USA > Wisconsin > Marathon County > History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens > Part 32
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Since his last term as supervisor he had withdrawn from public life and gave his whole time to the carrying on of the business of the Ringle Brick Company, located at Ringle, on the Chicago & North Western Railroad, which furnishes nearly all the brick used in the city, but has an export trade too by rail. The agitation for the commission form of government brought him in prominence as an opponent, and made him the leader of the opposi- tion, which led to his election in 1912. He assumed the duties of the office 20
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with a determination to bring order in the state of finances, which had become muddled. By a decisive vote the people had ordered the building of a new city hall, but with the advanced price of all building materials and labor since 1906, it was plain that $40,000 would not pay for the same, and that more money must be provided. Wausau owns its waterworks system, does the sprinkling of streets, owns part of the lighting system, does the repairing and cleaning of streets and macadamizing directly by labor, without the intervention of contractors, thus carrying on a large municipal business, which needs office rooms and vaults for officers and storage rooms. A city building to comport with the dignity of an advancing industrial and commer- cial city had to be erected, large enough at least for the next twenty-five years or more.
. Then there was a large debt for school loans which had been carried by the Wausau banks for years, besides a debt created for the extension and enlargement of the pumping station of the waterworks, for the payment of which no provision had been made, neither by a loan nor a tax levy ; the debt was simply carried along from time to time.
But the time had come to liquidate these debts, and there being no money in the treasury available for the payment, bond issues became necessary shortly after the new mayor had taken charge of the office. That of itself would have been sufficient to test the strength and capacity of any city gov- ernment ; but to cap the climax, there occurred the flood in July, 1912, which destroyed bridges, washed out streets and roads, doing damage which it cost the city at least $30,000 to repair, and thus it was apparent that the adminis- tration was not resting on a bed of roses.
In October, 1912, bonds were issued in the amount following, for the pur- poses indicated by their names :
Waterworks bonds, $40,000; bridge bonds, $20,000. A large tax levy was made to prevent a too large accumulation of interest-bearing debt, and to pay current expenses. The tax levy was felt all the heavier, because county and state taxes had more than doubled in the last ten years, and were exceedingly high in 1912.
But the repairs had to be made, and no time was lost in making them. The Leahy & Beebe bridge was first restored, the abutment and east span of the high bridge finished, and in January, 1913, a higher and stronger steel bridge on the south (Stroller's) was opened in place of the one destroyed by the flood.
The long-planned enlargement of the pumping station was finished and the new powerful pump installed during the winter of 1912-1913, and the
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people now look forward to a thorough cleaning of the pipe system as soon as the season permits, and a good, clear and sparkling water supply as orig- inally furnished by the waterworks.
To take up the debts incurred for school purposes, which had been a float- ing debt from three to five years (nobody seems to know exactly when the first deficit arose, which grew from year to year) another bond issue of $35,000 will be made April 1, 1913. Besides these school bonds, there will be issued new bonds in the amount of $15,000 for a sewer to carry off the sewage and flood water after every heavy rain in the middle portion of the east side, which the Canal street sewer and outlet is insufficient to carry off, and city hall bonds to the amount of $25,000, when it is to be hoped that the whole debt of the city is funded, and an era of debt-paying may set in.
After these new bonds issued, the city interest-bearing debt will approach $375,000, if it does not exceed that amount.
The city tax levy for all city purposes in 1912 was $210.718.65.
In trying to put the city back on bedrock financially, Mayor Ringle has a great task before him. If he succeeds and the first year of his administration gives the best hopes, it will be hailed as one of the greatest accomplishments of any administration.
John Ringle has been a lifelong, consistent democrat politically ; he was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at Cincinnati in 1880, and again to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago in 1892, and twice he was nominated by his party for the office of state treasurer and carried the forlorn hope of his party in the state. His official record is without a flaw and so is his private character. His long, successful official career is proof of the high estimate in which he was always held by the people of Marathon county and the confidence they have put in his character and ability, his first official position dating back to 1871, when he was elected county clerk.
CITY OF WAUSAU GOVERNMENT, 1912-1914.
Mayor
John Ringle
City Council.
First ward WV. J. Weisbrod, Oscar Leubner
Second ward Edw. Lemke. Fred Mohr
Third ward E. E. Schulze, J. Wolf
Fourth ward . John Lull, Hugo Peters
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HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY
Fifth ward Henry Zillmann, A. V. Gearhart
Sixth ward N. P. Morrow, Nath. Pierce
Seventh ward Emil Flatter, Henry E. Lemke (died) Adolph Storch (appointed)
Eighth ward Charles Holzmann, Edw. Rifleman
Ninth ward Paul Steidmann, George Ronek
Executive Officers.
