As early
records tell us, Algoma’s present-day history begins in the mid-1830s
when Major Joseph McCormick and several men from Manitowoc ventured north to
today’s Algoma to observe lands they heard about from the Pottawatomie who
populated the area along the western shore of Lake Michigan. Upon reaching the (now) Ahnapee River, the
McCormick party turned into it and sailed upriver to what is now Forestville.
Impressed with the area, McCormick envisioned a city built on the hill on the north bank of the river. The Pottawatomie living near the mouth of the river maintained their small village on that while two of their burying grounds were in the area of today’s St. Agnes-By-the-Lake church and in hill at the south
Algoma’s first permanent settlers – those of European
extraction – came in 1851. John Hughes settled on the northside hill near the
mouth of the river. Orin Warner built his home near today’s China Moon on North
Water Street. Edward Tweedale was the only one of the three to live near the
south side of the river, living for a short time in the approximate area of 4th
and Navario. Within a couple of years, he relocated to just above what is now
the Lake Street hill. George Schatleben, Jackson VanVranken, and Mathias Simon
were among the 1850s newcomers who settled on the north side.
The Catholic Mr. Simon donated a piece of his northside land
for a Catholic church and cemetery, also donating land for a church and
cemetery to his Lutheran countryman. The Lutheran Church was relocated to 4th
and State, however the cemetery remains in the original location on Wolf River
Road.
Why was the present downtown Algoma not an early favorite?
The Abandoned Shore Lines of Eastern Wisconsin, c. 1907, indicates most of the city of Algoma is built on a broad terrace-like deposit of gravel and stratified sands, about 20’ above the lake. It resembles an old delta of the Ahnapee River in a re-entrant of the lake during the 17-foot stage. The steep bluffs that enclose this sand flat north and south of the town are suggestive of both higher and lower terraces.
As the book points out that an ancient creek flowed south from the main branch of the Ahnapee at approximately 6th Street to the approximate area that is now Division Street, then meandering east at the base of the Lake Street hill. David Price was known to be in Wolf River as early as January 1854 and possibly before. He lived on the south side of the river on what was then called Price’s Creek, a small stream south from the river and a little further west than the ancient stream bed, or so it seems.
Price’s Creek became Chapek’s Creek and has been a drainage
challenge for much of the city’s history. As early as June 1887, Fremont Street
was being graded at Chapek’s Creek, an area of on-going issue. The creek bed
was cleaned out, there were storm sewers, and in 1960, its width was increased
from 4 to 8’. Residents claimed a downpour, especially in the Fremont area,
quickly turned the creek into a lake. It was thought the storm sewers draining
into the creek caused the problems whereas in the “old” days, rain seeped into
the ground and found its way to the creek. Mill and Buchanan Streets were on
higher ground than downtown Algoma, and in the days of the ancient river in the
Division Street area, lands to the west drained into that area. In a 2003
interview, the late Frances Serovy Goetz, whose family home was near the
intersection of (today’s) Jefferson and Division, said as late as 1940 the
lower Division Street was sometimes mucky and sported cat tails, which survive in wetlands and marshes. A gravel pit in
the same area served as a dump even into the 1920s.
The 1880 Birdseye map of the City of Ahnapee (above) illustrates the hills on the north side of the Ahnapee River, the hills to the west and to the south of the city. The swamp from 5th to Mill and from a bit north of Fremont to South Water, now Navarino, is evident. Division Street did not exist farther north than Fremont in 1880. Hundreds of years ago, drainage from the hills on the west of Division Street likely found its way to the lake via the river that faded into history.
The painting at left comes from a postcard illustrating a different old creek bed within today's south city limits. By the time of the photo, the lakeshore road was being improved to a point where a bridge was built. The hill between the the bridge and Lake Michigan is evident. There were other such creek beds north and south of Algoma. Roads have been improved to an extent where only small culverts are visible today.
Much of today’s downtown Algoma - east of 4th and
south of Steele - was full of knolls, stumps, clumps of cedars, fallen logs and
briars in the early days of the settlement. Historian George Wing who lived at
approximately the northwest corner of 4th and Clark said it took “a
lot of nerve” to venture across that area to the lake shore.
