History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens, Part 29

Author: Marchetti, Louis. cn
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1042

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In the last three years prior to his election, large enterprises were carried out, which had taxed the resources of the city to a more than ordinary degree. and economy in public expenditure became a public virtue. Considering the time when Mr. Mehl was elected, after such great expenses had been incurred, which had to be in part settled for during his one year's incumbency, it was a great accomplishment to clean up the floating indebtedness without neglecting the usual work of keeping the city clean and streets and bridges in repair, as well as providing for tuition of the ever-increasing young Wausau. It became necessary at times for the mayor to check aldermanic extravagance, which he did without fear or favor. An ordinance was passed granting an exclusive franchise for an electric power and lighting plant, which he vetoed, and in which he was sustained on reconsideration of the ordinance.

About that time the city had begun to attract the attention of the state and the state turner festival was held here, which brought five hundred active turners and their friends to Wausau. This was the first of the large gather- ings of societies, of which Wausau has had a good many since, and which have given the city a reputation throughout the state as a convention city second to none except Milwaukee.

Mr. Mehl was elected county treasurer of Marathon county in 1898 and reelected in 1900, and at the end of his term of office the county board unan- imously passed a resolution, recommending his bookkeeping as a model of neatness and accuracy. After his retirement from office. he made a trip to his old home in Germany for his health and returned restored in strength and with a greater love for Wausau, if such a thing were possible, than ever before.

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When the National German Alliance was organized a few years ago throughout the United States as a means to keep alive the knowledge of the German language in the native born Americans of German descent, and also to guard against legislation to enforce virtues upon the individual which he can have or acquire only by force of character, he was elected as president of the Wausau branch of the society. He has always been in sympathy with every move which has for its object liberality in thought and action and advancement in education. Broad minded, claiming for himself the right to think and act independently in political as well as social affairs, he is fair and candid enough to freely concede the same right to everybody else.

Formerly adhering to the Republican party, he has acted in later years entirely independent in political affairs, following only the dictates of his conscience, and throwing his influence to that side which in his judgment best promotes the interest of the great masses. He is well read in history and familiar with the works of the great German authors. He is a native of Rhen- ish Prussia and barely of age when the German-Franco war broke out: he served with his regiment throughout the whole of that epoch making war, emigrating to the United States the year after peace was declared

E. C. ZIMMERMANN.

E. C. Zimmermann succeeded Anton Mehl as mayor, having been elected in 1888 and reelected in 1889, and while economy was still the watchword, this administration already began to look to a greater Wausau. The market square and site for a fire engine house was purchased at a very reasonable price : the engine house was built, the fire alarm system established and the Washington school house built for high school use at a cost of $11,400, not including the furnishing. The unsatisfactory condition of the streets re- ceived attention and the question of sewerage was taken up. a plan adopted and a contract let for laying sewers on Second and Third streets from Forest street to Franklin: on Fourth street from Forest to McIndoe street; on Franklin street from Seventh street west to the Wisconsin river; on Warren and McIndoe streets from Sixth to Fourth street, and on Grant street from Seventh street to Fourth street. The work of constructing the sewer system was left to the incoming administration, but the outgoing one had taken care to provide the means. The city was financially on the high road of pros- perity, there being but $8,000 debts outside the water works bonds, which debt of $8,000 was payable in four years at the rate of $2,000 each year. That debt was contracted to obtain the money for the building of the Wash-

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ington high school, and the new administration was not hampered for funds when it took charge after Mr. Zimmermann's terms had expired.

The two years of his administration were prosperous years for Wausau. The saw mills and factories were in full operation, and a larger number of men were employed than ever before. Many new business houses were erected in these two years, notably on Third street.

