Beach's: Algoma's Answer to FAO Schwartz

For those of a certain age, the start of a new school year and Christmas bring thoughts of Beach's. Was there any place better? Well, maybe FAO Schwartz in New York, but what did Algoma kids in the '40s, '50s and '60s know about the big retailer unless they happened to see a catalogue?

To stop at Beach's on the first day of school meant, "School's out, school's out. Teacher left the monkeys out!" It also meant that kids were lined up along the store's south wall checking out needed pencils, pens, ink, erasers, rulers and more. Bulk candy cases lined part of the north wall and for those kids who took good care of last year's leftover supplies, there was money left to spend on Ju-Jus, licorice, maple drops, chocolate covered raisins  and more. Kids who earned their school supply money picking beans at 2 or 3 cents a pound knew how long they picked for that 10 cent bottle of ink or the 3 cent eraser. Better to buy 10 cents worth of candy than ink.

There were stops at Beach's any time anybody had a few cents to spend, always at the candy counter. But then it was Thanksgiving and kids had to start hoarding those few cents. Even though school kids made gifts their parents for Christmas, everybody wanted to make a purchase that was wrapped in Christmas paper. Then it was a walk to the rear of the store where the handkerchiefs, dish towels, measuring spoons, pot holders and dishes were. So was the Blue Waltz, the perfume of the day that came in a big bottle. Mothers stressed the importance of useful, practical gifts while praying that Beach's ran out of it before her son or daughter got there. For more than a few, their prayers went unanswered!

Beach's basement was where it was really at. Before Christmas it was filled with the best toys, dolls and doll clothes, books, wagons, skates, cut-out books, coloring books, doll dishes, trucks, tractors and all the things important to kids over 50 years ago. The basement was where kids prayed their wishes would come true. Sometimes those prayers went unanswered too.

Everybody got pajamas, socks, underwear and maybe a dress, sweater or pants. Gifts were practical. Following World War ll, few had the money for extravagance and extravagance was anything not really necessary. The wooden soldier in FAO Schwartz stands tall observing children passing by with stars in their eyes. Those of a certain age return to Algoma to visit family and friends, driving down 4th, casting an eye toward the old Beach's. For some, rather than stars, a tear or two trickles down the cheek. The kids of the '40s, '50s and '60s see the passage of time and wonder where it all went.

The photo of Beach's was taken from the Commercial History of Algoma, Wisconsin, c. 2006, and used with permission.

Celebrating Christmas in Wolf River, Ahnapee & Algoma

Christmas is Christmas. The reason for it never changes, though over the years its celebration has. Wolf River’s first Christmas 163 years ago was much different than Algoma's was a short 50 years later. The early families knew about Father Christmas but possibly not of Clement Moore's description of him. Howling of wolves surely broke an otherwise silent night,  but it is doubtful the families sang about it, and a white Christmas on the Door County peninsula was more of a fact than a dream.

In the tiny 1851 settlement called Wolf River, there were three families. The Hughes and Tweedales arrived on June 28, 1851. Warners came a week later on the 4^th of July. They survived eking out a living in a wilderness with only themselves upon whom to depend. For as much food as they had laid by, it was running out by Christmas. An icing Lake Michigan was not conducive to a trip to Manitowoc by small sailboat, and a trip on foot along the shore was more than arduous. It was unsafe. Nevertheless, someone would have to try it, but it had to wait.

Christmas Day found the three families together celebrating the birth of the Christ child. There was no clergyman reading the Christmas story from a bible. The dinner menu was one most Algoma residents would be unfamiliar with – a salt pork pie – and one they’d rather stay unfamiliar with!  If gifts were exchanged, they weren’t recorded, but it is likely that on his trips to Manitowoc, Orrin Warner brought something for the children’s stockings. Perhaps he returned with yarn so his wife Jane could knit mittens or stockings. Perhaps he brought candy canes. Maybe he carved little toys or even built a sled. Nobody knows for certain.

As Wolf River grew and turned into Ahnapee and then Algoma, Christmas celebrations changed. Twenty-two years after that first Christmas, the fledgling Record told of angels singing and merry throngs of residents looking forward to a new light. Christmas was not yet commercialized. At least not in Ahnapee. That 1873 paper also told of a Christmas Eve program planned by the Philothean Society. Unusual by 2014 standards, the activities included a debate discussing the how detrimental Great Britain’s rule of Ireland was. An essay and an oration rounded out the evening’s program. If there was a tiny bit of Christmas in that program, it wasn’t mentioned. By 1881, the Enterprise used Christmas to make sport of Ahnapee girls, saying they washed their stockings so they could hoist them up with pulleys to ensure Santa would fill them. The Record countered with the smell of Kewaunee stockings and then went on to say that most Kewaunee girls never wore them because it was nearly impossible to find any big enough. The papers didn’t stop the barbs long enough to reflect the cheer and good feelings of the season.

Church services reflect joyously on the birth of Christ. But, services have changed too. Franz Gruber composed Silent Night in 1818, but more than likely the early Ahnapee choirs had never heard of it. The arrival of pastors meant church services for most, though the Record pointed out the Baptists’ lack of services during the 1880s. After 1900 the paper noted how the pastors put effort into the services, with some even arranging to have Christmas trees. In an effort to augment income, Ahnapee and Algoma ship captains made one last trip in November or early December, taking Christmas trees from the north woods to Milwaukee and Chicago, at first supplying mostly the German immigrant population. Ironically, years before, in 1851, a Lutheran church in Cleveland, Ohio made news when it had a Christmas tree, which some called “idolatry.”

By 1904 Christmas was again changing. Algoma was filled with Christmas spirit and yuletide greetings. Church services were important. College students joined their families, and relatives went back and forth visiting each other.

Schools offered programs open to the entire community. Children recited their pieces, sang songs and acted in skits. Algoma’s school presentation was on December 23^rd in 1909 as was Slovan’s in 1923, unheard of in 2014 when the hustle and bustle would never allow it. Most school programs included a visit from Santa Claus who brought popcorn balls and candy canes. Vacation followed.

When Mrs. C.L. Barnes opened her new store before Christmas 1909, she invited women to purchase her new Haights Vegetable Silk Hosiery, something known for durability. It was noticed that baby things were being purchased while Algoma teachers spent noon hour shopping for gifts for each other during one of the institutes. That brought questions. What was it that not everybody in the small town knew? Boedecker's drug store advertised “Elegant Toilet Sets,” - in those days meaning a comb, brush and mirror – while Kwapil was offering opportunities with sale merchandise.

