USA > Wisconsin > Eau Claire County > History of Eau Claire county, Wisconsin, past and present; including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county > Part 59
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Four courses of four years each are offered in the high school, and will admit to the state university or any college in the state, and to the junior year of any state normal. Four years of Latin and two of German are given, and will prepare the pupil for such special courses as engineering, medicine, or dentistry.
The school contains eight grades below the high school, each grade seated in a separate room and instructed by a special teacher.
Free text books are furnished all pupils of the school without rental.
Admission to the high school is made either on a diploma from the distriet school, a certificate of membership from another high school, a diploma from a state graded school or a three-year high school, or by examination.
AUGUSTA GOVERNMENT.
The county of Ean Claire was organized by an act of the legislature approved October 6, 1856. The act creating the county provided that the town board of Eau Claire should con- stitnte the county board until the next annual election. This town board, consisting of C. M. Seley, E. W. Robbins and M. A.
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Page, was the county government until February 24, 1857, when the town of Bridge Creek was organized. It consisted of what is now the towns of Otter Creek, Lincoln, Clear Creek, Luding- ton, Fairehild and Bridge Creek, a pretty big town, but at that time not of any considerable importance in the affairs of state. The first supervisor elected from Bridge Creek was William Young, and the first regular organization of a county board was November 17, with Ira Mead, from Half Moon town, as chairman. Sinee that time the town of Bridge Creek has been cut down from time to time until it consisted of but the three
townships that now constitute its area. For years after the organization of the town of Bridge Creek Augusta was a part thereof, and the chairman of the town board of Bridge Creek was the representative of Augusta at the meetings of the county board. As an indication of the value of the property assessed in Bridge Creek in 1857 the sum raised for school purposes that year in the whole of Bridge Creek was $50. The history of the government has been identical with that of Bridge Creek until the village organization was effected.
The village of Augusta was organized in 1872. Who the first village officers were eannot now be told. In fact there is no record of the proceedings of the village board from the time of its organization until 1879, the books of reeord having been lost in some way wholly unknown at the present time. But there were good men to conduct the affairs of the village and there was no lack of public interest. John F. Stone was always active in the development of the village, although not mueh of an office- holder. Then there was J. C. Hackett, R. D. Campbell, the Rus- sells, the younger Stones, J. L. Ball, L. L. Williams, O. A. Williams, W. H. Waterbury, Silas Perry, C. L. Bullis and others whose names are not recalled, all enterprising citizens and suffi- ciently numerons to fill the public offices. And the village grew slowly but surely, and finally became quite metropolitan in its ways and the people became conseious of their importanec and longed for a larger and better government.
Early in 1885 a special eleetion was held to vote upon a propo- sition to organize the city of Augusta. The vote was favorable to the proposition. A bill was passed in the legislature of 1885, chapter 73, creating the city of Augusta with four wards, the division being Stone and Lincoln streets, the wards cornering at their intersection. The bill creating the eity was the charter of the city. It was drawn by Hon. I. B. Bradford with much
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care, and has remained, with but slight amendment, to the pres- ent time.
At the first city election held in April, 1885, the following officers were elected : .
Mayor, I. B. Bradford; clerk, Griff O. Jones; treasurer, H. M. Warren; assessor, Carilus Stone; alderman, First ward, M. Vic- tory; alderman, Second ward, William Schroeder; alderman, Third ward, C. L. Bullis; alderman, Fourth ward, Gus Dittmer.
These officers launched the new ship of state, set it sailing in proper form and the city of Augusta has never since run upon the rocks or encountered anything more serious than an ocea- sional squall.
