USA > Wisconsin > Columbia County > A history of Columbia County, Wisconsin : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 26
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FIRST NATIONAL BANK
On the 7th of September, of that year, Mr. Chadbourn moved his private bank into the building vacated by Messrs. Scott & Sprague, and in 1863 it was organized under the national banking law as the First National Bank of Columbus, with a paid-up capital of $50,000. It was No. 178, consequently one of the first institutions of the kind to be organized in the country. Its first officers as a national bank, were: R. W. Chadbourn, president; S. W. Chadbourn, cashier, and besides these, as directors, William M. Griswold, George Griswold and F. F. Farnham.
The present officers of the First National Bank are Frederick A. Chadbourn, son of its founder, president ; E. H. Walker, vice president ; J. R. Goff, cashier ; in addition to the foregoing, W. C. Leitsch and W. E. Griswold, directors. The institution has a paid-in capital of $75,000; surplus fund, $25,000; undivided profits, $10,078; circulation, $18,755; deposits, $546,949. To these figures, representing its condition March 4, 1914, may be added the item of "cash on hand," $31,950.
FARMERS AND MERCHANTS UNION BANK
The Union Bank of Columbus was organized by John Russell Wheeler in 1861 as a private banking institution, and incorporated as a state bank in 1862. It was capitalized at $100,000 for the purpose of issuing currency. The original stockholders were: John R. Wheeler, Samuel Marshall, Charles F. Ilsley and J. Alder Ellis. First officers were: John R. Wheeler, president, and A. G. Cook, cashier. It was reconverted into a private bank about 1864, John Russell Wheeler be- coming the owner. He sold to Lester R. Rockwell, who continued the bank until his death in 1884, when he was succeeded by his son, R. S. Rockwell, and the name changed to Farmers & Merchants Union Bank.
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He was succeeded by John E. Wheeler and J. Russell Wheeler, his son, in 1896. The bank continued as a private bank until 1903, when under the state banking laws it was incorporated as a state institution with a capital stock of $25,000. The officers at this time became John E. Wheeler, president; G. W. Shepard, vice president, and J. Russell Wheeler, cashier. Officers have continued the same until the present. The bank has passed through every panic within its life without its in- tegrity ever having been questioned.
EARLY BREWERS
Columbus has an array of lumber yards, warehouses and general stores, machinery agencies, and fine retail stores which would do credit to a much larger city. Of her industries, the chief, by far, are the plants of the Columbus Canning Company and the Kurth Company, brewers and maltsters. The Kurths were pioneer brewers, but not the first. Jacob Jussen preceded them by more than ten years, building a tiny brew house on the west bank of the Crawfish in 1848. In the fol- lowing year Louis Brauchle purchased it, and added to it, but neither this establishment nor the brewery founded by Stephen Fleck in 1869 (known as the Farmers Brewery) was able to compete with the Kurth plant in the southwestern part of the village.
THE KURTH COMPANY
In 1859 Henry Kurth came to Columbus with his family and a brewer's boiler of four barrels' capacity. Six years later, in 1865, he was able to erect what was then a large brick brewery at a cost of nearly $4,000, and a year later put in a large boiler and made other im- provements. The original little brewery is now in the center of the Kurth plant on Ludington Street which covers nearly a city block.
The founder of the business is dead, and in 1904 his sons and grand- children incorporated the Kurth Company with a capital stock of $400,- 000 and the following officers: J. H. Kurth, president; C. Kurth, vice president and treasurer; Anna Kurth, secretary. Besides the plant at Columbus, in charge of John H. Kurth, the company operates a malt house in Milwaukee. The latter, which is managed by C. Kurth, was founded in 1911 and now has a capacity of 2,000,000 bushels.
The premises on Ludington Street have a frontage of nearly three hundred feet, extending nearly the same distance back. The plant com- prises several large brick buildings-from three to six stories each-and all connected.
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The main building is devoted to the brewing business, containing all the brewing equipment, and their brewing kettle has a daily capacity of 100 barrels, being the largest in Columbia County. The ammonia ice plant in connection has a capacity of seventy-five tons, using the direct expansion cooling system.
The entire plant is operated by steam and electricity, as this com- pany has its own dynamo for producing both electric lights and power throughout the works.
