USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People > Part 63
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In 1850 the steamboat John Mitchell was built on the banks of the river at Menasha by Capt. James Harris. This was the first steamboat to run up the Upper Fox river as far as Fort Winnebago, which she accomplished in the spring of 1851. This same year (1850) Mr. Melanethon Burroughs established that ancient hotel which was so long the leading home of strangers coming to the place. He had been landlord of the Winnebago Hotel in Neenah the year before. As he was getting out the timber for a warehouse to be located at the foot of Appleton street up the river, he moved into the Decker house June 15. 1850. Ile erected the first warehouse in the hamlet. It burned down in 1852. Adler and St. John had erected a large build- ing on the corner of Appleton and Broad streets. which Mr. Burroughs purchased and opened his famous hostelry. where
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he was the tall, smiling boniface for almost a half century of the Burroughs House until it burned, October 20. 1889. At first he drew the town around him and most of its activities lined up and down Broad street near this place. The town which had at first centered about its present central activity now moved toward the Fourth ward. Churches and schools and residences were begun in that direction and continued to move upriver until after the war. when the tendency was again to center about the bridges crossing the river, where it has since remained. In the absence of bridges the only means of cross- ing the channels was by boat. Teams could cross at the fords near the lake on the ledge of rock across the north channel or at a low bar across the lake end of the Neenah channel. Capt. Edward P. Lull established a ferry from Menasha to Neenah through Lake Butte des Morts around the foot of Doty island. which was in operation two years. Mr. Lull afterward passed through successive promotions up to captain in the United States navy and finally became Commodore Lull of the navy. He died at Pensacola. Florida, March 5. 1887. There was no bridge over the canal until about 1856, when a float bridge was laid across. During the season 1851 the mail was carried to Appleton by sailboat in command of Gabe Capron, which was also used as a passenger boat on Lake Butte des Morts, and the only transportation line to that embryo city which. begin- ning up at Tecos point at Grignon's rapids back in 1838, was now grubbing out the stumps on College avenue. Later in the season (August 1) the steamer "Van Ness Barlow" was put in commission on Little Lake Butte des Morts and run the balance of the season from Menasha to Grand Chute in connection with the steamer "Menasha," which ran above Menasha on Lake Winnebago from Menasha to Neenah, Oshkosh and Fond du Lac. The distance from Grand Chute to below Kaukauna, eleven miles, was made by stage, and thence by the steam- boats ran to Green Bay. The steamer "Menasha" was built at Menasha during the past winter and spring of 1850-51 by Doty & Reed to run on Lake Winnebago. The inducement to build was to have regular uninterrupted communication be- tween Menasha and the towns about the lake. The "Peytonia," which had this line, could not be depended on for regular trips. As soon as the "Menasha" was placed in commission, then the "Peytonia" began regular trips and boating became lively and
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prosperous. Curtis Reed and James Doty then erected a dock and warehouse east of Appleton street.
The first effort at bridging the north and south channels is found in the following order of the board of supervisors of the town of Neenah, filed with the early records in the clerk's office of the city of Menasha, in the handwriting of Governor Doty, who doubtless inspired the action :
"It is hereby ordered by the supervisors of the town of Neenah, acting by authority of law as commissioners of high- ways, that a foot bridge be constructed across the south branch of Fox river in said town, in the highway where the same be- tween the villages of Neenah and Menasha cross said stream. thirty feet of said bridge over the middle of the stream to be high enough to enable Durham boats, with decks, to pass, and to contain a sufficient draw to pass other boats if required for the purposes of navigation.
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"Also that a foot bridge be constructed across the north branch of said river on the dam where said road also crosses said north channel.
"Lucius Taft, "H. C. Finch, "C. Northrup.
"Neenah, Oct. 10, 1849.
Supervisors."
This bridge was to cross from the council tree to the "Grand Loggery" of Governor Doty and over the dam at Menasha.
