Kewaunee County, Abraham Lincoln & the Nomination of 1860

 

Kewaunee Enterprize was the first newspaper on Wisconsin’s Peninsula when it published its first edition on Wednesday, June 22, 1859. Door County Advocate followed on March 22, 1862. What started as the Ahnapee Record in June 1873 became Algoma Record Herald in 1918. There were other Peninsula papers within those years, however they came and went, or merged with the big three.

Of the papers, it was only the Enterprize that saw the nomination and the election of Abraham Lincoln. It was only the Enterprize that witnessed the start of the War Between the States, later being mostly known as the Civil War.

The presidential election of 1860 was 164 years ago. One hundred sixty years certainly brings change, but then again……not so much.

In today’s world, news travels electronically in seconds, however in 1860 telegraphs had not yet made it to the Peninsula. Travel was primarily by horse or boat, and while railroads were making inroads, it was over 30 years before trains were a reality on the Peninsula. News came to the lake port communities via the ship captains and any newspapers they brought with them. Door County was set off from Brown County in 1851 and Kewaunee County was set off from Door a year later. The Peninsula is no longer the “backwater” it was in 1860 when often news was hearsay, although many would say today's rumor-spreader is social media.

When the Enterprize published on Wednesday, May 30, 1860, it told readers the Republican nomination of Abraham Lincoln in Chicago “astonished everybody, and none more than that party.” The paper went on to say there was no use in “disguising the fact than that the nomination is a wet blanket” on the party’s election chances. It said the charming, gregarious William H. Seward was really the enthusiastic choice and looked forward to by the rank and file as the preeminent choice.

It said that Lincoln, Pennsylvania’s Simon Cameron, Missouri’s Edwin Bates and others were fair enough as candidates but that Seward was a champion of the issues, a man of extraordinary talent and more. Lincoln was identified as a man of good reputation with a “sort of coarse popularity.” He was called a country stump speaker. His sense was sound, but his talent was “medium.” The Enterprize did not say that at the Chicago convention, Mr. Lincoln was on his own turf. Called the Chicago Wigwam,** the building was specifically erected for the convention in the young city that would after play an important part in U.S. politics.

In a reprint from the Green Bay Advocate, found in the Enterprize, the Advocate said it could probably find 20 Wisconsin farmers within a day’s drive who would be at least equal to Lincoln in “all valuable respects.”

The Advocate thought Lincoln’s nomination was brought about by those hostile to Seward, those who would rather have the party defeated than have Seward succeed. It thought the Democrats who were about to meet at Baltimore might have learned a lesson from the Republicans: “Chicanery is fatal to party success.” Men who were faithful, prominent and demanded by the people were those the Enterprize felt must be nominated even though it did not suit the political managers. Had Seward been nominated, the paper felt, the Democrats would have had a horrible time defeating him. Green Bay Advocate said the Democrats only needed to be marshalled on election day to march “over the field to certain and rapid victory” with a candidate like Stephen A. Douglas.

Enterprise Editor Garland said that from boyhood forward men were raised to see talents and abilities in looking for a presidential nominee. It carried correspondence from the Free Democrat which said there was excitement in the city (Chicago) and issued a statement “of ground of the fitness and capacity of ‘Old Abe’ for the high office for which he was nominated.” It was also written that “the Press & Tribune office was illuminated from the top to bottom, and on each side of the counting room stood a rail taken out of 3,000 split by Old Abe on the Sagamom River bottom some 30 years ago, and on the inside were two more rails hung with tapers.”  “Old Abe” was a mere 52 years old.

The Free Democrat said it learned early of Lincoln’s “peculiar fitness” for office. Mockingly, the Enterprize said if rail splitting was a qualification for office, Kewaunee County would have no problem finding several hundred men who qualified as timber candidates. It went on to say stalworth farmers “who are sound on the rail” should be selected to bear aloft the Republican banner.”

Boston Chronicle of the same date said Friday, May 18, would be remembered by the men of Massachusetts as the day the Republican party executed itself. Since the death of Daniel Webster, the paper had not seen men “so sober and so sad.” The Chronicle thought if the capital sunk into the earth, if the courthouse turned around, if city hall and the old state house moved to the customs house..….all those unnatural things could not have produced such profound a sensation as the announcement of Lincoln’s nomination. It said the intense sadness of the Republicans was so bad that Democrats “could not find it in their hearts to make light of their affliction.” But they did.

When a Boston merchant asked what possessed Republicans to nominate such a man, a “shabby man said it was availability.” As the merchant walked off, he was said to be muttering, “And are the great interests of this great nation to be given over to a man we do not know, because someone says he is “available?” It was said men stood in groups on the street discussing the “blunder.” Mr. Seward had the hearts of New England masses. He spoke well, he was educated and had a familiar name. How could such a man be thrust aside with the likes of Abraham Lincoln? The Illinois rail splitter was nominated in the morning and in the afternoon, Massachusetts’ sister state, Maine, won the “second prize” in Hannibal Hamlin. Such candidates could not be more unfortunate for Massachusetts and even women and children were laughing, said the Chronicle. Still, there was a 100-gun salute, however nobody knew if it signaled the life or death of the six-year old party.

The New York Tribune felt Seward’s election chances were so strong that his nomination was a foregone conclusion, so when news of Lincoln’s nomination came, it was considered a hoax. It was said in 1856 that John C. Fremont was nominated to be defeated until the Republican party got stronger.* The Tribune opined “Lincoln was set up to be knocked down to save the credit of some other man.” Then the New York Times of a few days earlier suggested Lincoln’s nomination was so bad that the chances of  any candidate nominated at Baltimore were greatly improved.

Then the Boston Courier, an old line Whig journal, believed it was the same influences that overthrew Daniel Webster in Baltimore in 1852 secured the defeat of Mr. Seward in Chicago. The Courier said Seward was a first class statesman and anybody who knew the “rail splitter” would be the first to admit he was not. It said that nomination was the “meanest specimen of availability.” The Courier asked what Republican editors had to say about such “impudence.”

Editor Thurlow Weed of the Albany Journal was Seward’s political manager, and Weed came “ungracefully” to the support of Lincoln, doing so under protest and writing that it was only “an idle attempt to disguise the disappointment of the people of New York” in regard to the failure of the Chicago convention. Kewaunee Enterprize pointed out that Republicans of Wisconsin were of the same spirit. On the 21^st of June, the New York Tribune suggested that some prominent members of the Albany lobby were goning to bolt the Chicago nominations. The Albany lobby was made up of its favorite son’s supporters.

On May 23,1860, just days before Kewaunee received the news that the Hon. Abraham Lincoln was nominated for President on the third ballot, Capt. Smith of the schooner Racine brought a newspaper, the Racine Daily Journal, which gave the account of the Republican convention held the previous Friday, May 18.

The Journal said the third formal ballot gave Mr. Lincoln 235 votes. The first ballot gave Seward 193 ½, Lincoln 102, Bates, 48, Cameron 50 ½ and Samuel Chase 49. On the second, Seward received 184 ½ , Lincoln 181, Bates 45, Chase 42 ½ with the balance scattered among others. Then came the third ballot. When Hannibal Hamlin was nominated as vice president that afternoon, it was said the nominations were confirmed with such enthusiasm that it was almost beyond conception. But, as history tells us, that was not quite factual, but, of course, politics is politics.

News from Chicago was that an hour before Mr. Green opened the Republican convention with a prayer, the facility was densly crowded. First, it was moved by Blair of Missouri, to admit 5 more delegates to give them a vote equal to the electorial vote.

According to news received, it was Everett of New York nominating William Seward. Abraham Lincoln’s campaign manager Norman B. Judd of Illinois nominated him. No surprise that others from the candidates' home states did the nominating, but it was Caleb B. Smith of Indiana who seconded Lincoln’s nomination. It was said all candidates received great applause, but the most was reserved for Lincoln and Seward.