The malt house in the adjoining building has a capacity of 800,000 bushels, which, with the malt house at Milwaukee, gives the company a malting capacity of 3,000,000 bushels, being one of the largest con- cerns of the kind in the entire country. Their supplies in the line of barley are purchased in quite large quantities from farmers throughout the surrounding country in Columbia, Dodge and Dane counties; also bought in carlots from Western points in Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota, being one of the largest purchasers of barley in Wisconsin. They also buy hops in large quantities from the Western states-prin- cipally Oregon and Washington-and all consumed in the brewing business
Their bottling works in connection with brewery have a large capacity, as about 35 per cent of their product is bottled. Their special brands are known as "Banner Export" and "Columbia," the former having been on the market for many years, and both of these brands have a first-class reputation. Their draught beer is put up in one brand of lager and is in excellent demand by saloons and dealers through the country.
COLUMBUS CANNING COMPANY
Although the Columbus Canning Company was only established in 1900, when it was also incorporated, it has the largest plant of the kind in the United States, and has increased its capital from $30,000 to $300,000, and founded a branch at Juneau, Dodge County.
The plant is centrally located near the southeastern limits of Co- lumbus, close to the boundary line between Dodge and Columbia counties, the premises covering an area equal to five or six city bloeks, with a frontage of several hundred feet.
The plant comprises nine buildings, inelnding main factory building 80x138 (devoted entirely to the canning business) ; also warehouse, 122x 63; viner shed, 80x120; silo 45 feet in diameter ; garage building, 24x60; barn, 46x72; Badger warehouse (across river), 60x150; boiler house, 42x58; and old warehouse, 36x72.
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The factory is completely equipped with modern machinery and appliances, operated by steam power and electricity, using three engines with a capacity of 85, 150, 30 horse-power, respectively ; also five boilers, two of which are 150 horse-power each and three of 60 horse-power each (or a total of 480 horse-power), while the electric power is obtained from the city plant, using from 8 to 10 motors, aggregating from 50 to 60 horse-power. The works throughout are also lighted by electricity, using from 300 to 400 electric lights, this being one of the best lighted plants in the country. The works are provided throughout with a number of the latest improvements, being recognized as the model plant of its kind in the state and one of the best in the United States.
A force of from 400 to 500 hands are employed in the busy season, which lasts from four to six weeks, from the latter part of June to the early part of August.
Special attention is given to canning peas, corn and pumpkins, making a specialty of peas, the company being the largest canners of peas in the state and one of the largest in the United States. Altogether 3,200 acres of peas are grown for canning and seeding purposes. The works have a capacity of 250,000 cans per day or from 5,000,000 to 7,000,000 cans during the season ; also turn out canned corn and pumpkin in considerable quantities.
The business is entirely wholesale, the company shipping to all parts of the United States and supplying the jobbing trade direct in the largest cities, including Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Kansas City, Cleveland, Boston, and other cities south and west.
The officers are: W. C. Leitsch, president and general manager; A. H. Whitney, vice president; A. M. Bellack, secretary; F. A. Chad- bourn, treasurer; J. R. Wheeler, auditor, and F. A. Stare, superintend- ent. These gentlemen, with others, comprise the board of directors, all residents of Columbus, and are also interested in other enterprises.
The business since its inception has been growing rapidly, so much so that the company has been obliged to build a branch factory at Juneau (Dodge County) to assist in taking care of the increased busi- ness. At that plant a force of 140 hands are employed, and the combined annual output of the two plants is about 270,000 cases of twenty-four cans each.
CHAPTER XVI
KILBOURN CITY
THE VILLAGE OF THE PRESENT-WISCONSIN RIVER HYDRAULIC COM- PANY FATHERS KILBOURN-EDITOR HOLLY ARRIVES-VILLAGE PLAT RECORDED-SALES OF LOTS-SCHOOLS OF KILBOURN CITY-P. G. STROUD AND JONATHAN BOWMAN-VILLAGE INCORPORATED-WATER SERVICE AND FIRE PROTECTION-THE FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY-IM- PROVEMENT OF SOUTHERN WISCONSIN POWER COMPANY-FIRST STEAMBOATS AT THE DELLS-BANKS AT KILBOURN-THE PRESBY- TERIAN CHURCH-THE METHODISTS-ST. CECELIA (CATHOLIC) CHURCH-OTHER RELIGIOUS BODIES.