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An attempt was made in 1850 to construct this bridge over the Neenah channel near Governor Doty's log cabin. The cribs had been placed in position and the stringers laid, when a jam of ice going out of the lake demolished the whole structure. In the following year (1852) the Neenah people laid a bridge over the river at its present site on Commercial street. The people of Menasha then laid a crib bridge over the river on the same road, where it is still maintained at Washington street on the island to Tayco street on the mainland. A road was cut through the dense woods on the island, making a highway to connect with these bridges. This highway, at first quite impassable. was first made of planked surface, but was eventually paved with cedar blocks and this year is being partly paved with brick. being now one of the finest streets in the two cities. Capt. Laughlin B. Mackinnon, of the English navy, came to Menasha in 1852 and purchased a wide area of real estate and furnished the means to build a plank road to Appleton.
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Along the plank roads to Kaukauna and Appleton there existed toll gates, and a gate keeper's shanty at intervals, where toll was collected from foot and carriage travelers. One small box of a house still stood as late as about 1868 at the corner of the highway to Manitowoc, where the Interurban crosses now, on the town line. Hundreds of teams, saddle horses and foot travelers passed over this only highway each day. One day at the time of the cholera scare in 1856 twenty-six teams were in one train. Some wag among them put up a joke to beat the gate keeper out of his toll. They had the teamster of the last team lay down in his wagon and roll and cry out as if in great pain. Then all the teamsters leaned forward and urged their horses to a high speed and as they approached the gate yelled to the keeper to "Open the gate quick and let us pass, the last man had the cholera." The frightened keeper swung open the gate and took flight across the fields. The Menasha end of the plank road was the same for both routes, branching off at the town line of the town of Harrison. This part of the road is still commonly known as "the old plank road." The plank road to Appleton was first constructed and by September, 1854, the route of the plank road to Kaukauna had been graded to meet a plank road built from Green Bay to that point the same season.
The next year (November, 1850) a bridge was built over Lit- tle Lake Butte des Morts, connecting the hamlet with the rich * farming country west of that lake, which brought to the town a big trade with the enterprising farmers. A festival was given by the villagers at the Decker House to celebrate the opening of this bridge. On April 18, 1851, Governor Doty wrote a letter to Col. J. M. McCarty at Alexandria. Virginia, dated at "Me- nasha, Wisconsan," requesting some disposition of certain land titles and added, "Many houses are being built along the northern outlet of Winnebago lake, and your lands there are becoming valuable. There will soon be a village there.
"(Signed) James Duane Doty."
Colonel MeCarty had purchased a large tract of land in Me- nasha and vicinity as early as 1837. Ilis daughter, Mrs. Sally MeCarty Pleasants. still resides on part of these lands on Nay- mut street, on Doty island, in Menasha.
The United States land office was removed from Green Bay to Menasha in 1852, bringing in its train a constant stream of strangers seeking lands. A lighthouse was erected at the mouth of the river and the hamlet was alive with the hum of
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business and energy. By an act of the legislature dated July 5, 1853, the "village of Menasha" was incorporated, divided into two wards and an election authorized, at which Mr. Curtis Reed was made the first president of the village. Leonard Wil- liams, Isaac Hough and Urial P. Clinton, trustees of the First ward; Lyman Fargo, Walter Cranston and Carlton Batchelder, of the Second ward; Mr. James W. Thoms was elected clerk.
Girls were scarce in those early days and, hearing that a maid was coming to her aunt, the possessor of eighty acres of land visited the house and informed the aunt that when she came he wanted to marry the girl. One day she came in a snow- storm. Hearing of her arrival, he hurried to the house and told her he wanted to marry her. She was willing and soon a justice had said the legal words and the successful swain bore her home on a hand sled.