The city steadily increased in population and a large number of resi- dences were built, mainly on the north and west side. This increase in busi- ness and population was the effect of the extension of the Chicago & North- western Railroad to Wausau, which opened a larger market for the products of the northern forests, gave better railroad connections and facilities, and consequently increased the manufacture of lumber and other products. An- other measure which was a large factor in the increase of business in Wau- sau was the enlargement and extension of the boom northward for six miles. The dam at Brokaw was built by the Boom Company for the pur- pose of creating slack water above for the dividing of the logs, so as to be able to supply the steam mills on the banks of the river above the falls, which had been erected since 1879. The booming capacity after the year last mentioned was 150 million feet, which amount was sawed with little variations annually after 1881 up to and including 1890, after which the lumber output gradually decreased, while other manufactured products in- creased.

After 1880 there were the following large saw mills running, naming them in the order of their location above the falls: The Dunbar mill, the Leahy & Beebe mill, the R. P. Manson mill, the L. S. Cohn mill, later Stewart & Parcher mill, on the west shore, and the Wausau Lumber Com- pany mill below the mouth of Stiensfield creek.

Mr. Zimmermann's administration was remarkable also for the good order prevailing during his term of office, no crime of any magnitude having been committed during his two terms and the city otherwise enjoying peace, com- fort, and security in spite of the strong floating population.

E. C. Zimmermann came from Eau Claire City in 1878, a very young man, and opened a fire insurance office, which business he had followed in Eau Claire. Soon after his coming here he formed a partnership for carrying on the same business with H. L. Wheeler, who was in the same line. Before he was elected mayor he served two years as supervisor in the admin- istration of R. P. Manson, under whose guidance he proved an apt pupil, and his nomination and election were a fit recognition of his excellent services rendered to both city and county government. While serving as supervisor

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he was made chairman of the county board, and in that position had occa- sion to show his capacity for presiding over a large deliberate body of men and dispatching public business. Unlike his predecessors he was not a businessman engaging a large number of workingmen, nor a merchant doing business on a large capital, and his election was due to his merits as a public man only. Like all his predecessors, he was glad when his term expired, giving his whole time to his insurance business, when, knowing his capacity for business and integrity, as well as his large and favorable acquaintance in city and county, the Marathon County Bank, successor to the Bank of the Interior, the oldest banking institution in Wausau, offered him the place of cashier of the bank, which offer he accepted and which place he still holds. Having retired from public life for fourteen years, he was again called upon to take the reins as mayor of Wausau, in 1904.

GUSTAV MUELLER.

Previous to his election as mayor in 1890, Mr. Gustav Mueller held no public office whatever. While he took interest enough in politics to cast his vote regularly at every recurring election and sometimes even at a caucus, he was rather averse to office holding and preferred the freedom of private life. His nomination was a surprise to him, and it took some persuasion to make him stand as a candidate. Nevertheless municipal affairs were no sealed book to him, because he was a studious reader and close observer as well, though he preferred the reading of the "Scientific Ameri- can" to the congressional record or political speeches. He applied himself to his task as executive with the enthusiastic vigor which the constantly growing demands of the city demanded, and took good care to secure for the city a fair return for all money expended.

The water works system was largely extended, and the work of laying a sewer system, contracted for by the outgoing administration, was accom- plished. This was the first main sewer, running from the foot of Third street to Franklin street and emptying in the river at the foot of that street. This was no small drain on the finances of the city, but it was done without borrowing. The city was kept uncommonly clean, which was much to the credit of the mayor, considering that there was not a single paved or mac- adamized block in existence, and all drainage was surface drainage over muddy or sandy streets. The steel bridge spanning the slough to the Chi- cago & Northwestern Railway depot was contracted, and the money for its payment was in the treasury before the construction work was begun. The

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administration of Mr. Mueller left no debts nor unpaid bills to its successor, but a well filled treasury, having over $12,000 in cash in the general fund.

