USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, and early history of the Northwest > Part 31
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The next bank established was the Oshkosh Commercial Bank, in 1856; capital $50,000. Nelson Fletcher, President, and Henry Strong, Cashier. In November, 1858, Reeves & Roe succeeded Fletcher & Strong, and have continued to the present time. Thomas T. Reeves, President, and G. W. Roe, Cashier.
The Union National Bank was organized in 1871, with a capital of $100,000, with D. L. Libbey, President, and R. C. Russell, Cashier, and who still remain in those positions. After the great fire of 1875, the bank erected its present fine building, on the corner of Main and High streets, at a cost of $25,000.
CLOSE OF THE WAR.
In 1863, the draft and filling the quotas were the great events. Prices were still advancing, and all kinds of commodities at high figures.
The close of the war, in 1865, brought relief, and filled the country with renewed hopes. The return of a vast multitude of peo- ple to the vocations of peace, with the great
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
1865-71.]
expenditures of the government, which brought into circulation a large amount of money, stimulated business.
The extension of railroad lines opened up new sections of country to settlement; improvement and progress were the order of the day; new buildings went up in every direction in the city and country; farm pro- ducts commanded good prices, and all branches of industry were prosperous. £ Elegant resi- dences were erected in this city; business blocks were constructed, and Oshkosh was in the full tide of business prosperity.
THE NEW BRIDGE.
Among the improvements of 1865 was the new bridge, which replaced the old float bridge, which had done service since the year 1849. The draw is a Howe Truss, and is one hundred and fifty feet long. The whole bridge is six hundred and odd feet in length, and cost $21,100. The contractor was David McCartney. The engineer was Edward Sar- gent.
THE FIRE IN 1866.
In May, 1866, occurred another great fire. It commenced on the west side of Main Street. and swept the whole block, from High to Algoma Street, and, crossing to the east side, destroyed nearly the whole block from Wau- goo to Washington. It then crossed to the north side of Washington, and burnt all the buildings on that street from Main to Jefferson Avenue, including the postoffice and public hall.
This left a large burnt district in the center of the city, and was the second time this tract had been swept over by fire. The desolate appearance of the place, and the impending danger which continually threatened the city with destruction, were sufficient to dishearten the most courageous. But Oshkosh, with her characteristic energy and pluck, would not yield to any discouragements, and in a few months both sides of Main Street were rebuilt with a better class of buildings than those destroyed; the west side being exclusively of brick.
BOILER EXPLOSION.
In this year, February 24th, a sad calamity occurred. The boiler in the machine shop of J. F. Morse & Co. exploded, killing four men. It was a heart rending scene, when the lifeless remains were exhumed from the ruins, and the sobbing relations, frantic with grief, stood by in heart-broken expectancy.
THE NICHOLSON PAVEMENT.
The streets of Oshkosh, in rainy periods,
were in a most deplorable condition, and especially so in the spring, when the frost was coming out of the ground; for at that season the streets were sometimes almost impassable.
The necessity for improvement of the streets was imperative.
The building of the new bridge seems to mark an epoch in the advancement of this city in the line of public improvements; for it was followed by street improvements that have resulted in giving us as fine streets as can be found in any city in the State.
In the fall of 1866 the city contracted with William Sharp and Michael McCourt for the paving of Main Street with the Nicholson pavement. The work was done with dispatch and to the full satisfaction of the city, being completed and accepted early in December.
. HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING.
This fine structure was erected in 1857; a view of which is given in this work. When it was erected, it was the best High School building in the State, and cost over $40,000. Its size is eighty-five by seventy-one feet; and height from base to top of tower is one hun- dred and thirty-one feet. The first story is sixteen feet high, and is divided up into school and recitation rooms; the former thirty- four by forty-four each. The building is admirably constructed throughout, and is an institution in which our citizens take a just pride.
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
This fine structure was erected in 1871. £ It occupies a beautiful site on Algoma Street, and is an architectural ornament to the city. The opening exercises took place September 15th, 1871, under the supervision of President Albee and an efficient corps of assistants.
A large addition was constructed in 1877, increasing the capacity of the school about fifty per cent.
MILWAUKEE & ST. PAUL RAILROAD.