Under the old village rule a fire company was organized, known as Red Jacket No. 1, and for their use a hand engine was bought and a few hundred feet of hose. The engine was pretty good in its way and would squirt a stream of water when the water could be found. Nevertheless the outfit was wholly inade- quate and the enterprising ones insisted upon a larger and better system. At a conneil meeting held June 6, 1899, a resolution was adopted, ordering a special election to vote upon the question of issning the bonds of the city in the sum of $12,000 for the pur- pose of installing a waterworks system. The question was an important one and to the minds of the conservatives the idea was simply awful. The enterprising element and the young folks worked hard for the proposition, however, and when election was held, July 6, 1899, the conservatives were defeated by a score of 144 to 135. Arrangements were a once made to install the new system. The bonds were sold at a premium and a con- tract for the laying of the mains and the erection of a water tower. The tower stands in the center of the city, is one hundred and thirty-five feet high where it stands and holds 80,000 gallons. The water is drawn from two large wells suuk near the tower and the pumping, for which Mr. J. L. Ball has a franchise, is done by the electric light power plant. There are three miles of water mains and twenty-seven hydrants for fire protection. The water is pure spring water and the finest in the land.
When the waterworks were completed the fire laddies braced np. Several thousand feet of new hose was added to the equip- ment, and a new hose cart, and a little later a fine new hook and ladder wagon with all the necessary modern equipment. As is always assured, insurance rates are reduced and the beauty of it is that the whole system, waterworks, fire organization, etc., is
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self-supporting and the city pays not a cent for hydrant rental. Bert Fredrick is chief of the fire department and takes pride in the fact that he and his laddies ean squirt water into the remotest parts of the city.
Several years ago the eity bought the east third of the bank block and the city hall is maintained therein. There are city parks. One on the north side, about six aeres and a pretty spot, but somewhat remote for ordinary purposes. The new park is in the center of the eity, covers a large block and has been nicely laid out and set to trees, elms and evergreen. When these have grown it will be a beauty spot.
As in the case of every community of importance, the govern- ment of Augusta, and the ordering thereof has resulted in the development of politics and politicians-not the meaner, baser sort, but politics and politicians of the broader and better kind. In fact it is notable that the village and the city have always been remarkably free from the curse of the petty politieian and grafter.
And first among the notable men of Augusta is Hon. I. B. Bradford. From his first coming in 1872 he became a leader in the canse of better government and a factor in the politieal affairs of the village and eounty. Clean, honest, fearless, an orator of felicity and power, he rose to prominence in the affairs of the state. Three times elected to the legislature and speaker of the assembly in 1881, he gained a reputation in statesmanship.
The commercial trade in its various lines gives evidence of steady gain in population, wealth and general prosperity. Manu- factures and industrial pursuits are keeping pace with the devel- opment of the adjacent country which is tributary to this city. Creameries, cheese and butter factories, flour mills and other industries show the steady increase which leads to sure success. In short, Augusta has unusual advantages and is fully appre- ciated by its dwellers.
CHAPTER XLV.
THE VILLAGE OF FAIRCHILD.
The village of Fairchild is located in the extreme southeast corner of the county and township, and was settled in 1868, about the time when the then West Wisconsin railway was constructing its road-bed. The line was opened for traffic in 1870. The land was at this time covered with a low growth of bushes. One of the first settlers there was Mr. Van Auken. He built the first steam sawmill and sold it to another early settler, G. S. Graves, in 1870. It was twice burned down, the second time in 1874, and not rebuilt. The MeKinney house, the first hotel, was erected in 1878, and operated by Samuel MeKinney. The other hotel, the Fairchild house, was built by Nathaniel C. Foster in 1875.
One of the first structures erected here was the Methodist Episcopal church. This occurred in 1874. For several years previous to this time the itinerant preachers of this denomina- tion had conducted services in this locality. It was ineluded in the Fairchild and Humbird circuit. The Rev. John Holt was the first man who preached here. The meetings were held in a board shanty, the floor of which was so loose that it kept in motion while anyone walked on it. The settlers scattered around wel- comed these teachers of God's word most heartily. The first regular pastor was the Rev. George Benham. This was in 1877. He had charge of this organization and the one at Humbird. His successors were the Revs. C. Barker, G. D. Brown, J. W. Wells, M. J. Robinson, R. Smith, William Gallaway, John Holt, D. Clingman, G. S. Perry, and N. R. Hines. The church edifice was later removed to a new location and almost entirely rebuilt.
