History of Barron County Wisconsin, Part 181

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge
Publication date: 1922
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1767

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Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

M. W. Heller Post No. 166, G. A. R., was instituted Aug. 1, 1894, by Charles W. Moore and H. J. Dixon, members of the Chetek Post. J. A. Watrous was then the department commander. The post was named from M. W. Heller, the first per- manent settler of Rice Lake, and the first veteran of the Civil War to die here. The charter members were: A. S. Jopp, R. L.

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Young, Ephraim Burby, John Deitz, Sr., W. B. Slick, D. W. McClench, H. M. Richard. son, Gottleib Frion, W. W. Bordwell, A. W. Bailey, C. Z. Stevenson, C. A. Bunce, F. R. Conn, E. L. Everts, J. W. Rogers, W. C. Porter, Ebenezer Bassett, J. W. Henderson, T. E. Richards, C. F. Bone, Alfred Locey, W. H. Luce, T. A. Ross, N. E. Leach, M. P. Barry, J. H. Hogeboom, and G. C. Soper.

Of these twenty-seven there are now liv- ing six: R. L. Young, W. W. Bordwell, J. W. Rogers, W. C. Porter, Ebenezer Bas- sett and G. C. Soper. The first officers were: Commander, A. S. Jopp; senior vice commander, C. E. Bunce; junior vice commander, H. M. Richardson; adjutant, C. Z. Stevenson; quartermaster, W. H. Luce; chaplain, F. R. Conn; officer of the day, D. W. McClench; officer of the guard, Gott- lieb Frion; quartermaster sergeant, W. W. Bordwell. In addition to the twenty-one charter members who are dead, twenty-four who have since been mustered in have died. They are: Frank Bulger, I. C. Ser- geant. John Ginder, R. D. Whitier, Nicho- las Weins, William Biss, Chris Mossman, A. M. Olds, Jacob Rice, Robert Kruger, J. P. Rynders, Moses Boudry, G. W. Hicks, L. D. Parker, J. C. Livingston, J. H. Coats, J. D. Lent, Elliot Ward, P. H. Swift, Chris Heldstab, W. K. West, C. E. Munger, N. W. Olmstead, Frank Rezarch.

The present members are: R. L. Young, G. C. Soper, Ebenezer Bassett, W. W. Bord- well, Joseph Brown and Lewis Wert. Only the first three are able to attend the meet- ings. They still gather and talk over old times. While the Post dates back to 1894, the organization is really of much older date. For many years before that, the old soldiers met regularly for the purpose of fostering patriotic sentiment especially among the school children, and reviewing the stirring events in which they had a part. One such meeting was held as early as July 4, 1876, when a grand celebration was held in honor of the Centennial of the Adoption of the Declaration.

The M. W. Heller Corps No. 109, W. R. C., was organized Feb. 18, 1891. The char- ter members were: Martha Bailey, Louise Brow, Eliza Deery, Margaret Rice, Emma Whitaker and Mary Young, now deceased; and Abbie McClench, Emma Bunce, Julia Colan, Sarah Small, Belle Washburn, Lottie Abbott, Abbie Freight, Myra Parker, Fannie Sergeant, Carrie Sergeant, Della La Londe, Fannie Munger and Anna Hilliker.

The corps presidents have been: Abbie McClench, 1891-92; Marcia E. Luce, 1893; Jennie Jopp (deceased), 1894; Mary Bas- sett, 1895; Sarah Stark, 1896; Abbie Feight, 1897; Lillian Stark, 1898; Alice Tremper (deceased), 1899; Ruth M. Boll, 1900; Hattie Conn, 1901; Mary B. Young, 1902; Mary Bassett, 1903-04; Sarah Stark, 1905-06; Martha Bailey (deceased), 1907; Addie Whitaker (deceased), 1908-09; Sophia L. Qualy, 1910-15; Ruth M. Boll, 1916-17; Minnie Schoonover, 1918-19; Emma Young, 1920-21.