Kilbourn City, or properly, the village of Kilbourn City, is widely famed as the center of one of the most popular regions with summer tourists in the country, and the site of a greater water-power. At the height of the summer season, when thousands of visitors are peering into every little ravine and gloating over countless fantastic carvings in the sandstones of the Dells, more than a score of hotels are overflowing and thriving at Kilbourn City; when the season is over, all but half a dozen, or less, are on the retired list. In summer, the village and surrounding country are throbbing with life; in the winter, the entire region is a picture of demureness, and would seem almost lifeless were it not for the great dam and power house, from which are issuing such currents of vitality to Portage, Watertown, Milwaukee, and other points between and around.
THE VILLAGE OF THE PRESENT
Kilbourn is a pretty village, the center of a prosperous country, as its elevators and warehouses for the handling and storage of grain, seed and potatoes demonstrate; also, its implement depots and lumber yards. Two substantial banks handle its trade. It has a good system of water works, is well lighted and its fire protection is ample. As to higher
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matters, Kilbourn City has a fine new grade school (completed in 1911), a Carnegie library, not yet (1914) fairly open to the public, and several well-attended churches. Now, as to details.
WISCONSIN RIVER HYDRAULIC COMPANY FATHERS KILBOURN
Kilbourn as a village is the child of the Wisconsin River Hydraulic Company, which in 1855 purchased a piece of land a mile in length and half a mile in width lying along the broken east banks of the Wisconsin River, in the extreme northwest corner of the county. At this point the tableland rises about eighty feet above the stream, and when the pur- chasers of the land laid out the village the ground was generally covered with clumps of oaks, the river and some of the ravines being fringed with yellow pines. The village plat, made in June, 1856, was intersected by two main streets, noted as 100 feet wide, crossing at right angles half a mile from the river, all the other streets being eighty feet wide and running parallel to the main thoroughfares.
EDITOR HOLLY ARRIVES
Mr. Holly, proprietor and editor of the Wisconsin Mirror, was the first settler to arrive, coming on the 20th of November, 1855, six months before the village was platted. About the time Mr. Holly finished his dwelling and printing office, the Hydraulic Company commenced the building of a dam 425 feet in length, with a fall of eight feet. The lumbermen bitterly opposed its construction, as they had so much trouble in running their rafts over it. Finally, in 1859, a large party of them gathered at Kilbourn and tore it down.
Soon after Mr. Holly located at the unnamed village he was joined by J. B. Vliet, John Anderson, G. F. Noble, Joseph Bailey (the Civil War hero) and others. A considerable force of men were engaged in clearing away the trees in the course of the projected streets, and others were building houses and working upon the dam. One of the rules of the hydraulic company was that those who purchased lots were to build upon them within a reasonable time, which provision accounted for much of the bustle of the town.
VILLAGE PLAT RECORDED
The plat of the village was placed on record June 10, 1856, under the name Kilbourn City, and a week later the Mirror approved of the chris- tening in these words: "Under ordinary circumstances we should be
.
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opposed to the naming of a town after a person, but we think the cir- cumstances in this place are such as to make it eminently proper. Hon. Byron Kilbourn of Milwaukee, for public enterprise which tells on the prosperity of the state, undoubtedly stands first. This makes it proper that an important central town should be named after him. He is one of the early settlers of the state, having come to the metropolis in its infaney and having been instrumental, beyond any other individual, in its growth and prosperity. He is the body and soul of the La Crosse Railroad. On that more than any other enterprise he has staked his reputation as a business man to make it the great trunk line of the state. The present prosperity of the road shows that his success is almost certain. Under these circumstances it seems highly fitting that some place on the line of the road should bear his name. Our place is nearly central on the road, at the point where it crosses the largest river in the state, and we expect it to be the largest inland town in the state. Then what place could be named after the head man of the road with greater propriety than this ? In the name itself there can be no objection. It has but two syllables and is euphonious; consequently is easily spoken and agreeable to the ear. These reasons, we think, are abundantly suf- ficient for naming our place as we have. And as the place is honored by the name, it is expected that the name will be honored by the place."
SALES OF LOTS
The first public sale of lots commenced August 18, 1856, and was attended by persons from Milwaukee, Madison, Portage and other points in the state, with a few from Illinois, Ohio and New York. The stock of the hydraulic company was taken in payment at par. The sales, which continued four days, amounted to $76,235, the lots ranging in value from $50 to $1,450.
