USA > Wisconsin > Racine County > Racine > Racine, belle city of the lakes, and Racine County, Wisconsin : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 40
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JAMES CAPE.
James Cape, occupying a prominent position in municipal organization as chief of the Racine fire department, was called to his office on the 1st of June. 1900, and his splendid qualifications for the position are seen in the fact that he has been for forty years in fire department service. He was born in New York city. January 3, 1855, a son of James and Elizabeth (Jones) Cape, both of whom were natives of Bristol, England, whence they came to the United States in 1853. The father was a shoemaker by trade and for about two years was employed in that way in New York city, after which he sought the oppor- tunities of the developing middle west, arriving in Raeine in 1857, after which he followed his trade here for a time. Still later he engaged in the contract- ing business, organizing the firm of Cape & Sons, but both he and his wife have now passed away.
James Cape, after attending the public sehools of Racine, first started in the Miller shoe factory, where he remained for twenty-five years. During that period he was a member of the call fire department and served as truck- man on the Racine team, on the 1st of July, 1882, he was advanced to the po- sition of captain of hook and ladder company No. 1 and on the 1st of May, 1894, was made assistant chief, in which position he continued for six years or until the 1st of June, 1900, at which time he was chosen chief of the fire depart- ment, and resigned his position in the shoe factory. He has thus been con- neeted with the service for forty years and during that period marked changes
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have been made. When he was called to the position of chief, sixteen years ago, there were only sixteen men in the service, and today there are forty- three. Formerly eight teams were in use and now only two, for nearly the entire department uses motors. The new central station has been built and three new engine houses during the administration of Chief Cape. His record is one of notable efficiency. It is to his credit that he has taken three hose wagons, the chief's car and a hook and ladder truck, put out a fire a mile dis- tant and returned in twelve minutes! Mr. Cape installed a system to inspect all factories, schools, churches and theatres, all stores and business places every three months, employing eight men to do that work, and since the sys- tem has been inaugurated there has been a big reduction in the number of fires. He believes at all times in prevention and preparedness and has so di- rected, guided and manipulated the work of the fire department as not only to greatly reduce losses but also to greatly reduce the possibility of fire. He has attended nearly all of the Fire Chiefs conventions, thereby keeping in touch with the most advanced, modern equipment and latest improvements in fire service. Today ninety-five per cent of the fire alarms come in by telephone.
On the 22nd of June, 1882, Mr. Cape was united in marriage to Miss Jane Eagan, of Waukesha, Wisconsin, by whom he had ten children, as follows: Henry, who is deceased ; JJames, who is in the service of the J. I. Case Thresh- ing Machine Company; Bessie, who is the wife of Paul Cook, of Racine, and has two daughters, Romaine and Frances, and a son, Engene; Carrie; Winifred, who married Ervin Dunham, of Racine, and has one child, Charles ; Lorretta, who is in a training school for nurses; Marie, a teacher by profes- sion ; Lulu, who is attending the State Normal School at Milwaukee, and Clar- ence and Charles, both of whom are high school students. The family attend St. Rose Catholic church and Mr. Cape is a member of the Benevolent Protec- tive Order of Elks. Politically he votes independently, considering the ca- pability of the candidate rather than his party ties. He is one of the well known citizens of Raeine today. having for fifty-nine years made his home in this city. Everywhere he is spoken of in terms of high regard and his fellow citizens feel a sense of gratitude toward him for the efficient work he has done in his publie connection. His is indeed a splendid record. He is always cool and ealm in periods of excitement, so that he is able to direct the efforts of the men to the best possible advantage, losing not a moment of time or making a false or inadequate move.
ALEXANDER A. FISK.
Alexander A. Fisk, in charge of the park system of Racine, is actuated in all of his work by broad humanitarian principles. It is not his object merely to develop a park system in Racine that will be a thing of beauty. He has the higher and broader purpose of making it as well a place of recreation to-meet the demands of the publie needs in this regard, knowing that ninety-five per cent of the people never have, in vacation periods, the opportunity to leave home. He is closely and thoroughly studying modern problems relative to
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the welfare of the individual and his ideas are at once practical and resultant. Mr. Fish is a native of Michigan, born February 14, 1877, his parents being Sydney and Rose (Aird) Fisk, natives of Canada, who, in the year 1877, came to the United States. The father was a shoemaker in early life, but on remov- ing to Michigan settled on a farm in Tuscola county, where he still resides, having long been identified with the agricultural interests of that locality.
