Kewaunee County, Algoma, 1918 & Influenza

An article in the January 23, 1918 issue of USA Today tells readership the “flu season is wretched, but it’s not the worst.” The worst was 100 years ago during World War l. It wasn’t only a nationwide flu, it spread throughout the world and was called a pandemic.  At least 675,000 people died in the U.S. alone. Wisconsin, Kewaunee County and Algoma were not immune to the disease.

Well after the advent of the flu, the State Board of Health, late in 1919, adopted methods for its prevention and suppression. Physicians were mandated to report, in writing, to local health officers any case of flu within 24 hours. If a doctor was not engaged, such reporting fell to the head of the family, school principal, plant superintendent, hotel keeper or anyone else in authority. A red placard containing the word “Influenza” was ordered to be placed in a conspicuous place on the home of one who had influenza or pneumonia. Persons with the disease were to be isolated. It was pointed out that droplets produced during sneezing, coughing and speaking spread the disease, which was also transmitted with common drinking cups, dirty hands, roller towels and more. Posters and newspaper articles created public awareness.

Nearly a year before the state mandates, Algoma Board of Health forbad gathering for public funerals, parties, lyceum courses or anything involving groups of people. Physicians felt that the influenza was showing signs of being managed, feeling that the city had seen the worst of it, but it was also that gatherings would continue to spread it.

When the influenza known as the Spanish Flu reared its ugly head in Algoma, health authorities closed schools, including Door-Kewaunee County Training School, and theaters. At the time there were 25 cases reported in the city and each day brought new reports, including that of assistant teacher Miss Ingerson who was said to be recovering. Principal F.A. Maas and his wife were both suffering from the epidemic, but their cases were not reported as being serious. How long public gatherings would be banned was anybody’s guess.

The flu struck Kewaunee County and was known to have surfaced in Forestville, Brussels and Union. It was all over. Thanksgiving 1918 saw the United Slavs cancelling their program at the Kewaunee’s Bohemian Opera House. The group felt that whenever conditions were favorable, it would hold its Thanksgiving program.

It was World War 1 that spread  influenza and death to the four corners of the earth. One would think battlefield deaths came from bullets, but, as in the Civil War, disease killed fighting men faster than ammunition.

Drafted men died in camp before ever getting to the battlefield. Algoma’s Louis Bull died in Edgewater, Maryland, of pneumonia following weeks of being treated for flu. Elmer Thibaudeau of Luxemburg suffered the same fate after enlisting only a month earlier. Joseph Koukalik of Franklin was another. Adolph Wacek died of influenza in Kansas City. It was said Adolph had an irresistible urge to serve his flag and country, however he never got to the battlefield. Louis Gerondale was luckier. Shortly after he left for training, he was struck by the influenza. Gerondale recovered and was sent home to Brussels to recuperate on a 9-day furlough. Paul Tikalsky was in an army hospital in France, but he too reported recovery in December.

Saloon keeper James Soucek was Algoma’s 2^nd flu victim in April 1918. It was said he died because he did not follow Dr. Witcpalek’s orders for a prescription. Since he felt he couldn’t neglect his business, he kept working. Farmer Joseph Palechek of Rio Creek was sick only a few days when he died of pneumonia during April 1918. Mr. and Mrs. A.J. Svoboda of Casco had the flu at the same time in December, however both recovered. Lincoln Town saw three deaths during one November 1918 week: Frank Guillette, Frank Martin and William Wautlet. During the same week, 24 year old Rankin blacksmith Edward Durst succumbed to flu. Influenza forced Algoma thresher Fred Braun to discontinue his work in October 1918, but then his brother Charles came from Green Bay to help out until Fred recovered.

History remembers the pandemic during World War 1 as the worst, but it seemed as if la grippe was around yearly. In 1898, the papers fairly screamed influenza. Once again the dreaded prevalent influenza was causing alarm in New York, Chicago and other cities. Papers said it was the worst since 1891 and coupled with impure water in Chicago, many victims never regained their physical or mental health. Fire and police departments were in danger of being crippled by the sick lists. Manufacturing was also suffering.

There were 50 million deaths in 1918. Where does it come from? A Google search offers as many articles as one wants to read. One article says the term “influenza” was first used in England in 1703, and that the word is an Italian world for “influence,” referring to cause. It was believed that stars, the moon and plants influenced the flu.

Influenza wasn’t discovered in humans, but was discovered through animal studies. Veterinarian J.S. Koen saw the disease in pigs and felt it was the same thing as was called Spanish flue in 1918. Swine flu is another widely used term. In 1938 Jonas Salk and Thomas Francis developed the first flu vaccine for the virus discovered in the 1930s. That vaccine was used on World War ll soldiers. Salk used that experience to develop and perfect a polio vaccine that was approved in 1955.

By January 1951 Algoma’s Dr. Herb Foshion was encouraging residents to prevent the flu by getting a vaccine. In at least 50% of injections, flu was entirely prevented.  For those who got injections in the fall, Foshion recommended another in January. Those who never received an injection were advised to get one immediately and then another three weeks later. Foshion stressed the vaccine’s effectiveness while pointing out influenza in Europe appeared to be as serious as the 1918 epidemic. He pointed out the deaths in Europe, the U.S. and in Algoma.