RFD had come into effect throughout the county on November 20, 1904 and a month later the Record told residents how to meet the letter of the law by keeping their mailboxes open and snow cleared. Christmas cards were introduced in England years before and it was RFD that helped them spread in the U.S. Red Cross continued fundraising efforts in 1909 selling stamps to “Stamp Out Tuberculosis.” It was a good year. Christmas mail was getting so heavy by 1923 that Casco’s mail carriers Christ Drury and Joe Koss made no secret of looking forward to January.

Quiren Groessl was a soldier at Camp MacArthur in 1917 when his Christmas note reported that the men were anxious to get to the battlefields of France. Kewaunee Mayor Edward Seyk had gone to the Texas camp to visit all the Kewaunee County boys while the county’s women kept on with their Red Cross work, thus helping the fighting men. The women of St. Paul’s were putting together boxes for Indian missions in the Southwest.

For 10 or 15 cents, residents in 1916 saw matinee and evening Christmas Eve showings at the Majestic. Viola Allen started in the 6-reel feature The White Sister. Bank of Algoma knew their customers would be pleased to receive a pretty calendar when they called for it.

Schubich’s Furniture reported in 1923 that rocking chairs were the #1 gift, followed by pictures. Guth’s music store customers dug deep in their pockets to buy 4 pianos and 15 phonographs. Barney Google was the most popular sheet music, followed by Bohemian and German waltzes. Melchior’s jewelry store knew many young girls were getting wrist watches, while Joe Charlier said his customers were buying clocks. Both were selling diamond rings. Bach-Dishmaker knew that most would be receiving sensible handkerchiefs and socks, but also knew which woman was getting a $100 coat, a big ticket item. LaPalina and Harvester cigars and sweaters were also on lists. Shaving sets were the fad at Groessl’s drug store but L.J. Englebert said heavy clothing was not moving. Merchants were looking for snow and a threatening sky, sure to help sales because the weather was too warm. Lidral-Gerhart was selling kerosene and gas lamps, Pyrex baking ware and jackknives. Weather wasn’t important there.

Christmas celebrations evolved. Clement Moore’s Visit From St. Nicholas was published anonymously in 1823. Moore told us about Santa's twinkling eyes and the "little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly." White Rock Beverages used a red and white image of the jolly old man as early as 1915. We wonder what we will receive on the first day of Christmas and every other day. Irving Berlin has us still dreaming of a white Christmas, and journalist and humorist Helen Brooks White wrote, “To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult every year.” Isaiah said, “For unto us a child is born,” and Luke said, “She brought forth her firstborn and wrapped him in swaddling clothes…..” And as the familiar carol goes, “God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay."

Sources: Ahnapee Record and Algoma Record Herald;  An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River?, c. 2001; Commercial History of Algoma Wisconsin, Vols. 1 & 2, c. 2006 & 2012; Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County, c. 2010; postcards are in the blogger's collection.

One Way to Skin a Cat: Grandma's Petticoats

Its hard to believe this little rocker played a big role during Prohibition, but it did. So did the little lady rocking in it. Nobody suspected a 90 year old woman of boot-legging. But, her widow's weeds and voluminous skirts held more belts than the one holding up her skirt and petticoat!

Grandpa's family came from French Canada just prior to Wisconsin Statehood. He was one of the younger children and U.S.-born in 1869. Grandma was born in France in 1872, immigrating with her parents three years later. Grandma's father was a hotelier (below left) and she was born in the living quarters of his French establishment. Grandpa's folks were farmers who went north in the late 1870s to open a hotel serving the logging industry.

Rue de la Barre 21

Grandma was a single child. Maybe that was why she had 14 children in 26 years. Grandpa and Grandma always lived near her parents and fairly close to his until Grandpa gave up farming to buy a hotel several hours distant. By the time Grandpa and Grandma bought the hotel, some of the older children had left the nest and the middle tier was there to do what needed to be done. The boys took care of the barn and helped their mother cook. The girls were chamber maids and staffed in the dining room.

It was Prohibition and there was indeed a bar area for socializing, conversation and cards. The bar sold pop, candy bars, and even cider. No doubt some was hard cider. All meals were served on schedule in the dining room, though the girls who served weren't permitted to enter the tap room. Sometimes they sneaked behind the bar, running and hoping to snag some candy on the way through. That's where they saw the most unusual things.

Their old grandma sat rocking away and knitting in the bar room. The hotel catered to traveling men and that's who frequented the bar. Two girls entering their teens thought some of the younger men were so handsome and were always amazed how those men would sidle up to Grandma, hugging and snuggling her. She was so old! Why would those good looking men pay so much attention to such an old lady.

Years later, the girls found out. Moonshine was kept under the gutter boards - under the manure - in the barn before being transferred to small bottles that were hidden in the folds of Grandma's skirts. She might have been 90 but she was adept at passing off the bottles. If revenuers were around, they were none the wiser. If there would have been suspicion, it was shame on the man who violated the skirts of a 90 year old woman. The little old lady was not deaf either; the telephone was on the wall adjacent to her bedroom door!

Whoever said there was more than one way to skin a cat knew what he was talking about.

Photos were taken by Kay and Thayis.

Railroads, Edward Decker & the Horse That Changed History

On May 10, 1869 the Golden Spike was driven in Utah Territory at Promontory Summit. The railroad tied the United States together and history was made. Had a horse not turned vicious, nearly chewing off the arm of Kewaunee County’s Edward Decker, railroad history might have had a few other twists and turns with Decker in the thick of the transcontinental railroad.

Edward Decker came to Kewaunee County from Menasha in 1855, purchasing large tracts of land. As a speculator, he settled on what was called Decker Creek before it was renamed Casco after Casco, Maine, the area in which Mr. Decker was born.  At the county’s organization, Decker became Deputy County Clerk, Deputy Register of Deeds and Deputy Treasurer. His years in office affected the settlement of Wolf River, as well as the entire county, more than any other elected official in the county’s history. The picture Decker presented when he arrived in Kewaunee was neither one of influence nor affluence. It was said he had come in patched clothing, carrying his lunch in a handkerchief, hoping to be named coroner.

Assuming so much responsibility for the county, Mr. Decker moved from Casco to Kewaunee, erecting a small one-story frame building, with living quarters, on Ellis Street. There he conducted Kewaunee County business for the next 16 years. Recognizing the need for a newspaper, in 1859 he began publication of Kewaunee Enterprize,* adding space in the building for that. Decker’s in-county newspaper insured that legal notices - and the associated publishing fees - would go to his paper, not to the Green Bay Advocate which had been publishing them. The first edition of the newspaper was not only praising him when it described him as, “shrewd, of excellent character and a good businessman.” His newspaper served to further his goals.