Mr. C. T. Kimball, now of Jesup, Iowa, wrote December 31, 1903, this account of his experience in Menasha at the begin- ning of things: "In the fall of 1846 Brother H. C. Kimball and I left home, three miles north of Oshkosh, for Winnebago Rap- ids (now Neenah) to make a start in life. My brother engaged to work for Loyal H. Jones in the old government sawmill at Neenah, his first work being to assist in making lumber for James Ladd for the first frame building erected in Neenah, called the Winnebago House. I secured a boat below the old mill and rowed across the lake, around the foot of the island and up the river, where I found men building a log house to be used for a boarding house for men building a dam. I went to work carrying brush into the river and underbrushing the newly surveyed streets of Menasha, thus getting material for the dam. The log house was completed and Mr. Knight in- stalled as landlord. Cheap houses were erected for newcomers and a little village soon sprung into existence. E. F. O'Con- nell was the first proprietor of a grocery store. The writer was furnished a stock of goods by a relative in Watertown and a second store was started. These goods were hauled by wagon from Watertown. Good trade for about two years reduced the stock, but my account book was so full of bad debts that I was obliged to abandon the enterprise, with the consolation of being a benefactor and helping to build a town for a people in the woods. In the early settlement of Menasha we had to ford the two rivers crossing near Governor Doty's house. There was a rapid current and the river was shallow and easily forded near
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Governor Doty's house. I have often forded there and the water would not come into the wagon box. The ford was good below the old mill on the Neenah side to the island and good below the dam on the Menasha side. But we soon got a cheap bridge on both sides, Neenah and Menasha, and were glad to abandon the fords. The road across Doty's island was bad for many years.
The first death was that of Mrs. Tait. She was buried in grounds called Little Prairie, near the outlet of Lake Winne- bago, where it empties into the north branch of the Fox river. I remember the wedding at the home of Governor Doty when his daughter Mary married John Fitzgerald. They were chari- varied at the time, the principals of the party being Lyman Fargo, Joseph Tomes, Pete Long, Christopher Ladd, Lom ITart and others.
Rev. O. P. Clinton often held church service in Menasha in . private houses, this being before the day of churches.
The first mail contract was made by the writer from Menasha to Manitowoc, from Menasha to Keshena (where the govern- ment paid the Indians) and from Menasha to Waupaca Falls. The mail was to be carried on foot once a week through an un- settled, lonely, timbered country. William Hughs and Robert Johnson carried it for two years. Their only route was by Indian trail and was often perilous and unsafe. The last two years it was carried on horseback. I received $1,800 per year for the three routes for the service rendered. Jerey Crowley was postmaster at Menasha a portion of this time.
Elisha D. Smith, from Woonsocket, R. I., built and equipped with machinery a pail and tub factory. The output of this fac- tory was transported by team to Footville, in the southern part of Wisconsin, Pete Long. Christopher Ladd and myself doing the hauling. Each load contained sixty-five dozen pails, and on the return trip we brought hoop iron for the factory. It took about seven days to make the round trip. There were no railroads in Wisconsin.
There seemed to be a demand for a livery about this time. Having three horses and one buggy, I opened up a stable op- posite Joslyn's blacksmith shop. There were scarcely any roads except the new plank road to Appleton. I made quite a suc- cess of this business and after two years closed out, having six- teen horses and carriages to correspond, a good livery outfit for a new town. While in the business I had a call for a three-
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seated carriage, team and driver. I was honored by dis- tinguished persons for about ten days. Erastus Corning, ex- Governor Seymour, of New York; Morgan L. Martin, of Green Bay; S. Park Coon, of Milwaukee, and Governor Barstow, of Madison, comprised the party. We went to Green Bay and re- turned, then to Portage City, stopping at Berlin and other points en route. They were inspecting the proposed route of the Fox & Wisconsin River Improvement Company, which was after- ward surveyed and completed.
Later on a plank road from Menasha to Kaukauna was built by Reeder Smith, of Appleton, and others. Freight arrived from Green Bay and was moved by team from Kaukauna to Menasha over the plank road. A temporary wharf was built above the dam in Menasha, where the steamer "Little Wolf" landed daily with its cargo of freight and passengers. Frink & Walker ran a stage line in connection with the steamer from Menasha to Kaukauna daily. The first boat built in Menasha was a steam dredge boat at a contract price of $12,000. Mr. Hawley, of Milwaukee, was the contractor. Afterward Durand & Sons started a shipyard and built several fine boats. They removed to Manitowoc and continued in business for several years. A survey was made for a plank road from Manitowoc to Menasha. I remember having a contract for grubbing and grading two miles of the road near what was then known as the Coop, near Clifton. George Reed, a brother of Harrison and Curt Reed, was the originator. The road was never completed. and contractors suffered some losses in the scheme of a plank road through an unsettled country.