Alexander A. Fisk obtained his education in the public and high schools of Caro, Michigan, and in the Michigan Agricultural College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1905. His entire life work has been along the line in which he is now engaged, his primary service and activities being initial steps toward this end. He was first employed by the D. M. Ferry Seed Com- pany in expert work for a year as a horticulturist and afterward spent two years in that connection in the employ of the Cuban government. Later he was for five years with the West Chicago park system, in charge of one of the largest parks, and in 1910 came to Racine to take charge of the parks of this city. The official reports show the splendid work that he has done. He has beautified the park system, which is today most attractive in its appearance, presenting broad spaces of green lawn, adorned with the art of the landscape gardener, with beautiful flowering shrubs and fine trees, presenting attractive vistas and enchanting sheltered retreats, but all this is. in his mind, subser- vient to the higher purpose of making the park a recreational center. He has given deep thought to human interest problems, the reasons for parks and what they can do for the city, where ninety-five per cent of the people must take their vacations at home. He builds parks for the people's use, building with the idea of utility and, basing his work upon the truth that true art never conflicts with utility, he therefore makes the place useful as well as orna- mental and he has been consulted by many who are making close study of the question of converting the parks into great public playgrounds. He believes that today the greatest recreation problem is that of bringing to the attention of the park commissioners of the country the necessity of developing their park areas more along recreational lines and in adopting this policy he does not have in mind the elimination of the landscape features nor any of the beauty which has marked park development in the past. In a communication to H. S. Braucher, of New York, secretary of the Playground & Recreation Association of America, Mr. Fisk said: "Some time during the last ten or fifteen years, Public Parks, as an institution, have undergone a very radical change so far as their functions are concerned. This is not altogether appre- eiated nor is it understood by a lot of people who are actively engaged in park work. They still maintain that the beautiful lawn, which is a beautiful thing to look upon, is quite the ideal. It very frequently happens that large lawns can be used for some form of recreational activity without in any sense mar- ring their beauty. Park systems can be so designed that all of their areas are used for recreational purposes of some sort or other and yet those structural features so prominent in the children's playground are so hid from view or screened in such a way that they do not stand out too prominent in the land- scape. All of these features have received from time to time a considerable amount of discussion, yet I feel that the normal growth of public recreation depends largely upon the uses to which park areas are dedicated. The park
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commissions of this country have in the past and will continue to have juris- dietion over the large open areas, developed and maintained by the munici- palities, and it is through work and co-operation with these park commissions that the purpose of the recreational movement can be best served. On many occasions I have discussed this problem with one of your field secretaries, Mr. L. H. Weir. He told me that he very frequently finds park commissions a very difficult body to work with, due to the fact that they have so many antiquated ideas concerning the proper uses of parks and their relation to the people. ete. I maintain that notwithstanding this condition of affairs, yet it still remains that the general public is quite educated to the idea of the park commissions acquiring certain lands for publie parks and playgrounds. There is more or less aversion to the creation of a new commission, sometimes called the recre- ation commission, working out the recreational problems alone. When such a commission is created, it becomes necessary for them to acquire certain tracts of land for playgrounds. Oftentimes the work of such a commission overlaps the work of another commission which has been doing work in the same city. I could without difficulty give you a large number of specifie in- stances where playgrounds have been duplicated within a few blocks of one another, leaving large areas in another section of the city unprovided for. There is another problem which has impressed itself upon my mind as I have gone from one city to another during the last ten years. There are only a few large cities in this country. It is true that they have done marvelous work in the recreational field. They have built elaborate playgrounds, and the field houses oftentimes which have been built on the playgrounds run up into thou- sands of dollars. All this work, of course, has been given wide publicity. Everyone in the country who is engaged in this line of work has in a general way become more or less familiar with the fine equipment that has been sup- plied through the various park commissions of these large cities. They have all availed themselves of the opportunity when afforded to visit these places so that they might get some idea for their own home city. While it may fur- nish them an example of what might be done had they the funds, yet I question whether there is a single suggestion that they may get and take home to their own city because of its elaborations. The great bulk of playground work of this country must take place within the confines of a city very much smaller than the half dozen or dozen cities which have been doing this work on such a large seale, and the appropriations of these smaller cities is so very small that they hesitate about attempting these problems even on a smaller scale because they seem to have the idea that this splendid equipment is necessary in order that they may do the work required. I think this contention is proven by the fact that you will find very few cities of from fifty to seventy-five thou- sand that have built field houses where winter activities are carried on. The necessity for winter work is just as great as for summer work, even more so, because they seem to have the ida that this splndid equipment is necessary in the summer time. People will, to a more or less extent, get out doors in the summer time and in some form or other if no other than walking get outdoor exercise. Then, too, in the winter time we find that it is possible and much easier to organize the community for social work. We built one of these field houses on our Lake View playground. It was an experiment, and I was at