The Corps is an active body and is doing much relief work, in addition to holding so-

cial gatherings, inculcating patriotic senti- ment, and looking after the interests of the soldiers of the Civil, Spanish-American and World Wars.

Evergreen Camp No. 1842, Royal Neigh- bors, was instituted Sept. 1, 1899, and the charter granted Sept. 14, 1899.

Rice Lake Lodge No. 303, Mystic Work- ers of the World, was instituted June 25, 1900.

Federal Labor Union No. 15284, A. F. of L. was organized Sept. 18, 1916, and ad- mitted to the American Federation of Labor Sept. 18, 1916. The charter members were: Rodger Drangel, Peter Korbstz, A. F. De- mers, Andrew Paulson, Louis Black, Fred Haisler and Thomas Hicksy.

Rice Lake Council No. 332, United Com- mercial Travelers, was instituted June 8, 1906. The charter members were the Messrs. Rapp, Qualy, West, Battin, Morri- son, Cresler, Babcock, Burke, Linenfelser, Nilssen, Scott, Johnson, Elwood, Horsman, Dahl, Brown, Hanson and Paradis.

Valhalla Lodge, No. 7, Independent Scan- dinavian Workingmen's Association, Rice Lake, was organized Jan. 9, 1897. The char- ter officers were: President, John Trond- berg; vice president, John Samdahl; secre- tary, Louis Sather; financial secretary, Nils Larson; treasurer, John J. Moe; instructor, Ole Sockness; marshal, Fred Loe; inside guard. Peder Peterson (Aas); outside guard, Nils Hanson.

Sisters of Valhalla Lodge No. 12, Scan- dinavian Sisters Association of America, Rice Lake, was instituted April 10, 1906.

The Rice Lake Building and Loan As- sociation was organized in the spring of 1921. The first officers were: N. W. Heintz, president; T. W. Quinn, vice president; Oscar G. Jensen, secretary and treasurer. The directors: N. W. Heintz, T. W. Quinn, L. V. Pettit, D. L. Dawson, O. G. Sands, J. P. Schneider, A. M. Fengler and W. R. Swenson.

The Rice Lake Creamery and Cheese Co. was incorporated in 1896 with a capital of $4,000, and began operations in June, 1896. The officers were: Dr. T. A. Charron, president; secretary, J. E. Horsman; treasurer, P. M. Parker; manager, C. H. Jones. Harold Hansen was the butter- maker. The creamery had a daily capacity of 600 pounds of butter and 1,000 pounds of cheese.

Some eighteen years ago C. Gerland ac- quired the establishment. It is now the only creamery operated at Rice Lake. It is located at the foot of Messenger street, di- rectly opposite the Soo line railroad sta- tion. The building is 50 by 70 feet, two stories. The creamery equipment consists of four pasteurizing vats with a capacity of 400 gallons each, and two combined power churns and butter workers with a capacity of 1,000 each. In the busy season the creamery can operate from six to eight churnings a day. The company also does a large business in the manufacture of ice cream. It likewise makes casein, a skimmed milk product. The concern is now known as the Rice Lake Creamery Co. The

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making of cheese has been abandoned.

The story of the Barron County Training School, located at Rice Lake is told in the Educational chapter elsewhere in this work.

The Rice Lake Day Oral School for the Deaf was organized in September, 1907, with an enrollment of four pupils. A month or so later two more children were enrolled, and the school closed with an enrollment of seven pupils-Mrs. C. E. West (formerly Miss Katherine Fulton) being the first teacher.

Owing to lack of room the school has been located in different buildings, occupy- ing at one time a room in the First Ward School, later in the County Training School, and finally on the second floor of the City Building on Main Street.

Since its organization fifty-seven pupils have attended the school-the majority of this number being non-resident pupils com- ing from the surrounding counties. Those eligible to the school are children between the ages of six and twenty years, that are totally deaf, hard of hearing, or hearing children with defective speech. The lat- ter are admitted until their speech defects are corrected, when they return to the hearing schools again.