Surprising as it was, Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election. Before he could take office in March 1861, the February 13, 1861, issue of the Enterprise reported Madison Patriot of the 4th said it felt “irrepressible” Republicans got themselves into “bad order” with the president elect, which they would find out in due time. It did say Mr. Lincoln was considered to be a man of sense who knew he could never be president of the whole country. The Enterprize pointed out that Seward and Cameron (by then in support of Lincoln) spoke for themselves and the President-elect.

The paper said if Mr. Lincoln redeemed the “hope warmed into life, he could rely on the confidence and support of every Northern Democrat.” If they backed him, he had nothing to fear. The paper suggested a wait and see approach. It hoped he could restore government to its “original stability and safety.”

With unprecedented security arrangements to that time, Abraham Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861. On March 13, the Enterprize told readership that  Mr. Lincoln made one of his characteristic speeches that was either ignorance of the widespread effects of national division or a woeful misrepresentation of the true state of trade and business when he said there was “no cause for this and nobody is hurt.” The paper said thousands were unemployed in the North – reported to be 30% in Philadelphia alone - because of secession brought about by “intense love for the Negro,” in preference to citizens "means somebody is hurt and pretty badly too.”

The March 20 Enterprize carried an article from the March 9 Patriot about winning back the seceding states. Thus, it said, Mr. Lincoln was trying to steer the “old, shattered ship of State between the dangers of Scylla and Charybdis,” and if he got the Union through, he would be the greatest of all great men. If he failed, he would go down with the sinking of the Union to be known no more.”

And the rest, as they say, is history.

-------------------

*March 20, 1854, is the date given for the establishment of the Republican Party in Ripon, Wisconsin. Those founding it were against the expansion of slavery.

**Although Chicago's 1860 population was nearing 110,000, the city did not have a large enough facility to house the presidential convention. Call "the Wigwam," meaning "temporary shelter, the wooden building was constructed in under a month to serve the convention. It was destroyed by fire in 1869. 

Note: Men who ran against Mr. Lincoln were part of his first cabinet. Most positions changed with Lincoln’s short second term. In 1861, William H. Seward became President Lincoln’s Secretary of State. Edward Bates was Attorney General, Caleb Smith was Secretary of the Interior, Simon Cameron the Secretary of War and Solomon P. Chase Secretary of the Treasury.

Sources: An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River?, Kewaunee Enterprize (became Kewaunee Enterprise in 1865), Wikipedia.

Ahnapee: When Leerie Lit the Lamps at Night....and Tended the Bridge and the Harbor

     Today - 2024 - harbor communities maintain the offices of a harbor master whose duty it is to warn vessels of hazards and to ensure that regulations are followed. They see to the safety of marine traffic. Generally, today’s harbor masters and dock tenders have different jobs.

Ahnepee/Ahnapee, now the City of Algoma, employed a bridge tender since the 2^nd Street bridge was built. Before that, the log bridge near the mouth of the river needed to be taken down to allow ships such as The Ahnapee, built for Chicago businessmen J.P. and Titus Horton by Martin Larkin & Co., to get into the lake. Built upriver in the southwest part of Section 9 in the Town of Ahnapee, it was necessary to dismantle the log bridge that ran from approximately the foot of Church St. to what is now the east side of Von Stiehl Winery. 

On  September 14, 1875, the Record told readers the town board advertised for sealed bids for the construction of a new bridge to be opened on October 3. Board members visited Two Rivers to see its draw bridge and decided to build such a style. The board decided to move the bridge to 2^nd Street as it was the "center of town." When the bridge was constructed, the town needed a bridge tender to raise the bridge when necessary. His job was spotty thus enabling him to also serve as harbor master.

It was Chapter 140 of the laws of Wisconsin, published March 13, 1877, that enabled Ahnapee to go ahead with either a new drawbridge or turnbridge at 2nd Street.The bridge was to be erected with a draw or swing that could acommodate large class vessels with ease. Chapter 140 charged Ahnapee with the care and maintenance that allowed passage of vessels as quickly as possible in all types of weather. All funds were to come from collection of taxes within the town.

The community built a drawbridge and it seemed as if there were always issues with it. They began when the first vessel used it. On May 10, 1877, the loaded scow Charley Ross came down river under sail and carried away telegraph wires.

After the 2nd Street wooden draw bridge was condemned in 1895, the iron swing bridge was built in its place in 1899. The old wooden bridge needed work, however it was the blasting for harbor development that brought push to shove.

The September 1, 1899, the Record  informed readership that within three months a $6,700 iron and steel bridge would span the river at 2^nd Street to “supply a long-felt want.” Fred Wulf had the contract and was getting things in readiness for the cribs and approaches.

Wulf was paid $1,602 for the work that included two 32' wide abutments, 6’ at the base and 4’ at the top with wings of 16’ long, and a center crib, about 20’ in diameter, for the swing to sit on. Plans were for Milwaukee’s Wagner company to construct the bridge which would take about two months.

Before the days of gas - and then electric lighting, - most communities installed oil burning streetlights. The lights needed to be lit at dusk and extinguished at dawn. Lamps required cleaning and wicks needed trimming. Later, when gas arc lights came into being, the often temperamental lamps still needed cleaning and more maintenance. The lighter/maintainer was called a gas lighter and it was the job of the Ahnapee lamplighter/gas lighter to also serve as bridge tender and harbor master.

   

Lamplighters were hard workers whose work meant carrying ladders and equipment for servicing the lights to ensure safety for those on the streets at night, whether the safety was physical or personal. Even small towns had “footpads.” Except for some historic villages, lamplighters have faded into history and about the only time anybody thinks about streetlights is during a power outage.

Robert Louis Stevenson's poem The Lamplighter (published in 1885 in his Child's Garden of Verses) was one of the poems included in our grade school "memory work." There was a lamplighter in Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince, which was also a movie, but it was the movie Mary Poppins that brought lamplighters and chimney sweeps back to life. In the 2018 version, Mary Poppins Returns, Lin.Manuel Miranda played Jack, a cockney lamplighter and former apprentice of Bert, played by Dick VanDycke in the original film.

Stevenson called his lamplighter “Leerie,” a Scottish word meaning lamplighters. Wikipedia says the word also refers to the light of a lamp, a candle, or the lamp itself. As far as can be determined, Ahnapee’s lamplighters were never referred to as leerie nor were they ever the romantic, dancing figures the movies suggested. While lamplighters in larger cities were more no-account, or just “there,” Ahnapee’s lamplighters were respected members of the community. They were reliable and trustworthy, serving somewhat like  night watchmen.

At first, the Ahnapee streetlights were lit with oil. Ahnapee's lamplighters worked in the same manner as those in other U.S. cities and across the world. He had a ladder which he carried from lamp to lamp to climb and reach the wicks. He cleaned the chimneys, trimmed the wicks, and filled the lamps with oil. He? Men only? It would have been unthinkable for a woman to hold such a job in 1875, or ever, in Ahnapee. When gas lights were introduced, they replaced the oil-lit lamps, and men continued doing the work. Gas lighting was originally used in London in 1807 and soon after, in 1820, in Fredonia, New York. Some said the gas lighting era was a period of gracious living that would never be forgotten.

When a ship neared the harbor, the lamplighter became harbor master and had to find a berth for the boat. Then, as bridge tender, he opened and closed the bridge when boats went up or down river. For that he was paid about $50 a year. https://www.measuringworth.com/dollarvaluetoday says $50 in 1875 has the 2024 purchasing power of about $1,430.89. Salaries in March 1873 were set at $50 for the bridge tender, lamplighter $20, and harbor master $25, which would be just under $3,000 in 2024 dollars. In its first action, the new village* council appointed Joseph Pauly to the three positions.