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quite a loss to know exactly how to design such a building, the cost of which all told did not exceed seventy-five hundred dollars. This building has a gym- nasium forty by sixty-five feet, twelve shower baths, locker rooms, reading room, which can be used as a dining room, kitchen and comfort stations for both men and women. The place is heated with steam and we have a hot water plant for heating water for the shower baths. This entire equipment, to be exaet, cost seven thousand three hundred and twenty-four dollars and eighty-five cents. This figure comes within the reach of cities of approximately fifty thousand. They could even build two or three of these buildings. So the time will come, with the proper kind of a policy in vogue, when every section of the city will be well served. It would be quite a lengthy story, of course, to tell you the results that we received when this building was opened, and the danees and social programs which were instituted during the winter months far surpassed anything that we had anticipated. If we could make a list of all the cities in the United States and Canada large enough to have quite extensive park systems, we would find that by far the largest amount of money and by far the largest area was comprised in cities ranging from fifty to one hundred thousand population and perhaps a little larger, leaving only a very few cities of major size which, of course, can afford these elaborate institutions. But the national recreational problems are not going to be solved in the larger cities. Seventy-five per cent of it must take place within the cities of second and third class. During the last two or three years I have been making some analyses concerning the ages of the boys and girls who participate in some form of publie recreation. Along with that I have been gathering data from various eities concerning the predominant age of the population. I think you will find on investigation that the population of any city, of those past thirty years of age, is not less than sixty and sometimes approaching seventy per cent of the entire population. It is also a fact that everyone who has passed the age of thirty discontinues what we eall strenuous games, such as baseball, football, basketball, and a great many even discontinue tennis, which is en- tirely unnecessary if they play with some degree of regularity. We find that when one passes the age of thirty that he ceases to take part in any systematic and regular form of recreation. This is one of our big problems. Our Amer- iean people have not as yet come to a full understanding and appreciation of the necessity of outdoor exereise, and no national habit has yet been formed, such as we find quite true with the English people. We are busy and it is commercial problems that take up the most of the American man's time. It seems to me that we have got to provide those forms of recreation which the man or woman past the age of thirty can enjoy with pleasure and without detrimental fatigue. Such games as golf, boating and canoeing. bowling on the green, and there are a great number of games that are not thoroughly understood which would fit in very admirably in a public recreational policy and which would work out the recreational problems for the adult popula- tion. It is also true that the adult population forms the public opinion, and it is safe to conclude that an adult population, which is a 'playing' population, actually taking part in some form of recreation, will more readily see the im- portanee and necessity of building up publie recreation institutions and will foster and support commissions which are trying to build up these institutions
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than an adult population only passively interested. 1, therefore, feel that too much stress cannot be placed upon providing adequate recreation for the adult population." The value of his service in this connection cannot be over- estimated and he is fast setting standards which are attracting to his work wide public attention, while his methods are being adopted elsewhere.
In 1908 Mr. Fisk was married to Miss Helen Mackay of Chicago, a daughter of J. C. and Jessie Mackay, and they now have one child, Jessie Louise. In politics Mr. Fisk has always maintained an independent course, casting his ballot according to the dictates of his judgment as regards the questions which are before the public for settlement. Fraternally he is connected with the Elks and he belongs to the National Association of Park Superintendents.
JAMES E. BUSH.
Success in this age of marked business activity and competition depends upon wide knowledge of the line to which one directs his energy, combined with unfaltering diligence. There is no one more competent to speak with authority upon the question of varnish in the entire United States than James E. Bush., who has long occupied a position as traveling salesman in that con- neetion and is now vice president of the Chicago Varnish Company. He is among the native sons of Racine county whose business records reflect credit upon the district which gave them birth. Mr. Bush was born at Ives Grove. March 5, 1850, a son of John and Charlotte N. (Ives) Bush, the latter a daugh- ter of Roland Ives, who came to Racine county in the period of its pioneer development and was the founder of the town of Ives Grove. In the east he had engaged in business as a manufacturer of whips and after removing to the west became identified with agricultural interests and was classed with the capitalists of this section. John Bush was born at Westfield, Massachu- setts, and came to this county in the early '40s, bringing with him the first fine horses owned in this locality. He had racing stock and he raised Bellfounder. one of the first high bred trotting horses in the west, and he was also owner of Angeline. He became well known all over the United States as a breeder of fine horses, his stables being particularly noteworthy. His political allegiance was given to the democratic party. In 1855 he removed with his family to California, but in 1860 returned to this county, where he continued his resi- dence until his death, which occurred about 1880. His widow long survived him, dying in 1903 at the age of eighty-three years.
James E. Bush supplemented his public school training by a course in the Commercial College of Racine, from which he was graduated. He started to earn his living as a sailor on the lakes, was advanced to the position of mate and was offered the command of a vessel, but decided to abandon marine life, and took up the work of a traveling salesman. He also hecame interested in the Bee-Bee Cart Company of Racine and likewise engaged in the manufacture of bicycles. At a subsequent date this business was merged into the Mitchell Motor Car Company.
