USA > Wisconsin > Walworth County > History of Walworth county, Wisconsin, Volume I > Part 22
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Among the earlier business men were James Aram. W. Wallace Brad- ley, Col. Caleb and Edwin Croswell, Nicholas M. Harrington. Joseph D. Monell, Jr., George Passage, AAaron H. Taggart, Thomas Topping and Heze- kiah Wells. Rev. Henry Topping came in 1839 to Darien and was induced to settle at Delavan in 1841, in which year came also Dr. Henderson Hunt.
No village can exist permanently without a blacksmith. In 1840 Alonzo McGraw came thus to confirm the site of the coming city. W. Willard Isham came in 1845 as a wagonsmith, and with Charles H. Sturtevant as wheelwright and partner, important trade was soon brought to Delavan. As the village and neighboring farm lands were settled men came in from their fields and resumed the mechanical or commercial occupations to which they had been bred but which they had dropped awhile. One intimately ac- quainted with men of the first half-century of the county would find many farmers who had been bred to village occupations, and a few who had seen human life far more broadly
The grist-mill, built in 1839, passed successively, with continuous im- provement. to the Croswells, the Mabies (who rebuilt it in 1853), and to Amos Phelps. The Delavan flour was of the best in the county markets. When wheat was no longer raised in or near the county it was and is yet im- ported by rail for local grinding.
William Phoenix built his house in 1837 and made it serve for a short time as a hotel. This was on the bank of the outlet. at the upper end of Terrace street. Within two or three years he built again, for hotel purpose only, near the lower end of Walworth avenue, and sold or leased the prem-
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ises in 1841 to Israel Stowell. In 1843 Ezekiel Tripp took the house for a short term. He also sold rights to make or use a patented substitute for tallow candles or candlesticks, by which some of his customers burned their fingers badly. Philetus S. Carver followed him, but, becoming sheriff, he made way in 1845 for one Harkness, from Darien, who in some way ob- tained a license to sell the strong drink which the Phoenixes had sought to keep out of Delavan forever. Charles H. Sturtevant built his bar-room fixtures and was severely censured by his fellow members of the temperance society for so aiding and abetting the introduction of an abomination. Henry H. Phoenix and a Mr. Babcock had each a short period as landlord.
In 1846 Horace Duryee, a shoemaker, built a new house, long known as the Delavan House, or "white hotel." His capital was said to have been "a black sheepskin and a side of sole-leather." He let his house to Ward Mallory, who kept a well-ordered hotel for the next six years. Then came Hagaman & Southworth, followed by Mr. Eaton. In 1860 Chester W. Phillips became owner and landlord. In 1863 he extended it and raised it to three stories, and leased it to Mr. Hobbs, after whom came Greenleaf W. Collins. Edwin M. Strow bought the house in 1860 and occupied it till his death, May 20, 1893. Mrs. Strow continued its business until the great fire of that year removed an old landmark.
Franklin K. Phoenix built a brick hotel, of three stories, in 1848. His first tenant was William Hoyt, who presently made way for Stowell & Jones, but returned, to be succeeded by Milo Kelsey, whose tenure was soon ended by his death. Mrs. Sarah A. Phoenix then conducted the business until relieved by Ralph Lathrop, in whose time the house fell into some local disfavor. It was closed for a short time as a hotel and opened as a private academy. Dates and, perhaps, names are wanting within this and a later period of quickly following change. Daniel Ostrom kept the house in 1859 and 1860, if not one or more years later. In 1865 Ward Mallory bought. refitted, and occupied it until 1868, when he sold it to Elon Andrus, who came from Lake Geneva. This proprietorship may have continued for fifteen years and was followed by Benjamin Bassler, Greenleaf W. Collins, Mr. Erchinbeck, Mr. Longley, Mrs. Strow, and possibly others. in uncertain order. About 1909 this ancient hostelry was converted to other uses, never again, it is probable. to supply solid comfort and liquid delight to either traveler or citizen.
On the blackened site of the Delavan House arose in 1894 the Hotel Delavan, built and equipped in one of the styles of that year for Wisconsin cities of the fourth class-that is, outwardly high and not unsightly and com-
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fortable and convenient in modern ways within. Clarence W. Bartram built the new house and kept it four or five years, when it passed to John B. De- laney, and thence severally to William Bowman, of Racine, Mrs. Barrett and her sons, and lastly to William Bowers of Burlington.