The village was surveyed and platted in May, 1872, and the district school house built in 1875, with four departments. A steam sawmill was erected in 1876 by Mr. Foster. It was de- stroyed by fire on January 11, 1881, and rebuilt by him, to be again burned down; then the present one, which is also a planing- mill, was constructed in 1887. It was owned and operated by Mr. Foster until July, 1891, when it became the property of the N. C. Foster Lumber Company. Employment was given to seventy- five men. Mr. Foster also built an elevator, with a steam feed- mill attached, in 1880. There is also a hall erected by Mr. Foster,
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which is used as an opera house, with a seating capacity of 350. Mr. Foster built a railroad to Mondovi, in Buffalo county, thirty- seven miles, and sold it, in the spring of 1891, to the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway Company. He also con- strueted about thirty miles of steam logging road into the woods for logging purposes. According to the census of 1910 the village had a population of about 700.
Fairchild is famous, not only for the history of its big saw- mill, but for its Big Store, one of the biggest retail mercantile institutions in northern Wisconsin. After the big fire in 1895 the N. C. Foster Lumber Company planned to build a model store and the next spring began operations. The basement of the main store was made 100x115 feet and the warehouse annex 40 x 70 feet is made of solid brick. The entire inside finish is in hardwood and no detail of convenience or utility is omitted. A large skylight in the center of the main store furnishes ample light and on the east side are the offices and vaults.
On the east of the store and closely adjoining is an electric light plant with large boilers, engine and dynamo of sufficient capacity to furnish light for the store building, warehouse and private residenee of the firm. The store was completed and ready for occupaney in August, 1896, and on the 26th of that month the doors were opened to the public. It was conducted by the N. C. Foster Lumber Company until abont 1905, when the control passed to the Farmers' Mutual Trading Company, a cor- poration, with C. C. Calkins manager of the business.
The business of the store is conducted under eight heads of departments: Dry goods, clothing, shoes, groceries, hardware, furniture, millinery and jewelry. In connection with the store is the cold storage business, which furnishes a large market for produce, especially eggs and dairy butter.
The next mercantile institution, in respect to size, is the fine large store conducted by John Anderson. He carries a large stock of general merchandise and is always a competitor for business. He is a trained merehant, does business on the square and has a host of friends.
R. E. Arnold is the proprietor of the drug store and keeps a fine stock of everything in the line of drugs, toilet articles and notions. Mr. Arnold is also postmaster and has the office in a building adjoining his store. There the people go to get their letters, business, love or whatnot, and stamps of the very best quality.
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The meat market of Smith & Shipman, with Richard Shipman the active member in the business, deal out to the hungering populaee the choicest meats.
The First National Bank, of Fairchild, is one of the solid institutions of the northwest and is a bulwark of finance and strength. It is capitalized at $25,000. N. C. Foster is president ; W. K. Coffin, vice-president ; W. F. Hord, cashier, and H. M. Foss, assistant cashier. The bank officers are in connection with the offices in the big store.
The art preservative is not neglected in Fairehild, in faet the Fairchild "Observer" is a model of clean and intelligent journal- istie enterprise. It was founded in 1897 by J. E. Pratt and later passed to Mr. C. C. Netteshiem and later still to Mr. C. A. Har- mon. Mr. Harmon died in 1905 after a long and serious illness, and his wife, Mrs. Jessie K. Harmon, continued the publication. As an editor Mrs. Harmon proved herself equal to the heights of the profession and under her direction the "Observer" maintained a high standard among the country newspapers of the state, which is now being published by Richard B. Swarthout.
Free N. Ferguson is the proprietor of the Fairchild Motor Company and deals in all kinds of automobiles, while Charles C. Calkins has a warehouse 50 x 70 feet and does an extensive busi- ness in all kinds of farm produce, shipping as high as 500 ears per year to Chicago and eastern markets.
The medical profession is well represented in the village by able physicians, who are fully equipped for any emergency in administering to the ills of the people, while the doctors of dental surgery are equal to any in the county. In faet the busi- ness interests of Fairchild in general are well represented in all lines, but our limited record enables us to mention only a few who are now engaged in business, and thus must necessarily omit the mention of many who are no doubt as worthy of representa- tion. The agricultural interests in the township are taken care of by a thrifty and enterprising elass of farmers, who are thor- oughly up to the minute in their modes of operation and supply the village with the best of all kinds of produce, where they find a ready market for large quantities, and the shipping facilities brought about by the ability of Mr. N. C. Foster in the construe- tion of railroads has made Fairehild one of the foremost railroad centers in the county.
