USA > Wisconsin > Washington County > Washington County, Wisconsin : past and present > Part 20
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The regular sessions of the County Board are held in November of each year; and there may be special sessions if important business necessitates them.
As a rule, the county officers have shown themselves worthy of the trust the people put in them. Crookedness and graft had little chance to thrive in the county. In its history of almost sixty years there is only one instance of a faithless officer to be recorded. His misdeed is known as the "Great Defalcation." In July, 1876, it was discovered that County Treasurer Albert Semler had defrauded the county of over $14,000. He had been in office for nearly nine years. Suspicion had been aroused several times, and at one time a partial investigation of his accounts was made by a special com- mittee of the County Board. Semler was a very popular man and succeeded in hoodwinking the committee who in their report explained away some suspicious circumstances. When the blow came, Semler
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had just returned from the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis, to which he had been a delegate, and found the school com- missioners anxiously awaiting his return in order to receive their apportionment of the school fund, some $4,000, which was in his hands, and should have been divided before he left for St. Louis. Semler pleaded pressure of business, made profuse apologies, and started for Milwaukee where he said he had the funds on deposit, promising to return with the required sum on the next day. In Milwaukee he made most strenuous efforts to borrow the money, as he had done often before. This time he failed to do so, however, and in an interview with Joseph Ott, Henry Glantz and Math Alten- hofen, who had gone for him, he at last confessed his embezzlement. He claimed to have sustained heavy business losses, and had gambled to regain the money, but he had failed to do so. The gentlemen returned to West Bend, and a warrant was sworn out by County Clerk Ott before District Attorney O'Meara for Semler's arrest. Sheriff Miller at once went to Milwaukee to make the arrest, but Semler had fled to parts unknown. Miller and his deputy, Peter Boden, after a search of two weeks, traced him in Omaha, Neb., and brought him back August 6, 1876, a disgraced and ruined man, and lodged him in the county jail. The County Board met in special session and elected Peter Weimer of Addison to guard the empty treasury. A committee found that the deficit was $14,032.05. Owing to the belief that the defraudation had been running through several years, whereas the bondsmen of the malefactor could not be held liable for more than was taken since they became responsible, a compromise was made, whereby they were to be released on payment of $4,000 in addition to $1,000 to be furnished by Semler or his friends. All but $717 were collected of the bondsmen, and finally the county authorities settled with them, receiving $4,283. The loss of the county was thus reduced to $9,749, not figuring the expenses of the prosecution. Semler was, after a number of months in jail, released and remained in West Bend for some years after, but unable to regain the confidence of his fellow citizens, left for the West.
The Courthouse, built of stone and brick with terra cotta orna- ments, was erected in 1889 on the site of the old wooden structure which was removed and is now used as a hardware store. The ar- chitecture of the building which cost about $45,000 together with the furniture is round-arch Gothic of very pleasing design. A tower, from the four corners of which turrets are jutting, rises above the middle of the front. The building with its massiveness and its
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red roofs, in the middle of the elevated Courthouse Square, domi- nates the city of West Bend. On the lower floor are the county offices and vaults, and also the probate room. The circuit court room in the upper story is a beautiful hall with stained glass windows. This story also contains the jury rooms, the private office of the judge, and the office of the school superintendent. One of the jury rooms is also used as a meeting place for the A. J. Fullerton Post. The building is fitted up in a thoroughly modern way. A short distance south of the Courthouse is the County Jail, a brick building erected in 1886 at an expense of nearly $10,000. Besides the jail proper it contains dwelling rooms for the sheriff. The buildings are sur- rounded by well-kept lawns and flower beds, trees and shrubbery, forming a pleasing setting.
The Washington County Asylum for the Chronic Insane, near the eastern city limits of West Bend, was built in 1898 at a cost of over $55,000. In 1911, two additions costing $15,415 with the furniture were added to the side wings of the building. The material is brick and stone, and the planning and furnishing was done accord- ing to the best methods. The site near the left bank of the Milwaukee river is an ideal one. The asylum in 1911 had 127 patients, of whom 63 were from Washington county, and the rest from other counties and the state at large. The total net earnings of the institution in 19II were $5,312.60. The asylum farm contains 300 acres. The management of the institution has always been very creditable, and the investment of the county proved a paying one. The first super- intendent, Peter Lochen, was in 1912 succeeded by John Homrig. The trustees are: Joseph Ott, C. F. Leins, and Geo. W. Jones.
