USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volume V > Part 5
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The campaign for subscriptions to the Auditorium Fund was under- taken by the first Auditorium Committee, the members of which had been appointed in July, 1905. Those first ealled upon were the leading merehants and manufacturers, and those generally known as public spirited citizens. Their responses were as generous as could have been expected, but it soon was proved that the scope of operations must be enlarged. After something more than seventy thousand dollars had been obtained, it proved more difficult every day to secure further funds. A cessation of labors then ensued, and active work was not resumed until the reorganization of the Auditorium Committee early in 1906. This new committee represented as far as possible the several commer- cial, industrial and civic bodies of the city. The plan as taken up by the new committee was to widen the scope of the subscription effort and
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invade practically every section of the city. Squads of solicitors thus invaded the residence district as well as the commercial and industrial centers, meetings were held in the different wards, and every legitimate method was followed to stimulate and arouse enthusiasm for the cam- paign. The formal opening of the new campaign began on June 28, and from that day forward the history of the daily efforts and successes was made matter of public announcement through the press and other- wise until the subscription fund had grown from the first stated amount to the coveted sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
After much discussion the site of the old Exposition Building was adopted as the most available one, and prizes were then offered in order to secure the competition of leading architects all over the country, four prizes, ranging from one thousand dollars to two hundred and fifty dollars being offered for the architect plan in order of merit. After these matters had been settled there ensued a series of legal complica- tions involving the title to the site. As already mentioned, the original site had been deeded by a pioneer on the condition that the same should be used for market purposes.
When the old Exposition Building had been erected, the heirs to the pioneer donor had brought suit for ejectment, but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the city on the ground that the Exposition Building was already constructed and that it served partially at least for market purposes. The course of the litigation through the different years can- not be discussed here, but it is of interest to know that the committee for the building of the auditorium exercised every precaution and safe guard possible before entering upon the work of construction. A bill was introduced and passed in the state legislature clearing away most of the difficulties, but in August, 1908, after construction had been undertaken the heirs of the donor of the tract brought suit for the pos- session of the premises. Judge W. J. Turner in November, 1908, decided that the Auditorium Board and the city were in lawful posses- sion, and from that decision an appeal was made to the Supreme Court. In spite of these various legal and financial complications, the work of construction went forward steadily, and the original plans have long since been carried out, resulting in the magnificent building which now constitutes so important a factor in Milwaukee's greatness as a city.
On August 1, 1908, the corner-stone of the Auditorium building was laid, and about one year later, in the closing days of September, 1909, extended dedication ceremonies marked the completion and opening of the great building. The cost of the building itself was $513,944.55, while the furnishings cost $38,031.58, making a total of $551,976.13. The location of the Auditorium is an entire square between Fifth and Sixth, Cedar and State streets. It is readily accessible from all railway sta- tions, and street car lines pass its main entrance. The Auditorium is the nucleus for the projected civic center of the city of Milwaukee.
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
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The possibilities of the Auditorium may be better understood when it is stated that the seating capacity of the Auditorium proper is ten thousand people, with an arena, providing for exhibition space and other purposes, two hundred and twenty-five feet long and one hundred feet wide. The building comprises two wings, the west wing containing the main auditorium, while the annex or east wing contains smaller halls named after Milwaukee's most prominent pioncer and generous citizens, as follows: Juneau, Walker, Kilbourn, Engelmann, and Plankinton Halls. In planning the Auditorium it was designed to provide a build- ing which would serve satisfactorily for the most diversified uses; one that would readily adapt itself to meet all the possible requirements for large and small conventions, industrial exhibitions, mass concerts, pub- lic meetings, religious service, grand balls, horse shows, etc. Accord- ingly it may be used either as one monster hall, furnishing all accom- modations that may be required for any purpose, or of being divided into smaller halls, each one of which is complete in itself and has all desirable conveniences. It is so arranged that as many as seven distinct and separate meetings may be held at one and the same time without any inconvenience or interference. The six smaller halls in the annex each have a seating capacity of from three hundred to twelve hundred.