In 1917 Sarah Droock, totally deaf, a resident of Rice Lake, graduated from the eighth grade making a very good record. The next year Sarah entered the local high school and attended classes with the hear- ing pupils-she made a very creditable showing for the year, being exempt from writing examinations in some cases, and re- ceiving a hundred in others.

The method of teaching employed is purely oral-by this is meant that the pupils read the lips and are taught to speak. The manual alphabet is not used at all, neither are conventional signs. The work consists of object lessons, and in the teaching of verbs, the action of the verb, after which the action is not referred to again.

The school is free to resident as well as non-resident pupils, tuition, board, and transportation being paid for by the state. Suitable boarding places are found for the children where they are well taken care of and are treated as one of the family.

There has been an enrollment of eight pupils during the present year. five of these coming from Hayward, Dresser Junction, Exeland and Bloomer. With an enrollment of ten or more pupils, the services of an assistant are required. There has been as high as fifteen pupils enrolled at one time.

The girls and boys from the sixth grade are taking cooking and manual training with the hearing classes at the high school. (Written by Mrs. Charles Miller in June. 1921.)

The story of the annual exhibition of the Barron County Agricultural Society whose beautiful grounds are located in Rice Lake is told in the chapter on Modern Agricul- ture, in this volume.

The French settlement, so called, in the northern part of Rice Lake Township, and

the southern part of Oak Grove Township. was the first agricultural settlement in this part of the county. The pioneers of this settlement were John Le Brie Sr., John Le Brie, Jr., Charles Amans and Henry De- mers and Cyrille Demers, all natives of the Province of Quebec, Canada, and all of French blood. These men had gone from Canada, to Missouri, and were there en- gaged in lumbering and in railroad construc- tion work. One of the family, Ed. LeBrie, had left the Missouri settlement early in 1868, had visited Menomonie, Wis., and en- tered the employ of Knapp, Stout & Co., and had by them been sent to their camp at Rice Lake. He wrote to his relatives in Missouri, and as a result, five families came here in the fall of 1868, and here made their permanent home. John Le Brie Sr., and John Le Brie, Jr., located in Sec- tion 34, Township 36, Range 11 (Oak Grove); Cyrille Demers in Section 36, 36, 11; Charles Amans in Section 12, 35, 11 (Rice Lake); and Henry Demers in Section 2. 35, 11 (Rice Lake.) These families spent the winter of 1868-69 here.

The next spring, 1869, Aristide Mireau, later rendered Mero, settled on railroad land in Section 33, Township 36, Range 11 (Oak Grove). Near him in Section 36, settled George Robarge, Louis Robarge . ("Deaf Louis"), and Benjamin Demers. Others who joined the settlement and lo- cated in Township 35, Range 11 (Rice Lake) were: Oliver Demers, Section 1; Chester Fecto, Frank Le Brie and Prosper Corneau, Section 3; Alex Bergon and Trefle Grand- bois, Section 4; Leon Leford and Aldolphe Leford, Section 8; Charles Michaud and Joseph Lavallier, Section 11, Alex Beaton and Andrew Amans, Section 12; Prosper Forest, Louis Boury, James Roi and Leon Roi, Section 18; John B. Demers. F. I. De- mers, Julian Demers and Denis Renville. Section 24; and Joseph Roberge, Richard Beruby, James Donahue and Joseph Secord, Section 26.

Later comers of French-Canadian birth to join their countrymen in Rice Lake Town- ship were: Toussaint Gibord and Toussaint Prudhomme, Section 1; Camile Forest, Sec- tion 8; Joseph Pigeon, Section 12; Antonie Roi, Edmond Roi and Firmin Deruseau, Section 13; David Demers, Alex Lambert and Hilaire Demers, Section 14; Louis Gagner and Peter Gagner, Section 22; and Leon Gauthrie, Section 35.

In the meantime in 1870, four bachelors, Michael Donnelly, Michael Dooker, Michael Rilley and James Russell, had started an Irish settlement in Oak Grove Township. north of the French settlement. Alone as they were, they found their diversion in visiting the French settlement. They were soon joined by Henry Burns, Joseph Burns, Michael Handlin and Peter Mayo.

