USA > Wisconsin > Columbia County > A history of Columbia County, Wisconsin : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 28
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I. H. PALMER FOUNDS LODI
In February, March and April, 1846, Mr. Palmer entered at the land office in Mineral Point various portions of Section 27 in the present Township of Lodi, on the western banks of Spring Creek. He found that the majority of the choice lands owned by the Government had been taken up by speculators. They had passed these by, and he knew they were choice because he had thoroughly canvassed the southwestern
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portion of Columbia County in the summer of 1845, having found a fine water power at this point.
In April, 1846, Mr. Palmer arrived upon the ground and prepared to get out timher for a sawmill and a log house for his family. The sawmill was in operation by fall, his family having "got settled" in the previous June; consequently Mr. Palmer was the first actual settler within the present village limits and founder of its first industry. In 1847 he also petitioned for a postoffice and a ferry at the scene of his operations, both of which were granted. Mr. Palmer's commission for postmaster was signed April 17, 1848, and on the 25th of the succeeding month he recorded the first plat of the Village of Lodi. The founder of Lodi would have been accounted a hustler even today.
In the fall of 1848 Mr. Palmer completed a store building which was soon occupied by Thomas & Pinney, young men who had been engaged in general merchandise at Hanchetville, Dane County.
PROGRESS OF LOCAL SCHOOLS
In the summer of 1846 a log house was erected on Section 27, in which Miss Mary Yockey taught the first school within the limits of the present village. This house served until 1851, when a frame building was erected on the same section, the district being No. 1.
After various rearrangements of districts, as population increased, School Districts 1, 2, 6, 7 and a part of 3 were consolidated into a Union district, with the object of establishing a school of high grade which might accommodate all. A special school meeting was held Octo- ber 8, 1864, when the board was authorized to move one or more of the schoolhouses to the point as would best subserve the interests of the consolidated districts.
Previous to this time Professor A. G. Riley had been teaching a select high school in the village, and had awakened considerable interest in higher education. As the professor had expressed his willingness to abandon his private school in case the districts united for the purpose mentioned, he did so when the change was made and was appointed first principal of the Union School, which was opened November 14, 1864.
In November, 1869, a $10,000 union schoolhouse was completed with a seating capacity of 340. This was burned in the spring of 1878 and another thrown open to the scholars of the district in the following De- cember. In 1873 the first superintendent of village schools was elected, John Foote, and since that time they have been organized under the graded system.
The 1878 building was also burned in 1886. In due time it was
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replaced by the substantial brick structure occupying the same site, now used for grades and designated the Grade Building. As time passed the need for increased room became so apparent and urgent that the erection of a high school building was voted by the district, and the same was erected in 1898 on the beautiful and picturesque site, com- prising about three acres of land, donated for that purpose by the Palmer sisters, near the head of Main Street.
To carry out Lodi's present system of public instruction, the school board, consisting of Director Dr. T. O. Goeres, Clerk C. H. Mandeville and Treasurer A. R. Reynolds, employs one supervising principal and eleven assistants. Five (including L. F. Rahr, the principal) are as- signed to the high school and six to the grades. The present school year of 1913-14 has seen the largest enrolment in the history of the Lodi High School-134; in the grade school it is 207.
VILLAGE CHARTER
In 1872 Lodi obtained a village charter covering the area embraced by Section 27, and on June 20th of that year held its first election. It resulted in the choice of Horatio N. Cowan for president of the village board of trustees; E. Andrews, Alexander Woods, James McCloud, H. C. Bradley, William Dunlap and Leonard F. Wanner, trustees; Carlos Bacon, clerk; J. M. Pruyn, treasurer ; H. M. Ayer, police justice.
WATER SERVICE AND ELECTRIC LIGHTING
The village owns its own waterworks plant. The water is stored in a reservoir fourteen feet in depth by forty feet in diameter, situated on a hillside overlooking the town. The water is of the purest and best, being obtained from two wells located at the foot of the bluff, one fourteen feet deep, the other an artesian well 253 feet in depth. The plant has a pumping capacity of 500 gallons per minute.
Lodi has also a good electric lighting system, the plant being owned and operated by the municipality. One hundred and twenty-five meters are now in use.
Both plants are operated by the same power, two boilers, one of fifty horsepower and one of 100 horsepower being employed for the purpose.
