of J. J. Guppey, the city superintend- ent. The commissioners were Volney Foster, First Ward; Baron S. Doty, Second Ward; Alvin B. Alden, Third Ward, and Henry B. Munn, Fourth Ward. Mr. Doty was elected president of the board and Mr. Guppey acted as ex officio secretary.
From the date of the city's incorporation in 1854, until that time, Portage had been under the district system-No. 1, comprising the First Ward; No. 2, the Second; No. 3, the Third, Fourth and Fifth wards.
At the first meeting of the Board of Education mentioned, May 12, 1859, was designated as the time, and the Common Council room as the place, for holding an examination for teachers of the intermediate and primary schools of the city. The board met and examined a number of applicants, the result being the appointment of G. F. Richardson, Charles R. Gallett and Miss Luthera Waldo as teachers of the intermediate schools and Miss Kate Rowland, Miss Fannie E. Waldo, Miss Hannah P. Best and Miss Helvetia L. Reese, teachers of primary schools.
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HIGH SCHOOL AND GRADED SYSTEM ESTABLISHED
The board then organized the schools into a regular graded system. The First Ward of the city, except the portion lying north of Center Avenue, was made a district, with one primary and one intermediate school; the territory north of Center Avenue and all of the Second Ward comprised another primary and intermediate district, and the Third and the Fourth wards another. In August (1859), a High School was established.
Superintendent Guppey's first report under the new system showed that there were 1,076 children of school age residing in the City of Por- tage, 511 being males and 565 females, divided as follows: First Ward, 293; Second Ward, 274; Third Ward, 145; Fourth Ward, 364.
In October, 1861, Superintendent Guppey resigned his office to enter the Union army, where he made such an enduring record, and Henry B. Munn, the commissioner from the Fourth Ward was appointed to fill the vacancy.
HISTORY OF THE PORTAGE HIGH SCHOOL
In the meantime the High School had rapidly advanced in member- ship and efficiency under Professor Magoffin, with Abbey O. Briggs as assistant. At first it was accommodated in the Sylvester store, and no more than eighty pupils could be admitted, under the rules of the school board-eighteen from the First Ward, sixteen from the Second, fifteen from the Third and thirty-one from the Fourth. If any ward failed to furnish its quota, other wards or districts outside of the city might take advantage of the vacancies. Before the close of the first year, over one hundred pupils had been admitted, although the attendance had not been more than eighty at any one time. In 1863 the average attendance was eighty-two and in 1864, seventy-eight. In the latter year a grammar grade was established and installed in the high school under the princi- palship of Mrs. Agnes N. Cornwell.
The first high school building was completed in 1864, and by the end of the school year the average attendance had risen to 109.
In September, 1865, Professor Magoffin resigned as principal, and for about a year Miss Briggs, his former assistant, held the position. C. J. Whitney was appointed in August, 1866, Miss Briggs resuming her old place as assistant. Mr. Whitney resigned in the spring of 1867, Miss Briggs again stepped into the breach for a time, and E. E. Ashley was then appointed principal. In August, 1868, Mrs. Cornwell resigned the
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principalship of the grammar school, and was succeeded by Miss Lizzie C. Osborn.
THE STUDY OF GERMAN
The large influx of Germans into Portage City late in the '80s made it advisable to introduce the study of their native tongue into the public school system. In 1869 a German class was organized in the high school under Rev. J. J. Hoffman, who heard recitations one hour daily in the old Lutheran schoolroom. In 1870 two German elasses were formed from pupils of the high school, and scholars from the intermediate grades met on the lower floor of the Dean store on Clark Street under the tutorship of Miss Amelia Schneider.
In 1873 J. J. Hughes was elected principal of the high school to suc- ceed Mr. Ashley, and in 1875, William M. Lawrence and W. G. Clough became respectively principal and assistant. Mr. Clough was promoted to the head of the school in 1877. There he has remained, and in 1904, under the new state law, became also city superintendent of schools. For the good of its publie system of education, Portage could not have a better dual official. Prof. Clough's high school assistant is Miss Martha A. Karch, a graduate of the class of 1878, who has held her present position since 1889. She commenced her school duties soon after her graduation, making her the oldest teacher in length of continuous service on the city staff.
The total enrollment in the city schools of Portage when Professor Clough became principal of the high school in 1877 was 924. It is now 1,015-215 in the high school and 800 in the lower grades.