Of the men in the French settlement. John LeBrie, Sr., John LeBrie, Jr., and George Robarge were the only ones who had horse teams. Some had oxen, some had mules. Nearly all the Knapp, Stout & Co. teams were mules, and the settlers were enabled to purchase them. Second-hand

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carts were also purchased from the same company.

Stanfold postoffice was established in 1875 with Oliver Demars as postmaster. It was in Section 1, Rice Lake Township, north of the river, near the present site of Campia. The postmaster brought the mail from Prairie Farm once a week, making the trip there one day and back the next. After some four years, John Le Brie, Sr., became the mail carrier.

The first school was taught by May- belle Beauchine of Chippewa Falls, in a log house erected by the settlers in Section 2.

In 1871, Louis Madeau opened a small trading post north of the river in Section 10, at a place where the train crossed the

river. He was a fur trader and kept a small stock of goods for the Indians and Whites.

When the French settlers arrived, a road had been cut through by the Knapp, Stout & Co. people to the logging camp at the Rice Lake dam. At that time travelers were able to ford the river below the dam, follow the west shore of the lake, cross Bear Creek in the western part of Section 4, and follow the ridge between the lake and the swamp. Along this route, John Le Brie, Sr., and John Le Brie, Jr., and Charles Emans, later cut a road. But when the log drives started, the river could no longer be forded at the dam, so the settlers to the north had to travel down the east side of the lake, and follow the road be- tween Rice Lake and Lake Montanis.

CHAPTER XIX. BARRON CITY.

Barron city, with a population in round numbers of 1,700 people, is beautifully lo- cated in Sections 27 and 28, Barron Town- ship, between the Yellow River and Qua- derer's Creek, which have their confluence at the east end of the city. It is on the Twin City-Sault Ste Marie and the Ridge- land-Reserve lines of the "Soo".

From a logging camp the city developed to a lumbering center, and gradually into an agricultural trading center.

The city has six churches: The Meth- odist Episcopal, the Norwegian Lutheran, the St. Mark's Episcopal, the Baptist, the St. Joseph's Catholic, and the German Luth- eran. All the churches have the usual church organizations.

Education is well looked after in a mag- nificent high school building, and a Ward school for the lower grades.

The fraternal organizations are the Ma- sons and Eastern Star, the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs, the Knights of Pythias and Pythian Sisters; the Modern Woodmen and Royal Neighbors, and the Yeomen.

The patriotic organizations are the Grand Army and the Relief Corps, the American Legion and the Auxiliary.

The commercial organization is the Bar- ron Business Men's Club. The federated women's clubs are the Mothers' Club, the Parent-Teachers' Association and the Busi- ness Girl's Club. The temperance organi- zation is the W. C. T. U. The Boy Scouts and the Hi-Y club are in flourishing condition.

There are three banks, The Bank of Bar- ron, the Normanna Savings Bank and the First National Bank.

The business industries are the Barron Co-operative Creamery Co., conducting the largest co-operative creamery in the world; the Barron Woolen Mills Co .; the Inder- reiden Canning Co .; the Barron Red Pressed Brick Co .; the Barron Woodworking Co .; and the Wenzel Brothers Manufacturing Co.

The one newspaper, the Barron County -

News-Shield, is a consolidation of the Bar- ron County Shield, established in 1876; and the Barron County News, established in 1900.

There are three hotels: The Park Hotel, W. C. Ketchum, proprietor; the Barron Hotel, Mrs. Emma Sumter, proprietor; and the Shaver Hotel, H. O. Shaver, proprietor, as well as the usual eating rooms and lunch counters.

The Barron County Live Stock Sales As- sociation maintains a sales pavillion, and there are several stock-shipping yards, potato warehouses, two lumber yards and a number of garages.

There are two hospitals, the Barron City Hospital and the Werner Hospital.

The usual stores and business houses flourish here, and the various professions are well represented.