The swampy area from 5th to Division, between Steele and Clark, (now Perry Field) was once known as Eveland swamp, Blocks 11 and 12 of the Eveland Plat of the City of Algoma. Filled in as it is, one can still see the downward slope from 4th and then the incline west from Division toward Mill Street. Crossing the swamp was never easy and was tragic for early resident Dave Youngs’ whose yoke of stags was dragging a load of timber through the mud and mire of the swamp when the animals were killed by a falling tree. As early as September 1876, the Record called attention to the fire raging for days in Eveland swamp and advised residents to keep an eye on it.
May 1879 found citizens petitioning for a sidewalk along
Steele from 5th to Division because of the difficulty in crossing
the swamp. A year later, the paper called attention to the sloping sidewalk
crossing the swamp. It was slanting to such an extent that slipping into the
mud was possible, and walking through it in the dark was something to be
feared.*
During spring 1887, the Record came up with a way to
make money while helping the community at the same time. Editor DeWayne
Stebbins felt Eveland swamp consisted of acreage that could be reclaimed for
little money and made to be a valuable property. Twelve years before that,
Editor William Seymour said the timber had been cut off, but nothing was done
since. He thought if the land could be drained to be bone dry, it would be in
demand for building. Until then, planting in hay would bring in enough money to
ditch the swamp. The paper saw the plan as an opportunity for investment and
income.
Clam shells were capturing huge interest in May 1890 when Ahnapee Record reported that creeks in the area were running so dry that one could cross in mid-stream and not get wet feet, at least in the trickle called the Ahnapee River. The paper also said a week previous a resident was picking up clam shells in the riverbed and came upon a rich find. Breaking open the shells, the fellow found bright objects about the size of green peas which he supposed to be pearls. Plans were to have the objects analyzed. If anything came of it, it does not appear to have made the Record. A late May 1891 Enterprise commented on the young folks looking for pearls in the clam shells. At the time of the article, Editor A.C. Voshardt said that about 5,000 clams “lost their lives” while only about 5 real pearls were found. Voshardt didn't see pearl harvest as a money making endeavor, however, in 1902, the Enterprise carried a reprint from the Fond du Lac Commonwealth which told readership that Wisconsin fisherman made at least $81,000 from clam shells in 1901.
Eveland swamp was being cleaned up in May 1892 while
residents were using it to pasture cows. In a 2003 interview, the late Millie
Kirchman Rabas remembered taking her grandparents’ cow from its stable at the
Kirchman Hotel (on the northeast
corner of 4th and Clark) to the swamp for daytime pasturing.
Finally, in October 1924, the city outlawed garbage from being thrown into the
swampy area and began to clean, till, and fill in the swamp, by then Perry
Field. Today - 100 years later – Perry Field is a playground and a sports field
donated by Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Perry in honor of their son who was killed in
action in World War 1. For the first half of its life, it served as Algoma High
School’s athletic field.
When the U.S. government constructed the south pier in 1911,
the utility decided to drill a new well, which was the first artesian well on
the peninsula. The well was 1334’ deep and drilled into St. Peter sandstone.
Something new. Wikipedia says St. Peter sandstone is found chiefly in parts of
Minnesota, Iowa, and in most of Wisconsin. It further says it “originated as a
sheet of sand in clear, shallow water near the shore of a Paleozoic sea and
consisted of fine-to-medium, well-rounded quartz.”
The city had more than a swamp to deal with in 1912. There
was a cave-in when Algoma’s city well was being drilled in late May. The Record
said a depth of 1,030’ had been reached and it was thought that another
400-500’ needed to be drilled to reach a good flow of water. Water struck
at 465’ was enough for ordinary purposes but inadequate for meeting the needs
of the industries at the same time. The first 465’ was drilled through Niagara
limestone. At 485’ and for the next 500’ there was Cincinnati shale. Then came
Trenton limestone which was drilled for about 40’ before the Cincinnati shale
caved in. About 300’ of casing was put into the hole before the drilling could
go forward.