Some businesses had their own streetlights and often maintained them. When a streetlamp was put in front of the post office in December 1873, the Record said it would be convenient for a small expense. In February 1874, hotel owner John Weilep, on the northwest corner of 2nd and Steele, was praised for putting up a large streetlight to throw light on the evening’s proceedings. That light caused some comment. Weilep surely had the light for safety as he wasn’t showing the rest of the city who frequented his establishment. There were Temperance societies and the hotel had a taproom! When Bill Boedecker raised a large streetlight in front of his hotel at 4^th and Steele in March 1874, he joined Weilep and Charles Hanneman, who was located on the southwest corner of 3rd and Steele. The paper said some of the businessmen “go home with the girls o’ nights and don’t like them ‘ere streetlamps.” Hmmmm.

By mid-October 1878, several groups and public-spirited citizens provided lamps for street corners. “Let the good work go on,” opined the Record.

Halloween 1878 brought word from Moses Teweles who was going to put a streetlamp in front of his saloon just west of 2nd and South Water. Teweles was having tinman Leopold Meyer manufacture it for him and said he would not ask the city fathers to pay for it.

As George Warner was about to walk home from Fax’s bar at the corner of Steele and 1st on the night of November 21, 1878, he noticed a suspicious character, thus prompting his return to Fax’s. There he left his money and watch with Capt. Laurie before starting for home again. He was accosted by two heavily built men who searched his pockets to only find 25 cents. They demanded his watch and not finding it when they searched him, they took his overcoat. The editor said if the neighborhood was possessed of such characters, something needed to be done about it and that meant streetlamps.

On May 5. 1881,the council appointed John Cooper, Sr. to serve all three positions. Cooper was appointed at the same meeting that gave the street commissioner’s job to George Bohman. Less than a year later, City Marshall Joseph Pauly was appointed bridge tender, lamplighter, and harbor master.

Before Pauly's appointment, John Cooper was paid $36.00 in salary as a bridgetender, harbor master, and lamplighter, and for buying a dog in early July 1882. In April 1883, the motion was made and seconded that John Cooper be appointed lamplighter for the coming year. He was also appointed as harbor master. Who was the bridgetender?

George Bohman was appointed in April 1885 and again in April 1888 to all three positions.

In 1889, the village board bought 18 oil lamps for street lighting and mounted them on cedar posts in strategic places. They were lit from dark to daylight except on moonlit nights when they were not needed. The lamplighter had his work cut out for him.

At the board’s September 4, 1890, meeting, it was moved and carried that George Bohman be dismissed and the offices of lamplighter, bridgetender and harbor master be declared vacant. What happened? Earlier that year, on April 10, 1890, George Bohman received 5 votes in the council’s informal vote for bridge tender. In the vote for harbor master, he received 5 of the 6 votes cast. When the vote was taken for lamplighter, Bohman received two where Simon Pies received 3. When a formal vote was taken, results were the same. When a second formal vote was taken, Bohman received 3 votes and was declared lamplighter, but that changed by meeting’s end.

When Fred Wolfgram submitted his resignation as city marshal to the council on September 4, later that same evening he was appointed to the offices of harbormaster, bridge tender, and lamplighter, the positions previously held by George Bohman and for even a few minutes on September 4. Since Wolfgram’s resignation left the city without a police officer, the mayor appointed E.C. Cameron to the position as a special policeman. Cameron had served as the city marshal, a job he held admirably. It was felt the council would approve the appointment.

When the council was paying its bills in January 1893, Emil Schubich’s salary as bridge tender and lamplighter for 7 months was $49.00. The harbor master was set as a separate job, however the year’s salary was fixed at the same rate. One year earlier William Koch served as lamplighter for just one month and was paid $20.00. How did that happen?

Ahnapee’s lighting watershed came about in 1883 when Adolph Hamacek was working on electricity while Adolph Bastar was operating a blacksmith shop on the northeast corner of 6^th and Fremont Streets. Bastar formed a partnership with Adolph, and his brother Anton, Hamacek to open a foundry and machine shop called A. Hamacek & Co. As with anything new, there were things to work out, and when the dynamo in the electrical equipment was disabled by some burning wires, it was called one of the “unavoidable occurrences” that happened to any business. Street lighting did not happen overnight. 

The 1883 dynamo Edison-Hopkinson graphic comes from https://www.fineartstorehouse.com/legends-icons/famous-inventors-thomas-edison-1847-1931/dynamo-machine-edison-hopkinson-1883

In 1885, Wodsedalek’s foundry and light plant were burned in a most destructive fire, plunging the city into darkness. Wodsedalek rebuilt less than six months later. At first, only the streetlights were operated, but a few days later, the plant was running regularly to include inside lighting. Three new streetlights were put up and all lights were kept burning from dusk till daylight.

The Record felt the first carbon arc electric lamp on the Peninsula was lit when Adolph Hamacek received a 2000 candle power arc lamp and put it in front of their foundry on July 4, 1890. 

https://edisontechcenter.org/ArcLamps.html says "the carbon electric lamp was the first widely-used type of electric light and the first commercially successful for of electric lamp."

What is a carbon arc electric lamp? Wikipedia tells us English physicist Sir Humphrey Davy invented arc lamps, the first type of electric lights, in the early 1800s. They were used for streetlights and lighthouses. The arc lamp, known as an arc light, is a device that produces light by passing a high current through a gap between two conductors, usually carbon rods. The light comes from the heated ends of the conductors and the arc itself. Britanica explains the workings of another kind of arc lamp, saying that the arc lamps are gas discharge lamps that produce light by passing an electric current through a pressurized gas between two metal electrodes. 

The graphic at the right comes from https://edisontechcenter.org/ArcLamps.html. The site is a go-to for electric light history.

Carbon arc lights were brighter and cheaper streelights than gas or oil. Still, the carbon rods didn't last long and had to be replaced often, thus a full time job. Carbon lights were fire hazards in places like theaters Carbon monoxide was bad indoors, however buildings were poorly insulated that fresh air did enter the building.

In August, about 300 Invitations were issued for an Electric Light Hop at the Music Hall. Hamacek and Co. was sponsoring the dance in the hall lighted by an electric arc lamp. How much light one lamp provided is curious.

Because of its geographical position, Ahnapee followed Kewaunee with installation of telephones and natural gas, but when electric lamps illuminated Ahnapee on March 11, 1891, the city was the first on the peninsula to be so lighted.

Things changed in April 1892 when Anton Hamacek took over lighting for the city. Aided by Ordinance 9, Hamacek furnished three lights of 2000 candle power, two placed in the original part of the city - the Youngs and Steele Plat - and one in the Third Ward, the northside of the river. The cost was $300 per year and since the Third Ward was outside the original part of the city, Hamacek was compensated for erecting, operating and maintaining lights there.

June 1893 saw Hamacek’s – by then called Ahnapee Foundry and Machine Shop – form a partnership with Joseph Wodsedalek and August Ziemer – called Joseph Wodsedalek and Co. Having experience in several businesses, the men felt the new company would meet all expectations.

When Hamachek’s Foundry, in 1894, added a dynamo to its equipment to furnish electric arc lamps for street lighting, the company had 60 patrons in addition to the city. Electricity did not totally end the lamplighter's job as carbon rods in the 1890s needed replacing after about 75 hours. By 1910, the rods lasted twice as long.

Joseph Wodsedalek had just been paid $110.35 in February 1898 for city lighting when he received a new arc lamp to be used in a streetlamp trial. However, the lamp was broken in transit and could not be used. Martin Bretl was the first in the city to try a gas arc lamp in April 1899 and felt it was impressive. The gaslight had a small chamber holding a quart of gasoline which was warmed with a generator and ready to go. Cheap and efficient. Electricity was less work.

Once again, on May 14, 1898, Ahnapee Record said the city had the distinction of being the first city on the peninsula with electric  streetlights. Results were positive and traveling men said the lamps equaled the brilliant lights of larger cities.