The Mabie Brothers came to Delavan in 1850 and bought farm property as well as interests in the village. and thereafter wintered their menagerie, live stock-horses and wild beasts-near the lower end of the lake. Thus, this became the starting point of each season's tour of the states. As the Mabies raised and bought grain, turned out good flour and plenty of it, and made dates for show performances at home, the citizens of the village and its neighborhood were supplied at lowest market rates with these prime needs of Romans-"bread and circuses"-and the Caesars, had they reigned at Delavan. could not have done these things better. Other men, whose exper- ience had been gained in the service of the Mabies, or who were influenced by the example of their success, set out from time to time with traveling shows. for one or more seasons each. For twenty years the city and the circus were associated in the minds of severely-moral editors in the far northern counties, half of whom mispelled the name of the "wickedest town in Wisconsin.". and none of whom dared to offend rich sinners living north of Winnebago lake. Delavan circus owners were reputable and useful citizens, and their inen. armed with tent stakes. could hold their own against the midnight assaults of gangs that thought no deed was so finely heroic as to "clean out" a circus. All that. for Delavan. has so long ago passed away that one now living must be well past middle age who last saw a Delavan circus.
Nicholas M. Harrington may have been in 1853 the first banker at Dela- van; but was not. as has been told, the first in the county. That distinction, such as it was, belonged to Mr. Richardson. who opened the Bank of Geneva in 1848. In his appreciative autobiography, Mr. Harrington mentioned with- otit wearisome dates or other useful details his various private and public utilities. Since he who knew the affairs of this bank, if bank it was, from the inside, has left its tale untold, it can be inferred here only that it was most likely useful to its patrons, and that it closed without great disaster to himself.
Railway prospects for Delavan brightened in 1854 and her liberal aid in village bonds and individual subscriptions made certain her early connection with all that part of the world which really moves. Business in real estate increased at once in anticipation of the first train arrival. and other businesses joined the forward march. The track layers stopped at Burlington for the winter of 1855-6, but resumed work before the frost was out of the ground. reaching the village about May. For a few months Delavan became a term-
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inal station, with a rough shed for engine shelter, while the work was pushed forward, reaching Beloit in that year. Early in the same hopeful year the Walworth County Bank was organized, with William C. Allen as president and William W. Dinsmore as cashier. It was then, or a little later, owned mostly by W. Augustus Ray and Henry M. Ray, his father. In 1865 the First National Bank grew out of the older bank, with Otho Bell as president and W. Augustus Ray as cashier. Its other principal incorporators were Will- iam C. Allen, Alanson H. and D. Bennett Barnes, Ira Ford. Sarah P. Kel- sey, Ebenezer Latimer, Jeremiah Mabie, Lafayette Pitkin, Henry M. Ray, Charles Thaddeus Smith. Warren W. Sturtevant, Alfred D. and Salmon Thomas. In 1880 this bank closed and was succeeded by the banking house of E. Latimer & Company, with A. Hastings Kendrick as cashier. Mr. Lati- mer died in 1910, but the bank retained his name until 1911, when it became the Wisconsin State Bank. Its capital is $30,000, its deposits about $400,000. Mr. Kendrick is now president and Charles H. Shulz is cashier.
The Citizens Bank of Delavan began business in March. 1875. with Frank Leland as president and Charles B. Tallman as cashier. The leading stock- holders were Otho Bell. James H. Camp. George Cotton, John DeWolf, Jamin H. Goodrich, W. Willard Isham, T. Perry James, Henry G. Reichwald, and Charles S. Teeple. At present its capital is $50,000. its deposits about $600,000. Both these banks are now in buildings designed for their purpose. handsome and substantial without, businesslike and suitable within. Both banks have passed the perils of infancy, and may be regarded as institutions -things that do not pass away.
Men of Delavan early enough saw the importance to their village of local manufacturing, and good workmen found no want of encouragement even if their capital was but small. Wagon shops, planing mill. foundry. pump-works, tack factory, shoe factory were among many undertakings which, each in its turn, was forced, sooner or later, to yield to conditions imposed by the newer system of factory production that has so effectually forced apart the local manufacturer and his home customer. Mr. Isham be- gan in 1845 a shop for blacksmith and general woodwork which soon became a prosperous wagon and carriage shop. With changing partnerships and readjustments of the business he persevered for about a quarter century, and then went into other business.
The pump and windmill works began in 1861. owned by Trumbull D. Thomas, followed by a long list of firms and single owners, the best remem- bered of whom were Patrick Gormley and Oliver G. Stowell. This enterprise continued for twenty or thirty years to make Delavan known far and wide
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by its works. The tack factory, not owned by Delavan men, occupied the pump-shop building for a few years and then its machinery and business were taken elsewhere.