A second sale, stretching over three days of the succeeding October, brought $34,447. Anything fathered by Byron Kilbourn was always boomed by Milwaukee. The leading auctioneer of the Cream City, Caleb Wall, who had conducted the last sale, was particularly loud and warm for Kilbourn City, declaring: "Many who are now rolling in wealth in Milwaukee and other large cities of our state owe it to the rise of prop- erty ; and the chances in Kilbourn City are as great as in any city that has been started in the last ten years. I have no doubt in my mind, taking the central position of Kilbourn City, that the seat of government of our state will be located there. A more beautiful site for a city is not to be found."
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SCHOOLS OF KILBOURN CITY
In 1856 occurred an event which was even of more import than the sale of lots and the boom from Milwaukee-the completion of the first schoolhouse in the town. Kilbourn City was then school district No. 6, and in May, when the new building was completed, it had an attendance of fourteen. In 1861 Dell Prairie was united with the district, which, with the normal increase of school children, made a larger building necessary. For that purpose block 78 (Thomas B. Coons') was pur- chased in 1867, and in the summer of 1870, after village government had
PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDING, KILBOURN
been adopted, a fine three-story building of cream colored brick was completed. When first occupied, the present graded system was adopted.
With the continued growth of Kilbourn City its school facilities have been since increased by the completion of a large red brick building, two stories and basement, for the use of the grammar grades. It was occu- pied in the fall of 1911, the Union schoolhouse of 1869-70 having since been devoted to the high school scholars. There are 335 pupils enrolled in the public schools of Kilbourn City, of whom seventy-five are accred- ited to the high school and forty-four to the seventh and eighth grades, accommodated in the Union Building.
P. G. STROUD AND JONATHAN BOWMAN
"Among the men who were in Kilbourn at an early time, and after- ward became noted in public life," says J. E. Jones, the well-known
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editor and citizen of that place, "was P. G. Stroud, who moved up from Newport in 1857. The next year he began the study of law, in which he later obtained great prominence. He was a man of strong con- victions, sound judgment, and a genial nature that won popularity. From the day he began to help make Kilbourn history to the day of his death, 1887, Mr. Stroud was a strong and leading personality. He es- tablished Strond's Bank, now the Kilbourn State Bank. It would not have been possible to have written this 'Story of the Wisconsin River' without Jonathan Bowman, and no history of Kilbourn that omits his name would be complete. In every public transaction of old Newport from its first inception to its final obliteration he was a principal. His influence also appeared in the earliest relations of Kilbourn and was apparent in all affairs until his death in 1895. Mr. Bowman did not
P. G. STROUD
JONATHAN BOWMAN
become an actual resident of Kilbourn until 1862, and in 1868, bought the Kilbourn bank from John McGregor, which had been established the year before. Ilis strong personality won the loyal, unswerving friendship of his associates, and the honor of leadership in business and political affairs. In later years the leadership of all public matters in Kilbourn was about equally accorded to Jonathan Bowman and P. G. Stroud, and though they were frequently in bitter opposition and strenu- ous rivalry in a publie manner, there was never imputed to either of them one single act of reprehensible nature. Their manhood and sense of honor was never sacrificed to an unfair advantage. Today those two men around whose lives centre so much of the history of Kilbourn, sleep in near proximity in the village cemetery. Those lives, so earnest, per- sistent and efficient in events that made Kilbourn, in which each sought to do the right as he saw it, closed in the full vigor of usefulness, sud-
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denly and near together. Today posterity regards the memory of both with impartial honor and equally generous praise.