A short distance to the east of the asylum is the County Home for the Poor. The poor list of the county has always been small. The average number of poor from 1853 to 1865 was 20, in 1880 it was 34, and in 1911 it was 261/2. In 1912 the old Poor Farm was sold and a County Home for the Poor erected. At the same time a central heating, lighting and power plant, half way between the asylum and the County Home, was built, which furnishes the two institutions with heat, electric light and power. Both buildings which together cost $47,341 are substantially built of stone and brick, and harmonize with the architecture of the asylum, which is that generally used for public institutions.
The county formerly belonged to the Third Judicial Circuit of Wisconsin. The judges in succession were: Charles H. Larabee, A. Scott Sloan, John E. Mann, David J. Pulling, Eli C. Lewis, and
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David J. Pulling. In the winter of 1881, the Legislature created a new Judicial Circuit, embracing the counties of Dodge, Wash- ington and Ozaukee. The three counties since are comprised in the Thirteenth Circuit. January 1, 1882, A. Scott Sloan entered upon his duties as Judge of the new Circuit. His successor in 1895 was Warham Parks who in 1906 was succeeded by James J. Dick. After the death of Judge Dick in the same year, Martin L. Lueck, the present Circuit Judge, was appointed and has since served very ably. The Circuit Judge appoints the Soldiers' Relief Commission who have for their object the support of poor soldiers or their widows living in the county. The funds for the purpose are appropriated by the County Board. The present members of the commission are: Geo. W. Jones, Math. Regner, Sr., and C. L. Brink.
The County Judges since the organization of the county have been : George C. Williams, Leander F. Frisby, John Shelley, who held the office for 24 years, and H. W. Sawyer. In 1901 the present County Judge, Patrick O'Meara, succeeded in office, and has proven himself a very considerate and capable judge.
Vol. 1-15
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PLANT OF THE CREAM CITY LIME COMPANY, SOUTH GERMANTOWN
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INTERIOR OF STANDARD MACHINE SHOP, SCHLEISINGERVILLE
CHAPTER XXVII
THE CHIEF INDUSTRIES
In the chapter on husbandry it has been said that nine-tenths of the population are engaged in agriculture. This leaves only one- tenth for the other callings, including the industries. The chief in- dustries are divided between the two cities, Hartford and West Bend, and they have had the greatest influence upon the life and growth of these communities. To them the expansion of the indus- tries means the expansion of their urban territory. They are the bread and butter for most of their population. Their standing is the barometer of local prosperity.
Enger-Kress Pocket Book Co.
If the people of West Bend say that they have in their city one of the largest pocketbook factories in the world, they cannot be accused of braggadocio. The statement, far from being stretched, inay even be a little short of the facts. And if they are proud of it, they should be excused, for the factory would be a credit to a big city. It is also an ornament, for the site in a former park, and in a locality where the price of real estate is not soaring high, does away with the prosy surroundings one is apt to associate with factory buildings.