I bought a sailboat from Milwaukee parties, which was sailed from Milwaukee to Wrightstown on the Fox river. I hired fifteen Oneida Indians to get it over the rapids at Kaukauna, Little Chute and Appleton, as there were no dams to interfere. but rapid waters into Little Butte des Morts Lake, then over the Menasha rapids to Lake Winnebago. It was a sloop of about twenty-five tons burden and was run as the first sailboat for freight between Fond du Lac, Oshkosh and Menasha. It was loaded with rock from Clifton to Menasha for building pur- poses, and on the last trip it was sunk with its cargo of lime rock near the bank on the island side in the river not far from where it was to land in about ten feet of water and never was raised. Its hull and cargo doubtless lie there now, what there may be left of it. after a lapse of fifty-five years.
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This derelict has for thirty years lain in the water against the dam, and can be seen in clear water of the winter season. In 1850 this sailboat was run as a ferry from Menasha to Neenah, landing at the council tree as Curtis Reed refused a permit for the regular line boat from Fond du Lac to land at his wharf in Menasha. When Mr. E. D. Smith arrived with his young bride they were landed at the council tree from the Fond du Lac boat, and took passage on this small sailboat for Menasha. Lake Winnebago was very boisterous and cold that day. A. II. Hart, or better known as "Alex," who relates the circumstance to the author, was the chief cook and mate of the craft, and had a stuffy little cabin in which the work was done. He invited Mrs. Smith to take shelter from the winds in the cabin; but on sight of it she preferred the upper deck.
I had occasion to paint a buggy, and as there was no paint kept in Menasha I went over to Neenah, went into a painter's shop, got a can of black paint and brush, and asked the painter the price. "Oh, nothing." he replied; "it is too bad you have to do the work." I thanked him and bade him good bye, when he said, "Good bye, Reverend Robinson." Robinson was the Presbyterian minister of Neenah for many years. The painter evidently took me for the reverend gentleman. I never returned the paint in person, but sent it back. On my return to Menasha I was called "Elder" by every one who knew me, a title I was not worthy of.
The second marriage in Menasha was that of MeSpadden to Miss Noricong. I was selected as captain to honor the newly married couple, and, armed with bells and horns, I marched my company up in front of Noricong's house, gave orders to commence our musical tirade. McSpadden came to the door and fired several shots. I ran across the newly made garden, and landed in Dewitt Clinton's well, which he had begun in the fall and left unfinished. In my hurried flight I found myself in mud and water up to my waist. After remaining there for a long time, trying to extricate myself from my prison, my company, or a portion of it, came with a ladder to my relief. My command ended. being sadly demoralized, the captain, covered with clay and water, did not much re- semble an officer of bravery and rank."
In a sermon of the Rev. HI. A. Miner. October 6, 1907, at the Congregational church, Menasha, he said in part : "Fifty years
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ago I first stepped on Menasha soil, from a steamer on its way to Green Bay. Rev. O. P. Clinton had invited me to be his guest for a few days. He did not divine to me his purpose, and I took it to be an expression of genuine western hospitality, of which I had heard not a little. I afterwards discovered that he had in mind the possibility of securing a pastor for the Con- gregational church, then some six months vacant. From the landing Mr. Clinton rowed me across the river to his island home. It was a beautiful October day. We walked across his large garden, where the grapes were growing in abundance; they looked inviting to me, so did the apples that hung thickly upon the young trees. The greeting extended to me by Mrs. Clinton and the family was very cordial, and I at once felt at home. The next day I was introduced to several business men, who seemed very friendly. Indeed, I found that was the way all strangers were received. I was shown about the water power, and its great possibilities opened up. I began to think of a Manchester or a Lowell springing up here in the valley of the Fox, with all Lake Winnebago for a mill pond. I was taken over on the mainland, where ten years before was a thickly wooded forest, now a town of about 1,500, with stores and shops, offices, dwelling houses, and a large brick school building near completion, which especially attracted my atten- tion. It occurred to me that this meant more than an ordinary interest in the education of the young, for I saw no other building for which so much had been expended, unless possibly . some of the mills on the water power, for most of the homes were cheaply built, some without stone foundations, and often with stove pipes running up through the roof, instead of brick chimneys. I discovered a small brick church scarcely com- pleted, which the Methodists had built, which I was told was occupied once in two weeks. There was not then a resident clergyman in town in active service.