THE METHODIST CHURCH
Lodi has always been a quiet, God-fearing community and supports several strong churches, chief of which are the Presbyterian and Meth-
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odist. The Methodists formed the first class for religions instruction, in the fall of 1845. This was before the village was platted by Mr. Palmer. G. M. Bartholomew, Catherine Bartholomew, M. C. Bartholomew, Mary Bartholomew, Christiana Bartholomew, Henry Maynard, Catherine Maynard and Harriet E. Maynard -- in other words, the Bartholomew's and the Maynards-got together, with the first-named Bartholomew as class leader, and formed an organization under Rev. L. Harvey. Serv- ices were held in the log cabins of the Bartholomews and the Maynards until the spring of 1846, when the log schoolhouse was built in Section 27, on the future village plat. As the population of the village in- creased and the log schoolhouse became too small, a house was obtained which accommodated the growing society for some years, and in 1857 a large stone church building was dedicated. The present society is in charge of Rev. G. R. Carver.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH
The Baptists have a society in charge of Rev. Joseph J. Bowman, son of the first settled pastor of the local church. The first meeting to consider organization was held at the house of H. M. Ayer in April, 1852, and in the following month articles were signed by Peter Van Ness, Cyrus Hill, William G. Simons, HI. M. Ayer, Freedom Simons, William Waite, Matthias Warner, Ira Polly, Emma Van Ness, Caroline L. Sim- ons. Almira Simons, Lucy Warner, Caroline Wait, Catherine Polly, James Cross, Laura Durkce and Betsy Hill. In January, 1853, the church invited Elder Joseph Bowman to become its pastor. This rela- tion was continued until December 28, 1861. A church building was completed in 1867.
Lodi also sustains a Norwegian Lutheran Church and a small Uni- versalist society, the latter being organized in 1872.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
The Presbyterians organized in June, 1852, the ten persons signing the articles of covenant being James O. Eaton and wife, A. P. Smith and wife, Robert Mann and wife, Mrs. Patridge, Mrs. Strangeway, Mrs. J. N. Lewis and Miss Eliza Steele. The first Presbyterian sermon had been preached in the preceding fall by Rev. J. N. Lewis, a missionary of the church, who became the settled pastor of the local society. In August, 1857, Rev. G. B. Riley, the widely known missionary and edu- cator, commenced his labors as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Lodi, and during his six years of fine service a house of worship was
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erected and the society placed on a substantial basis for future develop- ment. The church very early adopted the plan of a rotary eldership.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, LODI
The present building was erected in 1911, and the membership of the society is 200; Rev. Frank Zimmerman, in charge.
LODI LODGES
The villagers have a good Masonic lodge (Lodi Valley No. 99), which was organized in 1857, and has now a membership of fifty-eight; also, an Eastern Star auxiliary, with fifteen or twenty members; and bodies representing the Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen.
BUSINESS HOUSES
Lodi has a number of substantial general stores and other business houses. Its largest establishment is conducted by the Lodi Grain Com- pany, which was established in 1909. The company conducts an elevator with a capacity of 12,000 bushels and a feed mill, and has large deal- ings in grain, flour and coal.
BANKS OF LODI
The State Bank of Lodi was organized November 26, 1897, with a capital of $25,000. The first officers were: David H. Robertson, presi- Vol. I-18
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dent; William Folsom, vice president; E. F. Vanderpoel, cashier. William Caldow became president upon the death of Mr. Robertson, and at his decease was succeeded by A. R. Reynolds. W. A. Caldow suc- ceeded Mr. Vanderpoel as cashier in Jannary, 1909, and has so con- tinned to the present. F. W. Groves is the present vice president.
The Columbia Bank, at Lodi, was organized November 14, 1906, with the following directors: John Caldwell, Sr., John L. Caldwell, James M. Caldwell, Robert Caldwell, Hugh S. Caldwell, Marion Caldwell and Wm. E. Lamont. The first officers were: John Caldwell, Sr., presi- dent ; John L. Caldwell, vice president; H. S. Caldwell, cashier, and Marion Caldwell, assistant cashier. The officers have continued un- changed to the present. The capital stock of $20,000 is also the same. Two additional stockholders, Isaac S. Caldwell, of Chicago, and William W. Caldwell, of Ashland, Ore., who were stockholders when the bank was organized, have since moved away and have resigned from the director- ate. On November 4, 1907, the stockholders filed with the state com- missioner of banking a declaration in writing, signed by each of them, acknowledging, consenting and agreeing to hold themselves individu- ally responsible for all the debts, demands and liabilities of said bank, under the laws enacted in 1903. The bank has enjoyed the confidence of the public and is recognized as one of the most substantial and solid financial institutions of Columbia County. August 9, 1913, bank state- ment showed deposits aggregating about $328,464.