Mr. Bush's experience as a traveling salesman has been broad and has
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brought him to a foremost position as a representative of the varnish trade in the country. In 1889 he began traveling for the Chicago Varnish Company, which he has since represented, and as the years have passed he has acquired stock in the organization and in 1911 was elected its vice president. He has sold more varnish than any two men in the United States, his sales having averaged over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year. Such a record is one of which he has every reason to be proud, for it is indeed something worthy of pride when one has reached the topmost position in any line of trade or useful activity. He is also interested in orange and grapefruit groves in Florida and his business investments have been wisely and judiciously made, bringing him substantial return.
Mr. Bush has been married twice, his first wife bearing the maiden name of Anna Belle Addis, of Massachusetts, and passing away in Milwaukee, Wis- consin. For his second wife he chose Emma (Stevens) Hathaway, of Con- neeticut. By the first marriage there were three children : Walter J .. a broker. who in recent years has resided in Florida on account of his health; James Irving, who studied mechanical engineering at the Wisconsin State University, is on the board of the Second Ward Savings Bank of Milwaukee and is now manager of the Branch office in Chicago, of the Guarantee Trust Company of New York city; and Charlotte Eleanor, at home. The second son made a won- derful record in athletics during his college days, establishing records in many athletic sports and becoming famous as an all-round athlete. The daughter is a graduate of the Penn Hall College of Pennsylvania and has advanced far in musical studies. The family attend the Baptist church and in social circles of the city occupy a very prominent and enviable position.
Fraternally Mr. Bush is identified with the Masons, having attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and belonging to the blue lodge, chapter, commandery and Mystic Shrine. He is likewise a charter member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and a life member of the Knights of Pythias. In organizations of a more strictly social nature he is identified with the Country Club and he also belongs to the Illinois Athletic Club of Chicago. He is widely known in the metropolis as well as in the city and his residence through his business and social connections, and nature has well qualified him for leadership for, mentally alert, he has developed his powers and adds to his ability geniality, unfeigned cordiality and ready appreciation for the rights, privileges and the excellent qualities of others.
BERNARD BREHM.
Bernard Brehm was closely identified with the business interests and civic progress of the city of Burlington for a period of nearly sixty years. He was born in Baden, Germany. in 1844. the son of Frank and Agnes Brehm, also natives of Baden, and with his parents, brother and sister, came to America in 1854, reaching Burlington by ox team from Racine. The father, Frank Brehm, was a weaver and musician and engaged in various occupations until his death in 1889, having survived his wife for five years.
BERNARD BREHM
WILLIAM F. BREHM
JOSEPH B. BREHM
ALBERT M. BREHM
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Bernard Brehm received but a limited education, but being possessed of a shrewd mind and a sterling integrity he early acquired a business education, in the school of experience, which enabled him to build up a prosperous business and to acquire a comfortable share of this world's goods. In early life he learned the shoemaker's trade, but, ill health foreing him to seek other employ- ment, in the year 1868 he purchased a team and engaged in the draying busi- ness. From this small beginning he developed the large and sueeessful business to which he later admitted his sons, W. F., Albert M. and Joseph B. The great seerets of his business success were "energy" and "efficiency." No job was too small or too large for him to undertake, and the smallest order received the same prompt and careful consideration accorded to the largest. During the more than forty years he was actively engaged in the draying business many com- petitors entered his field, but could not win away his business, and he of them all remained permanently established. He was quiek to grasp a business op- portunity or to encourage a worthy home enterprise. His drayage business was from time to time enlarged to inelude the dealing in eoal, salt, oil and other commodities, and the buying and selling of draft horses. Upon the or- ganization of the Burlington Blanket Company in 1891 he gave his financial support to the new enterprise and remained a dircetor and vice president of the company to the time of his death, seeing it grow to be the largest enterprise of its kind in the United States. He was also a large stockholder in the Security Lightning Rod Company and the Burlington Advancement Associa- tion.
In January, 1868, Mr. Brehm was united in marriage to Miss Margreta Griebel, who was born in Germany. Twelve children were born of this union, of whom nine survive, namely : Anna M., now Mrs. A. Zwiebel, Jr. ; William F .; Albert M. ; Emma M. ; Joseph B. ; Frank N. ; Theresa, now Mrs. Edward N. Fur- man ; Laura D., and Louis H. In his wife Mr. Brehm found a true helpmeet who made his home life happy and care free. and to her he gladly attributed a large measure of his success.
After nearly sixty years of aetive life in the city of Burlington Bernard Brehm passed away on the 18th of June, 1912. He will long be remembered by those who knew him, because of his reliability in business, his enterprise in citizenship and his fidelity in friendship, and his impress on the business life of the community will long remain through the enterprises he developed and fostered.
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