Since the opening of the Auditorium, it has been used for the follow- ing purposes :
1912
1911
1910
Industrial Exhibits
180
193
57
Conventions
78
87
35
Meetings
152
134
188
Lectures
12
23
13
Concerts and Dances
139
99
44
Circus
1
12
8
Miscellaneous
50
46
13
612
594
358
Such were the facilities and services afforded that they called forth enthusiastic appreciation from the officials of the different affairs con- cerned, and there is no doubt that the Milwaukee Auditorium affords superior facilities for conventions to those of any other city in America. Something has been said concerning the composite nature of the gov- erning board, made up partly of city officials and partly from the private . auditorium corporation. At the present writing, the members of this governing board are as follows: William George Bruce, president ; Charles E. Sammond, vice president; Louis M. Kotecki, secretary ; Joseph P. Carney, treasurer ; Gerhard A. Bading, mayor; Daniel W. Hoan, city attorney; Oliver C. Fuller; Alvin P. Kletzsch; Otto J. Schoenleber; E. W. Windfelder, president of the museum: and J. G.
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Flanders, president of the library. The executive committee is com- posed of William George Bruce, chairman, Gerhard A. Bading, Joseph P. Carney, Alvin P. Kletzsch, E. W. Windfelder. Joseph C. Grieb is manager.
JOSEPH CHARLES GRIEB. Manager of the Milwaukee Auditorium since its opening, Joseph Charles Grieb, through his enterprise and energy, has had much to do with the remarkable place which the structure fills in the commercial and civic activities of the city.
Mr. Grieb was born in Milwaukee, January 30, 1869, a son of the late George H. Grieb, and Elizabeth (Habes) Grieb. Both parents are now deceased and are buried in the Trinity cemetery in Milwaukee. His father was a pioneer grocer, one of the early settlers of the south side of Milwaukee, where for many years he condueted a grocery at Park and Grove streets. The senior Grieb was born at Meppen, Hanover, Ger- many, December 10, 1819, and in his native land worked as a postal messenger, driving a mail coach there. In 1836, coming to America, at the age of seventeen, he located in Milwaukee, where he was employed by a wholesale grocery house, driving a team, until he was later able to buy a team of his own, and then started in business for himself on the south side, opening a small stock of groceries. He established this business in 1859, and conducted it until his death, which occurred December 19, 1896. In Milwaukee, on November 28, 1849, George H. Grieb was married to Miss Elizabeth Habes. She was born in the King- dom of Luxemburg, on December 19, 1828. When she was about thir- teen years old she came to America with her mother, and during their first year in America the mother died and left three daughters, Mrs. Grieb being the oldest had a hard struggle during her girlhood and bravely bore her responsibilities as head of the little family, not only providing for herself, but also for her younger sisters. Mrs. Grieb died at Milwaukee, August 29, 1904. Both parents were strict members of the Holy Trinity church, the church being within a block of their old home. There were six boys and three girls in the family, of whom two girls and five boys are still living, all of them in Milwaukee: Henry L .; Mary, deceased; George, deceased; Katheryn; Frank X .; Anna; Edward F., a real estate man; Joseph C .; and William A., a stock broker. All the children were born in Milwaukee and received their education chiefly in this city. The older sons were educated in a monastery at Fond du Lac.
Mr. Joseph C. Grieb attended the Holy Trinity parochial school and Marquette College of Milwaukee, now the Marquette University. He prepared for business life further by attendance at the Spencerian Business College of Milwaukee, also taking a special course in McDon- ald's Business College. His first regular employment was as a sten- ographer in the West Milwaukee shops of the Chicago, Milwaukee &
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St. Paul Railroad. He remained there fourteen years, and rose to the position of chief clerk. From there he branched out independently, buying an interest in the C. W. Fischer Furniture Company at 219-223 Second street. He was in that business two years, retaining the old firm name, after which he sold out, and the firm is still in existence, doing business at the same number under the same firm name. From the furniture trade Mr. Grieb turned to the real estate and manufacturing business. He manufactured picture frames and mirrors, and his enter- prise was carried on under the name of the Milwaukee Art Specialty Company, with a shop on the south side on Reed street. After a year and a half he made up his mind that he did not know much about the manufacturing business, and permanently retired from that line.
Having throughout this period actively identified himself with local business organizations and interests, he was regarded as a most happy choice for the office of assistant secretary of the Milwaukee Auditorium Company, to which place he was elected November 19, 1906. On Feb- ruary 13, 1908, he was elected manager of the Auditorium, and more than anyone else has had the executive direction of this great civic insti- tution.