HERBERT PALMER, SON OF LODI'S FOUNDER
Isaac H. and Ann Palmer, of Colonial New York stock, came to Madison soon after the capital of the state was located at that place, reaching Wisconsin in June, 1837. The family lived for a few years in and near Madison; while there Mr. Palmer was elected the first county judge of Dane County. They came to Lodi in the spring of 1846, and Judge Palmer, as he was always familiarly known, founded the village and laid out the first plat. The life of the family has been intimately connected with the progress of the community ever since.
Judge and Mrs. Palmer were the parents of ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the youngest. He was born in the beautiful Lodi Valley, on December 29, 1857.
Ile graduated from the Lodi High School, and afterward attended Beloit College; afterward taught very successfully for several years in the schools of Columbia and Dane counties. He read law, was admitted to the bar in 1894, and has since practiced his profession at Lodi. He has always been keenly interested in educational affairs, and was for a
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number of years and until recently director of the Lodi High School Board.
For many years he has been prominent in the affairs of the Presby- terian Church ; is an elder and clerk of the session ; was one of the prime movers in the building of the fine church which the society erected in 1911. He was married in 1894 to Miss Nellie Pierce of Poynette. She died in 1899.
Mr. Palmer has two children, Alice, born in 1895, and Herbert, born in 1899. The family home is on the lands bought by Judge Palmer from the Government nearly seventy years ago.
It is quite appropriate that Mr. Palmer should be one of the advisory editors of this history.
CHIAPTER XVIII
VILLAGE OF PARDEEVILLE
PARDEEVILLE FOUNDED-YATES ASHLEY -JOHN PARDEE, FATHER OF JOHN S., PROPRIETOR-THE OLD MILL UP TO DATE-PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE-PARDEEVILLE STATE BANK-INCORPORATED AS A VIL- LAGE-GRADED SCHOOL SYSTEM-PARDEEVILLE'S CHURCHES-MASONS AND ODD FELLOWS
John S. Pardee was one of those enterprising merchants of Mil- waukee, who early extended his operations into the growing and promis- ing fields of southern Wisconsin lying in the valleys of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. In the fall of 1848 he sent out as one of his agents, Reuben Stedman, who built a store near the southern shores of the mill pond, or water power, which was the birthplace of the Village of Par- deeville.
PARDEVILLE FOUNDED
In April, 1849, a young New Yorker, who was both a surveyor and a merchant and who had been several years in business at Milwaukee, succeeded Mr. Stedman at the new store and water-power site in the Fox Valley. The new-comer was Yates Ashley, who not only sold Mr. Pardee's goods, but kept his books, got out timber for the projected saw and grist mills, and put everything in operation before the year closed. John S. Pardee's money was behind him, but Yates Ashley really founded the town. In July, 1850, Mr. Ashley's employer platted a portion of the land to which he gave his name, and Willis S. Haskin went and did likewise. In 1855 Doctor Lake made an addition to the original plat of some forty acres to the south.
YATES ASHLEY
In the meantime Mr. Ashley started out to make some money. First he went to Watertown, where he clerked a year; then spent two years in the engineer's corps of the old LaCrosse & Milwaukee Railroad, and
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in the spring of 1855 purchased a quarter interest in the flouring and grist mill at Pardeeville. In the following October he married Virginia M. Pardee, daughter of John and sister of John S .- the latter being his appreciative employer of a few years previous. He was afterward post- master and many years mail agent of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company at Pardeeville. Mr. Ashley represented his district in the assembly for several terms during war times, was long identified with the management of the State Hospital for the Insane, and retained an interest in the general store and the flouring mill which he conducted until the time of his death in 1901. One of his sons, Lewis P. Ashley, who was born at Pardeeville, has long been proprietor of the leading hardware store in the village, and is one of the solid citizens of the place.
JOHN PARDEE, FATHER OF JOHN S., PROPRIETOR
Soon after platting a portion of his land, in 1850, John S. Pardee transferred his interest in the village to Joseph Utley, who, about the
OLD MILL, NUCLEUS OF PARDEEVILLE
year 1853, turned the property over to John Pardee, father of the orig- inal proprietor. The grist mill, which had been commenced in 1849, was completed by John Pardee late in 1856. In the spring of the pre- vious year, he had sold a quarter interest in the mill property to Yates Ashley, who in the fall of that year had settled at Pardeeville with his young bride and commenced his long and honorable career. This
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co-partnership continued until the death of John Pardee June 26, 1873, and at the decease of Mr. Ashley, in 1901, Dr. Joseph Chandler pur- chased the old mill property around which Pardeeville was built.