Mr. Decker was related to those of prominence. Joanna Curtin Decker, his 3^rd wife, was the niece of Andrew Curtin, governor of Pennsylvania and a close friend of Abraham Lincoln. Joanna’s brother Jeremiah, who was said to know 70 languages. served as Secretary and Acting Counsel in the U.S. legation in St. Petersburg, Russia. Decker manipulated the Kewaunee County Democratic party and manipulated the county beyond. A man of wealth, he was one of 10 residents with a taxable income in 1869.

Edward Decker dealt with legal battles for years. Some dealt with county finances and others dealt with his own. Some dealt with the deaths of his wives. Being prominent, wealthy and in a position of power meant his actions, right or wrong, were closely examined. Especially in the bad times.



Casco, 1910 postmark; Decker home left

With one exception, Decker always seemed to bounce back from life’s greatest challenges. On May 22, 1869 he lost the use of his left arm while trying to control the spirited horse he was driving. The horse seized Decker’s arm in its teeth and mangled it, chewing the hand and arm to a pulp while almost trampling the man to death. Decker was near death for several weeks and it was August before he regained the strength to even sit for a bit. A month later, a Green Bay physician said Decker’s health was poorer than any time since the accident and a few days later, the arm was amputated. It was a year before Decker was well enough to be seen on the street.

As early as November1860, Edward Decker gave notice of applying to secure a railroad and a state road from Kewaunee to Green Bay and from Ahnapee to Green Bay. While the Democrat Decker was serving in the State Senate in 1861, his relative Republican W.S. Finley was a member of the Assembly. Finley introduced a bill to incorporate the Kewaunee and the Green Bay railroads, but the Civil War interrupted the plans.

Years later, in 1868, Mr. Decker was about to proceed with an idea which could have been the first railroad from the Northeast to the Pacific. With his business associate C. B. Robinson, editor of the Green Bay Advocate, Decker and lumberman Anton Klaus obtained a charter and were organizing a railroad line from Green Bay to St. Paul. This time it was the accident that put the railroad on hold. When health forced his withdrawal and resignation as railroad president, the railroad was instead built to Winona. It was years before Mr. Decker completed a freight and passenger line, but this time it was from Casco Junction – where it connected with the Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western Railroad - to Sturgeon Bay. Though the accident left him physically crippled, Edward Decker remained a business force who still executed thousands of acres of land transactions. 

 

Ahnapee and Western Railroad was incorporated on August 18, 1890 and began service in 1892. Financed largely by Decker, it serviced his business interests while serving Kewaunee and Door Counties as well. Built without federal subsidies, the company did secure about $76,000 in financial assistance from the county and the communities on its route. The Village of Ahnapee voted to contribute $23,000 in support of the bond issue, and to provide $10,000 in depot and dock privileges. Edward Decker, who provided the most capital and who eventually acquired most of the railroad's stock, was the railroad's first president. His company was short-lived however. When the Decker family fortune collapsed in 1906, the Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western purchased the controlling interest in the Ahnapee and Western but kept the name.

Kewaunee's New Era  complained almost weekly that the railroad was bringing all kinds of tramps, vagrants and bums. The drummers, who sold everything from corsets to non-existent gold mine stocks, were not much more respected. At night they would sit on the hotel porches and whistle at women who were foolish enough to walk past without a male escort. No doubt there were other complaints, however with the coming of the railroad, residents had the speed, the economy and better access for marketing their products, travel and acquiring things they wanted. Real estate values increased. Where it had previously taken three days to get to Green Bay by horse drawn vehicle, a trip by train was as short as a few hours most of the time. A new era had arrived.

Just under 100 years later, Door County Advocate columnist Doug Larson commented on the railroad, but much differently. Larson observed in the Advocate that it was only because of the ship canal that the railroad reached Sturgeon Bay. Without it, Algoma (Ahnapee), because of its location on the lake shore and easier access to railroad service, could have been the commercial center of the entire region. 

King William lll, in Shakespeare’s play of the same name, lamented, “My kingdom for a horse…..” Edward Decker was a self-educated man whose collection included a vast library of rare books. No doubt he thought of William lll more than a few times!

 *The paper was Enterprize until 1865 when it became Enterprise.

Kewaunee New Era was discontinued in December 1894 after 3 1/2 years of publication.  Its publishers planned to give additional attention to the Kewaunee County Banner, a German newspaper owned by the  company.

Sources: An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River?; Decker files at the Area Research Center, UW-Green Bay; Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County. Doug Larson Advocate, 9/18/1998; Kewaunee New Era. Photos are in the blogger's collection.
 

The Storms of November: The Three Sisters

November has a reputation for storms on Lake Michigan, and 1912 was a noteworthy year for ship sinkings. Those unfamiliar with the Titanic learned about it in the Kate Winslet-Leonardo DeCaprio movie by the same name. Artifacts from Ahnapee-born Herman Schuenemann’s Christmas tree ship Rouse Simmons are in Rogers Street Fishing Village and Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. That story was the subject of books, a stage musical and, for years, a Storm Stories feature on the Weather Channel.

The story of the Three Sisters wasn’t quite so well known, however Dyckesville priest Father John Melchers, Edward Delfosse and George DeBaker were each awarded the Carnegie Medal of Honor for courageous rescue efforts. It’s a family story; Grandpa’s brother-in-law was the master of that schooner. Grandpa sailed with him. But not that day.

In late November, Capt. Phillip Klumb and his crew, Soren Torgerson and Andrew Hanson, loaded the Three Sisters with hay at Chaudior’s dock and were bound for the lumber camps in Cedar River north of Marinette. The schooner would leave Cedar River loaded with logs.  Klumb and his wife, the former Anna Johnson, had family members up and down the bay of Green Bay from Little Sturgeon to Red River, and in Marinette. Phil and Anna grew up just down the road from each other at Lilly Bay, where her father Peter, a commercial fisherman and farmer, owned the dock. After their marriage the couple made their home in Mennekaune, a small community along the Menomonee River, sandwiched between Marinette and Menomonee. Shipping provided opportunities for family socialization, but that November it was a funeral that brought the Klumbs and Johnsons together. It was the second funeral in 6 months as Anna’s mother died of breast cancer in June.