The approach to the factory of the Enger-Kress Pocket Book Co. leads over cement walks, through lawns, past a high flag pole, and past flower beds of geraniums. The front is 150 feet long, three stories high, with many windows and three entrances, the one in the center of stone with a carved key-stone overhead and big ornamental flower vases on the sides, relieving the somewhat sober looking structure of reinforced concrete with brick filled in between the piers. The building is entirely fire-proof and L-shaped, the legs being of equal length and 40 feet wide. In the main hall the eye is
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confronted with a tablet on the wall, which bears the inscription : Labor omnia vincit. Labor conquers everything! It is the proud motto of those that have built the factory, and an inspiration to all those who daily pass through that hall. To the right is the general office and the private office of the president; the sample room with fine cabinets along the walls, which contain samples of the goods manufactured in the factory, such as pocketbooks of all conceivable shapes and of many kinds of leather, from ordinary cow buck to seal, wallets, bill books, brief cases, card-cases, pass cases, cigar cases, tobacco cases, pouches, music rolls of many patterns, advertising novel- ties, etc., everything neatly arranged in handy tiers of drawers; there is also a vault with the correspondence files of the best type. To the left of the hall is the riveting room, where workmen with deft fingers put the leather and the rivets into the frames of the pocketbooks. Back of this room is the shipping room with im- mense piles of finished goods. On the second floor are the glacing machines which add gloss to the ready-cut leather, the button ma- chines, the sewing machines, and the thinning machines which thin the leather pieces at the edges for the seam. All the machines are driven by electricity. On this floor also is the finishing room. The third floor contains the die room where the leather is cut with dies on composition wood blocks by hand and machine. Each new shape of a pocketbook requires a new die. In the north wing the leather is stored. The bales and piles contain many kinds of leather, pig- skin, cowhides, juchten, calf, seal, alligator, etc. Some of it is split and is as thin as paper. The value of the leather stock which is continually replenished is about $200,000. »Much of the leather comes from the Hartford tanneries. In the basement the paper and wooden boxes for the shipment of the goods are stored. Here also are the two boilers for the heating of the building, the ma- chinery for the electrically driven elevator that runs through all the floors, the big switchboard, and another larger vault for books and records.
All of the work rooms are bright and airy, the gay sunlight and the sweet country air pouring through many windows. The work- ers are a cheerful lot of people. There are about 250 of them, men and boys and girls, when the factory has put on the full force, the sexes working separately. Besides these, about 150 home workers find employment.
The factory was started on a small sale in 1884 in Milwaukee, and in 1894, through the initiative and enterprise of local business
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men, notably that of the late Mr. Andrew Pick, that munificent patron of West Bend's industries, and Mr. E. Franckenberg, was induced to locate in West Bend. At first the industry was housed in an old school building; later Moser's Hall, a large dance hall, was bought and furnished as a factory. When this had burned down in the winter of 1910, the present fire-proof and thoroughly modern factory building was erected on the site of the old one.
The first president of the firm was George Enger a man of fine intellectual qualities, who also was the sales manager and did much traveling for the firm. The first secretary and treasurer was Au- gust Kress; he was a happy complement to Mr. Enger by virtue of his thorough understanding of the technical end of the enterprise. He died in the spring of 1911. Mr. Enger died September 30, 1912. The president now is Mrs. Eva Enger, the widow of the aforesaid; the vice-president is Julius Kress, a brother to the late August Kress, who for many years held positions of trust for the firm; and the secretary-treasurer is F. G. Lehman, a gentleman thoroughly con- versant with the leather trade.
The growth of the factory since it was located in West Bend has been truly wonderful. It is still growing. This is the result of earnest and sincere toil, intelligent and effective management, reli- ability of the goods, and integrity and honesty in dealing with the customers. The firm manufactures most anything that is known in their line. Many of the goods are made from original designs, as it is the aim to lead the market in novel, attractive and reliable goods. The success thus far proves that they are on the right road. The goods are shipped all over the United States, and to many foreign markets.
Gehl Bros. Mfg. Co.
The plant of this firm is another of West Bend's industries that within the last few years have made giant strides toward enlarge- ment and expansion. From a jumble of old wooden buildings it has developed into a well-planned collection of thoroughly modern and fire-proof factory architecture, while the number of employés has about tripled. There are now about one hundred people employed in the different departments. And the business is still growing.
The manufacturing departments are housed in the two main build- ings. The first one, a brick structure, contains the iron working and casting departments. In the front are the machines which bore and
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smoothen and finish the castings that go into the different products. Here are the forges and lathes and pneumatic riveting machines- a bewildering mass of wheels, pulleys, levers and belts. A 125 horse- power steam engine furnishes the motive energy. Back of this de- partment is the molding room. For casual visitors this is the most interesting place-to watch the molders handle their clay, put the pattern in one half of the mold, dump and pound the earth tight in the other half, take both halves apart, remove the pattern, put them together again, remove the frame, and place the mold on the floor, ready for the casting. The bigger molds are prepared right on the floor and the frame is not removed, while the smaller ones are prepared on stands. Toward evening the casting begins. Then the fluid iron runs in a glaring stream from the roaring furnace into the large bucket, and from this is emptied into the smaller buckets with long handles, which the molders carry away and empty into their molds. Then the room looks like the workshop of Vulcan. Afterwards, the smoldering molds are torn apart, and the castings, still red hot, appear. In the rear of the molding room, is the core room, where the cores for the hollow centers of wheels, etc., are made of fine sand and linseed or crude oil, which mixture is run through something that almost looks like a sausage machine, and then baked in a big oven.