City Clerk Carl Adams
City Treasurer . Henry Juers
ยท City Comptroller H. Marquardt
City Assessor George A. Stelz
Justices of the Peace.
R. L. Larner . J. P. Jaeger
Constables.
John Eunson . John Schmidt
Officers Elected by the City Council.
City Attorney F. P. Regner
Commissioner of Health Dr. D. Sauerhering
Poor Physician Dr. G. A. Thielke
City Engineer Bert Gowan
Street Commissioner . Ole Smith
Poor Commissioner F. E. Schneider
The valuation of the city of Wausau according to the assessment of 1912:
Merchants' stock $ 1,068,283
Logs and lumber stock 680,880
Bank stock 1,004,587
Automobiles 101,500
Total personal property
3,200,308
Total real estate
10,859,600
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THE WAUSAU POSTOFFICE.
The following is the amount of business transacted at this office in 1912, and comparing the amount of business in that year in the same branch with the business done in that office in the year 1897, shows the increase in the business of the postoffice, which is a fair index of the increase of the general business in the city of Wausau during the same space of time :
Sales of stamps and stamped papers during the year 1912. $47,270.03
During the year 1897 12,676.79
Gain in fifteen years of $34,593.24
Net proceeds of the office during the year 1912. $25,262.24
Net proceeds for 1897 3,608.88
Increase of $21,653.36
Number of registered letters and parcels in the year 1912 5,386
Number in 1897 1,084
Number of domestic money orders in year 1912, 17,079, amount- ing to $115,275.03
Number in 1897, 330 international money orders, amounting to 8,892.17
Number of domestic orders during 1912 was 11,430, amounting
to $102,531.42
Paid 76 international orders amounting to 3,167.87
In 1912 received on deposit from other money order offices the sum of $85,574.00
Two postal stations were established since 1897: Station No. I on April I, 1905, at 312 S. First avenue; and Station No. 2 on April 16, 1901, at 1703 Sixth street.
The number of officers and employes are: Postmaster, one assistant post- master, six regular clerks, nine city carriers, and one substitute city carrier, five regular rural carriers, and one substitute rural carrier.
Wausau became an office of the first class on July 1, 1910.
The postal savings bank system was established in Wausau on September 28, 19II.
Five rural routes start out from this office.
The postmasters of Wausau postoffice since its establishment are as fol- lows :
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HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY
Office. Postmaster. Date of Appointment.
Wausau, Wisconsin. Charles Shuter (established) . May 4, 1850
Edson Doolittle May 26, 1854
Thomas Single . July 14, 1854
H. H. Lawrence. May 14, 1857
F. A. Hoffman
April 15, 1861
E. R. Chase
January 7, 1862
J. P. West
April 27, 1863
Eli R. Chase
May 8, 1865
Robert E. Parcher
April 10, 1868
Theophilus Smith
.June 29, 1869
Robert H, Johnson January 13, 1876
Valentine Ringle
.June 15, 1885
A. W. Young April 11, 1890
John Ringle
June 13, 1893
Alfred W. Trevitt
September 14, 1897-1913
UNITED STATES LAND OFFICE.
The Stevens Point land office was established by act of congress approved July 30, 1852. (Tenth United States Statutes, 25). Executive order of June 19, 1872, directed the removal of the same from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, to Wausau, Wisconsin. The office at Stevens Point was closed August 10, 1872, and opened at Wausau, August 19, 1872.
In the fall of 1893 the United States land office at Menasha was com- bined with this office, and later the Eau Claire and latest the Ashland United States land office, so that now the land office at Wausau is the only United States land office in this state.
The following is a list of the registers and receivers of this office, with dates of their commission set opposite their names :
Date of Commission.