On what turned out to be the Sisters last trip in the fall – or ever – there was apparently some hesitancy about the trip, but they loaded anyway. As the vessel was leaving Chaudior’s dock Friday afternoon November 23, 1912, it somehow got hung up on rocks. Managing to release itself, the Sisters began its northwest sail across the bay, however strong north winds brought snow and rain, blowing the ship off course. It was sighted at anchor south of Chaudior’s off Dyckesville in Red River the next afternoon when an estimated 55mph wind was sweeping the area. It was evident that the men were trying to ride out the storm. The wind kept up on Sunday. What really happened will never be known because the three men died.

Gale-like winds washed over the boat, tearing windlass from the forward deck, breaking the anchor chains. As the boat was pushed toward shore, those living near the Dyckesville shoreline could only watch in terror as it was washed in, pounding on the rocks about 300’ from shore. The engine had quit and the fierce wind had taken the canvas, though the spars remained.

Capt. Klumb tied on his life vest and slid into the raging water, attempting to make it to the beach, however the beating waves were overwhelming him. As Klumb got a little closer Father Melchers treaded into the water and managed to grab Klumb whom he carried to a nearby home. Capt. Klumb was barely alive and died of exposure an hour later.

The terrified folks on shore knew there were men aboard who might be alive. Fisherman Edward Delfosse launched a small boat to begin a most heroic rescue attempt. At one point his boat was swamped and pushed back toward the shoreline. Somehow Delfosse made it to the Three Sisters to find Torgerson lying on a pile of ice-covered hay, nearly dead. Delfosse got Torgerson into his boat and was nearly back to shore when both men were thrown from the boat. They were close enough that bystanders could pull them in, but by then Torgerson was dead. Hanson froze to death earlier and was found wedged between hay bales on the deck. He and Torgerson were both living in Marinette, but both had Door County roots.

In a strange twist of fate, it was thought one named Neil Tillman was aboard the ship. When days later Mrs. Tillman went to identify her husband’s body, the body was that of a man she’d never before seen.

The Sturgeon Bay Lifesaving Station was notified as soon as those on shore were aware of the boat in trouble. Capt. Robinson and his lifesaving crew began a valiant rescue attempt but the 55 mph winds hampered that crew too as they searched along the bay. Sighting the water-logged Sisters was another matter. When the life-saving crew arrived on the scene the following day, there was nothing they could do.

Newspaper accounts indicated Capt. Robinson and his crew took care of salvaging, but Grandpa was there taking care of it himself. Perhaps Robinson’s men had something to do with it, however the picture taken that day clearly shows Grandpa on deck. Although newspapers say the boat was pounded to shreds, there was definitely enough planking for Grandpa to walk on. The bow of the boat is visible as is the anchor fluke. Three Sisters is evident on both sides of the bow. If the boat broke free of its anchors, why was one on deck? In the days that followed, Grandpa salvaged what he could before the hull just went to pieces.

The Three Sisters was a small schooner with a 60’ length and 19’ beam. She was built in Fish Creek in 1901 by another in-law, and mostly hauled out of Marinette, frequently lumber for Washburn Lumber Co. in Sturgeon Bay.  Klumb bought the craft in 1907. He had owned the Reliance and the Defiance earlier.

Newspaper accounts came from interviews of those on shore watching in horror and, of course, speculation. A family’s account is what they know with certainty and what has been learned from bystanders. What isn’t known is why the Sisters ever left Chaudior’s dock or how it got so far off course. Possibly the hull was damaged as the boat was leaving the dock, and, as any ship wreck in which all perish, there remain questions.

The waters of Green Bay and the waters of Lake Michigan hold countless ships holding even more stories. Wisconsin Underwater Archeology and diving groups have done much to document the history of lost vessels. Analyzing their findings, they contribute much to Wisconsin’s maritime history. It is doubtful any more will be learned about the Three Sisters, but that could be another strange twist of fate.

That storm affected the family in yet another way. Algoma Capt. Herman Schuenemann and his crew died when his ship the Rouse Simmons sunk just north of Two Rivers. Schuenemann had been advised not to leave Thompson, Michigan, with his load of Christmas trees. Klumb and Schuenemann were well experienced captains whose rationale will never be determined. Ann Arbor 5 was nearing Kewaunee when the crew saw the Simmons in distress, yet the vessel was not signaling distress. The

ferry's captain radioed Kewaunee Life Saving Station. Capt. Isaac Craite and his men were overwhelmed by the ferocious waves and could do nothing. Craite was the other grandpa's first cousin. Capt. Joe Dionne, a first cousin of both, had been transferred from the Two Rivers' station to Sheboygan. Taking his place was Capt. Paul Sogge a man with

Kewaunee County ties. When the papers later interviewed Capt. Dionne, he said he had never seen such a lake storm.

One hundred two years later, the Titanic and the Rouse Simmons are well remembered. Nobody wrote songs and a musical about the Three Sisters or the other boats that went down in that same November storm, but they are chronicled. Anybody looking for a good book about the identified shipwrecks on the bay of Green Bay or the northern part of Lake Michigan will enjoy Paul J. Creviere's book Wild Gales and Tattered Sails. Rochelle Pennington and Fred Neuschel have written about the Christmas Tree ship, Rouse Simmons. Pennington has also written a children's book about the ship. Trygvie Jensen's volumes offer insights into commercial fishing and the fury of Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan does not easily share is secrets.

Picture credits: Capt. Armstrong's Wren in Algoma is the subject of the top photo. It is owned by and used with permission of historian and great-granddaughter N. Harvey. The photo captures Algoma in the schooner days, although newspaper accounts often mention 20 or so schooners riding at anchor. Bert Scofield, another first cousin, was running his men through a lifesaving drill in the Sturgeon Bay canal about 1900 when the picture was taken. The picture and that of Capt. Johnson salvaging are from family files and were most certainly saved from the Door County Advocate. The life-saving crew is a watercolor by N. Johnson and used with permission. The postcard is from the blogger's collection.

 

 

"The Incident" and a "Bad Rap"

Algoma Public School, Postmarked 1910

In late winter 1916, nine Algoma teachers complained that high school principal George Bassford had insulted their moral character as well as that of others in the community. Bassford was alleged to say teachers could do whatever they wanted to do outside the city, but had to behave in the city. Whatever “behaving” was, its definition was not in Attorney Joshua John’s files in the ARC at UW-Green Bay, or in newspapers of the time.

It seems that ten* of the District’s teachers who were boarding with Mrs. Herbert Sibilsky felt one of their number had to be reporting behavior to the principal. Reading accounts nearly 100 years later, it would appear that single women – many young – and a 60 year old man in authority gave a story legs.