Mr. Grieb is a member of the Merchants & Manufacturers Associa- tion, the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Milwaukee Automobile Club, The Arion Musical Club, Press Club, has membership in the St. Rose Cath- olic church, and is in close and enthusiastic touch with all local activities.
On September 12, 1895, in St. Joseph's church of Milwaukee was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Grieb with Miss Margaret Forster, daughter of the late George Forster, a prominent lumberman of Mil- waukee during his day. Mr. Forster died on October 11, 1891, while Mrs. Grieb's mother is living at the age of eighty-five. Mrs. Grieb was born in Milwaukee, was educated in St. Joseph's parochial school, and the Notre Dame Convent at South Bend, Indiana, where the sisters of Mr. Grieb were also partly educated. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Grieb are : Marion Isabella, George Forster and Margaret Forster, all of whom were born in Milwaukee. The family residence is at 3404 Cedar street.
HON. CLARK L. HOOD, member of the Wisconsin State Legislature. has gained distinction in a profession where advancement depends en- tirely upon individual merit. Well versed in the learning of his profession and with a deep knowledge of nature and the springs of human conduct, with great shrewdness, sagacity and tact, he was in the courts of La Crosse a power and influence as a criminal lawyer, and in his legis- lative office his duties have been discharged with a deep sense of high ideals and a conscientious regard for the interests of his constituents. Mr. Hood was born June 23, 1847, at Hancock, Delaware county. New York, and is a son of William and Naney (Appley) Hood, natives of
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the Empire State, the former of whom, a lumberman and farmer, died in May, 1870, and the latter in 1874.
Clark L. Hood secured his education in the Delaware Literary Institute at Franklin, in Delaware county, wholly unaided, and when but sixteen years of age, in 1863, enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil war, as a member of Company M, First New York Veteran Cavalry. With this organization he served to the close of the war, when he received his honorable discharge, and at that time took up the study of law in the offices of Hotchkiss & Seymour, at Bingham- ton, New York. On being admitted to the bar he took up the practice of his profession in La Crosse, and almost immediately met with a gratifying recognition of his ability. In 1869 he formed a professional partnership with M. P. Wing, but since 1871 has been engaged in prac- tice alone. Mr. Hood's reputation as a criminal lawyer is state-wide, his connection with a number of notable cases having given him an envi- able reputation in this line of jurisprudence. As an orator, he stands second to none practicing before the La Crosse courts, where his com- prehension and knowledge of the law is manifest and his application of legal principles demonstrates the wide range of his professional acquire- ments. He has been an effective stump speaker in behalf of the Demo- cratic party, with which he has been connected since 1872, and has par- ticipated in numerous hard-fought campaigns, where his services have been of inestimable value to the Democratic organization. His public speaking, however, has not been confined to political matters, for his speech at the dedication of the Losey Memorial Arch was considered a masterly tribute to that well-known philanthropist while his ad- dress, "Henry Ward Beecher in England," received favorable com- ment from press and public throughout this part of the country, and his speech at the dedication of the soldiers' monument on Decoration Day at La Crosse is said to have been among the best of its kind.
Mr. Hood has filled various positions of public trust and responsi- bility, in all of which he has manifested a conscientious desire to advance the welfare of his city and its people. For three years he served La Crosse as alderman, was city attorney for two years and district attor- ney for four years, and in 1911 was elected to the State Legislature, where he is devoting himself to the elimination of some of the laws on the statute books, believing that there has been too much law-making and that our legislators have advocated too much paternalism. Aside from the practice of his profession and the duties of public office, Mr. Hood has devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits and to stock raising, having until recently been the owner of two large farms.
ANDREW H. DAHL. One of the best known men in the public life of Wisconsin is the recent incumbent of the office of state treasurer, Andrew H. Dahl, who on December 31, 1912, closed three terms or six
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years of efficient service. Mr. Dahl is a resident of Westby, Vernon county, where he has long been prosperously identified with business and public affairs. In his public service as in his private business, his guiding principle has long been a square deal for all and special priv- ileges to none, and the people of his home county and of the state at large have repeatedly placed the scal of their approval upon his manner of exemplifying this rule.
