Sunday, June 27, 2021

Rio Creek: A Once Vibrant Kewaunee County Community

 

Rio Creek was photographed for this picture postcard sent in 1910. Detjen’s store is the second building on the left, barely visible behind the trees.      
                                                                                  Courtesy Kannerwurf, Sharpe, Johnson Collection

Wisconsin Gazetteer, 1901-1902, says Rio Creek - originally called Kirchmann’s Place - was a post office in Kewaunee County, 19 miles from the judicial seat in Kewaunee and 6 miles from Ahnapee, the nearest banking and shipping point. Rio Creek was never 19 miles from Kewaunee, so 120 years ago, somebody was a long way off. At the turn of 1900, a population of 35 was receiving mail daily. 

Rio Creek post office had a long history, opening on June 18, 1888, and discontinuing on June 18, 1976, when mail service was due to come from Algoma, Zip Code 54201. The following day, however, it was reestablished as a Community Post Office (CPO) of Algoma. Per the Algoma postmaster, the CPO was discontinued on December 30, 1994, and officially discontinued on January 4, 1997. Although its place name continued, its 54231 Zip Code was retired. Since the office was discontinued and re-established twice before, some wondered if it would come back. It did not.

Rio Creek post office was discontinued for the first time on October 31, 1904, with an effective date of November 30, 1904, the first official day of Rural Free Delivery in Kewaunee County.  Then it was reestablished as one of 6 county post offices on December 29, 1908. Once again, on October 27, 1934, the office was to be discontinued with an effective date of July 14, 1934. In an odd twist of events, before it had a chance to close, the order was rescinded on June 30, 1934. At that point, Rio Creek became a station of Algoma.

August Kirchman’s store, which was sold to his son Albert Kirchman and then to Edward W. Detjen, was likely the site of the post office. Rolls of 1888 tax records for the Town of Casco describes Kirchman’s property as “all of the NE, NE except one acre on the NE corner” of Section 2, Town 24N, Range 24E.  Kirchman also owned 40 acres in the SE ¼ of th2 SW ¼, 40 acres in the SW ¼ of the SE ¼ and 40 acres in the SE ¼ of the SE ¼ of Section 25, Town 25N, Range 24E. Another Kirchman - Fred - was a Rio Creek mail carrier for ten years when on January 17, 1902, the Algoma Record told its readers that he had traveled 7,042 ½ miles during the ten years. The paper marveled that the road was “not worn down.”

Interestingly, August Kirchman served as postmaster of Pierce as well as Rio Creek. Pierce post office was less than a mile from what became Rio Creek. Albert Kirchman served as postmaster at Rankin in addition to serving at Rio Creek. Interestingly, what was called Pierce was known as Royal Creek before that. That leads to all kinds of stories about the naming of Rio Creek, but it is also another story.

On January 28, 1888, Ahnapee Record announced the following: “On last Monday morning August Kirchman received from the Post Office Department at Washington the blank bond and other papers pertaining to his appointment as postmaster at Kirchman’s Corners, which will be known as Rio Creek. The papers were filled out and returned to Washington on the same day and Mr. Kirchman expects they will be approved and that he will receive his commission by the end of July.”

When the Post Office Department was planning to close the Rio Creek office in 1934, it rescinded the order due to the protests received. Algoma Record Herald reported: “RIO CREEK-According to information received Saturday by Carl Fabry, cashier of the Bank of Rio Creek, a recent order by the United States Post Office department discontinuing the post office here, was rescinded. The original order provided for the closing of the post office in this village July 14 and mail service would be obtained here by rural mail carrier through the Algoma post office. Business interests in the village immediately entered a protest when the announcement was made. Protest was registered with Congressman J.A. Hughes who was interviewed by a committee including John Prokupek, Walter Sell, Carl Fabry and Joseph F. Konop.”