Men of Chicago came in 1903 with the Globe Knitting Works. The late W. W. Bradley's successors became managers in 1905. having formed a company of stockholders, with an investment of $300.000. The works have been greatly extended and improved. Their production is mostly "sweaters" of high quality and in many styles and colors. About three hundred persons are employed steadily, mostly drawn from Delavan and its vicinity. The effect of such an enterprise on the general prosperity of the city is noticeable. The present officers of the company are John J. Phoenix, president : William B. Tyrrell, vice-president ; Ithel B. Davies, treasurer ; William H. Tyrrell. treasurer.
THE PRESS.
The newspapers of Delavan began in 1852 with the W'akoorth County Journal, by John C. Bunner, with help from open-handed citizens. In 1855 the way was clear for Joseph Baker and William M. Doty, with the Delavan Messenger, and with liberal help, for the village needed and would have a local newspaper. In 1857 Mr. Baker and James W. Lawton re-named the paper Delavan Northron, a name indicating the political sentiment of editors and patrons. Henry L. Devereux, an old-time printer, bought Mr. Baker's in- terest and soon sold it to Mr. Lawton, who changed the name in 1862 to Dela- van Republican. E. G. Wheeler put forth the Patriot in 1861. but it was soon merged, name and all, in the older concern, which for two or three years joined the two named and then became again the Republican. Messrs. N. D. Wright and Andrew J. Woodbury bought the office at Mr. Lawton's death, in 1871. and a few months later Mr. Wright was sole owner. He was an excellent printer and competent editor. In 1874 he removed to Rockford and the new owners placed Frank Leland temporarily in editorship. He retired in April. 1875. and George B. Tallman appeared as editor and printer. The owners, then, or soon thereafter, were Charles B. and George B. Tall- man. D). Bennett Barnes and Cyrus Williams. Another change left the Tall- mans in full control.
George B. Tallman's local editorship had a half-reckless, off-hand, good- humored quality, unmatched elsewhere in the county, and his paper was very readable whenever his press happened to stand nearly level and the ink to be evenly distributed : for he was no pressman, though he was a rapid type-setter. Weekly, throughout the years. he would stand upright at his case. without
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written copy, talking. laughing, whistling, and set up a column of "local items" -crisp, racy, slangy-increasing in length from a half-line to four or five lines.
Wilbur G. Weeks, a better printer and more careful editor than Tall- man, bought the office in 1881, improved its equipment and its business, and made the Republican good property. He sold it in 1908 to A. S. Hearn of Dodgeville, from whom it passed in October. 1909. to Maurice Morrissey, with L. F. Malany as business manager.
In 1859 G. W. D. Andrews, then on an informal furlough from service in the regular army, came to stay the rising tide of Republicanism by printing a few numbers of the Walworth County Sovereign. This paper's short career was ended by fire, and its portly editor was afterwards arrested as a deserter.
A boy of Darien, Frank P. Howard, aged about sixteen, owner of a make-shift press and as much half-worn type as he could lift easily, came this way in 1898 to publish the Delavan Tribune. The boy had natural aptitudes which more judiciously guided and encouraged might have made him a useful man. To begin as master of a calling of which he had learned no part was to set out by a short but rugged road to failure. But the poor boy had done something to make a second paper at Delavan, and his foolish ven- ture led to something better. He died early.
The Delavan Enterprise began in 1878 under ownership of competent printers and with vigorous editorship, namely, that of Clarence R. and Edgar W. Conable, of an old county family. Though a Republican paper, the Enterprise, in 1882, joined the rebellion against Charles G. Williams, who was in that year defeated at the congressional election. Hiram T. Sharp. a lawyer and a gentleman, became owner and editor in 1884. He was not a printer, nor had he been trained to editorship. He could only make the En- terprise clean and decent, like himself, and keep it so. He sold it in 1893 to Grant D. Harrington (son of an old and worthy citizen of Delavan). who became its editor for the next five years. David B. Harrington, an uncle. who was a printer and an old-time editor, sometimes contributed to campaign discussion and showed younger men what editorship was of yore. The younger Harrington has since said that he can not "point with pride" to anything in his editorial career. No becomingly modest man wastes time in pointing backward in his own rough road to the stars. Grant D. Harrington has yet to disappoint the reasonable hopes of his friends in any of his undertakings Ile was well equipped for every duty of a village newspaper office and he restored the Enterprise to life and usefulness, made it truly a second paper at Delavan, and sold it in 1808 to Frank M. Stevens. E. J. Scott bought it
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in 1900, but sold again to Stevens in 1901. In 1902 William AA. Dean took possession and the next year William T. Passage, son of the pioneer merchant, became a partner and in 1908 sole owner. Judging from outward appear- ances, the progress of the Enterprise since 1893 has been steadily forward. Both offices at Delavan are equipped with power presses and the Republican is linotyped.