PRESENT SCHOOL BUILDINGS
The present High School building was completed in 1895 at a cost of about sixty-five thousand dollars, and is a fine three-story structure of brick and stone, massive and modern. It centers in two blocks of city property bounded by DeWitt, Mac, Franklin and Burns streets. As it is located in the Third Ward of the city, the High School building accom- modates a full set of grades for that section.
The First Ward schoolhouse on Wisconsin Street is a $3,000 build- ing, the pupils being under the principalship of Miss Emma Schultz. It stands upon the site of the old "Lee House," purchased by the city in 1867.
At the close of the year 1874, both the Second and Fourth Ward schoolhouses were completed. The Second Ward building, a four-room
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brick structure, cost the city some five thousand dollars, but is now valued at $7,000. It is on Monroe Street, the principal of the school being Miss Margaret Dempsey.
The Fourth Ward school, the same size, is on Prospect Avenue, and is valued at $10,000; principal, Miss Kittie Williams.
The Fifth Ward has a small two-room schoolhouse which accommo- dates several primary grades.
CITY SUPERINTENDENT CLOUGH
Professor W. G. Clough, head of the school system of Portage and one of the advisory editors of this work, is a native of the place, and is
EEF
PORTAGE HIGH SCHOOL
still living on a part of the tract which his father took up as govern- ment land in 1848. He is a son of William R. and Mary A. (Goeway) Clough, his parents settling at Delavan, Wis., in 1846, and coming to Portage City two years thereafter. Mr. Clough was educated in the city schools, graduating from the High School in 1870. He tanght three years in the country schools and in the grammar department of the old high school, after which he entered the University of Wisconsin and con- tinued therein from 1872 to 1875, graduating with the degree of A. B. He returned to Portage in 1875, when he became assistant to the High School principal, William M. Lawrence, whom he succeeded two years later. He served in that capacity until 1904, when the state law was passed requiring the city superintendent of schools to be a Normal school Vol. 1-14
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or college graduate. Previously the latter office had been held by men of other professions, or engaged in business, who also served as clerks of the sehool board ; sinee that year the head of the high school has been superintendent of the entire city system of schools. In 1910 he was elected president of the Southern Wisconsin Teachers' Association, a deserved compliment both to his ability and popularity.
On January 3, 1882, Professor Clough married Miss Elsena Wiswall, of Prairie du Sac, Wis. Mrs. Clough taught for several years before her marriage, and since becoming a resident of Portage has become widely known in literary, educational and social eireles. As public librarian for a dozen years her forceful, yet unobtrusive influenee has been extended for the general good.
Mr. and Mrs. Clough are the parents of a son and a daughter. The former, Dr. Paul W. Clough, is a graduate both of the University of Wisconsin (1903) and of the Johns Hopkins University Medical School (1907). He has taken a post-graduate medical course in Germany and for a number of years past has been identified with the Johns Hopkins Hospital, during the latter period with his connection as resident physi- cian. The daughter, Ethel Pearl Clough, graduated from the Wisconsin University in 1907, and is now the wife of Benjamin S. Reynolds, of Milwaukee.
LIST OF SUPERINTENDENTS AND CLERKS
The following have held the combined offices of superintendent of schools and elerk of the board of education: J. J. Guppey, 1859-61 ; Henry B. Munn, 1861-66; J. J. Guppey, 1866-73; G. J. Cox, 1873-75; N. K. Shattuck, 1875-77; A. C. Kellogg, 1877-81; A. Seliloemilch, 1881- 83; A. C. Kellogg, 1883-85; Thomas Armstrong, Jr., 1885-86; W. S. Stroud, 1886-88; Charles T. Susan, 1888-89; A. C. Kellogg, 1889-94; William Fulton, 1894-96; A. C. Kellogg, 1897-1904. Dr. A. C. Kellogg was secretary of the board, under the new law, from 1904 to 1907, when he resigned to accept the eity attorneyship. H. A. Story, who had been president of the board from 1904 to 1907, resigned that position to become its secretary and succeed Dr. Kellogg; and he still holds the office.
EARLY CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES
Christianity was planted at Portage by the Catholic missionaries, the first priest of undoubted authenticity to preach at this point being
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Father Marquette. No authentic records of later missionary work at the portage are found until about 1825. At intervals until 1831 Cath- olie priests gathered the Indians there to preach their faith.