Delores Sell Fett wrote about her grandfather Postmaster Charles Sell sometime after his death in 1940. In describing his postal career, she noted that the train from Green Bay went through Rio Creek, stopping at towns along the postal route. Each day Mr. Sell would pick up the mail bag that was dropped off on a platform alongside the tracks. The platform held a roofed shed that served as the depot which was located at the corner of what was then the Gaulke building. Mr. Sell pushed a two-wheeled cart, with help from his son Walter who helped him collect the mailbag. Mrs. Fett said the job was especially bad during the winter. Later, mail was carried by truck.

In an undated interview, but possibly about 1960, Mrs. Bertha Gaulke reminisced about running the Rio Creek post office for 42 years with her husband Walter. Mrs. Gaulke said they had “built up the post office and (it) almost became a number one post office.” She said her husband walked to the post office and then to put the mail on the train, something he did every day but Sunday. Wages came from selling stamps and money orders.

When former Rio Creek postmaster Don Walters, right, was interviewed on August 12, 2005, he told the authors that the post office had been located in Gaulke’s store, which was standing in 2008 though looking substantially different than it did when it served as the post office. The post office was moved to the location held by Walters’ Body Shop in 2005.

Rio Creek Postmasters and Dates of Appointments

                           August Kirchman                January 18, 1888

                          Albert M. Hoppe                 December 13, 1898

                                                  Herbert C. Kirchman           July 21, 1900

Office discontinued October 31, 1904, effective November 30, 1904.

Office reestablished December 29, 1908.

                          Albert C. Kirchman              December 29, 1908

                                                  Edward W. Detjen               July 12, 1912

                                                  Fred F. Johnson                   July 27, 1927

                                                   Carl Fabry                          January 24, 1923

                                                   Charles J. Sell                     October 27, 1924            

                                                                                                        Retired February 29, 1940

Office discontinued on June 13, 1934, effective July 14, 1934

Order rescinded June 30, 1934; classified as a 4th class post office

                                                 Walter H. Gaulke                  March 1, 1940    

                                                                                                        Deceased July 15, 1963 

          Advanced to 3rd class post office

          ZIP Code 54231 established, July 1, 1963

                                                      Donald Henry Walter          September 28, 1963

Postmasters' compensation varied depending on business. They did not receive a pre-arranged stipend. Albert Kirchman made $34.09 in 1889 while Albert Hoppe made the most - $203.43 - in the years before the advent of Rural Free Delivery in 1904.  $34.09 is not much money in 2021 although using a variety of online inflation calculators, it would have been some bucks in 2021 in terms of numbers or purchasing power. Having a post office at one's business site meant customers because folks came for mail. Drawing folks into a business meant significant opposition to RFD - Rural Free Delivery - when local businesses lost the opportunity to make money as mail was delivered directly to rural families.

Rural Branches of Wisconsin Post Offices, Bulletin #21, Wisconsin Postal History Society, reports that in 1989 Rio Creek was Kewaunee County’s only rural post office. One might argue Stangelville was also a rural office, but the language nitty-gritty makes the difference. A rural branch is defined as a postal subunit outside the corporate limits of the parent post office. Rio Creek was a personal unit which did not postmark mail. On September 19, 1976, the Enterprise described a personal unit saying that it did accept, dispatch, receive and deliver mail and issue money orders and sell stamps.

At left is an example of a registered letter mailed from Rio Creek on April 6, 1899. It appears to be the second such letter mailed that year. It has both a 2-cent stamp and a 10-cent stamp. Cancels are bull’s eyes. Finding such an example in pristine condition will bring you more than Albert Kirchman took in during 1889.

Rio Creek has changed in the last 100 years and is no longer a postal community nor the vibrant community it once was, but it is an important part of Kewaunee County that continues to reflect its predominantly German immigrant population.  

 

Sources: Information comes from Here Comes the Mail: Post Offices of Kewaunee County, Kannerwurf, Sharpe and Johnson c. 2010. 

 

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