As the USA Today says, “flu is wretched.”

Sourcces: Algoma Record Herald, USA Today.

Ahnapee and Algoma: The Milk Routes

Carnival Guernsey Dairy 1954

Algoma, and Ahnapee before it, had any number of dairies. Ted Blahnik’s Carnival Dairy is perhaps the best known to recent generations, those who might also remember Knipfer’s beer depot and distributing company. They might, however, be surprised to know that Knipfers started business with another beverage: milk.

It was about 1883 when Joseph Knipfer started his dairy business. After his death on May 25, 1894, Knipfer’s son Frank took over, but it was Frank’s wife Theresa who operated the dairy for most of 50 years. Until his accidental death at 19, Mrs. Knipfer was also assisted by her son Elmer, and then a hired man. Clarence Toebe bought the dairy in 1938, selling it 50 Algoma Creamery 20 years later.

In today's world, door-to-door milk delivery is nearly unheard of. We buy our milk in a store, one-stop or some other commercial establishment. Milk is pasteurized and packaged under strict regulations, regulations that begin from the time the milk leaves the cow. We buy skimmed, 2% or whole milk. Milk is white, chocolate and even strawberry. We have countless choices that our ancestors could have never dreamed. Today it is hard to imagine the milkman going from door to door with a pail of milk. But, that's just how it was.

Knipfer Dairy Farm

In the beginning, Knipfers conducted the dairy business from their home just to the rear of the present St. Paul’s parsonage. Housing 7 cows, their barn was behind what was Rinehart’s shoe store on Steele St.  The cows were milked in that barn, but pastured on the Knipfer farm at the base of the present Lake Street hill where they built a home in 1895, the farm at 1503 Lake St. that Clarence Toebe bought in 1937.

At Theresa Knipfer's death in February 1965, just two months short of her 99^th birthday, she was said to be Kewaunee County’s oldest resident. In an interview sometime before her death, Theresa said that dairying was much different when she started out. There were no regulations and all one needed was a good pair of strong hands, a milk pail and a stool. Mrs. Knipfer told how, in the early days, her husband made deliveries on foot, carrying a 2-gallon milk pail in each hand. A housewife would ask for the amount of milk she wanted and it would be measured and poured into her container.  

When Knipfers moved from the site in town to the farm, they still delivered milk by hand even though the walk was longer. Eventually they delivered milk in a horse-drawn wagon built by Perlewitz Brothers, but the manner of selling remained the same. When the wagon was repainted in 1901, the newspaper noted that it was difficult to get ahead of Frank Knipfer because the wagon was “fixed up in metropolitan style.” During the winter the wagon was replaced by a sled with an oil stove that prevented the milk from freezing. However, the milk was still carried in pails and poured into the housewives’ containers.

It was in the 1930s that laws mandated milk be delivered in bottles. That necessitated a bottler and capper. Milk bottled in the basement of the house was subject to pasteurization by 1950. When cattle weren’t allowed on the streets, cows couldn’t be driven from the in-town barn to the pasture. Logistics and laws meant price changes.

Theresa Knipfer sold Cloverleaf Dairy to Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Toebe in 1937. Toebes operated the milk route until the late 1950’s. Five years before Mr. Toebe purchased the Knipfer dairy, Carnival Guernsey Farm in Kodan established a milk route. George F. Blahnik was the owner, however his son Ted was the manager. Daily deliveries came directly from Blahnik’s farm, which eventually became the area’s largest dairy, a distinction once held by Theresa Knipfer. Antone Leiberg and Karl Lienau were Mrs. Knipfer’s competition for some years. Leiberg sold his milk route during the winter of 1902. Lienau’s farm just above the Lake Street hill adjoined Knipfer’s. When Lienau decided to discontinue his business in 1919, he encouraged his neighbor Adolph Feld to take on the milk route. Feld also delivered daily directly from his farm at what became 2114 Lake Street. In his earlier days Feld was Mrs. Knipfer’s only competitor, and, for a short time in the 1930s, both Toebe’s and Blahnik’s dairy. Feld left the business when his barn burned in July 1941. Toebe discontinued his milk route due to changing regulations and Blahnik expanded.

As Mrs. Knipfer said, all one needed was a pail, milk stool and strong hands before regulations came into being. Late in 1906 the veterinarian in the Bureau of Animal Industry recommended licensing dairies as the only way to prevent tuberculosis in milk. Recommendations were that testing milk from licensed certified cows was the only way to take care of the situation. Hogs were becoming diseased from infected skimmed milk, and a law against unsterilized milk was something Wisconsin Sanitary Board was considering. Pasteurization came.