THE OLD MILL UP TO DATE
Doctor Chandler has since improved the plant so that the mill has an output of seventy-five barrels of flour daily, besides making a good showing in the feed line.
Some 300 feet north of the flouring mill may still be seen a ditch which marks the race of the old sawmill which antedated the pioneer grist plant.
PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE
The electric light and power plant, erected in 1901, stands near the flour mill. For fire protection there is a chemical engine and a volunteer fire department, and the special use of the pump at the power house is to force water through the mains in case of conflagration.
On the 1st of April, 1906, the flames got too far a start of the home appliances, and the engine from Portage arrived too late to be of any assistance. The west side of the main street was swept away, ten business houses completely destroyed and a damage was suffered amount- ing to between $50,000 and $60,000. This was Pardeeville's worst fire, and precautions have been taken against a repetition of such a calamity.
PARDEEVILLE STATE BANK
The Pardeeville State Bank was organized in 1901 with the following officers: Thomas Kearns, president; D. T. Lynch, vice president; J. H. Dooley, cashier. Its statement at the close of March 4, 1914, shows these items: Capital stock paid in, $15,000; surplus and undivided profits, $10,758; deposits, $202,545.
INCORPORATED AS A VILLAGE
Pardeeville was incorporated as a village in November, 1899, and is a well-situated station on the northern division of the Chicago, Mil- waukce & St. Paul Railroad. It has a score of business establishments, including the flouring mill, already mentioned, a grain elevator, a creamery and a good bank, potato warehouses and a large lumber yard.
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The village is well supplied with churches and societies for the benefit of the local population, and Park Lake adjoining the town offers visitors facilities for fishing and boating.
GRADED SCHOOL SYSTEM
Pardeeville was originally in School District No. 3, and under control of the town authorities. A schoolhouse was erected in the district as early as 1847; the second was an improvement on the first, and the third, erected within the present village in 1868, is the two-story brick still in use. A graded system is in force, with a good High School
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HIGH SCHOOL, PARDEEVILLE
:
founded in 1903. The average attendance at the latter is about seventy ; in the eight grades below, two hundred. Since the establishment of the High School its principals have been Frank Doudna, Clara Dean, Mr. Ray, Henry Emmett and A. J. Henkel. The members of the school board are as follows: J. S. Alexander, clerk; J. S. Heath, treasurer; Dr. A. L. Wood, director.
PARDEEVILLE'S CHURCHES
The Presbyterian Church of Pardeeville was organized in 1857 with these members: Alanson Hughson, Phila M. Hughson, Lebbuns H. Gil- bert, William J. Ensign, Leona Ensign and Sarah Burchecker. Rev.
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S. H. Barteau was the first pastor, and a house of worship was dedi- cated in March, 1864. The present pastor is Rev. Coonrod Wellen, and the membership of the church about seventy-five.
The Methodists organized early and erected their first church home in 1861. John W. Falconer and Samuel Cannon were the most active in its construction. The edifice now occupied was completed in 1910. The pastor in charge, Rev. Samuel Olson, commeneed his pastorate in 1911, and ministers to about one hundred and forty members.
The German Lutherans and the Catholics have also societies at Par- deeville. The German Lutheran Church, which has a membership of sixty, is supplied by Rev. L. C. Kirst of Cambria. Rev. H. J. Koester ministers to the fifty families constituting the Catholic organization.
MASONS AND ODD FELLOW'S
The Masons were the first to form a lodge iu Pardeeville. On Sep- tember 12, 1867, a dispensation was granted Pardee Lodge No. 171, A. F. & A. M., and an organization was effected by the election of Samuel B. Rhodes, W. M .: Charles J. Pardee, S. W .; David H. Lang- don, J. W. A charter was granted to the organization June 10, 1868. The present membership of the lodge is sixty, with the following officers: S. H. Dooley, W. M .; A. J. Henkel, S. W .; William Robinson, J. W .; A. V. Davis, S. D .; A. L. Parmlee, J. D .; M. W. Roberts, secretary ; Clifford Spicer, treasurer.
Pardee Lodge No. 126, I. O. O. F., was instituted December 5, 1873, with Charles J. Pardee, N. G .; David Narracong, V. G .; F. A. Matthew- son, secretary ; Jolin IFartman, treasurer. The lodge has now a mem- bership of nearly one hundred, and owns and occupies a fine $8,000 hall, which was appropriately dedicated in December, 1913, and com- pleted in the following summer. Present officers: Willard Clark, N. G .; Ralph Parish, V. G .; A. L. Wood, R. S .; C. E. Spicer, F. S .; R. E. Garner, treasurer.