The next great event in the history of Osh- kosh was the completion of the Oshkosh & Mississippi Railroad, to Ripon, in 1871. The road was then leased to the Milwaukee & St. Paul Company, which immediately put on the rolling stock, and thus extended its lines to Oshkosh. The first regular passenger train from Milwaukee reached Oshkosh December 14, 1871.
The splendid bridge of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad was also constructed the same year, and is about 600 feet in length. This makes three fine, massive bridges crossing the river. A fourth bridge for wagons and foot-
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
[1869-74.
passengers across the river from Light to Ore- gon St;eet is now being built at a cost of $27,000.
STREET IMPROVEMENTS.
Shortly after the laying of the Nicholson pavement, on Main Street, the question of improving the other thoroughfares of the city began to be agitated. The result was an experiment on Algoma Street of putting on twelve inches of gravel, which was found to make an excellent and enduring road. The plan was then adopted of graveling streets, at the expense of the adjoining property; and several of the main thoroughfares were grav- eled to the depth of twelve inches. This sys- tem of improving the streets was followed up, until the present time, at which there are some thirty odd miles of graveled streets in this city, with a smooth hard surface, and always in excellent condition. These streets, in their cleanly appearance, add much to the attractiveness of the city.
NORTHERN HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE.
This immense structure, which covers about three acres of land; is located about four miles from Oshkosh, on a delightful situation, on the lake shore. It was completed and accepted from the contractors on the 11th day of Janu- ary, 1875. The cost of construction was $495,484.80, and for land, out-buildings and furnishing, $129,765.20, making a total of $625,250.00. .
Additional appropriations have been made for enlargements, and new wings have been added. It is a mammoth pile of imposing architectural proportions, and admirably man- aged under the superintendence of Doctor Walter Kempster.
For view of this institution, and history, and statistics of same, see subsequent pages, per index.
GAS WORKS.
In 1869. Mr. J. B. Davis, constructed gas works, and laid mains through the principal streets, and on the 5th of December, of that year, gas was turned on, and the city lighted.
It will be seen from the foregoing that the city made rapid progress during the period from 1865 to '73, the date we have now reached in its history. During that time great changes and many improvements were made, many new mills and sash and door factories were erected, and other branches of manufacture were established. Hundreds of elegant resi- dences and massive business blocks were built. The High School and Normal School building, and several fine churches added to the archi-
tectural ornaments of the city. Two splendid bridges were built, Main street paved with the Nicholson, and between twenty and thirty miles of street graveled; the streets lighted with gas, and another railroad added to its lines of communication.
It was now in the full tide of prosperity, when a series of fire calamities commenced, which completely transformed the city. Probably no other place, except Chicago, was so completely changed in so short a period. The two great fires which occurred in 1874 and '75, and not a year apart, destroyed nearly the whole bus- iness portion ofthe city, and many entire streets of private residences.
CHAPTER XLIV.
The Great Conflagrations of 1874, and of April 28, 1875 - Destruction of the Business Portion of the City - Rebuild- ing of Oshkosh - Rebuilt Oshkosh - List of Structures Erected in 1875.
N May 9, 1874, a fire broke out in a litter pile of straw and manure adja- cent to a barn belonging to Spalding & Peck. The fire was discovered when the blaze first started, but before it was reached with water, it ignited the barn, and as a furious wind was blowing, the flames rapidly spread to lumber piles and adjacent dwelling houses. It soon became uncontrolla- ble, and the sheet of flames swept everything before them. The fire crossed Warren Street, burning up the buildings on two entire blocks, then leaped across Pearl Street, sweeping everything comubustable in its track. Then crossed High Street, to Algoma Street, where its further progress was arrested. Thirty odd structures were consumed in the conflagration, and the loss was estimated at $45,000. Insur- ance on the same, $32,900. It was followed by the great fire of July 14, in the same year, (1874). This fire broke out in a stable in the rear of McCabe's Block, on upper Main street, and laid waste all the compactly built portion of Main street above the Beckwith House, and all of North Division street. From there it spread, burning nearly every building in its course for a distance of more than a mile from the point of its origin. Several persons were so overcome with the intense heat and their exertions to save life and property, that they were carried nearly lifeless from the scene. One of the saddest occurrences during this fire. was the death of William P. Taylor, City Treasurer, who was internally injured by his
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
1875.]
efforts to assist a crippled woman to save her property.