The other main building is constructed of reinforced concrete, two stories high. The front and sides are practically all windows. On the lower floor are the erecting room, the tin shop, and the wood working machines. On the second floor are the display room and the paint shop. The power is conveyed from the other building in the form of electricity and transformed by motors.
The shipping department is housed in another large concrete building. There are other minor buildings on the grounds. All the buildings are lighted by electricity. The company runs its own electric light and power plant.
To start with the history of this industry, one would almost have to go back to the beginning of West Bend. Indeed, the industry is one of the oldest in the state. In 1879 it was bought by Charles Silberzahn, an expert machinist who had worked in various parts of the country, served as engineer on a gun boat in the War between the States, and lastly had been foreman in the machine works of the E. P. Allis Company of Milwaukee. In 1890 it was incorporated as the Silberzahn Manufacturing Company. In 1906 the Gehl Bros. Mfg. Co., succeeded the old firm, Mr. Silberzahn retiring. When in the
GEHL'S CONDENSED MILK FACTORY, SOUTH GERMANTOWN
MAIN STREET, SOUTHI GERMANTOWN
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latter year the old frame buildings in a fierce conflagration burned to the ground, a new era dawned for the enterprise. In the same year the first of the present modern buildings was erected. The others followed in the course of the years.
The products of the plant cover a wide range of agricultural and other machines and implements. Here are manufactured "The Sil- berzahn" ensilage and fodder cutters, horsepowers, circle saw ma- chines, anti-friction clothes line reels, "Badger" steel stanchions, ash pit and flue doors, farmers' boilers and kettles, pump jacks, water- ing basins, galvanized steel tanks, corner mangers, and feed boxes, etc., etc. Carloads upon carloads of these products are shipped every week to all parts of the Union. All of the products have stood the quality test for many years, and are well introduced. The success of the industry is the result of honest work, able management, and the cooperation of West Bend's progressive citizens. The officers of the company are: President, N. N. Gehl, secretary, John W. Gehl; treasurer, M. L. Gehl.
Wallau Dairy Co.
In the chapter on "Husbandry" mention has been made of the dairy industry of the county as being of vast importance. It is now intended to give a little description of the largest creamery in the county and one of the largest in the state, that of the Wallau Dairy Co., of West Bend. The plant is situated right opposite the depot, and the building is of an attractive frame and concrete design. In the main room which runs partly through the first and second stories are the troughs in which the cream is soured previous to churning. Down on the cemented ground floor is the big churn in which 800 pounds of the finest table butter can be made at one time. The daily output of butter in the season is 1,500 to 2,000 pounds. Along the north and east sides of the building are the cooling rooms built of concrete with an insulation of fibre cells to prevent heat leakage from the outside atmosphere. The cooling is done by means of a direct expansion and brine system. An ammonia compressor of five tons capacity connects with an ammonia tank and brine tank. From the ammonia tank pipes run into all rooms where cooling is desired. They first, however, pass through the brine tank which contains a solution of chloride of calcium and water. The ammonia extracts every caloric particle that may be in the brine, giving the tank a coat of white glistening ice. This tank performs the function of retaining
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the low temperature during the night, when the plant is not in oper- ation. By this means a temperature of 30 degrees may be secured in the butter storage room, while in the ice cream hardening room a zero temperature may be had if desired. There are also facilities to make solid blocks of ice, a ton in from six to eight hours, from the purest well water. In another room of the lower floor are the ice cream freezers which turn out the finest ice cream at a rate of 100 gallons a day. On the intermediate floor are also a small office, the ship- ping and receiving departments, and a very snug little private office of the president. On the upper floor is the cream testing depart- ment. Here the cream of each patron is carefully tested by the Babcock test to ascertain the amount of butter fat, according to which the patron is paid. The samples are put in little bottles with long, graded necks or tubes, and are treated with sulphuric acid of certain strength, which separates the butter fat. After a treatment in a centrifugal apparatus, the amount of butter fat which collects in the graded tubes can easily be read off. On the same floor are the main office and the counting room, storage room for shipping sup- plies, etc.