In the year 1890 Wausau harbored more people for three or four days than it ever did before or since. In that year the opening of the water reserve lands, so-called, for entry at the United States land office at Wausau, which was to take place on December 20th, at 9 o'clock A. M., and which event was heralded throughout the United States, brought many thousand people here, willing to secure a good quarter section of land under the homestead law for $14.00. There were men from the East, South, and North, and some even from the West as far as the Missouri river. For this particular occasion the land office was held in the northwest corner of the old court house, and applicants had to stand outside and hand their applica- tions in, one after another through the window. In the afternoon of the 18th day of December a long line of applicants had formed from the window clear to Fourth street, and thousands of others wanted their places. It was an exciting time. The hotels and boarding houses were unable to pro- vide room or beds for the multitude and the saloons were kept open and · people slept on benches and chairs and on the floor. But these strangers behaved admirably, in spite of highly colored sensational dispatches sent to Chicago dailies predicting all sorts of riot and even bloodshed. There were only a few uniformed police officers, and about a score of special offi- cers were appointed. These officers were selected with care, for their good sense and cool temper, and they preserved excellent order. No intoxicated persons were seen on the streets, no fights or altercations occurred, and not a single arrest was made. For the sake of security, however, and at the request of the citizens, the mayor called on the militia to do police duty on the morning of the 20th; the militia promptly responded, and the day so much dreaded by some timid people passed off as if nothing unusual was transpiring. When the thousands who found no place in the line saw that at best not more than sixty applications could be received and disposed of on the first day, and many less in the days to come, and when they learned that about one thousand applications would take all the land, and that only a small part had desirable timber on it and was nearly entirely unsuitable for farming purposes, they took the trains and left faster than they had come, and on Sunday, the 21st of December, the largest part of them had left; only those remained here who had been in the line.

Gustav Mueller came to Wausau in 1867, without any friends or rela- tives here, a young man of twenty years of age. He was educated for the profession of teaching at home, which in the old country includes instruc- tion in music, to which art he is still greatly devoted.

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Coming to Wausau, he was employed in the store of August Kickbusch, and later in the store of Otto Sigrist, successor to Herman Miller. While in the employ of August Kickbusch he and another clerk in that store, Charles Quandt, became fast friends, and in 1870 they formed a partnership and opened a shoe store in Wausau on Third street, which at that time had become the principal business street. This partnership existed until the death of his partner, who was succeeded in the business by. his widow.

In his official position as mayor Gustav Mueller was wholly unselfish and patriotic, having no axes to grind, no portion of the city to favor at the expense of the other.

Soon after his coming to Wausau, he became a leader in German circles, taking a prominent part in their social affairs, and has been repeatedly and justly honored by being put at the head of the best and longest established German societies.

The United States census of 1890 gives the population of Wausau as 9.253, a gain of over 100 per cent since 1880.

R. E. PARCHER.

With the election of Mr. R. E. Parcher as mayor in 1891, and his reelection in 1892 and 1893, there was inaugurated a new era, a new munic- ipal policy in Wausau. The establishment of water works and sewers had brought many people to Wausau, who remained here after these works were in the main completed, but the mills and factories did not keep pace with the increased supply of men willing to work and depending upon their labor for their support. More factories, even with municipal aid, became the war cry. Mr. Parcher had been for a generation in business as merchant, lumberman, real estate man, manager of the Wausau boom, and he was. heart and soul in this new movement. Some factories were established with slight municipal aid, which are doing a large business still, employing hun- dreds of men. Only one, and that the one in which the city took a large amount of stock, voting aid directly, and which started up as a chair fac- tory, proved a failure. But the loss which the city suffered by the deprecia- tion of its stock was largely compensated for by the factory going into pri- vate hands and being operated and known as Curtis' factory No. 2, which employs more men and pays out more money in wages than was ever thought the chair factory would.