The arc lamps were of 2,000 candle power each. Though some of the needed materials – lamps, wire and regulators - were purchased outside of Ahnapee, Adolph Hamacek and company designed nearly all the machinery in the plant. Not long after the street lighting was introduced, business owners and industries were interested. So were homeowners.

Adolph Hamacek was living in Sturgeon Bay in October 1898 when the U.S. Patent Office awarded him a patent for his electric arc lamp. By then, Algoma** was enjoying its light.

Residents were reminded of the old days when the main shaft at the lighting plant broke in July 1907. The issue necessitated bringing out the stored old oil lamps and cleaning up the chimneys. All electric lighting was cut off and finding sidewalks was hard. Once again, the city needed lamplighters. Inside lighting was back online days before the streetlights were back in operation.

Well over 50 years after oil lights were last used in the city, in May 1950 Door-Kewaunee Normal School students held the spring formal themed “The Old Lamplighter.” Decorations and slow, modern music, furnished by the Polka Dots, harkened back to a day that was.

The lamplighters were not forgotten when lamplighter ceremonies were held marking the event when Gerhart Leischow threw the switch at Algoma’s utility plant. Mayor Malcom Empey offered the dedication when two magnesium bombs (fireworks) exploded over Perry Field. It took 18 months to get to a point where Algoma’s new system of mercury-vapor lights were a reality. Hundreds lined the street and the stores featured lamplighter specials. Algoma High School band paraded down the street and all were invited to a free dance at the Dug-Out given by the Ernest Haucke Legion Post.

The stationary 2^nd and 4^th Street bridges eliminated the need for bridge tending, the marina takes care of docking, and Algoma Utilities is serviced by WPPI Electricity.

To read the Record is to wonder about the checkered history of the three jobs. What was going on? Politics? Lamplighters, bridge tenders and harbor masters – the days of yore.

NOTE: *Ahnepee became the Village of Ahnapee in 1873. The village became the City of Ahnapee in 1879.

**The City of Ahnapee was renamed the City of Algoma in 1897.

SOURCES: Ahnapee Record, Algoma Record Herald, An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River? Commercial History of Algoma, Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 

Disney Wiki; https://disney.fandom.com › wiki › Lamplighters    

https://edisontechcenter.org/ArcLamps.html. The site is a go-to for electric light history.

https://www.fineartstorehouse.com/legends-icons/famous-inventors-thomas-edison-1847-1931/dynamo-machine-edison-hopkinson-1883

https://www.measuringworth.com/dollarvaluetoday  

https://en.wikipedia.org>wiki>Arc_lamp

PICTURES: The 2nd Street bridge picture is from the 1883 Birdseye Map of Ahnapee. The 1911 bridge postcard is in the blogger's collection.

Kewaunee County & D-Day

 

 https://exploringrworld.com/a-visit-to-the-d-day-beaches-gold-juno-and-sword/

June 6 was the 80^th anniversary of D-Day. Under General Dwight D. Eisenhower, over 160,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, to gain the European foothold in Europe that led to the defeat of Germany a year later. History tells us that more than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the invasion. Of the landed troops, more than 9,000 were killed or wounded. Some died jumping from the Higgins boats into the rough surf. Cousin Cal said the heavy packs pulled some under, and if it helped if one could swim, Cal said it is debatable.

D-Day – or any other war or invasion – just didn’t happen “over there.” Kewaunee County has been touched by all the wars. Even the War of 1812. Then British sloops Felicity and Archangel were patrolling Lake Michigan to keep an eye on the French and alliances they might be forming with Native Americans. Joseph McCormick, who first visited the area in 1834, came out of that war with the rank of Major. He is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery. Civil War veterans were buried in Ahnepee/Ahnapee/Algoma before McCormick, but his military service was the earliest. Ahnepee/Ahnapee/Algoma men were among the Kewaunee County men who served in the Civil War and in those after. Algoma men were among the Kewaunee County men at Normandy too.

During late summer 1944, Algoma Record Herald carried a reprint from Canton Repository. The article looked back at D-Day saying that America was not then fighting with money and material, but with thousands of lives. The Repository said that until war struck home, it was not understood. It was happening daily with telegrams from the Secretary of War saying he “regrets to announce…..” or “he died heroically.” The article went on to say that survivors paid in sorrow for the sacrifice of the dead and only survivors were qualified to speak of the war.

This anniversary probably marks the last time World War ll veterans will be in attendance for the anniversary event. Few who lived through World War ll are alive now. Who will begin to understand the sacrifices made at Normandy and all over the world in a few years?

The National World War ll Museum at New Orleans says that of the 160,000 allied troops storming a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast, there were 8,230 U.S. men who were killed in action, wounded in action, or reported missing. Thousands more allied troops were wounded or were missing. Algoma men were among those in the ships, landing craft and planes, or in the 50,000 vehicles striking beaches with code names such as Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold, and Sword. Omaha Beach saw the greatest number of casualties. Second Lt.William Murphy was born in Oconto but located in Kewaunee in 1945. He was known to be at the Omaha Beach landing with the 35th Division. Kewaunee's Sgt. Marvin Zimmermann was there with the 3rd Division.

By June 11, when the beachheads were secured, over 326,000 men had crossed with over 100,000 tons of equipment. Eleven months later, on May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered.

The Nevada was the only ship present at both Pearl Harbor and Normandy, and Gunner’s Mate Ray Gerhart was aboard. Gerhart manned the big guns. Another on board was Pharmacist’s Mate 3c Melvin Nessinger who was kept busy in sick bay. Being launched in 1914 and serving in World War l, the old battleship was the flagship at the Utah Beach landing. Hit by 7 bombs and 2 torpedoes at Pearl Harbor, the ship lost 120 men.

U.S. Navy Seaman Melvin F. Lessmiller was one who took part in the invasion of Iwo Jima and in the invasion of the Philippine Islands. He also took part in D-Day though aboard the Texas, the sister ship of the Nevada.

When Pfc. Thomas Kaye returned to Algoma, the Record Herald noted his certificate from his commanding general, Maj. Gen. Charles H. Gerhardt, who recognized the unusual fighting toughness of his 29^th Infantry Division at Normandy. All participants of Normandy were entitled to one star on their theater ribbons. Kaye was wounded at Normandy in July and returned to the front six weeks later.

Seaman Melvin Nessinger wrote to his parents from the Nevada, telling them D-Day was something Hollywood could never reproduce. He said several hours before H-hour, the sky was lit with dropping shells, but the men didn’t know whose shells they were. He said their minds were torn by what they’d find and the mines that lined roads. Nessinger contrasted the tracers’ beautiful patterns across the sky as the ship vibrated in the drone of over 800 bombers and shells hitting an 8-mile stretch of beach.

Although the Germans knew Normandy was going to happen, their intelligence didn’t have the exact timing. Weather made the difference. Shore batteries were firing on the invasion fleet when just after dawn Messerschmitts came out of a cloud bank to meet tracer fire. For Nessinger, hours melted into days and nights, and during the days one could see Allied transports from horizon to horizon as bombers and fighters worked to find enemy positions. Mel thanked folks for their letters and the prayers which he said were being heard. He was proud to be serving on the ship and glad his parents had heard how well the men on the Nevada accounted for themselves. The Nevada set new records for accuracy that day.

Though Lessmiller was in the Navy at Iwo Jima and Normandy, he credited the Marines when he told his parents that the Marines have “what it takes, and they take what they land on, no matter what.” Both Nessinger and Gerhart went on to remind Algoma residents to keep buying war bonds because on D-Day alone the Nevada presented “the Germans with a gift of a million and a half dollars in ammunition alone.” To put that into perspective, that amount would be about $26,000,000.00 in 2024.

When Judge Donald Gleason spoke at Algoma High School’s 1944 commencement, he offered graduates advice and encouragement. He referenced the war and D-Day saying the graduates would never forget their “graduation and D-Day – the day of the European invasion.” It is doubtful that any ever did.