The municipal improvements consist of a pretty forty-acre park, the Library Park, a city hall, water works, electric light sys- tem and a fire company, and a Carnegie Library.

Barron had its beginning in 1860 when John Quaderer established a lumber camp on the south banks of Quaderer's Creek, just south of the present courthouse square. Mr. Quaderer was at first a foreman for the Knapp, Stout & Co. firm. Later he was a contractor for that firm. The land about Barron he acquired in his own name. For nearly two decades thereafter the place was little more than a lumber camp. In addition to the buildings incident to the lumbering operations, a small store was opened.

The first death in the city was that of a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Phylander Ball, in 1863. The mother died a few days later, and both were buried in Section 19, Town 34, Range 11, on the banks of the Menom- onie, about a mile north of the "Soo" rail- road bridge, at the locality long called "Lousberg".

The second mill in the county was started by F. H. Perkins in 1863. It was located on the Yellow river, southeast of Barron, in Section 6, Town 33, Range 11 (Maple Grove, east). The third mill was started on the same river, also southeast of Barron, in Section 26, Township 34, Range 12 (Bar- ron), in 1869, by Bracklin, Neville Co., but

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was never completed. It was at this place that the first county seat of Dallas (Bar- ron) County was located by the Legislature in 1868. Before this there had been a small mill started about 1862 at Prairie Farm, by Knapp, Stout & Co.

In 1874, Mr. Quaderer built the frame building still standing on the south bank of Quaderer Creek, southeast of the south head of Third street. This building, known as the Quaderer House, was used as a hotel for many years. Its upper chambers were used as a courthouse. About this time Baptiste Quaderer took up his home in a small house near the hotel.

The first courthouse on the site of the present county courthouse was built in 1876. The place was still a lumber camp, and N. M. Rockman and his bride used a part of the courthouse as a residence. Charles S. Taylor, that year appointed dis- trict attorney, moved with his wife into a little log cabin.

Upon making his first trip here, Mr. Tay- lor, writing to his wife from Rice Lake, July 2, 1876, describes conditions in the county as follows:

"At Barron there is a hotel (a good, large one, painted white and tolerably furnished inside, in which are the county offices, two rooms); and a large, new barn belonging to the hotel. Across the road is a little store in which is also the postoffice. There are two small, new residences, one of hewn logs and the other a frame, I believe. The county house is now being erected, it is all en- closed. There is a blacksmith shop, small, and about half a mile away, a homesteader's house. This comprises the sum total of the seat of justice of the county of Barron.

"The place is in the midst of the woods, except that the owner of the place has, perhaps, cleared.

"But, oh, what a difficult 'get-at-able' place it is. Sixteen miles of almost un- broken woods from Prairie Farm. Then such roads, mud and ruts, pine stumps and oak. On the way are quite a number of homesteaders' little clearings and one schoolhouse, also the old S. K. Young school- house, northeast of Prairie Farm .- Ed.)

"The timbered land between Prairie Farm and Barron is considerably over half hard wood, of great density and beauty, the rest is either pine or pine and hardwood mixed, with considerable pine clearing. A marked peculiarity of the pine lands here is that the soil is excellent on most of them, the hardwood lands are all good, of course.

"Between Rice Lake and Barron, twelve miles, over half the distance is heavily wooded with hard wood, part of the distance is covered with pine, or has been so cov- ered, with part of the same pine land of a light soll.".

Writing of the village after she came here, Mrs. Taylor says: "Picture to your- selves a little hamlet in the woods, having a hotel and a tiny store across Quaderer Creek, and on this side a new frame court- house, just ready for occupancy, a small printing office where the Barron County Shield was started Oct. 10, 1876, a saloon,

and two or three dwellings. On the court- house grounds, around the dwellings and in the streets were trees and pine stumps. All north and east of the courthouse square was forest, there was not even a street opened there."

The first schoolhouse was built in 1877, on what is now Division street, west of the tracks. Margaret Clary was the first teacher.