Students went on strike against Bassford after he fired a female teacher without a hearing. The firing was attributed to insubordination. Things escalated. Citizens believed the teachers. When other teachers were asked to “testify,” they refused to do so without benefit of counsel. Some teachers left town, returning to their own homes and thus necessitating the board hire new teachers, including a replacement for the woman fired. By then there were those who said the woman was fired for resisting Bassford’s caresses. Bassford had gone to bat for his teachers as early as 1914 when the Thanksgiving issue of the Record took note and said he took over the students so teachers could catch the train during the school day to be home for Thanksgiving

News of “the incident” spread, and an “incident” makes for delicious gossip. On February 29, 1916 the State Journal reported the school fight was all over town, on the streets and in the homes. What made the story especially juicy was that Bassford was a 60 year old married man. The State Journal reported the following day saying Bassford called teachers to the office, locked the door and alleged both immoral character of citizens and lax teacher morals. According to the Journal, 600-700 people attended a meeting at the Opera House to discuss the astounding charges. Such news even made the March 2^nd edition of small town Amery, Wisconsin in an article telling readers about shocking character charges against Principal Bassford. It reported that in a school of 125 students, only 20 showed up on the day that paper acquired its news. On the 3^rd of March, the Record commented when its headline screamed that Mr. Bassford was “Meat For Yellow Journalists.” It noted choice bits of scandal. The Record didn’t comment earlier because of the “delicate” matter.

Attorney Joshua Johns – later 8^th District Congressman - was engaged as attorney for the teacher discharged and those who resigned. When the Board attempted to pay the discharged teacher, she said she didn’t want the money, though sometime later she wanted her salary for the entire year. Following one mass meeting at Opera House, businessman Sam Perry said a “small town is excited by charges affecting women and girls” and that excitement carried them away. Perry, who was interviewed by Milwaukee Journal, also said the school board was made up of seven respected business men of all political parties. Perry felt the agitation was due to the disappointment of the resigned teachers and felt the incident was closed. But it was not.

The State Journal  informed readership on March 16, 1916 that the matter was taken up by Wisconsin Board of Education as the fired teacher wanted to be heard, though the Board refused her twice. A teacher who returned to Oshkosh, Miss Gansen, said in an interview that principal intervened in a quarrel between two teachers. Gansen said the issue had nothing to do with schoolwork, however  she declined to say more, other than that the teachers didn’t get a fair deal. Algoma’s board did ask those teachers who left to appear and air their grievances. The teachers did not and, according to the paper, handed in threatening resignations instead. That involved reinstatement of the dismissed teacher.

It was reported that the teachers hastily resigned, and when they found out how much that would cost them, they (in effect) went after the principal. The court said the teachers took their troubles to the public and that newspaper accounts were highly exaggerated. After investigations, the Board exonerated Bassford though asked him to resign saying the papers had been flooded with such embarrassing stories that his leadership was questioned and that, essentially, the District looked bad. The Record called the incident “nauseauting.” Bassford filed suit in September for what he felt was a breach of contract as he had two years yet to fulfill.

On May 31, 1918 the presiding judge found for Mr. Bassford, against the school district, and awarded him $400. It was found that Mr. Bassford was trying to iron out the issues. He had told one teacher to apologize and “make things right,” or she would have to step down from the faculty. Bassford said nobody was “tattling” on anybody and while the term “liar” was never brought forward, there were those who thought he was one.

Milwaukee Journal carried an article reporting that things were cooling down, and both weekly papers – The Record and The Herald -  supported the principal and the board. There were new teachers and school was running smoothly. As the Record said, a small incident cost the District over $1,200 in legal fees, caused turmoil, confusion and passion to sweep the city.

The incident undermined the city, the credibility of the Board of Education and its choice of teachers. A “small incident” affected reputations in a big way. In 2014, it could be said that Bassford got a “bad rap.” In a subsequent Algoma Herald* F.J. Walters and Harry Heidmann said the Board had the facts and others did not. They went on to say the Board was sincere in its handling of the “disgraceful occurrence.”

*One account has Mrs. Sibilsky renting to 10 teachers. The number seems high because the high school had 8 teachers in total according to the 1917 Crescent Beach Echoes, the school's yearbook.  If the number included the grade school teachers, Mrs. Sibilsky would have been renting to most of the city's teachers. Ten single women working at the same kind of job,  living in the same home, eating meals together and so on, would seem like a scenario for conflict. 

Mrs. Sibilsky was operating the hotel remodeled in 1903 from the bar and dance hall built by her husband in the mid-1890s. The Mill St. building, once the site of the Sheridan Hotel, was torn down in the mid-1990s.

**Algoma Record and The Herald merged a short time later.

Sources: Joshua Johns' files at ARC-UW-Green Bay; Algoma Herald; Algoma Record; History of Commercial Development in Youngs and Steele Plat and Other Significant Properties in Algoma, Wisconsin, Vol. 1; Cox-Nell House Histories. Postcards from the blogger's collection.

 

Kewaunee County, Ben Franklin & Veterans' Day

Well over 200 years ago founding father Benjamin Franklin said if we give up our liberty for security, we are neither free nor secure. That isn’t the exact quote, but rather the gist of what has been repeated so many ways over all those years. Pearl Harbor survivor Firman Balza says just about the same thing to the groups to which he speaks. It’s as true today as it was during Franklin’s time during the American Revolution. It takes a veteran to be in Franklin’s league!

Kewaunee County’s earliest residents were primarily Germans, Bohemians and Belgians with smatterings of Norwegians, French and Polish. Though most of them had never heard of Ben Franklin at immigration,  Balza’s ancestry surely includes somebody in that mix. Many of the immigrants came from places where nobody talked about giving up liberty because there was so little to give up.

From its earliest days, county citizens were always there to defend that liberty. Joseph McCormick was not a resident of the county in 1834 when he and a party of men from Manitowoc sailed north to explore the (now) Ahnapee River. Wisconsin had not yet achieved territorial status and statehood would take 14 more years. McCormick never envisioned a county named Kewaunee would be created in 1852, and it was 20 years later when he returned to settle on the Kewaunee-Door County line.