Pardee Encampment No. 38 was instituted January 30, 1914. It has fifteen members and the following officers: A. L. Wood, C. P .; R. E. Garner, H. P .; F. W. Edwards, S. W .; William Reuhl, J. W .; W. P. Day, scribe ; P. H. Merrill, treasurer.
CHAPTER XIX
VILLAGE OF RIO
ORIGIN OF THE NAME DOUBTFUL-RIO PLATTED BY N. B. DUNLAP-FIRST MERCHANT AND POSTMASTER-PIONEER BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL MEN-VILLAGE INCORPORATED-SCHOOLS-BANKS-PEOPLE'S TELE- PHONE COMPANY-THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH-THE BAPTIST CHURCH-LUTHERAN AND CATHOLIC CHURCHES.
A visitor to Rio at once concludes that it is one of the neatest villages in the county. Its streets are wide and clean, its stores bright and its residences, for a place of its size, are unusually attractive. It has a fine new school, a pretty village hall, in which are housed the fire apparatus and the public officials, two good banks, and is the head- quarters of the People's Telephone Company, the largest organization of the kind in this part of the state. Rio has a growing retail business. It has a large lumber company, which deals in coal and building mate- rial, and operates a grain elevator and a bean warehouse.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME DOUBTFUL -
Rio is the center of quite a prolific bean country; and, in this con- nection, steps forth a local wag. A crowd was discussing the origin of the village name, which no two have yet agreed upon. "No trouble to explain it," says Mr. Wag. "Dunlap, the papa of the town, was a great traveler, and when he laid it out he had just returned from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, one of the great coffee centers. His village was the center of a big bean land. A fool can see how the town happened to be named Rio."
Then spoke the wise man: "I don't know much, but a little history, local and general. I happen to know that there wasn't much doing in the coffee line in the '60s, when Dad Dunlap came here; also that half an acre of beans had not been raised in Columbia County when Dunlap
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came here. Also that Dunlap didn't name it at all. It was named before it was born. Try again."
Even A. J. Turner gives up "Rio," thus: "This village was named after the postoffice which had previously been established there. The name appears to have been selected without rhyme or reason, as far as can be discerned."
RIO PLATTED BY N. B. DUNLAP
Rio was laid out by N. B. Dunlap in 1864, and he owned the larger part of the land now included in the site. In 1852 a postoffice had been established in the northeast corner of Lowville by the name of Rio-but why Rio, nobody ever knew. When Mr. Dunlap engaged the county surveyor, A. Topliff, in the month of November, 1864, to lay out a village on his land just over the line in the town of Otsego, the postoffice, half a mile west, had become so well known that the founder adopted its name. He also reasoned that the postoffice would move to his village, which happened within a few months.
FIRST MERCHANT AND POSTMASTER
At the time of the platting, Delos Bundy was running a small coun- try store and acting as postmaster. In the spring of 1865 he moved his store and office into the village, and for a number of years com- bined business with his publie duties.
PIONEER BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL MEN
In the winter of 1864-5 Robert Williams and Kennedy Scott estab- lished the first lumber yard in Rio. Dr. Vincent was the first physician and John J. Brown the pioneer lawyer.
In July, 1865, D. Buchanan commenced the erection of a grain elevator, having a capacity of 10,000 bushels, and by the latter part of September it was in use. About the same time another elevator was built, and was owned by Samuel D. Curtis when destroyed by fire in November, 1872.
Rio's first drug store was opened by Messrs. Warren and Delos Bundy, in the spring of 1866, and in the succeeding fall W. Davidson put in the first hardware store.
But in the late '60s and the early '70s so many lines of business appeared that the novelty of "openings" was discounted.
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VILLAGE INCORPORATED
The Village of Rio was incorporated in 1886, and in 1904 its officials and departments moved into a handsome brick structure specially erected for them.
SCHOOLS
A fine union schoolhouse, built of red brick, was erected in 1912.
VILLAGE HALL, RIO
For many years the children of the village were accommodated in the Lowville schoolhouse. This arrangement continued as long as Rio was in the joint school district, composed of a portion of the towns of Low- ville and Otsego, and before it was incorporated as a village. George Batty is now principal of schools, the system comprising a well-organized high school and the usual grammar grades.
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