A week or two later, the Record Herald editorialized about the thousands and thousands of “American boys” giving their lives to “erase Nazi tyranny from the face of this globe.” The paper pointed out that such tragedy stirred others and that a steady flow of war materials was necessary. The paper went on to say that maybe production wasn’t as dramatic as men struggling against machine guns but production was imperative. The paper opined that one day Algoma residents might learn that Algoma-made airplane and glider parts played a role in the invasion of Europe. Residents did indeed learn the role of Algoma Plywood in its production of boat hulls, airplane wings, nose cones and the plywood being shipped to other places for further manufacturing.

And the U.S.S. Nevada? Wikipedia tells us that Nessinger and Gerhart served aboard the 2^nd U.S. Navy ship to be named for the 36^th state. Launched in 1914, it was the lead ship of two Nevada-class battleships and the first of the “standard-type” battleships. Trapped at Pearl Harbor during the attack on December 7, it was the only battleship to get underway during the attack. The damaged ship was salvaged and modernized to serve in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. In addition to the invasion of Normandy, the U.S.S. Nevada took part in the bombing of Cherbourg and the invasion of southern France. When the war was over, the old battleship was used for atomic bomb practice. It was decommissioned in August 1946 and later sunk for naval gunfire practice.

Nessinger, Gerhart, and Lessmiller told some of their D-Day stories. Stangelville’s James Steinberger never did. He was one of the thousands killed at D-Day. The Record Herald said that “up and down the quiet streets of this country and along rural highways, the homes of America were paying the price for D-Day.” Casualty lists were beginning to catch up.

Twenty-two-year-old Pvt. Steinberger, of Co. M, 16^th U.S. Infantry, served a little over a year before he was killed in action. He was buried at a military cemetery in France until remains were brought home in April 1948. He was posthumously awarded Bronze Star. There were memorial rites for Staff Sergeant Sylvan Seidl who was missing in action on November 20. Seidl took part in the D-Day invasion with the 28^th Infantry and saw action in Luxembourg where he was wounded. On December 15, 1944, Kewaunee Enterprise told readership that Casco’s Sgt. Sylvan Seidl, 29, was missing in action in Luxembourg on the German frontier, according to messages from the Red Cross and from the War Department. He enlisted in July 1941 and was awarded a Purple Heart.

The July 28, 1944, paper brought news of another death. Town of Luxemburg Army Paratrooper Cpl. Joseph Treml was another killed in action at Normandy on June 21. He was a veteran of North African campaigns and Sicily before being transferred to Ireland. From there he took part in the Normandy invasion. A memorial requiem mass was held at Casco.

Gerhart said four days before the ship was sealed with no outside contact permitted. When they got underway, the invasion was called off so they spent 12 hours at sea while mine sweepers were busy cleaning the channel. When the invasion started, they could hear the bombardment 100 miles from the Normandy coast. He said when they got to their objective, they found it was a complete surprise to the Germans but at “6:00 all hell tore loose.” Their first job was breaking down the German wall on the shoreline, blowing it up to that the landing forces and tanks could get through. He said it was a giant structure of concrete and steel, 12’ thick and 8’ thick wide, constructed all along the Normandy coast except where there were natural cliffs. Blowing up that wall consisted of 10 rapid salvos into the structure. After that, they switched to beach targets. Gerhart described the marshes along the Normandy coast that were flooded by the Germans to protect against invasion.

Raymond Julius Gerhart was born in Algoma on September 4, 1921, and died on October 15, 1979, in San Diego, California. He is buried in El Camino Memorial Park

The Nevada was at her station for 79 hours and when the ammunition ran out, the ship returned to an English port, reloaded, and went right back out. All in all, the Nevada was at Normandy a week. Every night, he said, they were under attack by the German’s new radio-controlled bomb, but with a new secret defense installed on the ship, the bombs dropped harmlessly out of the way. Lessmiller and Nessinger were proud of their work and said that on D-Day the Nevada set new records for accuracy in fire.

During July 1981, Record Herald ran an article about Larry Zirbel, the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Zirbel, who spent D-Day aboard ship. Zirbel, who no longer lived in the area, served in the Navy and spent 38 months on a troop transport, making 13 round trips taking 6,000 men across the Atlantic and bringing German prisoners to the U.S. on the return trip. After D-Day, passengers were wounded Americans.

Coast Guardsman Darwin J. Paul was a member of the Naval crew in the American Assault Force on the D-Day invasion and Lt. Adrian O’Konski was with the 8^th Air Force when he was awarded the Air Medal for exceptionally meritorious achievement. He was a navigator on a Flying Fortress and took part in what he called “the greatest show ever staged -the D-Day invasion of June 6.”

Pfc. John R. Liebl of Luxemburg was a member of the glider troops of the 82^nd Airborne Infantry Div. that had landed hours before American, Canadian, and English troops were wading to the beaches of France on D-Day. Liebl’s division held off two full German divisions that were trying to stop the landings. They captured two towns and fought for and held four bridges. Lt. Ted Burmeister of Kewaunee received a Presidential citation leading an assault at Normandy. Otto W. Marek, Jr., formerly of Kewaunee was wounded at Normandy.

Also at Normandy was the U.S. Corps of Engineers' tug Ludington, now in Kewaunee's harbor and open to being toured. The tug belonged to the Army in 1944. It eventually was taken to Charleston where four Kewaunee area men were sent to get it. Renamed, the Ludinton was the workhorse of the Great Lakes and worked on Lake Michogan's harbors and piers and well beyond.

Note: A list of Kewaunee County men known to be at Normandy will be included in this post soon. Given the county's population and the number of men and women in service, the list is substantial.

Sources: Algoma Record Herald; Kewaunee Enterprise; World War ll Museum, New Orleans, visit.

Map: https://exploringrworld.com/a-visit-to-the-d-day-beaches-gold-juno-and-sword/

Paintings: NLJ Art

Lest We Forget: Kewaunee County Remembers Its Veterans

 

 

Events all over the U.S. marked Memorial Day, honoring the service of veterans. And so it was in Kewaunee County.

The year 1898 was different. There was a movement to mark the Golden Anniversary of Wisconsin’s admission to the Union. With that, Kewaunee’s common council appointed a committee to collect funds for the erection of a memorial to be built at Court House Square in honor of those who had served in the “late war.” That war was the Civil War, but by the time the monument was built, the U.S. had been involved in the wars lumped into what we now call the Spanish-American War. Kewaunee asked Algoma to join, and the city did without hesitation. School superintendent Jeremiah Donovan got the county’s children involved in the history and fund raising in what became a county project.

The picture of the old Kewaunee Courthouse dates to about 1900, before its rebuilding but after the monument was in place.The mounument stands at the southeast corner of the building.

Of the funds raised, a portion was directed to a history of Kewaunee County to be written by Milwaukee Journal and The Sentinel staff, one of whom – Mr. Hemming – was doing a history of the Catholic church in Wisconsin.

Former Kewaunee resident the Honorable John Karel served as consul general to St. Petersburg. In a letter to his son Albert, Mr. Karel asked Albert to subscribe to the monument, praising it in the highest terms.

Throughout Wisconsin monuments were being erected and dedicated to the memories and heroes who served. The monument would also teach children patriotism. County residents were urged to patriotically contribute what they could to “preform our duty to the boys in blue.”

A 2019 Harris Survey found that only 55% of Americans could describe Memorial Day, observed on May 27 in 2024, as a day “to honor the fallen in all the nation’s wars.” By 2021, Gallup reported that as few as  28% of Americans knew what the day meant, although in 2019, 45% said they either always or often attended a commemorative event marking the day. Memorial Day is a federal holiday and a “day off” for most Americans, and it is the day off that means more than what the veterans gave.