Abraham Brawley, register, temporary
April 20, 1853
Albert G. Ellis, receiver
Abraham Brawley, register April 20, 1853
May 9, 1854
Albert G. Ellis, receiver
May 9, 1854
Hugh Brawley, register . June 15, 1858
Albert G. Ellis, receiver . April 27. 1858
Stephen H. Alban, register March 25. 1861
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Almanson Eaton, receiver March 25, 1861
Stephen H. Alban, register . June 5, 1865
Almanson Eaton, receiver . June 5, 1865
Stephen H. Alban, register March 21, 1867
Almanson Eaton, receiver March 21, 1867
D. L. Quaw, receiver December 27, 1871
Stephen H. Alban, register December 27, 1871
Stephen H. Alban, register January 11, 1876
D. L. Quaw, receiver, from 1876 to January 1I, 1880
Since the date of the removal of the United States land office the dates of the commission of these officers are not at hand, but the following is sub- stantially the correct term of service of its occupants :
Stephen H. Alban, register, until 1883; Myron H. McCord, register, from 1883 until 1885; Stephen S, Thayer, register, from 1885 until 1889; E. B. Sanders, register, from 1889 to 1893; Louis Marchetti, register, from 1893 to 1897; Ed. T. Wheelock, register, from 1897 to 1901 ; John W. Miller, from 1901 to the present time.
William Callon, receiver, from 1881 to 1883 and resigned; E. B. Sanders, receiver, from 1883 to 1889; August Kickbusch, receiver, from 1889 to 1891 and resigned; R. H. Johnson, receiver, from 1891 to 1893; E. B. Thayer, receiver, from 1893 to 1897; Henry McCrossen, receiver, from 1897 up to the present time.
THE WATERWORKS
of the city of Wausau belong to the municipality of Wausau. The contract for installing it was let in the winter of 1885, work thereon was begun in the spring, and it was completed in the fall of the same year. The machinery was put in a solid brick power house situated near the Wisconsin river on the north side of the city. It consists of four steel boilers in battery, two pumps, com- pound pressure Holly engines, capacity of each 3,000,000 gallons in twenty- four hours, and the water was pumped from a well thirty-five feet deep and forty feet in diameter. A big pipe was run from the pump into the river in order to obtain from it an inexhaustible supply of water in case of a con- flagration and about eleven miles of mains were put in the ground which were sufficient at that time to supply the whole city. The water furnished by the well was of the best quality, but the supply from the well was found to be insufficient in 1894. The city was financially cramped for money at that time, and the fact that good water had been found in ample quantity up to that time led the city government to believe that all the water obtained
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HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY
from underground at and near the place where the well was sunk to be the same. Without asking any advice they ordered a tunnel to be sunk in a northeasterly direction from the well to get another supply of water. At a depth of about fourteen feet or less a strong flow of water was struck, and by means of a large pipe conducted into the well; it furnished as much and more water as both pumps could draw out from the well, but its quality was different. After this water was used some years, it was discovered that the water supplied by the system deteriorated and pipes that were taken out, and especially the supply pipes, were found to be encrusted on the inside. In 1902 pieces of this pipe containing the crust were sent to Professor Smith of Beloit College, Wisconsin, for investigation. He discovered that the crust was due to the growth of a plant called Xenotrix, which is the only plant that can grow without sunlight and gets its food from iron dissolved in the water. The cause of the deterioration of the drinking supply having been now discovered it remained for the city to find the remedy. A newer and better supply of water was determined upon, and in 1907, thirty 6-inch drive wells were sunk at a depth of 135 feet which, however, did not furnish a sufficient supply, and some years later ten 10-inch drive wells at a depth of 135 feet were sunk which with the first thirty 6-inch wells were expected to furnish a bountiful supply of water for present needs and for years to come, but to obtain a continuous strong flow from these drive wells it became necessary to get a new pump set deeper in the ground to shorten suction. This new engine and pump is expected to be installed during this winter (1912-1913) ; it has a capacity of pumping fully as much and more as the two other pumps together. These deep drive wells contain but a very insig- nificant amount of iron in solution, insufficient to sustain the life of this plant which is expected to die for want of food. Nevertheless, that of itself will not cure the evil, but the plant which has grown in the system must be expelled before the water will retain its original purity and good taste. There is no doubt that this can be accomplished and will be accomplished in a short time, especially after the new powerful pump is established. There are 38 miles of water pipes in the ground, 260 fire hydrants, and 6 free drinking fountains. The waterworks are now controlled by a water com- mission consisting of five members: the mayor being a member, ex-officio, the city council electing one of their members for a member of the commis- sion, and three others are elected by the council who must not be members of the council. The term of the mayor and the alderman is limited to two years, but the term of the other members having no other connection with the city government directly is three years. The present commissioners are :
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John Ringle, mayor ex-officio, term expires May, 1914.
Hugo Peters, alderman, term expires May, 1914.