The next day, Wednesday, Mr. Clinton suggested a visit to Stockbridge, where a county fair was in progress. He said he would show me a specimen of Indian farming, as the Stock- bridge tribe had been there for many years, the descendants of the old Massachusetts Stockbridges, to whom the great Jona- than Edwards, afterwards president of Princeton College, min- istered for several years. I was offered a ride on horseback along the Winnebago shore, and an Indian trail a portion of the way, which he said was still used. This was an attraction, and
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I readily accepted the invitation. My visit to Stockbridge oc- cupied two days. It was then too late for me to think of leav- ing for the East that week, and being invited to preach on the coming Sabbath, I decided to stay over and leave early the fol- lowing week, and I was the more inclined to do so, since I was told there would be no service in the M. E. church. and it seemed to me that a town as large as Menasha ought not to be without a religious service on the Sabbath. It was in Mr. Roby's hall we met. It had been the meeting place under Mr. Cook's ministry, but there had been no service for many weeks. The congregation was small but orderly and attentive, all young people, not a gray head, which was a noticeable thing to my Eastern eyes. It was during the following days that I faced a question that decided the place of my life work. whether East or West. With a call from a church in Maine, and another in Massachusetts, came a call from this church (Men- asha). A subscription had been circulated on Monday, and on that evening three men called at my room to see me. They were E. D. Smith, Ilenry Decker and Philo Iline. trustees of the church. Said Mr. Smith, "We are not either of us mem- bers of the church, but it is a shame for a town as large as this to be without a resident pastor, and unless we take the matter in hand, we shall have no minister, for the church members don't seem to move, and we want you to stay. We'll do our best for your support." In reply I said: "I had decided to go back East and accept one or the other of the calls I had re- ceived. I feel the urgency of your case, and can see the wide opening for work here, but my thought has been setting toward the Fast." Various arguments were presented why this was the place for a young man to start in. A rosy future was portrayed which nearly upset me. I promised to give the mat- ter consideration. It was thus that I began my half century of work here and in the state, that has seemingly so quickly passed.
Go back with me to those days. But ten years remove from a dense forest, stumps and logs in the streets, except along the main thoroughfares. Boats passing through the canal but re- cently opened to and from Green Bay. A stage coach in winter taking the ordinary travel. Float bridges and a road famous for the depth of its mud led through the woods to the south to Neenah and along a once plank road on the north to Apple- ton. Streets had been laid out and opened on the island with
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visions of brown stone fronts and elegant turnouts in the near future; there was scarcely a steel spring carriage or covered buggy in either town. A weekly paper published by Harrison Reed, "The Conservator," bearing date at Neenah and Mena- sha, a seven-column folio, all home printed (it was before the day of patents), brought the news from the outside world, and chronicled the doings of the twin cities to be. Not very har- monious were these sisters. There was, however, a sort of truce declared now and then, as when on July 4, 1857, a proces- sion from Neenah and one from Menasha, led by bands of music, met midway on the island for a patriotic celebration, with John A. Bryan for president, Rev. J. A. Russell chaplain, and George B. Goodwin orator. In the railroad enterprise each town was alert to secure the most favorable location, even to the great disadvantage of the other, the greater the better. It is manifest that had the two towns pulled together, identified and concentrated their efforts for the building of one city here at the foot of the lake, with the many natural advantages of location, water power, timber, splendid farming country round about, it would have been second to no interior city in the state.
In the ads of that day you get a view of the business done. In July of 1857 is an ad of Henry Hewitt's new store, opposite Bishop Hall. All sorts of merchandise, a department store on a small scale. Mr. Hewitt was engaged as a contractor. S. M. Bronson calls attention to his grocery store in the Roby build- ing, inviting customers, with flour at ten shillings per hundred, and wood at $1 per cord. We managed to live and keep warm through the winter.