Mr: Dahl was born in Lewiston, Columbia county, Wisconsin, April 13, 1859, and is one of the leading representatives of the Norwegian- American citizenship of this state. His parents, Michael H. and Eliz- abeth (Asbjornsen) Dahl, were both natives of Moi, Norway. The father was born in 1801 and died in 1869, and the mother was born in 1815 and died in 1884. They were married in Moi, and of their children the two living are Andrew H. and his sister Sarah, the widow of Ole T. Westby. The mother subsequently married Jens A. Peterson, but there were no children from that union. The Dahl family, father and mother, emigrated to America in 1852, and spent thirteen weeks on the sailing vessel which finally landed them in New York City. Going up the Hud- son, they continued their westward journey through the Erie Canal to Buffalo, and thence on a steamer through the Great Lakes until their arrival at Milwaukee. There the father bought a yoke of oxen and drove overland to Lewiston in Columbia county. That was then a wilderness region, and Michael Dahl should be credited with the pioneer work of hewing a farm from the aboriginal conditions. After twelve years residence there he sold his place, and, again with ox teams, inigrated on to Coon Prairie in Vernon county. There he bought a farm and spent the rest of his active career in general agriculture. He was one of the active members of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church. Dur- ing the first years of his American residence he voted the Whig prin- ciples, but later joined the Republican party.
Andrew H. Dahl was reared to manhood on the home farms in Columbia and Vernon counties, and had the inestimable advantage of living in a good home characterized by industry, thrift and fine prin- eiples. He learned to work, and during the winter seasons attended the common sehools, and later the Viroqua high school and the Northwestern ยท Business University at Madison.
At the age of twenty-two he began his career in merchandising as a clerk in a general store at Viroqua. After an experience of three and a half years, he began on his own account in 1884, under the firm nanie of Galstad & Dahl, the general merchandise and agricultural implement business. In 1888 Mr. Dahl bought out his partner, and has since con- ducted the business with increasing prosperity under the name of A. II. Dahl & Company.
Mr. Dahl has for many years interested himself in local government and has been an active factor in Republican polities. He was a mem-
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ber of the Vernon county board of supervisors in 1896-97; was trustee of the Vernon county asylum in 1897, serving nine years; was elected president of the village board at Westby in 1898 and by re- elections served four successive terms until 1902. In 1898 Mr. Dahl became a member of the Wisconsin assembly from Vernon county. He was three times re-elected, each time getting the nomination without opposition, and it was his distinction to have first in the history of Vernon county broken the long-established custom of giving a represen- tative but two terms in office. In the legislature he was on the com- mittee on education, was chairman of the committee on charitable and penal institutions during 1905, and succeeded the late and revered A. R. Hall of Dunn county as chairman of the committee on assess- ments and collections of taxes. The culmination of his political honors came with his election to the office of state treasurer in 1906. He was re-elected in 1908 and 1910, and gave the state as capable an adminis- tration of this important office as it has ever had. In 1912 he was elected a delegate at large from Wisconsin to the National Republican Convention held in Chicago. He supported the candidacy of Senator Robert M. LaFollette for president.
Mr. Dahl is a member of the Lutheran church, and is affiliated with the Sons of Norway. He was married on October 10, 1882, to Miss Julia Vinje, who was born at Voss, Norway. Seven children have been born to their marriage: Harry J., who married Nellie Riege, is a mem- ber of the firm of A. H. Dahl & Company at Westby; Elnora E. is the wife of William F. Whitney, of Wenatchee, Washington; Chester T. is also a member of A. H. Dahl & Company, and he and his brother now have the entire management of this prosperous business; Lulu E., Alice I., Victor V., and Aad J. are the younger members of the home circle.
A. ARTHUR GUILBERT. As an architect, Mr. Guilbert, has one of the leading positions in his profession in Southern Wisconsin, and has built up a large practice in Racine. He is head of the well known firm of Guilbert & Funston, whose offices are in the Robinson Building. Mr. Guilbert has spent most of his life in Racine, his parents having been pioneers of this city, and since returning from college has been rapidly making his way in professional achievements.
A. Arthur Guilbert was born in Racine in August, 1869, a son of Albert W. and Celia M. (Perse) Guilbert. The father was also a native of Racine, his parents have been pioneer settlers in this vicinity. The father until 1904 was for many years in the employ of the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company. The mother passed away in Racine in 1906.
