The 1890s: Ahnapee is Lit Up

During mid-January 1891, the City of Sturgeon Bay announced an electrical lighting contract with Ahnapee’s A. Hamacek & Co. Adolph Hamacek had built an electric light plant in his foundry and machine shop at 6^th and Fremont Streets in neighboring Ahnapee, the first city on Wisconsin’s peninsula to have electric lighting. Sturgeon Bay was not about to be left behind. A Milwaukee gentleman announced in January 1892 that he was thinking of bringing electricity to Kewaunee. The Peninsula was getting lit-up in more ways than one.

The foundry and light plant at the northeast corner of Fremont and 6th Streets was destroyed by fire in 1895.

Adolph Hamacek's role in electric lighting seems to have had its start in 1883 when Adolph Bastar was operating his blacksmith shop of the northeast corner of Fremont and 6th Streets. It was then that Bastar  formed a partnership with Adolph and Anton Hamacek for the purposes of opening a foundry and machine shop. The company was called A. Hamacek and Co.

A look at the drawing above shows the machine shop operating in the old blacksmith shop at the left, or west, side of the complex. The men purchased a house and lot east of the blacksmith shop for $500 from businessman Samuel Perry. That became Hamacek's light plant. A livery stable was east of that.

The Hamaceks dissolved their partnership in August 1891 when Adolph moved to Sturgeon Bay to tend to that business. Anton remained in Ahnapee to take care of that part of the business,.and in 1892, Anton installed a second boiler to obtain additional power. His building had electric lights and city businessmen were looking toward making use of such marvelous technology.

In 1893 Joseph Wodsedalek became the principal owner in the company owned by himself, Anton Hamacek and August Zeimer. For a time the company name reflected the three men but it was shortened to Jos. Wodsedalek and Co. Later in 1893 Hamacek was bought out by his partners. As with so many early businesses, the Fremont and 6th St. site was completely destroyed by fire in 1895. Wodsedalek rebuilt on the northeast corner of 4th and N. Water Streets and the new light plant was up and running on Halloween 1895.

The 1909 fire map locates Wodsedalek's foundry.

Wodsedalek's foundry is at the right of this Kannerwurf, Sharpe Johnson Collection postcard, postmarked 1908. The foundry itself was closer to N Water while the light plant was closer to the Ahnapee River.

It was electric lights that brought about Ahnapee’s Ordinance No. 35** in March 1890. Section 1 dealt with permission for Adolph Hamacek and his successors to erect and operate electric lights in the city. Section 1 also gave him right-aways through the streets and alleys of the city, as the city was then or would become, for laying out poles and  wires, erecting them or maintaining them, or for supplies. The unusual thing about the Ordinance was that all placing of poles and stringing of wires was to be done under supervision of the council. Did council members understand electricity? They did have one caveat. Poles were not to be put on bridges. Section 5 of the Ordinance addressed failure: if the electrical promises weren’t met within two years, Ahnapee’s contract with Hamacek would be null and void. Poles and equipment would need to be taken down.

 Section 1 dealt with permission for Adolph Hamacek and his successors to erect and operate electric lights in the city. Section 1 also gave him right-aways through the streets and alleys of the city, as the city was then or would become, for laying out poles and  wires, erecting them or maintaining them, or for supplies. The unusual thing about the Ordinance was that all placing of poles and stringing of wires was to be done under supervision of the Council. Did Council members understand electricity? They did have one caveat: poles were not to be put on bridges. Section 5 of the Ordinance addressed failure: if the electrical promises weren’t met within two years, Ahnapee’s contract with Hamacek would be rendered null and void. Poles and equipment would need to be taken down.

It didn’t take long for the city to realize the importance of electricity, but in the beginning, Adolph Hamacek was far from being in the driver’s seat.

Late in May 1890, Ahnapee Record said Hamacek manufactured a steam engine and other equipment and then attached two incandescent lamps to test the machinery. The two lamps indicated that Hamacek was correct in his thinking. It was felt the lights could have been brighter, however the event was a trial run and folks didn’t expect much. The Record said equipment would be adjusted and capacity would be increased. Hamacek’s plans included increasing machinery capacity so that in the months to come, several city buildings would have electricity as his foundry and machine shop did. Prominent businessmen were lining up to secure electricity.