What the city learned during the cave-in is what was somewhat
outlined years earlier in an April 1878 paper which pointed out the bedrock
under Kewaunee County, saying it was Niagara limestone except for a narrow
strip of Cincinnati shale in Red River along the bay of Green Bay. However, that was not
the only shale in the county.
The paper also said the county averaged from 60’ to 209’
above Oceanic Michigan with the highest elevation in Section 36 of the Town of
Red River, which appears to be incorrect. https://www.anyplaceamerica.com/
reports that it is Cherneyville hill, 1014’, in the Town of Montpelier, which
is followed by Dhuey hill, 912’, in the Town of Lincoln. The article explained that during the glacial period, immense
bodies of ice came from the north to modify and re-arrange the face of nature.
The article mentions the chalybeate* springs characterized by iron compounds,
derived from iron pyrite decomposition. It went on to say that such springs are
moderate in flow, have a little sulphur and a lot of iron although the water’s
taste is pleasant.
Algoma Record Herald in July 1966 told readers
that Kewaunee County’s major rivers were the Ahnapee, the Kewaunee and the East
Twin, all draining the county and flowing toward Lake Michigan although the
flows were not entirely within the confines of the county. Rising in Door
County near Brussels, the Ahnapee drains the northeast part of Kewaunee County,
while the Kewaunee drains the central area, and the East Twin drains the
southern part of the county. Red River is part of the drainage system though is
a tributary of the bay of Green Bay. Red River flows intermittently.
The 1966 paper continued saying the “most recent Valders ice
invasion” partly determines the course of the Kewaunee River while the Ahnapee
River Valley once provided an outlet for Glacial Lake Oshkosh which was a large
body of water to the south of the retreating ice in the Green Bay-Fox River
lowland. South of Dyckesville, Glacial Lake Oshkosh drained east into the
Kewaunee River. As it melted, it opened a new channel northwest of Maplewood
thus leading to the Ahnapee River Valley.
Most of the Ahnapee River valley in Kewaunee County and the
lower stretches of the Kewaunee River are considered drowned valleys, estuaries
formed when rising sea levels flood existing river valleys. As the lake level
rose to a more recent stage, the estuaries formed are now the marshy
alluvial floodplains of the streams.
As did the rest of today’s Kewaunee County, the topography
of downtown Algoma has changed drastically since Joseph McCormick’s party
observed the area 190 years ago. Technology is ever-changing, enabling NOAA,
the US Geological Service, Wisconsin DNR, and others to look back at hundreds
of thousands of years of geology. George Wing’s research in the late 1800s, years
of articles in the Ahnapee Record and Algoma Record Herald and the
observations of citizens beginning with McCormick and those who came later such
as E. Storm, M. Dier, F. Stoller, H. Nell, Mrs. Rabas and Mrs. Goetz offer a
fascinating story. A host of websites offer current information that can only
be called riveting for those living in the area.
Note: *Ahnepee changed its name to Ahnapee
in 1873 when it became a village. Ahnapee became a city in 1879. In 1897, the
place was renamed to the City of Algoma.
*Chalybeate
springs are natural mineral springs containing iron salts.
*Division was not a street in 1880. Mill St., where there were commercial establishments and residences, is the first street shown beyond the swamp.
Sources: Ahnapee Record, Algoma Record, Algoma Record
Herald, Kewaunee Enterprise; The Abandoned Shore Lines of Eastern Wisconsin, Wisconsin Geological and
Natural History Survey, Bulletin No. XVII, Scientific Series No, 5, James W.
Goldthwaite; Wikipedia;
https://www.anyplaceamerica.com/directory/wi/kewaunee-county-55061/summits/
https://www.co.door.wi.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1073/Analysis-and-Management-Plan-for-the-Upper-Ahnapee-River-Watershed
https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/Watersheds/basins/lakeshore
https://ngmdb.usgs,gov (National Geologic Map
Database).
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov.education.est04_geolog
Graphics: Postcards and the painting are from the blogger's collection.
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