Charles E. Turner, term, three years; term expires October, 1913. Albert J. Kraatz, term, three years; term expires October, 1914.
G. A. Osswald, term, three years; term expires October, 1915.
Employes : William C. Slosson, chief engineer ; Charles C. Boerke, assist- ant engineer; William D. McGee, assistant engineer; Arthur W. Ehricke, Ole Olson, and Otto Knacker, firemen; William Schmidt, city tapper; Henry Gross, superintendent.
A large amount of money has been spent since 1906, bringing the cost of the system all together up to more than three times its original cost, much of which was caused by the effort to free the plant from this obnoxious growth.
THE WAUSAU FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Up to the year 1869 there was no organized force nor any equipment to combat fire. Houses and stores or shops were standing scattered over the ground, and the burning of one did not immediately endanger the next one. Of course, buildings caught fire and were destroyed, as, for instance, the United States Hotel, so called, a large boarding house, standing on Second street between Washington and Jackson streets; the Corey and Daniels shingle mill on the Corey lot south of the County square which burned in 1866 with a lot of shingle bolts, but the flames did not reach the next buildings. The county was then still a forest with only small clearings and the vil- lage surrounded by large timber and trees where the wind had little chance to spread the flames, and so a fire was easily limited to the place where it originated.
Of course if a building caught fire it was doomed and little or nothing could be done to save it, as, for instance, when the United States Hotel burned in 1863, the flames spread so quickly that the lessee, S. Kronen- wetter, lost all his belongings, saving nothing but his life and his family. But as the village grew and houses began to grow up near to each other one burning building would set fire to the next, thereby increasing the danger as when in 1869 one building caught fire on Washington street and spread and destroyed three others and partially a fourth. This was an object lesson to teach the necessity of an equipment to fight fire. Wausau Fire Company No. I was organized working a hand engine, as mentioned in a former chapter. Later in 1880 a steam engine was purchased and a team of horses kept to run the engine out at an alarm, but a voluntary company still existed
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HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY
until 1885, when the waterworks were finished which were calculated to and did furnish water under pressure to put out fire, and a voluntary hose com- pany was organized to work at fires. This hose company served for several years until a full paid fire department was established in 1893.
At the trial of the waterworks as to their power to throw water, the works forced ten I-inch streams high enough in the air over the tallest building in Wausau. The city engaged a few paid firemen who were in constant service at the fire station houses and a few half paid men whose duty it was to respond to every alarm. A chief of the fire department was appointed by the mayor, usually one who had served in the volunteer com- pany and was competent to take command over the paid and half paid fire- men at a fire. The chief was not required to be in attendance at the fire sta- tions except for practice, and his salary was merely nominal.
The several chiefs of the fire department under this arrangement were: D. L. Plumer, F. W. Kickbusch, August Lemke, J. C. Gebhard, and L. Bellis. In 1893 the fire department was fully organized with the chief staying at the station like other firemen. The first station house was the present fire sta- tion No. I on South Third street, and at about the same time fire station No. 2 was established on Second avenue.
Until the year 1908 there were these two station houses with the follow- ing number of men and equipment, to wit:
The chief of the fire department and eleven firemen and three volunteers who received $10 per month each. The volunteers attended practices and responded to a fire alarm, but were not stationed at the station house; the equipment consisted of one Ahrend fire engine, three hose wagons, one hook and ladder truck, all. necessary hose, buckets, and fire extinguishers and seven horses.
The chiefs since the full quota of paid firemen were engaged were: Wil- liam Waterhouse, from 1893 to 1895; J. Adams, from 1895 to 1897; Henry Lemke, from 1897 to 1899; Henry G. Miller, from 1899 to 1909; F. F. Ziels- dorf, from 1909 to the present time.
The present department was greatly enlarged after 1908. Two more station houses were built about 1909 and fully equipped in the year follow- ing, and the present department (1912-13) consists of the chief and twenty- one paid firemen, and one part paid man with the following personnel and titles :
Chief, Frank F. Zielsdorf.
First assistant chief, Terrence Doonen, station No. I.
Second assistant chief, Bernhard Krueger, station No. 2.
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Captain, R. D. Sawyer, station No. 3.
Captain, J. L. Staege, station No. 4.
Captain of hook and ladder company, William Ziebell, station No. I.
Equipment .- Thirteen horses, three combination hose and chemical wagons, one hose cart, one hook and ladder truck, two steam fire engines, one chief's horse and buggy.