During the three years of Mr. Parcher's mayoralty, there were estab- lished besides the chair factory, the Wausau Novelty Works, the Wausau

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Box Factory, two excelsior mills, one quartz mill, and one veneer mill, the latter being one of the largest of its kind in the United States, all of which are in operation, and others have come since. Some of those first established received small aid in cash, others by a grant of the factory site, and as these works prospered, new ones came without any aid. The building of resi- dences followed the activity of the mills and factories, and the city opened up new streets in all directions. The high bridge (so called because it crosses over the railroad track), connecting the island directly with Scott street, was erected, which induced the building of business blocks on Scott and north of Scott on Third street; water mains and the sewer system were extended, and the last work done was the letting of a contract for paving Third street with cedar blocks, which was the first pavement in Wausau, but this work itself was commenced under a new administration.

It was the standing complaint of Wausau people that mill sites along the Wisconsin river, which were in demand soon after the St. Paul railroad reached Wausau, were held at exorbitant prices by the non-resident owner, Andrew Warren, and that his grossly exacting demands prevented capitalists from locating here, who located and built establishments in Merrill. There is no doubt but that some very desirable establishments were lost to Wausau because of unreasonable high prices for sites, to the detriment of the city as well as to the land owner himself. When Mr. Parcher was mayor a chance presented itself to the city to buy lot I, sections 24, 29, 7, containing 57 acres, and lot I, sections 23, 29, 7, containing about 20 acres, for the price of $1,200, and with the keen foresight which was ever characteristic of him, he urged the city to make the purchase and keep the land for factory sites, to .be given away to bona fide industrial establishments. Some of it was given away while Mr. Parcher was mayor, and some since, but the city still owns about 55 acres and its value has increased tenfold. These lots offer a splendid location for anchoring of a natatorium in the Wisconsin river.

R. E. Parcher was a native of the Green Mountain state; he came to Wausau in 1858, and, like all pioneers, worked his way up from the bot- tom, beginning life at Wausau as a clerk in a drug store, buying the stock of his principal the following year and adding a stock of general merchan- dise, soon becoming one of the leading merchants in Wausau. Like all other business men, he engaged in logging and lumbering. When the Wausau Boom Company was organized in 1874, he became the president of the cor- poration, and the extension and enlargement of the Wausau Boom upon which so much depended for the future growth of this city was carried out successfully under his supervision.

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At a public meeting held at the public library the 14th day of Novem- ber, 1911, addresses were made as to his worth as a citizen, as a friend and public officer by his old friends; one of them, Judge Marchetti, said, in part :

"His name and means were connected with nearly every business venture since that time (1874) ; they either had what was often the case, his finan- cial assistance, or at least his friendly support. Wherever you look you will find evidences of his activity in nearly every branch of industry. His influence in business extended far beyond the limits of Wausau and Mara- thon county. Like all pioneers he commenced with meager means; but his integrity brought him credit which he never misused, but he was not afraid to lend to men starting in business when their industry, ability, and honesty merited his confidence.

"He was charitable, but when he gave, he gave as a gentleman in silence, without ostentation : he was neighborly and accommodating, never jealous of the success of others, too broad minded to permit the spirit of envy to darken his soul.

"I have said that he was charitable and intended to honor his memory by confining myself to the simple statement of fact in accordance with his well known aversion of having his own acts on this field talked about; but he made one gift which came so unexpectedly in aid of a very deserving institution at a most opportune time, that it once became a matter of general but grateful notoriety, and not to mention it would seem like a studied effort on my part to belittle its importance from more than one point of view.

"I refer to his gift of $5,000 to the St. Mary's hospital of this city. What institution could be more worthy of his liberality? Conducted by the Sisters of Mercy who have voluntarily taken upon themselves the vow. of poverty, whose life is devoted to the service of those upon whom sickness has laid its paralyzing hand, where is there a place more worthy of human and and sympathy ?

"He well knew that the sisterhood derives no personal benefit from his gift; that they in their self-chosen poverty have no personal needs; that they perform their unremitting toil in obedience to Him, who said, 'What- ever ye do unto the humblest or lowest among ye, ye have done unto me;' he knew that the gift so made to them in name, was made to suffering humanity, and so it was intended.