M. C. Mason purchased the Quaderer store about March 1, 1877. It was a few rods from the Quaderer house, in a log building sided over and painted red. A little later, he started the northward busi- ness movement by erecting a house and store on the north side of the creek. on the west side of the south head of Second street.

J. J. Smith and John Conner came from Shell Rock in the fall of 1878, and opened a store in a little 7 by 9 building on the south side of the creek, not far from the Quaderer house. Shortly afterward they erected a building on the north side of the creek, on the west side of the south head of Third street, opposite the Courthouse square. The building was enlarged from time to time and is still standing on the original site.

In 1878 J. J. Smith and Nelson Carpenter erected a mill on the present site of the municipal electric and pumping plant. They sold to the Speed Brothers. In 1881, George Parr, John Post and S. J. Parr. under the name of Parr, Post Co., purchased the site and plant. The mill was entirely re- built, new water wheels and new machinery furnished and the dam reconstructed. This work was done under the supervision of John Post, with the millwright work in charge of his father, James Post. The plant consisted of a double rotary, with a capacity of 30,000 feet a day, a shingle mill of 35,000 production, a planer, lathe and picket machines, a re-saw for the manufac- ture of siding, and a turning lathe for both wood and iron. Thomas W. Parr, son of George Parr, purchased John Post's inter- est in the property in 1882, and the firm be- came George Parr & Son. In 1884 the lat- ter retired.

The Parr, Post & Co., soon after acquir- ing the mill property, put up a general store on the southwest corner of La Salle and Second streets, only a block from the Mason store. This building, still standing, is moved back, and the site is now occu- pied by the residence of Dr. H. M. Coleman, Mrs. Coleman being a niece of John Parr. In connection with the general store, Thomas W. Parr had a drug store.

When John Post sold his interest in Parr, Post & Co., in 1882, he opened a hardware store in a building on the northeast corner of La Salle and Second streets, west of the present News-Shield office. He built a store across the street, on the northwest corner of La Salle and Second streets, now occupied by M. H. McKee, merchant and city clerk, and moved his hardware store there. A little later when De Witt Post, brother of John Post, came to town, he became a part- ner in the hardware store.

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Barron was platted in 1875, on land owned by John Quaderer.

The line of the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste Marie was completed through Barron in 1884, connecting on the west with Turtle Lake, and thus with St. Paul, and on the east with Bruce. " The depot was finished Sept. 1, 1884, and was located on Seventh street, near the tracks, four blocks from its present location.

In the meantime, M. C. Mason had sold his store to Fred Telke, county clerk, and Herman Telke, a Prairie Farm farmer, who conducted it under the name of Telke Brothers.

When the railroad came through, there were the three general stores, Telke Brothers, near the head of Second street, George Parr at the corner of Second and La Salle, and Smith & Conner near the corner of Third street. John Post had a hardware store, also on a corner of Second and La Salle. The Quaderer House, on the south bank of the creek near the head of Third street, was being managed by Simon Christeson.

Several blocks to the northwest, prac- tically out in the wilds, was a two-depart- ment school on the site of the present ward school.

The courthouse was on the site of the present building, the jail on the north side of La Salle street, between Third and Fourth street.

Far to the eastward were the dam, flour mills and woolen mills of Charles S. and Jared W. Taylor.

John Schonbeck had the Barron House near the site of the depot. C. Smith had a barber shop, James Horning a boot and shoe shop.

The Barron County Shield was being edited by Charles S. Taylor.

Charles S. Taylor, Jerome F. Coe and H. J. Sill were the attorneys. Dr. Charles Jenks was practicing medicine.

Barron Lodge No. 220, F. & A. M. with George Parr as master; and Martin Wat- son Post No. 172, G. A. R. with John Post as commander, and J. J. Smith as adjutant, were in a flourishing condition.

The railroad addition was being platted eastward along La Salle street, from be- tween Third and Fourth street, to between Eleventh and Twelfth street, and north- ward.

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History of Barron County Wisconsin, Part 181

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1767

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge
Publication date: 1922
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1767