Mr. Guilbert was educated in the common schools of his native city, graduating from the high school, and then entering the Lehigh Uni
A. Orthe Guiltal
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
versity in the Engineering Department, afterwards taking special work at University of Michigan, Armour Institute and Chicago Art Institute. For a number of years Mr. Guilbert was connected with the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company, and from that well known concern entered upon the active practice of his profession as an architect. He is well known socially in Racine, and has a number of fraternal affiliations with local orders. He is a member of Racine Lodge No. 18, A. F. & A. M .; Orient Chapter, R. A. M .; Racine Commandery, No. 7, K. T., being also affiliated with Tripoli Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Milwaukee, and a 32nd degree Mason. He is a member of the Elks Lodge No. 252, at Racine. His clubs are the Somerset and the Racine Country Clubs. Mr. Guilbert has a fine residence at 107 Eleventh Street, a home upon which he has bestowed much attentionand his professional services, and it is an attractive feature of this particular residence district, passing under the name of "Green Gables."
In 1895 Mr. Guilbert married Miss Bessie Bull. IIer father, Stephen Bull, was one of the most prominent citizens of Racine, and was one of the founders and promoters of the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Com- pany, an industry which has probably done more than any other to build up Racine, as an industrial center, and a concern of which all citizens of Racine have great reason to be proud as it is one of the largest plants of its kind in the United States.
Mr. and Mrs. Guilbert are the parents of three children namely : F. Warburton, now a student in Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania ; Gordon Mckenzie, also in the Hill School and Ellen Kellogg.
EDWIN B. TUTEUR, M. D. Born and reared in Wisconsin, his father being a retired business man of LaCrosse, Dr. Tuteur has for many years held a prominent place among Chicago physicians, being espe- cially known as an authority on internal medicine.
Edwin B. Tuteur was born at LaCrosse, November 9, 1866, and was very liberally educated. After graduating from the LaCrosse high school with the class of 1883 he entered the University of Cincinnati. where he was graduated Ph. G. with the class of 1887. His medical studies were pursued in Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, where he obtained his medical degree in 1890. Dr. Tuteur was resident physi- cian to Philadelphia Hospital in Philadelphia for two years. In 1892 he located in Chicago, where he has since given special attention to the practice of diagnosis and internal medicine. He has spent considerable time abroad in post-graduate and clinical work at Munich, Germany. and at Vienna, Austria. He holds the position of consulting physi- cian to Daily News Sanitarium for children, was professor of medicine in Loyola University ; professor of gastro-internal diseases in the Illi- nois Medical College ; is attending physician to St. Luke's Hospital. Dr. Tuteur is a former president of the Physicians' Club of Chicago, was
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formerly president of the Southern District Medical Society, is a mem- ber of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and belongs to the Chicago Medical Society, The Illinois Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
As one of the organizers in 1910 and since that time secretary of the Valmora Industrial Sanatorium, Dr. Tuteur is one of the executive officers of an institution, which, though perhaps not widely known to the general public, is performing none-the-less efficient, splendid service to mankind. It is one of the significant illustrations of the modern attitude of commerce in its more helpful relations to social existence. It indicates a disposition on the part of practical business in this twen- tieth century to aid in the amelioration of conditions against which thousands of people as individuals must otherwise contend in vain. The Valmora Industrial Sanatorium, incorporated under the laws of Illinois, not for profit, has as its object to supply a suitable institution for the care, maintenance, and treatment of persons in moderate cir- cumstances suffering from tuberculosis, unable to pay the usual rates charged by private institutions. Only incipient cases and such mod- erately advanced cases as have fair prospects of recovery are received. The Sanatorium is located at Watrous, New Mexico, in a beautiful val- ley, well protected from winds, and at an altitude of 6,000 feet above the sea. The president of the organization is E. Fletcher Ingalls, M. D., and the board of officers and directors include men whose names are national in business and the profession, the medical board containing a number of the most eminent names in Chicago and American medi- cine and surgery. Patients to this sanatorium are received chiefly from among the employes of members of the institution, the rates per week to such patients being $10.00, while to others the rate is $12.00 per week. Enrolled in the list of members are many of the largest mer- cantile and industrial corporations of Chicago, including several of the great department stores, many of the firms in the wholesale district, and a number of banks, manufacturing and other conspicuous concerns.
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