Since Kewaunee County was created in 1852, its men and women have fought and died serving in the U.S. military. That’s 172 years. There is one buried in the county who served in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, and the War with Mexico. There are veterans who served in those wars that were awarded 160 acres through the Bounty Land Act of March 1855. If the veteran served 14 days or fought in one battle, they – or their wives or minor children - were eligible. Some who were awarded such land sold it, never having set foot in Kewaunee County.

The acquisition of the land is in an early veteran’s story. Sometimes there is more to it. In Kewaunee County’s early days, the stories are attached to Major Joseph McCormick. DeWayne Stebbins, Henry Harkins and Ferdinand Haevers stand out during the Civil War. Several men of Kewaunee County served with Milwaukee’s Lt. General Arthur MacArthur during the Civil War and with his son General Douglas MacArthur in the Pacific during World War ll.

When Algoma’s north pier was being built, it was Douglas, the young West Pointer, who  was instrumental in its design. It was the same Douglas MacArthur who would have a connection with Algoma just over 40 years later when the hull of the PT boat evacuating him from Luzon to Mindanao in March 1942 was manufactured with Algoma-made plywood.

But Major Joseph McCormick: He was serving in Wisconsin’s Assembly when he was in his 80s. Buried in the Evergreen Cemetery is the man who counted Daniel Boone and George Rogers Clark as friends. McCormick was credited with heroism in the War of 1812 and is thought to be the only veteran buried in Kewaunee County who served in 1812. It fits that McCormick was born in 1878, the year the Constitution was ratified.

McCormick served with distinction as a Private in Capt. Beggs’ company of the Indiana militia at Tippecanoe, Queenstown, and participated in the blowing up of Fort Erie before resigning from the military in 1816 to go west. He was at Fort Dearborn (now the City of Chicago) when it was threatened by Chief Black Hawk and a band of hostile Sacs and Fox. McCormick served as leader when he and others used their own money, horses, guns, and provisions to go forward. By the end of the War with Mexico, he had risen from the rank of Captain to Major. McCormick served in the Indiana legislature, served on the Texas Constitutional Committee, and more. McCormick arrived in Manitowoc in 1848, and a few years later, made his permanent home in Forestville. He was awarded 160 acres on the Peninsula under the Scrip Warrant Act and purchased another 80.

In McCormick’s eulogy, one D.W. McLeod said McCormick helped form Indiana into the “pillar of Democratic Republicanism it is today.” (1875). McCormick’s grave was unmarked in Algoma’s Evergreen Cemetery until his great-grandson Ray Birdsall found it and, with his sister, placed the marker.

DeWayne Stebbins was educated at Annapolis, and as a Navy man, offered his services at the outbreak of the Civil War. Getting tired of waiting for his commission, Steb, as he was known, enlisted as a Private in Company K, 21^st Wisconsin, a company of Manitowoc and Kewaunee County men.

With his regiment’s arrival at Louisville, Kentucky, he was transferred to the Navy and was commissioned as an officer in Admiral David D. Porter’s Fleet.

Steb was Executive Officer on the Mound City when Porter’s fleet was marooned on the Red River* and escaped capture by the building of a dam which allowed the fleet to float down river to a safer place. Mound City was to be the first to go over the dam, but would it survive? Admiral Porter was on the deck with Executive Officer Stebbins as the vessel negotiated the dam, coming up perfectly. It was said Porter asked Steb what made him so white?

General U.S. Grant came close to death while Porter’s fleet was patrolling the Mississippi River near Vicksburg. It was there where Stebbins changed the course of history, and Ulysses Grant became the 18^th president of the United States years later.

Grant had drawn lines to disrupt rebel communications. Patrol was paramount as canoes and drifting logs were used to disguise floating messages from Confederate Lt. General John C. Pemberton to the armies attempting to assist him. As Stebbins was serving as Officer of the Deck one evening, through the darkness and fog, a lookout saw a small skiff that appeared to be carrying two men. Stebbins hailed them. Without a reply, Steb ordered the deck watch to fire. The gunner stood at the lanyard (rigging), aimed the gun and waited for the signal to blow the skiff out of the water. Just as he was giving the order, a voice in the boat called, “General Grant desires to see Admiral Porter.”

Admiral David D. Porter was a Commander until 1862. For his efforts at Vicksburg, he was promoted to Rear Admiral. He held the Mississippi after Brigadier General John C. Pemberton’s** surrender in July 1863. Ahnapee’s Big Steb was there.

Then there was Captain Henry Harkins, another Ahnapee officer in Porter’s Fleet. The thing about Captain Hank was that he was the romantic of Wolf River. But that’s another story. Captain Hank was another national hero, but not for his ability to “pitch woo.”

Hank was aboard the USS Cumberland when it fell to the Merrimac at Hampton Roads. Harkins entered the Navy as an ensign in 1862. Known to be venturesome and seeming to never fear, he soon distinguished himself and became acting ship’s master. His leadership nearly got him killed in a battle that led to changes in naval architecture the world over.

The 10-gun Confederate screw frigate SS Virginia was impressive as it was taking a toll on Union ships. Protected by three-inch iron sides and guns fore and aft, the Virginia had been the 40-gun U.S. frigate Merrimac which was raised by the rebels after it had been scuttled.

The USS Cumberland was another impressive vessel for the day, even with its wooden hull. When the Cumberland and Merrimac met, the Merrimac prevailed. Henry Harkins was in charge of the Cumberland’s gun crew. The Cumberland never flew a white flag, nor did anyone leave his post. As the ship went down, Harkins swam ashore and escaped capture. He continued to serve as an officer and was master of a ship on the Mississippi.

Another Ahnapee man who changed the course of history was William Henry who entered service in October 1861. At 41, he was “old.” Promoted to sergeant within two months of enlistment, he became a second lieutenant and then captain. By July 1865, he achieved the rank of Major. Bill Henry and his Kewaunee County men served with distinction at Shiloh, Vicksburg, Corinth, and Chattanooga. The entire company – hailed as heros - reenlisted in January 1864 and when they went home on furlough, Henry worked to fill the ranks of the company. In June 1890, Major Henry was posthumously honored when the Sons of Veterans organized Maj. W. I. Henry Camp #85 at Ahnapee.

Henry’s company was green as grass as it was going into its first battle at Shiloh. It was said he was giving strict attention to the battle, loading, aiming, and shooting, retreating and advancing. The Fourteenth Wisconsin made a gallant stand and captured a canon. When several of the regimental and company officers were killed, wounded, or just disappeared not long after the fighting began, the men of Company E and a good part of the regiment began lining up on Bill Henry, the old fisherman from Ahnapee. Without orders, Henry was silently leading the battlefront. Much of the impressive work of the Fourteenth that day is due to the leadership of the grizzled 41-year-old fisherman from Ahnapee.

Ferdinand Haevers was a Belgian immigrant to Kewaunee County. Haevers, an orphan, was said to have been a stowaway on an immigrant ship that landed in New Orleans. Somehow he found his way north to Wisconsin, however went south again with an employer. Haevers was in New Orleans at the outbreak of the Civil War. Whether it was the hoopla and excitement in the city at the outbreak of hostilities, or whether he was coerced, Haevers enlisted in the Louisiana Fourteenth in 1861.

Captured early in the war, Haevers was put in a Yankee prison camp from which he managed to escape. Finding a Kentucky unit, he joined it ,and while he was out foraging, he saw a Union officer ride into a clearing. Shooting entered his mind before he remembered learning that an officer without his horse was as good as dead. So, he shot the horse instead of the man. The gunshot brought soldiers to the officer's assistance. Haevers was captured once again and this time was sent to an Ohio prison camp. The officer was William McKinley, the same William McKinley who became the 25^th president of the United States. Although at that point, Haevers was serving the Confederacy, it was once again that the course of history was changed because of a Kewaunee County soldier.