As noted, at the suggestion of the young Dominican priest, Rev. Samuel C. Mazzuchelli, Pierre Pauquette erected what is considered the first church in Central Wisconsin during the year 1833. Later, while on his way to St. Louis, Father Mazzuchelli discovered a Catholic colony near Dubuque, Iowa. While laboring in that vicinity he purchased Sinsinawa Mound, on the opposite side of the Mississippi, in Wisconsin,
OLD PAUQUETTE CHURCH, PORTAGE
and after energetic work established a college and academy there. The institution has developed into great fame as St. Clara's Academy, under the supervision of the Sisters of St. Dominic. Father Mazzuchelli died at Benton, Lafayette County, Wisconsin, in 1864.
FOUNDING OF ST. MARY'S PARISH
For several years after the burning of the little log church erected by Pauquette, services were held occasionally in the homes of the first white settlers. Among these were James Collins, Thomas Christopher,
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John Sweeney, Mrs. Ward, M. R. Kegan, Patrick Lennon and Charles Moore. Father Smith attended to their spiritual needs for a short time, and was succeeded by Father Hobbs, who held services in a house near Fort Winnebago. In 1850 Rev. Louis Godhardt administered to their needs in a building located in what is now the First Ward of the city.
PASTORS OF ST. MARY'S
In 1851 the Catholics erected a small edifice called St. Mary's Church. It was located near the old "Pauquette Church" site, and around its memory are gathered many interesting episodes in the life of St. Mary's Parish. Rev. James Roche succeeded Father Godhardt in 1852, and in 1857 came Rev. J. Doyle. The latter effected the purchase of the present site of St. Mary's Church, and after some remodeling the building, which had been used by the Baptists, was dedicated as St. Mary's of the Immaculate Conception. Father Doyle also purchased the land north of the city as a burial place, since known as St. Mary's Cemetery. Rev. P. J. O'Neil and Rev. F. Pettit succeeded Father Doyle, the latter building the parsonage which was moved, in 1899, to a site near the Lutheran School in the Fifth Ward. After two and a half years, Father Pettit was followed by Rev. Thomas Keenan, who for thirteen years not only ministered to the Catholics of Portage, but also of Lodi, Dane, Kil bourn and other places.
SCHOOL BUILDING ERECTED
During Father Keenan's pastorate St. Mary's school building was erected, but he died in the fall of 1880 before it was opened to the chil- dren he loved. The deceased was succeeded by his brother, Rev. Joseph Keenan, now the well-known pastor of St. Patrick's Church, Fond du Lac, who remained with St. Mary's for about eight months. His suc- cessor, Rev. John Brady, died in the service of that church, and his work was taken up by a friend and classmate at the University of Louvain, Belgium, Rev. J. A. Geissler. Rev. George Brady, his sue- cessor and brother of his predecessor, remained as pastor of St. Mary's Church for thirteen years. Although suffering almost continuously with pulmonary trouble, Father Brady's administration of affairs was ener- getic and stimulating. In 1883 the church building was enlarged and beautified at a cost of $8,000, which improvements were made necessary by the growth of the parish. To lighten Father Brady's labors, Rev. A. P. Desmond was appointed as an assistant pastor in July, 1896; but,
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despite all human care, the former died February 23, 1897, his remains being interred in the cemetery of his native parish, Freedom, Wis.
Rev. J. D. Cummane also was called away in the midst of his labors for St. Mary's Parish, on July 30, 1899, being succeeded by Rev. M. H. Clifford, who came from St. Joseph's Church, Berlin, Wis. Under his pastorate, covering five years, the church was renovated without and within, and a commodious and modern building was erected as the priest's residence. In November, 1904, Father Clifford resigned to take charge of St. Peter's Church, Oshkosh.
Until May, 1905, Portage belonged to the Green Bay Diocese, but at that time a new division of territory was made by which Columbia County was included in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
At the resignation of Father Clifford, Father James Brady was appointed pastor of St. Mary's. In July, 1905, he was transferred to St. John's Cathedral, Milwaukee, where he died in the following year.
In July, 1905, Rev. John Morrissey, the present pastor, took charge of the parish. During his pastorate St. Francis Xavier Congregation (German Catholic) was dissolved, joining St. Mary's Church, to which body it deeded its property. The rapid growth of the church made it necessary to send Father Morrissey an assistant, and in 1908 Father Knoernschild was appointed to that post. Other evidences of the pros- perous condition of the parish have been the redecoration of the church, the lifting of the debt from St. Francis Xavier, and an addition to the parochial school.
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