McCormick was Maj. Joseph McCormick, veteran of the War of 1812. He is the only known veteran of that war to be buried in Kewaunee County. McCormick served in the Wisconsin Assembly and left his mark. He died in Ahnapee and was buried in the Evergreens in a spot said to be unknown, however his great-grandson Ray Birdsall and Ray’s sister put a stone on the spot some years ago. Birdsall’s ancestors include the Perrys. Matt Perry was a Civil War musician in Co. E. History tells us he fifed “The Girl I Left Behind Me” while the company paraded in the streets of Ahnapee before leaving on the Comet. Another Perry, Ralph, was wounded in the Argonne Forest of France, and died on November 22, 1918. The Record Herald said Perry gave his life to end the world domination ambition of the “German junker.” Following his family line, Mr. Birdsall is also a veteran

German immigrants Magnus Haucke and Henry Baumann both served in the Civil War. Haucke enlisted in Milwaukee and Baumann was a Kewaunee County conscript. At the war’s end, Haucke joined his family which had relocated to Ahnapee sometime earlier. Baumann arrived in Wolf River in 1854. The two met when Haucke began courting Baumann’s daughter. Both men continued service to their country by giving to their community on the village council, in the first fire department, political nominating committees and more. They took the opportunities to participate in Wisconsin Civil War encampments. Neither enjoyed robust health following the war and both died early deaths. Kewaunee County’s first Civil War enlistment was that of Chauncey Thayer who also returned. Sixty-five county men died in the war, almost twice as many dying of disease than wounds.

On June 6, 1890, Kewaunee County Board passed a motion to erect a monument to those who had served in the Civil War. Irving Elliot, the county’s last surviving Civil War veteran, lived 38 years following the monument’s dedication on Memorial Day 1899. By the time the Civil War monument was built on the courthouse grounds, the Spanish American War was over and the monument honored the service of those men too. Few from the county fought in that war.

World War l was supposed to be the war to end all wars, but it was not. The Civil War’s Magnus Haucke was Ernest Haucke’s uncle. Ernest’s father was Magnus’ step-brother. Magnus came home but Ernest, left, was the county’s first World War l casualty. Anna Mae Kochmich left teaching for nursing, entering the Reserve Corp of Nurses at Fort Oglethorpe in December 1918. She contracted influenza and died of pneumonia on January 19. As far as anybody knows, she was the first Kewaunee County woman to die while serving in a military capacity. Spanish Flu was sweeping the world and men died in camp before they ever went abroad. Ernest Haucke lived on when American Legion Post 236 was chartered in 1919 and named for him. V.F.W. Post 3392 is named for Perry.
 

Ernest Dionne served on the Western Front in France and brought this silk handkerchief home to his mother who was born in Lille, France. The city in the northwest corner of France was located in French Flanders and on the Western Front during World War l. .

 

Hostak-Novak Post 7152 was named for World War ll men, Norman Hostak and Robert Novak, who were killed in action. Novak’s son and daughter were in grade school with classmates who knew their dad had been killed in the war. Classmates had no idea what it was like to grow up without a dad or to have a mom who was the sole support of the family. Though World War ll altered society, it was a society not kind to women.

Mahlon Dier and Tommy Lang were AHS seniors who had turned 18 and completed their high school courses by the end of the first semester. The young men who were part of the football team in the fall were drafted in spring and never went through graduation ceremonies with their classmates. It wasn’t long before Tommy was killed. Mahlon came home. Because of the paper shortage, Dier’s class didn’t have a school annual, or yearbook. For their 60^th reunion, Dier created one.

Rich Johnson was part of his family’s commercial fishing business before he enlisted in the Navy. Even as a youngster it was not unusual for him to pilot the tug in the fury of Lake Michigan or through its dense fogs. Serving on the Admiral’s flagship, Rich was the lowest member of the bridge watch, the grunt who ran for coffee and carried messages. In a period of heavy seas when the wheelman couldn’t keep the ship on course, Rich volunteered to do it. The Admiral must have had it as he told Rich to take the wheel. No doubt the more senior members of the watch expected a calamity but the young Wisconsin fisherman did indeed hold the ship on course. From then on Rich served as the Admiral’s coxswain when he went go upriver for drinks in the Philippines.

Navy man Frank Schmidt, another commercial fisherman, experienced a horror later seen in movie newsreels. The atomic bomb was being tested in the Pacific and Schmidt volunteered to serve on an observation vessel. He witnessed the total destruction before the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ed Goetz was training fighter pilots in Alabama. When the U.S. began running out of pilots, Goetz got his notice to leave for combat duty, however he never went because President Truman ordered the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Ed says Truman saved his life. He’ll be 100 on Christmas Eve!

Men enlisted and many more were drafted. Some women enlisted. After the war men got G.I. benefits. The women who served got nothing until Congress decided they had actually contributed and awarded them benefits a few years later. With so many men gone, women stepped into positions that they’d never before held. In addition, women had to keep the home fronts going. Gardens were needed in the Food for Victory programs. Women were encouraged to knit, to roll bandages and to take nursing courses that would help within the community. Lacking today’s conveniences such as indoor plumbing, women took care of the children, kept house, sewed clothing and recycled everything there was to recycle. The only thing different about women in World War ll was that they were also expected to serve in manufacturing jobs, and working married women was largely unknown in Kewaunee County.

Then came Korea. Some call it the forgotten war but maybe it is not understood. The baby boomers and those a little older were in school during that war. It wasn’t history then; it was happening and wasn't in textbooks. Though North Korea is one of the world’s poorest economies, it has the world’s largest standing army and quite frequently makes news rattling its sabers. The U.S. protected South Korea which today is an educated country that enjoys a good economy while being one of the world’s most wired countries. Lyle Brandt, Henry Hohne, Harvey Kudick gave their lives in Korea. Korean War veterans Lloyd Nimmer and Jerry Simonar were two Kewaunee County Korean War veterans nominated with pride for an Honor Flight to Washington.

Algoma residents Jack Rush, Roger Kostka and Steve Perlewitz were killed in action in Vietnam. They are remembered on the wall in Washington, D.C. and were remembered with photos and biographies on the wall created for L-Z Lambeau, a wall also exhibited in the rotunda in the capitol in Madison. Wisconsin Public Television is spearheading an effort to find a picture for every Wisconsin man killed in Vietnam. The pictures will be part of an interactive display in the Vietnam memorial in Washington. Two other Algoma men, Gary Mertens and Bryan Wolter, both lost their lives on active duty, however not in Vietnam.

Since Vietnam, the U.S. has seen other military actions in places such as Grenada and Somalia. There was the first Gulf War which was followed by another in Iraq and Afghanistan. Luxemburg-Casco grads Jesse Thiry and Dean Opicka gave their lives for Iraqi freedom.