"I feel at liberty to mention it, too, because I know that the sisters are barred from their presence here by the rules of their order, as otherwise they would be glad to express here in some form their pious remembrance of R. E. Parcher in behalf of the poor and friendless whose trustees they are,

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but they with a grateful heart will never forget his kindness and timely help, which enabled them without limiting their field of labor, to continue in their mission of ministering to the sick and afflicted, and failing to restore health, with tender hands comfort the dying in their physical suffering and bring hope and consolation to the despairing in spirit in their last hours on earth.

"The making of this gift is convincing proof of Mr. Parcher's con- sciousness of, and performance of the obligation which rests upon wealth to make good and proper use of the opportunities which wealth carries in its train. Wealth brings noble opportunities, and competence is a proper object of pursuit; but wealth and competence may be bought at too high a price. Wealth has no moral attribute. It is not money, but the love of money, which is the root of all evil. It is the relation between wealth and the mind and the character of the possessor, which is the essential thing, and to R. E. Parcher's honor it must be said that he understood and acted in accordance with this great truth in life."

After the expiration of his last term as mayor, R. E. Parcher held no other office; in fact, his whole official life was limited to one year as post- master of Wausau from April, 1868, to June, 1869, a one-year term as assessor, and three years as mayor, after which time he kept busy in his various occupations as director in the First National Bank of Wausau, and other corporations, and spent most of his leisure hours attending to his farms on the north boundary line of the city, one on each side of the river bank. He died December 4, 1907.

With Mr. Parcher closes the list of the pioneer mayors of Wausau until 1912, when John Ringle was chosen again. Those that were chosen after him for that position belong to the second generation, and as the city was planned by broad minded, noble hearted pioneers, who blazed the path for the Wau- sau of the present and the future, so does Mr. Parcher worthily close the list of its mayors as one who has greatly advanced the city over the destiny of which he presided for three years, and as one who is entitled to and received the plaudits of its citizens for the integrity and fidelity with which he labored in the interest of the city.

JOHN W. MILLER.

John W. Miller was elected mayor in 1894, and for one year he gave the city an unstinted full measure of excellent service. The previous adminis- tration had made extensive municipal improvements in anticipation of as

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rapid a growth of the city as it enjoyed in the period from 1880 to 1890, when it doubled its population, anticipating its revenues accordingly, but these expectations were not fully realized.

When the new mayor assumed charge of city affairs, he deemed it to be his duty to take soundings and decide upon a safe and proper course. No man was better fitted by training and experience for this function. He had been city clerk for many years and knew as well as anybody the value of accurate information with reference to the finances of the city, with a view of meeting immediate demands upon the treasury, as well as the necessity of providing means for future contingencies. After a careful examination into the obligations which the city had assumed, it was found necessary to procure money to take up a floating debt of $30,000 and meet other liabili- ties incurred or to be incurred in the sum of $45,000, and a bond issue of $75,000 was determined upon as the best way of meeting all liabilities. These bonds were sold at par, bearing 5 per cent interest, and were payable in installments of $5,000, the last payment becoming due September 18, 1910.

On the day of his installation the work of paving Third street with cedar blocks was commenced, and after it was finished, was so satisfactory that upon the urgent request of the property owners, a similar pavement was laid on Washington street from the city hall to Fifth street, and on Scott street from Main to Fourth street; school houses were enlarged and a new one built; the water supply, which had become insufficient in case of a large demand, was increased by laying a tunnel in the ground and connecting it with the supply well. More water mains were laid and some attention given to street work, as well as to the sewer system which was extended. In consequence of the appearance of smallpox, a brick building was erected on the southeast northeast 34-29-7, owned by the city, for an isolation hos- pital, which was used and did very good service during the prevalence of smallpox in 1901 and 1902. The city was kept uncommonly clean and much attention was given to the enforcement of the regulations intended to pre- serve public health.

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History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens, Part 29

Author: Marchetti, Louis. cn Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1042

Author: Marchetti, Louis. cn
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1042