Haevers' Confederate service did not appear to matter when he returned to the Tonet are of Kewaunee County. He was an office holder, a large landowner and one whose leadership was admired in Red River, Kewaunee County, Brown County, and beyond.

Kewaunee County is small, and is the quiet county along the lakeshore. As the late Algoma newspaper editor Harold Heidmann pointed out, without major news outlets, the small county is often forgotten about in Wisconsin's politics even though its citizens have played on a world stage. Sometimes that gets forgotten too.

Since the days of Joseph McCormick, hundreds and hundreds of men and women from Kewaunee County have served with distinction that is not chronicled in the annals of war. Those who served in the Civil War and the Spanish-American War were remembered by family and friends at the dedication of the monument.

For all vets – whose names are there or not – Memorial Day is a day to honor the known and the unknown. As George Washington said over 200 years ago, “Every post is honorable in which a man can serve his country.” About 100 years later, Minot Judson Savage, a Unitarian minister, researcher, and author said, “The brave never die, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men.”

Lest we forget…

Notes: *The Red River rises in the high plains of New Mexico and ends in Louisiana where it empties into the Mississippi. The dam was built because of the rapids in the river.

 ** John C. Pemberton was born in Pennsylvania and was a U.S. Army officer who resigned to join Confederate service in 1861.

Sources: Ahnapee Record, Algoma Record, Algoma Record Herald, An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River? c. 2001 Johnson, Find a Grave, Kewaunee Enterprise; State Patent Volume;  Tell Me Again Stories, undated Heidmann; The Tin Can Sailor, Spring 2004; Wikipedia.

Phased Out of Existence: One-Room Schools

 

Lincoln Graded School, East Rosiere, Kewaunee Co.

B. Chisholm photo

Wisconsin has been a leader in public education since entering the Union in 1848. Provisions for education in the Northwest Ordinance found their way into the laws of  Wisconsin when land in each township was set aside for public schools. 

 As Wisconsin’s counties were created, county school superintendents were among the first officials. County supervising teachers came later. Superintendents oversaw the curriculum as set by the state, and county book committees chose textbooks to be used in all schools. Teachers kept registers listing the names of the children and attendance history. At year’s end, the registers were used to determine aggregate days of attendance, generating reports used to determine state aid. Kewaunee County Historical Society’s school registers predate 1900. Registers also contained teachers' comments about their charges. One Kewaunee County teacher noted that the boy was passed because he couldn't learn anything anyway. Another was passed because he was too big for the desks. There were other such comments over 100 years ago.

Kewaunee County’s schools began opening in the 1850s, just a few years following the county’s creation. There were village schools and the rural schools which had an enormous impact on the county before they passed out of existence nearly 125 years later.

One-room schools operating as late as the 1960s looked much the same as they did 100 years earlier. Schools were generally small with a main room. A hallway or coat/cloak room ran across the front of the room and was serviced by two doors, one at each end of the hallway and originally either the boys' entrance or the girls'. An exterior door opened into the hall, or in some buildings into a small entry hall, with perhaps three or four steps leading to the main coatroom hall. Larger one-room schools often had a small stage or raised platform, originally for the teacher’s desk, and used for programs and meetings. Children either sweltered or froze in the early buildings where the center of the buildings had a wood stove serving as the heat source of heat. Oil burners came later, and eventually furnaces were installed in schools with basements.

State graded schools were two-room buildings arranged much like the one-room schools with the halls and coat room. The state graded schools usually had a third room located behind the main classrooms. It was used for a variety of purposes, and sometimes as a teacher’s winter living quarters. 

Outhouses were a part of the early rural schools although by the 1930s and ‘40s, some buildings had indoor chemical toilets in the basement. Water for drinking, washing hands, and cleaning was carried in from a pump. Running water was long in coming and, often, flush toilets followed. Early teachers were responsible for the heat and cleaning. In later years, teachers were often helped by students as they did the day-to-day upkeep. By World War ll, most schools had a cleaning woman who came once a month to wash floors and take care of other cleaning needs. 

It was the county college, or normal school, system that was a part of the same land grant policies that gave us the University of Wisconsin, UW-Oshkosh, UW-River Falls, Stevens Point and the others once known as normal schools. Door-Kewaunee County Normal School in Algoma never made it to university status, but it did become Door-Kewaunee County Teachers’ College. Though the school closed during the 1970s, it was there that most – to that point - Door and Kewaunee County elementary teachers were trained. In its early years, teacher training was a one-year program. Later, it became a two-year program. Before about 1920, it was possible for students to take a teacher training program during their final year of high school, thus  female teachers often began their career at age 18, frequently having intimidating 16-year-old boys in their schools. Most normal school graduates continued their education working toward a four-year degree by attending summer courses at various colleges, and then continuing to earn Masters of Education and PhDs.

About 20 years ago, this blogger interviewed Clare, a teacher who graduated from D-K Normal School having just turned 18. She felt having gone to a rural school for grades 5 – 8, following her family’s move to Door County, taught her how schools “ran” and thus helped her adjust to teaching. Most one-room schools had over thirty students in the 8 grades with “beginners” coming for 6 weeks in the spring before they started first grade. Teaching all 8 grades was not easy, and there were new teachers who threw up their hands and quit after a brief time.

Teachers needed to keep an eye on the clock. With eight grades, classes were limited to 10-15 minutes at most. If classes ran over, the following class was shortchanged. Efficiency was the name of the game, and teachers had to keep on schedule to get everything in, something those with rural experience felt the graduates of the early 2000s had trouble with while teaching a single grade. 

Grades 3 and 4, grades 5 and 6, and grades 7 and 8 were combined for classes such as social studies. A 3rd grader in a 4th grade social studies class year found it difficult, but the following year the same student, then in 4^th grade, would have an easy time with 3rd grade social studies. Some children were lucky in their rotation and were always on their own grade level. Others never were. There were poems, stories, and picture studies for every month in the school year. They were part of a state curriculum and taught as part of language arts.

Clare’s first teaching job in the 1930s was at Tornado School, which she thought was a nice building. Entry halls for boys and girls were like other schools, but the classroom was huge. Though the school had outhouses, it also had a furnace. It was Clare’s responsibility to bank the furnace with ashes at night and fire up with wood during the day. Water was carried to a 10–15-gallon earthen jug attached to a bubbler. The school had adequate blackboards and was equipped as well as any school for the time, having a jelly roll duplicator* and then a jelly roll duplicator with a crank. Schools often had upright pianos, but Tornado had a baby grand which was all but unheard of.

Schools were not equal. Another one room school in which Clare taught was a beautiful building with a furnace and indoor chemical toilets. The large basement area provided a spacious play area during inclement weather, and the classroom had a stage plus an adjoining room which served as a library. The school, however, lacked what others had. A dipper and pail served drinking water needs. Chalk would not work on black painted walls serving as blackboards. There were no bulletin boards and while there was the room used as a library, the library books were stored in orange crates.

That school had desks with drawers that opened to the right under the seats. Drawers were so small that students found it necessary to stand books on end, thus leaving the drawer partially open. Since the writing surface of the desk was also on the right side, students had to exercise caution while reaching for a book and had to get up carefully. It wasn’t unusual for a desk to tip over, sometimes with a student in it! Frequent tipping brought uproarious laughter and embarrassment to the pupil stuck in the desk on its side on the floor. Getting and keeping a teacher finally prompted that school board to improve and modernize the learning environment.

When Clare taught in a two-room state graded school, she had 25-30 students in grades 1-4. About the same number of students were in grades 5 – 8 in the “upper” room. She felt the school was genuinely nice with its third room in addition to the chemical toilets and a furnace in the basement. The male teacher who taught the upper grades served as principal and was responsible for the care of the furnace. 

Teachers and expectations were as different as the buildings themselves. There were teachers who wanted to be well liked and gave all As and Bs. If there was a new teacher the following year, there were problems with parents who felt their children were not learning with the new teacher who was less generous with high grades.

