Tisch Mills, Pilsner & President Rutherford B. Hayes

Those who think history is dull would find it hard to believe that a Kewaunee Community came close to being named for a beer. They would find it harder to believe that a U.S. president would take much interest in the naming of a community that could only count 50 or so voters. They would find it still harder to believe that the community's name would send a first lady into "hysterics." But, it all happened.

Tisch Mills' post office opened in 1884, though an attempt was made in 1877 to open an office at Tisch’s Mills. Somehow there were questions regarding the place’s name and what it was called or should be called. Kewaunee Enterprise was there to weigh in on the facts, or perhaps that which was not quite factual.

On May 26, 1877, Kewaunee Enterprise told its readers, “In the last ‘Enterprise' the name of the new Post Office at Tisch’s Mills was given as Staus. We are informed that it was an error and that the name of the office is Pilsen. Everybody living in that vicinity is greatly pleased; and we are informed that the supply of Pilsen beer at that point is only limited by the capacity of Anton Langenkamp’s brewery.”

Continuing in the June 25, 1877 issue, the Enterprise wrote that “Mention was made a few weeks ago of the establishment of a new post office in the town of Mishicott, on the line between Kewaunee and Manitowoc counties, at Tisch’s Mills. The post office was first named Carlton Mills. Then some of the folks around there thought they would rather have it called Staus, so they wrote to the Postmaster General and he called it Staus. Then some other folks thought it would be nice to have it called Pilsner, and the Department was duly petitioned to call it Pilsner. Then Mr. Key (Postmaster General David McKendree Key) got mad and wrote back that he thought there was too much fooling going on about naming the post office from which it was not likely they would ever be able to collect an assessment for campaign purposes. Besides that, it would be more than his situation would be worth to call it Pilsner. Staus was bad enough, but Pilsner was worse. Rutherford (Key was referring to President Rutherford B. Hayes), he explained, got tight once on some Pilsner beer which he got from a Bohemian friend of his at Fremont who had obtained it from the old country, and went home, kicked over the cook stove, hugged the hired girl, and stood on his head on the front stoop. On that account Mrs. Hayes resolutely refuses to permit any other beverage than water to be used at state dinners at the White House, and the mere mention of Pilsner as the name of the new post office threw her into hysterics. A Cabinet meeting was called, and it was determined to discard both Staus and Pilsner and adopt the original name, Carlton Mills, and the President instructed the P.M. General to write that if anything more was said about it he would change the name of the Postmaster, Joseph Stangel, to John Jones, or maybe remove him and appoint somebody from Ohio, if he can find anybody down that way to whom he has not already given a government office. So it is settled that the new post office is to be henceforth known as Carlton Mills.”

A brief comment on the name change back to Tisch’s Mills appeared in the July 14, 1877 issue of the Enterprise: “When Postmaster Key said he wouldn’t change the name of that Carlton Mills-Staus-Pilsner post office again for any man alive, we thought he meant it but you can’t depend on any of these public men now-a-days. He has gone and changed it to Tisch’s Mills. It is a good name, however, and we won’t make any fuss about it, but the thing has got to stop right here.”

The thing did not stop, and in another discussion about post office names in the August 4, 1877 Enterprise, the editor reviewed the naming problems for both Norman and Tisch’s Mills. Tisch’s Mills’ report follows: “A post office was established on the south line of the county, in the midst of a people who came from the neighborhood of the city of Pilsen. They were unanimous in desiring that the post office be called Pilsen, but their wishes were ignored, and the office became known as Tisch’s Mills. The Bohemian residents of Kewaunee County are an industrious, law-abiding people, and ready at all times to uphold the institutions of their adopted country. Why should they be denied so simple a thing as the commemoration of their place of birth in the naming of a post office in their midst – a privilege which we believe has been accorded to the people of all other nationalities. By what law, or under what authority, does the Department give an objectionable name to a post office in opposition to the expressed wish of the very people for whose convenience it is.”

The Enterprise seemed to stick up for county residents while keeping its readers informed.No doubt its stance helped boost circulation too.

Information for this article comes from Here Comes the Mail: Post Offices of Kewaunee County. The 1902 postcard of Frank Stangel's store comes from the same book.