L. and Milton A. Brown, father and son, were successful horse-breeders and decent men, but were not of the stuff of which editors or printers are commonly made. They must have believed that Mr. Cleveland was about to be re-elected to the presidency, for they began their apprenticchood very early in 1888 by publishing, January 7th, the first number of a second Wakvorth County Democrat. This paper was edited and printed, though few or none can now tell how, for something like a year : but the result of the election did not encourage further amateur effort in organ-making In all this, however, was one then very young man's opportunity, and the evolution of a real editor began in the person of William T. Passage.
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
Seventeen men and women formed a Baptist society September 21, 1839. with Rev. Henry Topping as pastor, and in 1841 a church was built of wood, at cost of about one thousand five hundred dollars, thirty-six by fifty feet on the ground, with seats for two hundred persons. This was on a lot given by the Phoenix proprietors, and this desirable site, fronting the west side of the park is still occupied by the society. A brick church was built in 1854 with one-third more floor space at cost of four thousand dollars. This society, for long the largest of its denomination in the state, and yet the lead- ing one in the county, built its third church in 1880, seventy by one hundred and twenty-eight feet on the ground. After Mr. Topping, the pastors have been John H. Dudley 1844. Mead Bailey 1850, Newell Boughton 1853. Albert Sheldon 1854. Jeremiah D. Cole 1858, John Williams 1860, David Burbank 1862, Ethan B. Palmer 1864, Joseph E. Johnson 1865, Charles T. Roe 1868, David E. Halteman 1860. Charles A. Hobbs 1884, Wiliam R. Yard 1909. The long pastorates of Messrs. Halteman and Hobbs had a parallel in another church fronting the same park.
St. Andrew's parish was formed by assembling the somewhat widely dispersed families of Delavan and adjoining towns in 1851. In 1853 a little chapel was built at Fourth and Matthew streets, and the Rev. Fathers Con- way. Francis Prendergast and P. J. Mallon were successively sent for this
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pioneer work. About 1859 Father George H. Brennan came as a resident priest, followed by T. A. Smith in 1861, Henry J. Roche 1863, Lawrence N. Kenney 1864, Jacob Morris 1866, Richard Dumphy 1869, J. Eugene Allen 1878, Michael J. Taugher 1881, Joseph G. Smith 1886. John Buckley 1909, Father Allen was the last who drove through sunshine, cloud, mud and un- beaten snow to minister to the mission parish of St. Patrick's, at Elkhorn. While lot values were relatively quite low the parish bought at Walworth avenue and Seventh street, and in 1895 one of the finest churches in the county was dedicated. A well-chosen cemetery lot was acquired at an early opportunity, and many of the dead of Elkhorn and other towns were buried there. This ground joins Spring Grove cemetery, with no barrier between. The present valuation of all the parish property, which includes a fine house for the priest, is about seventy-five thousand dollars. The parish is in ex- cellent condition for its work.
The Congregational society dates its beginning July, 1841, with ten members. A little church was built at the north side of Maple Park in 1844, with an outlay of one thousand dollars-then a large sum for an unselfish purpose. A new church, with brick walls, forty-two by seventy-five feet, was built in 1856 at cost of five thousand dollars. This has since been extended, modernized and improved. Rev. Amnon Gaston began his triple service. here, at Elkhorn, and at Sugar Creek in 1841. After him came Frederick H. Pitkin 1845, Lucius Foote 1847 ( 1798-1887), Joseph Collie 1854. William E. Davidson 1896, Sedgwick Porter Wilder 1898 ( 1847-1905), Howard W. Kellogg 1905. Thistle A. Williams 1909. Mr. Collie's long service is note- worthy.
Christ Church parish was formed in July, 1844, with Nehemiah Barlow and Hezekiah Wells as wardens, Caleb Croswell, B. J. Newberry, Joseph Rector, Dr. Shepard Sherwood, Salmon Thomas as vestrymen. A small house at the south side of the park answered the passing need until 1877. when work began anew on the parish lot at Walworth avenue and Fifth street. In 1879 this building was dedicated and has since been extended and improved and a rectory added, making the total estate worth about twenty- five thousand dollars. The line of rectors began with Rev. Stephen McHugh 1844, who was called to Madison in 1845 and returned in 1849-the interim filled by Rev. Mr. Bartlett. Then came Gerrit E. Peters 1852. Joseph Adderly, Joseph 11. Nichols, Albert Scott Nicholson 1861, Gardiner M. Skinner 1862. George W. Dean 1865, Fortune C. Brown 1870, Edward R. Sweetland 1876, Joel Clark 1879. Charles Holmes 1880. Charles L. Mallory 1891, James B. Mccullough 1901, Edward S. Barkdull 1902, John White 1906, Mark H. Milne 1910.