All the machines of the plant are run by electric motors, and the most vigorous cleanliness prevails throughout. Everyone of the employés is subject to strict sanitary rules, to insure the absolute purity of the manufactured products. The creamery has about 350 patrons who furnish the cream and who live in a radius of many miles around West Bend. To them thousands of dollars are paid each season. The cream is gathered daily. At some distance from the main building are the stables and sheds in which the horses and wagons for the cream collection are housed. In the height of the butter making season a carload of butter is shipped every week.
The company also operates cheese factories in Barton, Trenton, and Cedar Creek, and produces an enormous amount of American cheese and daisies every year.
The president of the firm, and also its treasurer, Carl H. Wallau, a genial gentleman, and one whom any man of culture would be delighted to meet, bought the creamery some five years ago. He formerly was credit man for A. Landauer & Son in Milwaukee. Having decided to turn to the creamery business, a business that is yet in its infancy and has a vast future, he took a course in the dairy school at Madison, and by conscientious work and able manage- ment he has made the business a success far beyond his expectations. He keeps himself well posted on all the improvements in his line by
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staying in touch with the state's dairy school, and is eager to in- troduce them in the business. The vice-president is C. F. Leins, and the secretary A. G. Perschbacher. Both of these gentlemen are ably supporting Mr. Wallau.
Kissel Motor Car Co.
When the father of the Kissels many years ago left his farm near the west shore of Cedar lake and came to Hartford to set himself up in the machine and plow manufacturing business he would not have dreamt in his wildest dreams that his sons did form a million- dollar corporation. Here again reality has surpassed fancy and dream. The concrete facts are on hand. The Kissel Motor Car Co. today represents the largest industry in the county. Its marvellous growth within the last few years has caused the population of Hart- ford to increase by leaps and bounds.
The company that grew out of the small enterprises aforenamed was organized in June, 1906, with a capital of $50,000. They began the manufacture of automobiles in two small buildings and with a force of seventy men. Today their modern plant covers a space of about sixteen acres, they have upward of one thousand names on their pay-roll, and they work with a capital stock of one million dollars. They have more than two hundred branches and agencies in various parts of the United States. All this reads like a modern- ized tale from the Arabian Nights, with the difference that every one who visits Hartford can have the tangible proof that it is true.
It would be impossible to describe in this little sketch every activity on those sixteen acres teeming with the bustle of factory life. The factory buildings which contain the different departments form a little city for themselves. We can only follow the product, the Kissel Kar, through some of the more important stages of its making. In the foundry and forging departments the motor and the chassis or frames are produced. The motor is the simplest that can be designed, and it is the most economical in regard to fuel consumption. The different castings for the motor are first ground to size, and then each part is lapped by a specially designed lapping machine with the part with which it goes-the piston into the cylinder, the piston rings into the grooves, etc. This process insures an absolutely perfect fit of each part. All parts are weighed and carefully balanced, first the crank shaft separately, then with flywheel and connecting rods, thus
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securing the perfect balance that means smooth, quiet running and fullest utilization of power.
An interesting part of the works are the heat-treating ovens. Here those parts of the car that are most subject to strain or vibration -the transmission gears, steering knuckles, arms, shafts, levers, etc. -and which are made of chrome-vanadium steel, are exposed to a great heat which makes them so far as it is possible for steel, crystal- lization-proof. The soft, buoyant running is a characteristic of the Kissel Kar. The springs in a car must stand the brunt of use, and realizing this, the most elaborate tests and best engineering skill are employed to make springs of the material, width, and taper to provide the utmost resiliency and staunchness, according to the weight and capacity of each car model. By minimizing vibration in this way, not only the most fatiguing element in motoring is min- imized, but also the most destructive agency in an automobile, the crystallization of even the finest steel. In the calculated strength of every part of the car an extreme allowance is made for strains far in excess of what the most strenuous motoring will exert. Other departments of the works are the brass and aluminum foundries, and the plating, buffing and polishing rooms.
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