Algoma, Carlton, Casco, Kewaunee and Luxemburg all have American Legion Posts full of veterans who remember. They don’t ramble on about themselves or sacrifices they made but they do work toward helping and educating others. To not have been in the military is to not completely understand. Ben Franklin talked about liberty. It is the vets who have given us what we enjoy today. The vets remember. They know who didn’t come back. They know who was a P.O.W., giving them their space, their privacy and their due. The vets understand the issues of mental and physical health, employment and homelessness among the younger veterans while Washington pays lip service and dismisses

Ben Franklin also said, ”Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.” Mr. Balza knows that too, but he doesn’t remind those to whom he speaks.

Picture credits: McCormick stone, T. Duescher; paintings, N. Johnson; Jacksonville National Cemetery photograph by blogger.
Sources: An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River?, c. 2001; Ahnapee Record, Algoma Record Herald; In From the Fields, c. 1995.

Bicycling & the Wheelmen of Kewaunee County

Last spring Wisconsin Magazine of History carried an article on cycling. Well before 1900, bicycling had swept Europe and was catching on in  the U.S.  As the 1907 Kewaunee postmarked postcard photo attests, fashionable wheelman were sweeping Kewaunee County too.

History tells us the first bicycles arrived in Wisconsin in 1869. While the things looked a little unusual, they had larger front wheel than back, a seat and handlebars and did bear a resemblance to what we know today. Racing was obviously big in Europe as a November 1878 Record reported that the English were “running mad” with regard to bicycling. The driving wheel was 8’ tall and the rider rode at the height of lamp posts, No doubt there was more than a little laughter when the rider needed to grasp those lampposts to dismount. According to the article, courage was only outdone by dexterity when the bike got up to speed.

Describing itself as a bicycling and tricycling literature publication, The Wheelman magazine began offering premiums in an effort to increase it's subscriber base. Those bringing in 50 subscribers would receive a Nicholas Toy Co. 42” bicycle, but the jackpot was a Columbia Tricycle* for anyone bringing in 180 subscribers.  Most interesting  of the various classes of bicycles offered was the St. Nicholas bicycle. Columbia had a big name and when the company’s 1888 business calendar was out, the Sturgeon Bay Independent gushed about the novel, convenient publication. The paper pointed to “new and fresh quotations pertaining to cycling from leading publications.” Nearly every page had quotations illustrating the popularity all over the world and prominent writers stood out.

At the same time the National Cycling Association was selecting exceptional riders from the ranks of the League of American Wheelmen to act as officials for a cash prize meet. Offering sizable prizes was an inducement to amateur wheelmen. Wisconsin was a hub of bicycling activity and the state league even hosted an event at Ripon. Just how many Kewaunee County bicycle enthusiasts took part does not appear to have been recorded.

Ahnapee’s popular  Molle Bicycle Shop stood on Steele Street, on the spot remembered as Timble’s Barbershop and now occupied by Community Improvement Association, also called “Main Street.” John Molle was a racer, and sporting events included bicycle racing. During the summer of 1885, a three-day meet was held in Marinette with riders the paper called “fleet” and “well-known.” Molle was good, however the country really took notice in November 1890 when Samuel Hollingsworth of Greenfield, Indiana broke all records, riding his bicycle an astounding 281 ½ miles in 24 hours.

Bicycles even had an application in the Army, or so it was proposed by Capt. Moes of the 21^st Infantry. In an 1897 article appearing in the Evening Star,** Moes felt bicycles could replace horses as bicycles would be faster than horses on good roads. He felt they could be more easily hidden than horses. Moes' idea was shot down because bad roads would render bicycles inefficient though Moes felt the solution was using both. That was 20 years before the U.S. entered what came to be called World War l. When the U.S. entered World War ll in December 1941, the army had more horses than tanks. Bicycles never made it as big as Moes had thought.

Though Moes’ idea about bicycles in the military didn’t fly, mail carrier Harry Herman knew they worked for mail. In May 1898 Herman used his wheel to carry mail from Algoma to Sandy Bay, a 40 mile round trip. Herman felt bicycles would make the trip easier and faster and he proved it. Leaving Sandy Bay at 1, he arrived back in Algoma at 3. It didn't equal Herman's feat, but it was newsworthy three months later when Frank Elliott rode his bicycle ten miles to Kewaunee one day and returned the next. In 1906 Door County Superintendent of Schools W. L.Damkoehler also made news when he visited the schools throughout the county on his bicycle, feeling it was much more economical than feeding and caring for a horse.

Kewaunee County's fair offered bicycle racing competition in 1895. Open to county men only, Molle took 2^nd in the one mile race while his nemesis Joseph Gottstein came in 4^th. Then Molle won first in a race open to all. If Gottstein raced that time, he didn’t place. In the three mile race, Molle again won while Gottstein came in 7th, which was last place.

The rivalry that developed between Molle and Gottstein came to a head in October 1895 when Molle put up $25 to race Gottstein in Sturgeon Bay. Gottstein countered that he liked Kewaunee and that Kewaunee, Manitowoc or Green Bay were his choices for a race. Others put up additional money and Molle’s friends felt he could beat Gottstein any time and since it didn’t matter where, Molle should meet him halfway.

April 1899 brought out Algoma’s bicyclers who had to keep on Steele St. because other streets were too muddy. The editor noted all the new wheels and said the bicycle craze hadn’t left Algoma. Cycling was not only a gentleman’s activity. As early as 1878 it was said women were approaching the sport timidly but it was gaining favor for exercise. At the time, men wore riding habits but women did not. Then came the French cycling gown, a simple gray tweed jacket and skirt with a white flannel bodice. Gaiters matched the dress while the cap matched the blouse. Part of cycling was a fashion show. An 1893 Sturgeon Bay Democrat reported on a Massachusettes' woman who rode around New England with the zeal of a missionary while lecturing to advance the cause of cycling.

Then came the laws. Bicyclists were expected to obey the laws of the road. Collisions were commonplace and cities regulated speed. Wheelmen were advised to be respectful of others as failing to adhere to the rules gave all bicyclists a bad name.  Bicyclists were to watch for horses which, not being accustomed to such sights, could easily cause injury. They were advised to watch for pedestrians, also to avoid injury. When Otto Haack of Rio Creek broke his arm following a fall from his bicycle, it was news. Perhaps it happened because his cousin Leo was riding the handlebars. Otto and Leo were brought to Dr. McMillian’s office in what is now the Rouseabout on the northwest corner of 4^th and Clark in Algoma. Otto’s arm was set. Leo’s broken toe must have been quite serious because the paper mentioned that amputation was not necessary.

Algoma residents have been bicyclists for the past 140 years. Baseball has been around a little longer. The interest in both does not appear to be waning.

"Late for a Date"

The metal sculpture adjacent to the parking lot at Manitowoc's Rahr Art Museum was taken by the blogger.