Oshkosh, with her usual energy, built up the entire portion of Main street that was burned, before the winter set in, and about half of the residences. During this year, 1874, some seven hundred structures were erected in various parts of the city, and it was demonstrated that although fires might burn up Oshkosh, they could not paralyze her energies or courage, nor check her rapid growth, which continues with undiminished vigor in the face of the greatest discouragements. She now set herself to work resolutely to meet her old enemy with oppos- ing forces, and fire-proof structures took the ' place of the combustible wooden buildings that had so long menaced the safety of the city and invited the devouring elements. All the con- pactly-built portion of upper Main street was rebuilt, during the same year of the fire, with fire-proof buildings. The progress that Osh- kosh made in building during that year sur- passed anything of the kind that ever occurred before in the history of cities. Over 700 struct- ures were erected in one summer in a city of a population of 17,000.
But she was destined to distinguish her capacity on a still grander scale; for the next year was to witness the complete transforma- tion of the city by the destruction and rebuild- ing of its chief business centre. This was the
GREATEST OF THE GREAT FIRES.
It was a turning point in her history, and is undoubtedly the concluding chapter of her great fire calamities - for the new Oshkosh is built on a foundation of safety. The old wooden buildings have disappeared, and her business center is now exclusively brick and stone, with metal roofs.
The following description of the great con- flagration of April 28, 1875, is from the Osh- kosh Northwestern, written by C. W, Bowron, city editor:
THE BEGINNING.
It was about one o'clock P. M., and while the wind had reached its greatest fury, that the startling whistles screamed out the alarm of fire all along the line of mills and steam factor- ies. It was a fearful day, and ten thousand souls started in wild excitement as they heard those first pcals of the alarm whistles, and well they might. The deep volume of smoke, thick and black, that rolled up from Morgan's mill, showed too plainly what danger might be expected. Hardly had the great crowd gath- ered from all directions, when the spreading flames werc already coiling and winding around the huge lumber piles that lay adjoining the
mill. The wind was too strong, and the vol- ume of flame too sudden for effective opera- tion on the part of anybody. Great chunks of burning cinders came floating over into the lumber piles more adjacent to Main street, and they quickly caught. A fierce fight was waged among these piles; but the cinders became too numerous, and the ignitions too frequent to be baffled. The wind was blowing from the south- west. On came the rushing tide of flame, more furious than the descending floods of Mill River. The steamers seemed powerless to check such a fearless adversary. No sooner could they get set at work than the enemy. would charge with bayonets of fire, and drive them from their work.
It soon became apparent that it would sweep everything before it, and the merchants on Main street began to more seriously con- sider the situation. In less than twenty min- utes the fire had swept from Morgan's mill to the Milwaukee & St. Paul depot and freight house, and they were swept away like leaves in a blast furnace. The fire ripped through the planing, sash and blind mill of Lines, Lib- bey & Co., leaped to the sash, door and blind factory of Geo. Williamson & Co., taking the mill and yard of James & Stille in its course, and swept down to the planing mills of Bell & Rogers aud Ben Henze, on Market street. In the meantime it had veered to the northward, up Light street to High, taking the North- western House and the large frame buildings opposite. The grocery store of W. H. Ballou, corner of High and Light streets, caught fire, and the flames swept along eastward, demol- ishing the handsome brick residence of J. C. Spalding, corner of High and Bond streets.
THE FIRE REACHES MAIN STREET.
Thompson & Sprague's livery stable finally caught fire, and being a large wooden structure filled with hay and combustible matter, served to scatter fires all over the buildings on the west side of Main street. The first point of contact on Main street was in Wright's wooden block, next to S. M. Hay's brick building, and directly to leeward of the livery stable. From this building the flames traveled with terrible swiftness in each direction, burning up tow- ards the Northwestern office on the north, and spreading to the row of wooden buildings south from Hay & Bro's. store.
THE SIGHT ON MAIN STREET.