In 1923, representatives of both Algoma banks - Citizen’s Bank and Bank of Algoma - Cashier C.E. Boedecker and Auditor H. Nelson encouraged dairies to advertise. State bankers and farmers conducted campaigns to market Wisconsin’s dairy products on a national level. To create an advertising fund, bankers were asked to donate 1% of their capital and farmers were asked to donate the proceeds of one day’s milk. Boedecker felt that because merchants would also benefit from such publicizing, they might like to be included in adding to the advertising fund.

Algoma had 6 dairies in April 1934 when State Dairy Inspector Joseph J. Wetak took samples from milk deliveries on the 5^th. There was pride among the dairy owners when Wetak said Algoma’s milk supply was clean and it had a higher fat content than in most cities.

Although dairies offering home milk deliveries no longer exist in Algoma, the area – and all of Kewaunee County – is known for its exceptional farms. Such farms keep the state a milk processing leader.

Sources: Algoma Record Herald; Commercial History of Algoma, WI, c. 2006; Cox-Nell House Histories c. 2011; Photos are from Algoma Record Herald; postcard is from the blogger's collection.

Kewaunee County Christmas: 1941

On Friday December 5, 1941, Kewaunee County residents were preparing for Christmas. The "Christmas Season" had not yet started, but folks were thinking of it. It would be another year before the Bing Crosby-Irving Berlin hit White Christmas, however there was a lot Christmas music to be hummed and sung. Although the political situation and the war in Europe was in the minds of most adults, generally things were upbeat in Algoma.

Algoma Businessmen were encouraging all to participate in the second annual lighting contest, offering prizes of $5 as first prize, and $3 and $2 to 2^nd and 3^rd place. That kind of money was quite an inducement following the ravages of the Depression, and the businessmen knew there would be incurred electrical costs for such participation.  Lighting was just getting off the ground when, two years later, residents were asked to reduce their use of such lights.. A cadre of local men used the Dug-Out as a place to fashion street decorations, further adding to the city’s Christmas 1941 celebrations.  Algoma High School Dance Band played for a hop at the Normal School that weekend, a party that also included a play. It was the day the elementary school announced characters for the musical Hansel and Gretl. Mr. and Mrs. Claus were checking prices two or three times and found Kohlbeck’s advertising leather jackets for $6.95 and up. Hansen’s gloves were nearly 3 dollars though.  Heine Wiese sold Wembley ties for $1.00. Wiese's ties did not wrinkle like the 50 cent sellers. The future was in Algoma! Katches had all one could possibly want, including a visit from Santa the next day, December 6. Fashionable women could opt for a new hairdo at Marione’s  and get it for under 4 bucks. The state even had money in the treasury and roads would be improved.

The downer was that the State Draft Chief was in Kewaunee County attempting to improve selective service, however there was also a military-related upper: R.J. Ihlenfeld was given a government award honoring his late grandfather, Cavalry 2^nd Lt. John Ihlenfeld, for his service at the Battle of Vicksburg. Late though it was, the award meant much to the Ihlenfelds.

It was Algoma 20 days before Christmas, and all was well.

The unthinkable happened only 2 days later, on December 7, a day President Franklin D. Roosevelt said would live in infamy. Pearl Harbor was attacked. But when the Record Herald came out on the 12^th, there were no screaming war headlines. The front page carried an article about men serving in the Pacific and another article about 1-A men leaving for their physicals. It carried an article saying war bond purchases skyrocketed during the week, that county Civilian Defense was seeing volunteer activity, and that Red Cross was raising money.

To read the paper, it almost seemed Algoma was oblivious to war in the Pacific. Countless men had been drafted within the previous year or two, and the Plywood had gone to a war time production that figured in Lend-Lease.  Maybe city residents were listening to their radios and Gabriel Heater provided all the news. Who knows? But things changed when the December 19 paper reported Kewaunee County’s first casualty. Radioman 3^rd Class Joseph Muhofski was a seaplane crew member killed near Hawaii. In an article announcing his death, the paper noted that Joseph’s parents received a Christmas gift from him the following day. The Record told readership that Algoma was one of the Wisconsin places showing war movies. 200 attended. It didn’t forget to remind patrons that carrier boys would be collecting before Christmas Eve while stressing how fast the boys worked to provide such conveniences.

Christmas went on, and the following day the paper noted the death of Irving W. Elliot, Kewaunee County’s last Civil War veteran and Wisconsin’s oldest Mason. The same paper carried what was felt to be the last picture of draftees as there was an information clampdown regarding quotas, calls to service and photos, although eventually the pictures returned to the paper. American Legion Auxilary purchased a mobile hospital unit, and the scouts were praised for collecting toys for needy children.

The U.S. got a war for Christmas 1941. Perhaps so few were touched by it before December 7 that they just didn’t give it a lot of thought. There was no "Peace on earth, goodwill to men" to men that year, and yet, Christmas was celebrated in Algoma as it always was.

Christmas 1942 was far, far different, however, that's another story.

Sources: Algoma Record Herald, Images: The postcard comes from the Kannerwurf, Sharpe, Johnson and the painting is is from NLJohnson. Both are copyrighted and used with permission. The photo of men departing for their physicals was found in Algoma Record Herald.