About this time was the dedication of the Union school build- ing, said to be the best in the county. It was a great occa- sion. The building was illuminated. Captain Joseph Turner presided; Geo. B. Goodwin and Dr. Cooke made addresses; then followed short, enthusiastic talks in praise of Menasha's enterprise and a rebuttal of the depreciatory sayings of rival towns. I remember Col. Samuel Ryan was especially emphatic in denouncing the false reports circulated, saying: "Even my son in the Appleton Crescent, has told a pack of lies about Menasha." Of course his speech was loudly applauded.
But what of the church of that period? To Rev. O. P. Clin- ton belongs the honor of founding this church. He began preaching at first in Knight's tavern, and soon after in a school
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house. A union Sunday school was started. In February 16, 1851, this church was organized with twenty-one members. Rev. J. W. Walcott assisted in the organization, having begun preaching the preceding November. Rev. Iliram Marsh, of Neenah, and Rev. Theodore Cook, from Rhode Island, had been employed as pastors up to about six months of my coming, when on Mr. Cook's resignation, services were suspended. Of course the congregation had scattered. The Sunday school. I think, had suspended, or had but a feeble life. The only thing that remained was a band of praying women, who met each week. and as I was told, the burden of their prayers was. "Lord, send us a minister." I remember almost the first word of greeting that came to me from Mrs. Clinton was. "The Lord has an- swered our prayers." Great is the faith of a pious woman- hood. What would the world be without it?
A very important event which found little or no space in the village newspaper was the religious interest awakened during the winter and spring of 1858, which resulted in doubling the membership of this church, and led to the erection of the first Congregational house of worship. The winter of 1857 and 1858 is remembered as one of the most disastrous in the finan- cial world-failures without number. and commercial distress. but in the religious world, one of marked interest and progress. Revivals of great power east and west. Daily meetings for prayer started almost simultaneously in the great cities, and in the smaller ones, too. But little extra preaching the power of prayer and song was most marked. The testimonies of new- born souls seemed everywhere to attract attention and result in numerous conversions. A house of worship was built during the summer and fall, and dedicated in January of the next year, at which time the Winnebago District Convention met, and the young preacher was ordained as pastor. Rev. W. H. Marble, of Oshkosh. preaching the ordination sermon. The building of that house of worship. where now the Catholic church stands, called for and was met by a marked spirit of self-sacrificing devotion and zeal for the Lord's work. The peo- ple were poor, living in unfinished cottages, money was scarce, as also remunerative employment. One man living in a log house said, "We must have a church. I will put off the build- ing of a new house, and give $100." Another said, "I've no money, but I'll give $100 in work." And so the contributions came in. There was stone, lumber and labor of various kinds promised. Nails and glass and paint must be purchased from
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outside, and of this money $300 came from the Church Building Society. It could not come from us, for we had it not. And so we wrought and builded for "every man had a mind to work," and the walls went up; though the cold of winter, even zero weather, shut in upon us before the work was completed. Jan- uary 17, 1859, was a glad day, when at night, after a sermon from the text, "What are the names of the men that make this building." Father Clinton, who preached the first sermon in Manasha years before in a log building used for a saloon, had helped to organize this church and had been the chief mover in the building of the house, as was eminently fitting, made the dedicatory prayer. I doubt if ever a people, not even the ancient Jews at the dedication of the temple, were happier or were filled with greater joy, than were the men, women and children who had worked so self-denyingly, and now saw their work crowned with success. And not even Solomon's temple. that exceeded in grandeur the temples of the Orient, looked so beautiful, as did this first Congregational house of worship to the people of Menasha.
There are some events that led up to the building of this church that deserve notice. As usual, the good women had not a little to do with it. Soon after my coming there was a social organized called "The Corban" society, which during the winter planned a course of six lectures, one by Rev. B. B. Parsons, of Ripon; two by Chas. G. Finney, a son of President Finney. of Oberlin, and Mr. M. Hary, of Oshkosh; another by our townsman, Colonel Geo. B. Goodwin. The names of the other lecturers do not occur to me. The course was well at- tended, and was the starting of a building fund, which was added to during the years by festivals and a sale that was a success."
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History, Winnebago County, Wisconsi
Widener Library
002687490
3 2044 086 426 798
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