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. The occurrence meant that the city was without electricity for nearly a week before the new dynamo was delivered.

Things changed in April 1892 when Anton Hamacek took over lighting the city, and as the successor, he abided by Ordinance 9. Hamacek furnished 3 more lights of 2000 candle power placed as Council directed within the original limits and one in the Third Ward. The cost was $300 per annum and would be paid in monthly installments. Since the Third Ward was outside the original limits, the city planned to compensate Hamacek for erecting, operating and maintaining lights there.

Late June 1893 saw Hamacek’s foundry, known as Ahnapee Foundry and Machine Shop, becoming a partnership with Joseph Wodsedalek and August Ziemer (with Anton Hamacek} and called Joseph Wodsedalek & Co. The plant was overhauled and Wodsedalek said he was ready to do any business with short notice for reasonable prices. Having experience in several businesses, the men felt the new company would meet all expectations.

Then came Ordinance No. 10, another dealing with the transmission of electricity. This time, in 1895, the ordinance granted exclusive franchise to Joseph Wodsedalek for 5 years, from November 20, 1895 – November 20, 1900. Wodsedalek’s boundaries increased, running on the north from the street or alley at the north side of the schoolhouse, Joint District No. Two, in the Third Ward, to the shore of Lake Michigan, south along the lake to the southern boundary of Boalt’s Addition to the City of Ahnapee, then west to a point where Buchanan Street intersects. The line ran through the center of Buchanan back to where it started in the Third Ward. The right of way granted to Wodsedalek and his successors permitted them to go through, under, or over the streets and alleys, however they would not be unnecessarily obstructed by poles, wires and appliances. Anything considered an obstruction was to be removed by Wodsedalek at his expense. Section 3 of the ordinance required Wodsedalek to furnish all (again) the electricity desired by the city and its residents in the bounded area. The ordinance stipulated that Wodsedalek or his successors could enter any home, at a reasonable hour, to determine service for customers who demanded it. Except for the city, customers would be billed one month in advance.

Most of the ordinance written for Wodsedalek was as it was for Hamacek before him, however the new ordinance reflected a growing city with far more expectations than the novelty 5 years earlier.

As for Adolph Hamacek who started it all, he left Algoma in 1892 to live in Sturgeon Bay. A year earlier Sturgeon Bay’s common council approved the provisions of a contract with Adolph Hamacek. Residents were told the system – 9 lights of 2,000 candle power each - would be going “full blast” within 6 months. Cost to the city was to be $1,000 annually, and the lights would be kept burning all night. The lighting plant would be located on Cedar Street. But what happened? The December 12, 1899 Algoma Record told readership that in another 5 or 6 weeks, Hamacek would have an electric light system in operation by June 1.

An August 1895 Milwaukee Journal carried an article about another of Hamacek’s inventions. The paper said he had invented and received patents on a method of propelling street cars by an underground system of electrical currents. Hamacek’s invention was tested and operating successfully, thus solving a problem that had attracted investors for years.

Adolph Hamacek had a significant impact on Kewaunee County and far beyond. What began as Hamacek's foundry was a prominent Algoma, and Kewaunee County, business and employer for just over 100 years. The Hamacek family itself had a wide influence on Kewaunee County commerce. But that's another story.

This view of the foundry appeared in Algoma Record Herald in 1962. 

There were substantial remodelings and additions.

Notes:
** Ordinance 35 would later also deal with waterworks and a city electric light plant.
Ahnapee was renamed Algoma in 1897,

Sources: Ahnapee Record/Algoma Record/Algoma Record Herald; An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River?; History of Commercial Development in Algoma, WI, Vol. 1; Sturgeon Bay Advocate.

Graphics are sourced, however that drawing's origins are unclear. It can be found in Vol. 1 of History of Commercial Development in Algoma, WI and is used with permission.

** Ordinance No. 35 would later also deal with waterworks and a city electric light plant.