Ahnapee was renamed Algoma in 1897. It began as Wolf River and renamed Ahnepee in 1859. The place was spelled incorrectly - by the state and federal governments as well - so often that in 1873, townspeople decided if they couldn't beat 'em, they'd join 'em and Ahnepee became Ahnapee.

*An online check indicates Columbia Tricycles were first advertised in 1883. Nicholas Toy Co. seems to have begun advertising its bicycles a year later. Online photos of the St. Nicholas bikes show a huge front wheel and a very small rear wheel. Some of the three-wheeled tricycles look like miniature carriages with two larger wheels in back with a seating platform between. Other tricycles are reminiscent of today’s though have a far different wheel configuration.

** A Milwaukee newspaper.

Sources: Ahnapee Record; An-An-api-Ssbe: Where is the River?, c. 2001; Evening Wisconsin; Sturgeon Bay Democrat; Sturgeon Bay Independent.

John Cashman, Politician: A Progressive Legacy

In a certain sense John Cashman’s life had a government association right from the beginning. His parents William and Hannah Cashman patented the property on which he was born – now on Kewaunee County Highway V  -  in 1858 when the town was called Fredrickton. By the time John was born in November 1865, he was their 8^th child and the town was renamed Franklin.

John Cashman attended school in Franklin, going on to Valparaiso University before returning to teach in Kewaunee and Brown Counties. His teaching career does not appear to be chronicled, however the Montpelier 1957 Centennial Book lists Cashman as the first teacher at Pilsen School in 1891, and an autograph book found by historian J. Biebel suggests he taught in Casco during 1885. Among the book’s most interesting signatures is that of William E. Minahan, who went down with the Titanic. Other autographs included that of Minahan’s brother J.R. for whom St. Norbert (DePere) college stadium and science building are named. The Minahans and brother Hugh are well associated with Kewaunee County. Ransom Moore, “The Father of 4-H,” Eddie Decker, son of Edward, and Burke, Frawley, Erichsen, DeWane and Finnel were among the other names found.

Cashman was a well-known farmer when in 1901 he won a civil service position as a meat inspector in the Bureau of Animal Industry in the Department of Agriculture, a Chicago job paying $1,200 a year. From there he went to the Internal Revenue Service. Making good use of the additional educational opportunities the city offered, he earned a law degree via night school. Within a few years of returning to his Town of Franklin farm in 1919, he ran for elected office. In that first attempt at politics in 1922, he was elected to the state senate representing Door, Kewaunee, and Manitowoc counties, an office he held for most of his life, leaving briefly in the 1930s during an unsuccessful attempt to run as the Democratic candidate for Congress. Two years following his first election, Governor Blaine appointed Cashman to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents. It was his failing health in 1946 that prompted him to withdraw his name from the election. He died soon afterward.

Cashman was a political Progressive who had a significant impact on Wisconsin and on the nation beyond. He was a LaFollette delegate to the national convention in 1924 and, as so many other Progressives, he was an isolationist. Cashman stood out as an orator, winning prizes for his orations while taking his law classes in Chicago. That ability brought him even national attention when in 1923 he sought legislation to abolish Wisconsin school textbooks containing pro-British interpretations on the American Revolution. He was back at it during the 1930s when he again worked toward abolishing pro-British texts on the causes for World War l, again from Wisconsin schools.

While Cashman campaigned for LaFollette, one of his stops included Algoma where he was introduced to residents and businessmen by Highway Commissioner Moses Shaw. Speaking from an automobile parked at the Union Oil Station,* Cashman said LaFollette’s record had been carefully examined over a period of 35 years and the only thing anyone could begin to criticize was LaFollette’s war record, but, as Cashman pointed out, the war was over. Cashman continued telling listeners that LaFollette was poor and couldn’t afford to put posters on every street corner.

It isn’t clear if comments on LaFollette's finances were believed, but residents did agree that it was up to every man to take his wife to the polls. When Cashman went on to say that women voters were just like men,” only better,” he was surely courting women, most of whom would be voting in their first presidential election. Wisconsin was one of the first three states to pass the 19^th Amendment, which was ratified in August 1920. Securing the woman's vote was as important then as it is today.

Cashman told the crowd on the corner that while most countries had a ruling king, those in the U.S. could think for themselves. He pointed out that farmers were so busy they didn’t have time to think, but if they did not, corporations would do it for them. He praised Governor Blaine saying that he did away with secrecy laws, thus exposing tax dodgers and tax frauds.

John Cashman is credited with writing the bill authorizing the tax on gasoline to pay for road construction. The current 2014 Wisconsin race for governor has brought that tax to the fore. According to Biebel, it was Cashman who got the bill passed which authorized construction of DePere’s Claude Allouez Bridge in 1932.That bridge was torn down within recent years, following the building of a new bridge.  Cashman drew national attention in the mid-1930’s when his bill restricting the sale of colored oleomargarine and taxing it, in Wisconsin, was passed. As late as the 1960s some Algoma still residents drove to the Illinois border to purchase yellow oleo, something available in any store today.

Cashman was politically progressive even beyond being a part of the Progressive party. Some would say he took the bull by the horns, though historian R. Selner said he also used his fists. Devoting his life to politics and protecting farming, Cashman made an impact. He didn’t appear to take the easy way out and certainly didn’t speak in the vague sound-bite manner of politicians 65 years after his death. When Algoma Record Herald reported on Cashman's retirement in May 1946, his stormy political career was noted in the large-type headline. The paper editorialized that when Cashman was elected in 1922, he "owned the most vitriolic tongue in the legislature." The article continued saying, "A sure way to start a fight with Cashman was to suggest lowering or reducing the oleo tax."

Anybody compiling a list of Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan shore counties in order of supposed importance would probably rank Kewaunee County dead last. It is the only lake shore county lacking TV or radio stations or a major newspaper outlet, but it does beat the others having more cows than people. And there are few places in the U.S. can match that cow-human ratio! Even so, Cashman stood out as so many other Kewaunee County residents have, and, just as so many others, he has faded into history. The legacy is there. Memories of names and dates are not.

*The station was on the southwest corner of 4^th and Steele, remembered by most as Meyers’ Deep Rock.Union sold to Deep Rock about the time of Cashman's speech.

Sources: Algoma Record Herald articles; Commercial Development in Algoma, WI c. 2006; Interviews with J. Biebel & R. Selner, 2008; John Cashman papers in the Area Archives at UW-Green Bay; Kewaunee County News, (blogger's article) 2008; Montpelier 1957 Centennial Book.