When the flames swept over Main street, the sight on that and on adjoining streets beg- gars descprition. For a time those having stores and business places along Main street, had great hopes that the fire would bear to the
152
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
[1875.
river, and would be kept from crossing Divis- ion street. When at length there was no doubt upon that point there was no time to be lost. Everything was in the wildest confusion. There was running to and fro in not haste. Teams were eagerly sought for, empty vehicles were ravenously seized, and the sacking of those beautiful stores, and the piling of goods pro- miscuously into wagons, carts or any available conveyance, commenced in good earnest. The clerks in R. L. Bigger's had the omnibuses employed in removing their goods, and every available truck was employed by the dry goods interests in that vicinity, to remove their goods to a place of safety. But, in spite of their untir- ing efforts, the dry goods men suffered large losses. The smoke became blinding, and the strife along Main street was terrible. Unbridled horses let loose from the livery stables, came dashing through the crowded streets; running teams came tearing by, while the yelling from man to man became perfectly terrifying. It was a wild scene which pen cannot picture.
MAIN STREET NORTH OF HIGH.
The part of Main street north of High street was attacked in a different direction, and from an entire different source than that south of High Street. The doom of the Postoffice was what settled the fate of that part of the street. From the Postoffice the fire quickly crossed to the rear of the fine brick rows between High and Algoma, consigning them to the general ruin. The rear end of the Beckwith House caught from the burning of Mrs. Bailey's build- ing, corner of Algoma and Division streets, and this, together with the Cottrill Block next to it, were totally destroyed, the walls falling with a terrible crash. The upper story of Cot- trill's block was used as a lodge room by the Good Templar lodge of this city, and by For- ward Grange, P. of H.
HARDING OPERA HOUSE.
With the destruction of the Beckwith House came the fall of the Harding Opera House. The fire first caught in the large windows of the Temple of Honor, and the wooden balcony which projected in front. It was sad to see this finest place of amusement in the city, and one which the citizens of Oshkosh had so long desired and so lately got, fall among the gen- eral ruin; but there was no water or any facil- ities to work with to save it, aud the heat from the tall brick buildings opposite was very intense. The Temple of Honor, which occu- pied the large front hall, saved everything but their billiard table.
THE LIMITS.
Curiously enough, the fire went northward
just far enough to meet the line of the burnt district of last July, as though the fates had decreed that none should go unscathed.
Boles' block marks the south limits of the fire on Main street on the west side. It was hard work to check it here, but the building being fire-proof, about fifty men with buckets, succeeded in saving it. Undoubtedly thesav- ing of this block was the means of saving the city offices, the Revere House and all that por- tion of Ceape street not burned.
EAST OF MAIN STREET.
The fire swept onward east of Main street as far as Bowen, taking everything in its path between Washington and Ceape streets, includ- ing the north side of Washington street for about two blocks, with all the beautiful and costly residences on that fashionable thorough- fare.
The Presbyterian church on Jefferson Ave- nue, in the rear of Harding's Opera House, followed suit, and Dr. Barber's residence and those of Marshal Harris, Dr. Goc, W. B. Fel- ker, C. E. Weston and a score of others soon followed them.
The fire raged with tremendous fury down Otter street, spreading from the Adams House to the German Church, and swept through, laying everything waste with fearful rapidity, till it reached Court House street. The resi- dences of Dr. Wright and J. E. Kennedy were burned, and Wm. Hume, Henry Bailey, next east of the Court House, were also reduced to ashes. The fire kept on its furious raid unchecked until it reached Bowen street, wherc it turned northward, and on Waugoo street went a block beyond.
BIRD'S EYE VIEW.
A view of the great conflagration from the top of a tall building, presented a sublime, yet an awful picture. Standing to the north- ward of the fire, on Main street, the scene was grand in the extreme. The whole area of the burnt district was burning at the same time. The buildings west of Main street had not yet burned down, while the flames had already spread far to the castward, and the whole sur- face of the scene was one lurid glare of writh- ing, twisting, mocking flames. To the west, the farther buildings were mostly gone, while the tall walls along Main stood for a moment tottering and swaying, then fell with terrible roar and crash. Far to the eastward, the house tops seemed but the play ground of a thousand dancing demons reveling in the dire destruct- ion of the hour. The steeple of the German church on Otter street, and the dome of the Adams House shone up amidst the blackness
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
1875.]
of the upper smoke, glowing in columns of solid crimson, like the faint flickering of the setting sun through a dark storm-cloud.