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Troy circuit, Methodist Episcopal, was formed in I841 and included Eagle, Troy. Lagrange, Sugar Creek. Darien and Delavan. Except Rev. Messrs. Leonard F. Moulthrop and Henry Whitehead, named in 1841, and Hiram Allen in 1845-6, the workers in this then difficult field, for the first ten years, are not indicated by the record of credentials filed at the office of the clerk of the circuit court, though there were probably others than these three. Reuben Richardson Wood ( 1819-1906), ordained in 1842, came to Delavan as resident pastor in 1850, doubtless with assignment to duty at Darien. In 1853 Enos Stevens and J. H. Hopeton supplied a short vacancy filled in that year by Elisha Page, after whom John Tibbals 1854, Iliram Il. Hersey (1812-1884) in 1856. Thomas White 1858, Russell P. Lawton 1859. Cyrus Scammon 1860. James B. Cooper 1801, A. C. Manwell 1803. G. W. Delamatyr 1867. Reuben B. Curtis 1869. Stephen Smith 1870, Edward S. McChesney 1871. Alonzo Mansfield Bullock 1872. A. C. Higgins 1874, Olin Curtis 1875. Henry Faville 1876. Edward G. Updike 1878. John Scott Davis 1881. William B. Robinson 1883. Samuel C. Thomas ( 1810-1894) in 1884. William H. Summers 1886, Frederick C. Brayton 1888. George Verity 1889 (died ), Walter D. Cole 1890. Jeremiah H. Hicks 1893. Stephen A. Olin 1894. Richard K. Manaton 1898. George Vater 1900, Andrew Porter 1902. Sidney A. Sheard 1903, George M. White 1904. Rodman W. Bosworth 1906, William Hooton 1909. Messrs. Wood, Faville, and Updike passed to the Congrega- tional pulpit-the last-named in 1880.
EDUCATIONAL.
Dr. Joseph R. Bradway opened a private school in 1842 and taught until the house was burned in 1845. E. D. Barber continued this school in the Baptist church. A common school was opened in 1843 in Terrace street. A large and well-contoured lot was soon set apart for permanent use, and from 1852 forward the present public school house has been built by successive ad- ditions, until it has become a large and sightly building. fully equipped for its purpose. It faces Wisconsin street and the park and looks westward to- ward Main street. A little house had been built at the lower corner of the ground and is yet remembered as the "red school house." The earliest teach- ers were Milo Kelsey and Enoch 11. M. Bailey, as nearly as can now be learned. After them, and before the opening of the high school were Daniel B. Maxson, William Hutchins, and Mr. Baker about 1855. The larger and better order of things began with Augustus Jackman Cheney in 1858 and continued by Warren D. Parker 1861, Thomas Chrowder Chamberlain 1865. L. S.
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Sweezy 1867, R. W. Lang 1869, Melvin Grigsby about 1871, Elias Dewey 1873 to 1887. George L. Collie 1887, H. J. Bowell 1889, H. A. Adrian 1890, J. H. Hutchinson 1892, Charles W. Rittenberg 1893, Ithel B. Davies 1903, Henry A. Melcher 1906. There is some confusion of dates as to the service of Mr. Grigsby and Mr. Dewey. This school employs sixteen teachers.
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
It is not probable that Delavan was for sixty years wholly destitute of other than private libraries, though nothing is told of them previous to 1899. In that year the Delavan Library and Literary Association began the forma- tion of a public library for the use of which the trifling fee of one dollar yearly was imposed. James Aram, who died in 1897, bequeathed fifteen thou- sand dollars to be used in providing a suitable lot and building for a free library and to this added five thousand dollars as an endowment fund. This bequest was to become effective at the death of his wife, Mrs. Susan C. (Rood) Aram, which took place in 1905. She confirmed this legacy, and the city accepted it and assumed the duty of making it perpetually operative. Alexander H. Allyn added five thousand dollars to the library fund and the citizens con- tributed a like sum. A most desirable lot was chosen at Walworth avenue and Fourth street, and a building worthy of the city and the givers of the fund was dedicated July 8, 1908. Its cost was twenty-two thousand eight hundred dollars. It is of stone, pressed brick, and is tile-roofed. Its situ- ation, just without the business district, is conveniently central, and affords a minimum exposure to fires from adjacent property.
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