It was not unusual for teachers to work preparing “seatwork” until 11 or 12 nightly, typing stencils on a standard typewriter to be copied on the jelly roll. Other “seatwork” was made using carbon paper. Workbooks were nearly non-existent and teachers used coloring books to develop seatwork activities for the younger children. It was not unusual for a teacher to spend $10.00 a month on supplies. That came from the $75.00 late 1930's paycheck. 

Eighth graders took exams before they could graduate, requiring Kewaunee County teachers to exchange buildings during exam days so they did not test their own students. In some counties, 8^th graders went to county centers for the tests. 

Traditional school days were divided into four blocks separated by recess and lunch. Reading was taught early in the day, followed by math after recess. Language arts followed lunch and social studies or natural  science came at the end of the day. Little science was taught and there were no science books before World War ll. Students put together butterfly and bird nest collections or made leaf or tree bark booklets. They recorded interpretations from such experiments as the action of a milk bottle cap when a glass milk bottle was filled with water and allowed to freeze overnight. Fuzzy caterpillars were always interesting and cocoons brought in during the fall provided excitement when they hatched into moths in spring. 

By the 1940s, most schools had radios, and Wisconsin Public Radio offered a host of programs. Curriculum was enriched when students listened to Science School of the Air, Wisconsin School of the Arts, Professor Gorden and the music programs, Mrs. Fanny Steves and more. Weekly Reader, a children’s newspaper, was an important part of all schools for years, however there were schools that were not able to afford the subscriptions.

Television in rural schools was almost unheard of even as rural schools were being phased out, but, on occasion, television was used for educational purposes. In one instance, a farm family near school in the Town of Ahnapee owned a television and the family invited the children to watch Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration, the first presidential inauguration ever to be carried. The children brought their lunch buckets and watched the festivities until 3:30. As a follow-up at school, each child drew a part of the inaugural parade on 12" x 18" paper which was attached to the other drawings to form a roller movie that took first place at the county fair. 

Kewaunee County fair offered children exhibit space for their finest artwork, poetry, booklets, and collections. A collection of 35 bird nests, including the nest of a chimney swift that was found when the oil furnace was blocked, was one of the more notable collections in the 1950s. By then, it was not unusual for a one room school to win $30 or $35 in fair prize money. The prize money enabled teachers to purchase supplies for the school.

Children in state graded schools had opportunities those in one room schools did not. On Friday afternoons during the 1930s, the first four grades were dismissed early to give upper grade students additional classes. Clare was one who taught home ec to  the older girls. Using the kerosene stove in the third room, she taught such things as pickle making and baking. One lesson was taught each week. When the home ec cooking period ended, the girls made a dinner for the older boys. Skills learned in cooking and baking, setting a table, serving food, folding and placing napkins, and more were put to use preparing for the dinner. While the girls had home ec, the male teacher - who served as principal - taught the boys manual training in the basement. Looking back, home ec and manual training classes in the rural schools seems strange as rural kids had family chores and responsibilities as soon as they could manage them.

Religion in public schools was not an issue 70 or 80 years ago. One school in which Clare taught was in a Catholic community. All students were Catholic and on November 1, a Catholic holy day, the entire school population walked to a nearby church to attend mass. In other schools, it was customary to offer a meal prayer before the noon lunch.

Teachers taught music in addition to academics. Until at least 1940, the state required each county to enter a state music festival. In one Belgian community school, the children researched Belgian clothing, music, and dance to plan their program. Wearing traditional Belgian clothing and carrying Belgian flags, the students performed the songs and dances for the county. Winning first place, they went to Wisconsin Teachers’ Convention where they performed and stayed overnight. The trip was long as the roads were still gravel. The male teacher and a parent both provided transportation. In the late 1930s. female drivers were still not thought to be capable of driving.

7th & 8th Graders, Roosevelt School, Misiere, Door Co., WI

who demonstrated Belgian folk dances at the 1939 Wisconsin State Fair 

Prior to the end of World War ll, rural children walked or were often transported to school by horse and sleigh during the winter. School was rarely closed for harsh weather even though town roads were not often plowed. Until the 1940s, many  teachers boarded at homes near school during the winter and sometimes for the entire year. At a time when teachers were paid $75.00 per month, board was $20 per month from Monday night to Friday’s noon lunch. If the school had an additional room, teachers would often board themselves there. Those who boarded with families lived as far as a mile from school. Clare got her first snowsuit when she boarded with a family who lived ¾ mile from school. The $15, all-wool, two-piece snowsuit had a cap that extended over the shoulders to enclose all but the face. It kept her warm during the long, cold walk.

The dedication of teachers is apparent in one of Clare’s experiences. As she left school for her family’s home in her Model A Ford on Friday afternoon, snow was just beginning. Everyone spent the weekend snowed in and by Monday morning, town roads were still not plowed. As she drove to school, Clare's lightweight Model A rode the crust of the snow and she had no problem getting through. Hearing the put-put of the engine, those who looked out their windows were amazed to see the teacher driving to school. 

Although rural school children lacked the experiences of today’s children, they were usually polite and most were accustomed to demanding work. While students did not have a gym, they did have a great deal of physical exercise working at their chores and walking to school. Baseball was the most popular playground game during most of the year though they also played dodge ball, Red Rover, and tag.

Christmas programs were anticipated community events and each school was filled as the children offered recitations, readings, singing, dances, plays and even baton twirling by the 1950s. To the delight of one audience, an Algoma barbershop quartet was part of the show. Santa Claus was there to pass out bags filled with peanuts, a popcorn ball, and candy. In  most schools the children had a gift exchange although it was difficult to keep secret the name drawn when some families had 5 or 6 children in school.

The school picnic was another eagerly awaited event for children and parents alike. Although the meal was potluck, the teachers usually supplied ice cream and lemonade out of their small salary. They also provided the prizes for games which included all kinds of races, including the 3-legged race and burlap bag races. Of course, there were always baseball games. There were school boards that even expected the teachers to buy them a case of beer when he or she was hired.

Not all students spoke English and some were bi-lingual. Families often included grandparents who spoke little or no English so other family members accommodated them by speaking in their native language, usually Belgian. Clare told the story of a little boy learning to read and speak English. When he read sentences such as “See Spot. See Spot run. Run, run, Spot,” he would say Spot but use the Belgian words for “see” and “run.” The boy did not learn enough English to pass the grade, however he was fortunate in having a bi-lingual teacher who could teach him English the following year.

The normal school day was usually from 9:00 to 4:00 with an hour for noon. In later years, when schools had 30-minute lunch periods, school was dismissed at 3:30. To have started the day before 9 would have been too early in a rural community, especially in winter. There were chores to be done. 

Married women did not teach before World War ll, however the newly wed Clare took a position so a school could open. A state graded school had a teacher for the upper grades, but not the lower. On Labor Day, when it looked as if the school would stay closed, the board was happy to award the job to a married woman.

Teachers continued to be in short supply during the 1940s and early 1950s. Clare taught for the next 30 years after going back to “help out” a second time. Eleven years after receiving $85.00 per month, she was paid $175.00. Three years later, she was making $225.00. While her 1937 salary was $75.00, she took a $5.00 cut in taking a job at a state graded school following that. Her salary was raised $10 for the second year. Clare felt fortunate to receive $85.00 a month in another school, but it was only that it was Labor Day and the school was in a demanding situation without a teacher. 

Education, and schools themselves, have certainly changed. Although one-room schools have disappeared from Wisconsin’s landscape, they were an important part of rural life and even identity. Students educated in one-room schools have gone on to make their mark in all walks of life. Hearing older adults desiring a return to an emphasis on the Three R’s, we think nostalgically of the one room schools in a day that was.

Sources: The interviewof along-time teacher.

Photos: Gelatin duplicator was fround on Heyer Co. website; photos were in the collection of the interviewed teacher.