Small dwellings afar to the eastward, looked ike so many bon-fires in some exciting cele- ration, while men, women and children, away lown beneath, looked like pigmies in frantic gesture, hastening to and fro. The scene was wild, awful, grand. Chaos ruled monarch of he hour, and man was dumb with awe.
AFTER THE BATTLE.
Night came on, and as darkness stole grad- ally upon the footsteps of the retreating sun, he scene was changed. Excitement and anx- ous fear gave way to quiet despair and resig- ation. Tired humanity, relaxed and weary, began to seek a rest and refuge from the toils und fatigues of that awful day. Woe-begone nd half discouraged, the outcast and the homeless began to gather their little store bout them and seek a shelter from the raw night air. Where the hundreds went to, and where they found a roof to shelter them, is a nystery. Even before the fire, house room vas scarce, butnow it seemed almost an impos- ibility to find it. But the unpleasantness of he circumstances was relieved, in a measure, y the kindness and sympathy of those who vere among the more fortunate. All who had corner of room freely offered it to the ufferers.
VIEW BY NIGHT.
The view of the city by night from a dis- ance was picturesque. The night itself was earfully dark, and the red reflection from the 'uins lit up the hazy atmosphere with a soft adiance, making a most beautiful sight. The hin smoke curling up from the heated nass of brick and mortar, looked like incense burning upon some mighty altar. The long ine of light, half vivid, and half smothered n the darkness, gave a distinct outline of the burnt district. The tall, black buildings still emaining, loomed up in perfect outline upon he light beyond, like dark and solemn spec- res upon a moonlit sea. The ruin was over. Destruction had wrought its work, and the great day died like a Dolphin.
DEATH'S DOINGS.
One of the saddest things connected with ll the sad things of the great fire was the leath of Thomas J. Davis, who yielded up his life in heroic efforts to avert what proved in he end to be the greatest conflagration ve have ever seen. At the time the fire broke out, Mr. Davis, with another man, was load Ing lumber near the mill of Morgan & Bro.
Thinking of the chemical fire extinguisher, which was generally kept in the office, he has- tened to it, strapped it on his back, and mounted the high platform that fronted the mill. At this time Mr. Morgan was on the roof of the mill. The front doors of the mill hung like great flaps, being hinged at the top. Mr. Davis, with the help of his companion, succeeded in raising the door sufficiently to admit him and the extinguisher, and he disap- peared amidst the smoke within. Nothing was seen of him for several minutes, although the flames and smoke began to belch out of the doors and the gable-end of the mill above.
The door was raised and propped up with a stick, when out rushed the unfortunate man, the extinguisher gone from his back, panting, choking, writhing in the agonies of his terri- ble suffering. His clothes were almost wholly burned off, and his body under his arms horribly burned. His sufferings were awful to wit- ness. He could but barely tell those who crowded around him, that after getting into the mill the flames broke out in terrible volumes behind and all around him, and he was forced to run a horrid gauntlet of flame and fire. Before reaching the door he was obliged to leap through solid volumes of roaring flame. He was removed to Dr. Russell's office, and when it became evident that that, too, must burn, he was carried on a mattrass to his resi- dence. He was about unconscious when he reached there, and lingered until about half- past nine o'clock in the evening, when death put an end to his misery. Mr. Davis was a Welshman, about thirty-five years of age and an exemplary man in every particular. He left a wife and five children. A purse of over $300 was made up among the friends of the afflicted family.
Another death was that of Charles Dunn, an old man, who was crushed to death by the falling of the walls of the Harding Opera House. He was squeezed into jelly, his head being crushed into a shapeless mass of flesh and bones. His body was carried to String- ham's Elevator, where it was viewed by crowds of curious people.
THE BURNED DIRTRICT.
The burned district consists of a strip over a mile long and something over a quarter of a mile wide. Its boundaries may be briefly stated as follows: Starting from Morgan's Mill, on the river, it runs northeast to the cor- ner of Pearl and Light streets, thence north on Light to High Street; east on High to Bond; north on Bond to Algoma Street, thence north- easterly across the corner of Main and Algoma
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