The local government of the village is of statutory form and consists of a president and board of trustees. The public affairs
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of the village are orderly and the official government is clean and is maintained with that spirit of enterprise that meets the approval of all.
The educational interests of the village are centered in the Fairchild high school, an institution of which the people have always been justly proud. It is kept in a fine building located on a hill just a little way from the business center. The build- ing is thoroughly modern. The school was made a high school in 1898 under the principalship of Prof. E. M. Beeman. He was followed in 1903 by Prof. Taylor Frye, who continued at the head of the school until 1905, when he was succeeded by Miss Dora Thompson, who in turn has been succeeded by such able instructors as to make the Fairchild high school at this time- 1914 an institution of learning equal to any in the state.
The spiritual needs of the people are in no wise neglected in Fairchild. There are two Catholic congregations; the German Lutheran congregation has a nice church, and the Norwegian Lutherans have a church just outside the village. The Methodist congregation is perhaps the oldest in the village, having been organized in 1874.
The social life of Fairchild is delightfully free from the super- fluities and conventions that mark most communities. The people are whole-souled and hearty, conscious always of the proprieties and the right way of life. Hospitality is a prevailing virtue and liberality the general rule. The Masonic order has a numerous membership affiliated with the Humbird jurisdiction and the Knights of Pythias has a membership among the younger men affiliated with Kimball Lodge No. 111, of Augusta. The A. O. U. W. and R. N. of A. have strong lodges that meet at the village hall.
Thus we have told the story of Fairchild as well as the con- ditions will permit. There are no written records prior to 1895 and no newspaper files. The memory of men is treacherous and ofttimes the data secured is uncertain as to time and place. Arrangement should be made at once to keep a perfect file of the Fairchild "Observer" at the high school or in the bank vault, so that the annals of the village may in the future be available.
CHAPTER XLVI.
FALL CREEK.
The following is a paper sent to Reinhold Liebau by Mr. Zempel, of Fall Creek, and as far as known was written by some member of his family.
"Tlistory is a regular record of events arranged in chronolog- ieal order. A very large part of school time during the first eight years is used in studying United States history, but little attention is paid to the story of our state's achievements, and we possess almost no knowledge of our pioneer father's trouble while laying the foundation for what is now the prosperous and wholesome little village of Fall Creek. George Washington, it is true, was a great patriot and has attained an enviable plaee in our history as a sturdy pioneer, but so was Christopher Zim- merman. We revel in tales of frontier hardihood and our blood is thrilled by the reeital of the deeds of Boone, Clark and Whit- man, while they were winning homes from wildest nature and transforming the wooded slopes into peaceful valleys. Did you ever stop to think that just sneh was the duty of Arthur Buek, Henry Horel and Jefferson Seott? So it will be my pleasure to call yon baek to some slight recognition of the faet that all things were not always as we know them, but that our seenrity and comfort has come to us out of the hardships and struggles of many that were onee well known but are now likely forgotten. The first settlers eame here in 1850; Christopher Zimmerman eleared the first land in our vieinity. The early eomers were Jim and Riehard Horel, George Randall, Daniel Muenehow, J. M. Shong, Joseph Lindenthaler, Fred Keading and Daniel Zempel. They did not eome in earriages before which praneed sleek and well fed horses, but in eanvas covered wagons drawn by a team of oxen. These settlers did not build houses upon their arrival, but dug holes in the side of hills and covered them with twigs, or lived under their wagons. Next they cleared land in order to make the start for a small farm. This was very slow work and took a long time. After the land was eleared it had to be plowed or broken. The grain was not sowed or eut by machinery, but instead it was sown by hand and eut with a eradle. Nearly all supplies were gotten from Sparta. The Inmber with which the
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dwellings were erected was gotten from Mr. Rheinke's woods and sawed by Mr. Bons and Mr. Jones, who owned the first saw- mill which was located one and a half miles northeast of here on the stream. At first there were but two roads which ran near our vicinity. One of these was the Pinery road, which followed the Eau Claire river, and the other was the stage road, which ran from Sparta through Black River Falls to Eau Claire. This was about half a mile south of our village. The early comers hardly ever took the stage coach, because it cost too much money. They would walk from Fall Creek to Eau Claire, a distance of twelve miles; there they would sell their produce at a very low price and come back the same day.