THE POLICE DEPARTMENT
consists of the following: Thomas 'Malone, chief; John Fehl, Jr., captain ; James Kennedy, sergeant ; and eight uniformed police or patrolmen and one plain clothes man.
The members of the police and fire commission are : W. C. Dickens, presi- dent ; G. D. Jones, P. J. Werle, Charles A. Barwig, C. B. Mayer.
CHAPTER XX.
The Pioneer Schools-Common Schools and High Schools up to 1912- Wausau Business College.
The first settlement was undoubtedly made at Wausau in 1839-40, but then ten years passed away, before we hear the word "school" mentioned, or find any traces of provisions for schools made, which is not surprising, however. There were no children here for years, at least not of school age. Pioneers, as a rule, are either unmarried or travel alone in the wilderness, leaving their families behind in a civilized community. The pinery pioneers were no exception from that rule.
The first settler, George Stevens, never brought his family up here. Of all the first millowners J. L. Moore and Hiram Pearson seemed to be the only ones who were married in the early forties. J. L. Moore's wife gave birth to the first white child born in the winter of 1845-46. When J. Le Messurier came here in 1845 with his family, the whole female contingent at Big Bull Falls consisted of Mrs. J. L. Moore, Mrs. Hiram Pearson, Mrs. Baxter, and was strengthened by the arrival of Mrs. Le Messurier and Mrs. Brezette, but Le Messurier, who had a family of wife and three daughters, after a short stay moved up on Pine river for some time, where his two old- est daughters were married, one to Isaac Coulthurst and one to Thomas Grundy, and after his return to Wausau the youngest one married Ely R. Chase, a Wausau lawyer, who died lately in California.
It has been told how Miss Crown was given a party by the ladies of Wausau after her arrival here in 1852, and that in counting the number of ladies, there were eleven in all, Miss Crown included, and two of them were still unmarried.
There is a tradition that a private school was taught here as early as 1849 by a Miss Livingston, afterwards Mrs. William Fellows of Mosinee, but that evidently is based on error, so far as time is concerned. It does not seem probable that any child of school age, say older than six years, was here at that time, and less probable that a private teacher was engaged for tuition. This view is borne out by the fact that in the first public school
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here in 1854 the existence of which is established by at least two of the pupils living here, only six or seven were enrolled.
There was then and for years afterwards no school building and the school was held in rented places, the first one in a little building east of the Stewart Lumber Company office on Jackson street, in all probability in the little building built for a county office by T. Hinton, next in a vacant tailor shop on Jackson street near the southeast corner of Jackson and Second streets, a little later the store or warehouse of Lyman on Forest street was used, where also the Presbyterian church services were held, the other part of the building being occupied by Silas B. Stoddard. Another building used for school purposes in the later fifties or up to 1860 was a small two-story building on the corner of Second and Washington street where the Widmer Business College now stands. Dr. Harriet Wylie, wife of Dr. D. B. Wylie, was teaching there one term at least, Bert Gowan being. one of the pupils. The front room was used for the school, the back room was a carpenter shop, and the family of the owner, a Gudsole, lived on the second floor. This building burned down.
Later the second floor of the millwright shop of M. D. Corey south of the Courthouse square was used and at one time there was also a school in a small house or shanty on the west bank of the river on what is now Har- rison boulevard, the building facing Forest street. All these were rented places, and as may be imagined, with little or no equipment.
There is also a tradition that the first public school was taught by a young man named Rouch in 1853. None of the present pioneers remember him, but a class was taught in 1854 by W. A. Gordon in the place mentioned as being probably the first county office building east of the A. Stewart Lum- ber Company office. The teacher, W. A. Gordon, was at the time studying with Dr. I. E. Thayer, who was the practicing physician here, preparing himself for entrance into a medical college and taking his collegiate course, returned and practiced as a full fledged physician at Wausau. Still later Gordon left for California, where he practiced as a specialist for eye, ear and throat afflictions. The pupils attending this school, evidently the first here, were Henry Mclaughlin, James Mitchell, Maria Tyler, Edward Nic- olls, John Youles, and a daughter of William Gouldsbury, now Mrs. W. W. DeVoe. The following year Lyman W. Thayer, a lawyer, father of E. B Thayer, taught school, law practice being unremunerative in those days; one of his pupils was William Slosson, chief engineer at the pumping station. Miss Slosson, afterwards Mrs. John Tuttle, seems to have been the first lady teacher, engaged at the munificent salary of $4.00 per week (and board).
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