"During about fifteen years from 1860 Kilbourn seemed likely to realize the expectations of its promoters. Merchants drew trade from far beyond Baraboo and Reedsburg, until the North Western Road came along in 1872-and north beyond Mauston and Necedah. The river in those days was almost continually covered with raftsmen and lumber fleets, and they tied up long enough to keep Kilbourn lively. There were then several big stores, the Hansens, the Hydraulic com- pany store, later owned by the Dixons; Wood had a big store where the bowling alley now is, which was later Kuney & Bergstresser. Besides these there were a number of smaller establishments in all lines, and all did a rushing business. Old settlers now refer to those times in extrava- gant terms, and seem to think present conditions discouraging. That, however, is susceptible of another view. There are today perhaps more than three times the number of stores, and all doing a good business. While the country trade does not extend as far, the country is more thickly settled, and people trade more now than in those times. It is quite likely that people made more stir, did more trading while at it, but there are now more people, trading every day instead of monthly, and more goods are sold. It is a mistake quite commonly made in most mat- ters of comparison-people overlook relative conditions. It frequently happens in the progress of the human race that it is a detriment to begin life with lofty expectations-not, however, that men should be without ambition. A young man should have a high mark and strive to reach it. But the danger lies in going forward with eyes in the clouds, overlook- ing and disdaining the lesser things along the way. That seems to have been the case with Newport and Kilbourn. From the first everything tended to magnificent opportunities and great achievement. The peo- ple have always had their hopes fixed on the 'magnificent water power,' a big factory town and an unrestricted trade. Ordinary success counts for nothing in comparison, and small opportunities have been neglected. The result is that Kilbourn is not all it might have been, because the inhabitants 'despised the day of little things,' and it is also very much greater than its people think because it is not up to the mark of their great expectations. As a matter of fact the village has prospered and, aside from its summer resort relations, is commercially ahead of the average market town. It has not only kept up with its neighbors but has in some instances set the pace for others."
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VILLAGE INCORPORATED
Kilbourn was under town government until 1868, but on February 29th of that year the governor approved a legislative act incorporating it as a village. The first election as provided by the charter was held May 10, 1869, and resulted as follows: George Smith, president; G. J. Hansen, John Tanner, Henry H. Drinker, George H. Daniels, John N. Schmitz and A. Chamberlain, trustees; H. H. Hurlbut, police justice ; J. Jackson Brown, clerk; George Ribenack, treasurer; George A. Boyd, marshal.
All of the public departments are sufficient for their requirements. It has its own waterworks and electric light plant, the electric current being generated at the light and power house of the Southern Wisconsin Power Company at Kilbourn.
WATER SERVICE AND FIRE PROTECTION
In the early '70s the residents of the new village commenced to call for better water supply and fire protection. Finally a well 1,300 feet deep was bored, but no water was reached. After various other experi- ments, in the fall of 1889 the main pipe of the present system was laid from a pumping station in the ravine, at the old steamer landing above the railroad bridge. This pipe at first followed Broadway to the old tanks near the D. E. Loomis residence. Since 1909 the present water- works have been completed, embracing power house, wells and reser- voir. The entire light and water plant of the village is now valued at $50,000. In 1913 the consumption of water amounted to 22,000,000 gallons.
When pipe was laid in other streets than Broadway, the need of a fire department became apparent. So in September, 1891, a volunteer fire company was organized with F. R. Snider as foreman. The volunteer organization, which has done good work, now comprises thirty men, and is supplied with hook and ladder, fire extinguisher and 1,500 feet of hose. There is a direct water pressure through the mains and hydrants which is sufficient to throw a stream over any building in the village.
THE FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY
The predecessor of the Carnegie Library, which (1914) is about to be open to the public, was the Kilbourn Literary and Library Associa- tion, organized in 1886. The incorporators were E. A. Steere, Rev. D. Evans, J. E. Jones, Miss Susie Mylrea, Miss Ella Bowman and Mrs. R.
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Schofield. Of those directors J. E. Jones is the only one now residing in Kilbourn, and he has been identified with a library board ever since the founding of the old association. In 1897 the library became a village institution and a free public library. Through a donation of Andrew Carnegie, a large, artistic library building was erected in 1913 at a cost of $7,000. There are about eight thousand volumes on the shelves.
JAMES E. JONES
As noted, James E. Jones, the present editor of Events, is one of the oldest and best known citizens of Kilbourn. He has been in editorial work continuously for thirty-eight years, thirty years of that time with- out a break in this place.
Mr. Jones was born in Virginia in 1847 and during the first years of the Civil war lived with his parents in Georgia. In 1864 he came North and enlisted for the Indian service in the West, serving on the plains. Just after the war he served with General Custer in Kansas, through that fierce, bloody war that covered the plains of Kansas with the graves of soldiers and settlers. He also served in the United States Topographical Corps in Arizona, New Mexico, and other territories, then practically unsettled. He later came to Chicago where he was for some time employed as a newspaper reporter, coming to Kilbourn in 1884, where he has since been in the newspaper business. Mr. Jones has always been prominently identified with everything inclined toward the upbuilding of the town and surrounding country.
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