I can remember one of these pioneers telling me a story that may serve to illustrate the difficulty under which they made their purchases. This is one of the stories of the times when he would go to Eau Claire with butter and eggs. Butter was sold for eight to ten cents per pound and eggs for from five to six cents per dozen. You see these prices did not permit of any wild dis- sipation. At this particular time' the money for his produce, which was not very much, was invested in a jug of syrup. When he was almost home the horses made a side jump and the jug was broken, and low and behold the beautiful golden liquid was in the wagon box. A pair of new boots had also been purchased, and quick as thought the syrup was scraped up and put into the boots. Who ever would now think of eating syrup brought home in a shoe? But what of that? They relished it even more than we do the delicious fudge made by some of our handsome village maids.
Fall Creek was surveyed in 1857. Our village gets its name from the stream which runs one-half mile north of here. The place where Herman Statenow is now located was the first board- ing house erected; it was owned by Mr. Murphy, but afterwards conducted by Mr. and Mrs. Randall. The first store was situated on Randall's corner, and the next one was built where Mr. Patz- wald's building now stands. Fred Keading owned the first black- smith shop, which stood right across the street from where Mrs. Keading now lives. Mr. Keading frequently walked to Eau Claire, where he purchased heavy rods of iron to be used in blacksmithing. It was not uncommon for him to be forced to carry these rods home on his back. Michael Keading was the first dentist in our locality. He did not fill teeth with gold or silver, but was busily engaged in pulling them, as people did not know anything about filling teeth at that time. Neither chloro-
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form nor ether were ever used, probably never heard of. This was not because Mr. Keading was like our modern "painless dentists." IIe was fully able to hurt the patient just as much as they can, but among the trials and hardships which were daily met and conquered a little thing like an aching tooth was hardly notieed. They just had them pulled; now we have them extracted. It sounds bigger, but I doubt if it makes the patient live longer. The first church services were conducted by Daniel Muenchow in a log cabin. It was not such as we hear today in a grand church, but although he was not a learned preacher he explained difficult parts of that which he read out of the Bible. A German Lutheran church was ereeted in 1873, with Rev. Julius Fredrich as minister. He served for twenty-seven years, when Rev. Carl Baumbach was ealled, and is still the pastor in St. Jacob's church, which was built in 1884.
Fall Creek is situated near a river and has a good water power, although it was not really used until 1867. In that year Edward Gessner erected a sawmill. Mr. O'Mera and HIanaburg were the owners of the earliest flour mill, which was about two and one-half miles northeast of here, on the ereek. Martin Mar- tins owned the second flour mill, which was started by Simon Randall, but before it was ready to start Mr. Randall was aeci- dentally shot, and Mr. Martins purchased it. This mill changed hands a few times until Mr. Bruesewitz beeame its owner. In 1903 the mill was destroyed by fire, and another one erected which is at present owned by P. O. Vogler.
In 1869 the railroad was completed and trains stopped to take on passengers half way between the place where R. II. Zempel's farm is situated and where the depot now stands. The first depot was erected where Mr. William Neibuhis's elevator now stands. That building burned down and another one built on the same place, which was later moved to its present location. At that time Fall Creek was ealled Cousins, in honor of a man in Ean Claire, but the people objeeting to this name it was renamed Fall Creek. Our village is really built on the land which was at one time owned by Mr. Lindenthaler. This village so increased in population that in 1890 it contained 450 people, and one build- ing after another was erected. Today we boast of as good build- ings as are to be found in any town of our size in the state. Probably few towns of our size anywhere can claim as many pretty and cheerful dwellings as can Fall Creek.
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