Today - 2024 - harbor communities
maintain the offices of a harbor master whose duty it is to warn vessels of hazards and to ensure that regulations are followed. They see to the safety
of marine traffic. Generally, today’s harbor masters and dock tenders have
different jobs.
Ahnepee/Ahnapee, now the City of Algoma, employed a bridge tender since the 2nd Street bridge was built. Before that, the log bridge near the mouth of the river needed to be taken down to allow ships such as The Ahnapee, built for Chicago businessmen J.P. and Titus Horton by Martin Larkin & Co., to get into the lake. Built upriver in the southwest part of Section 9 in the Town of Ahnapee, it was necessary to dismantle the log bridge that ran from approximately the foot of Church St. to what is now the east side of Von Stiehl Winery.
On September 14, 1875, the Record told readers the town board advertised for sealed bids for the construction of a new bridge
to be opened on October 3. Board members visited Two Rivers to see its draw bridge and decided to build such a style. The board decided to move the bridge to 2nd
Street as it was the "center of town."
It was Chapter 140 of the laws of Wisconsin, published March 13, 1877, that enabled Ahnapee to go ahead with either a new drawbridge or turnbridge at 2nd Street.The bridge was to be erected with a draw or swing that could acommodate large class vessels with ease. Chapter 140 charged Ahnapee with the care and maintenance that allowed passage of vessels as quickly as possible in all types of weather. All funds were to come from collection of taxes within the town.
The community built a drawbridge and it seemed
as if there were always issues with it. They began when the
first vessel used it. On May 10, 1877, the loaded scow Charley Ross came
down river under sail and carried
away telegraph wires.
After the 2nd Street wooden draw bridge was condemned in 1895, the iron swing bridge was built in its place in 1899. The old wooden bridge needed work, however it was the blasting for harbor development that brought push to shove.
The September 1, 1899, the Record informed readership that within three months a $6,700 iron and steel bridge would span the river at 2nd Street to “supply a long-felt want.” Fred Wulf had the contract and was getting things in readiness for the cribs and approaches.
Wulf was
paid $1,602 for the work that included two 32' wide abutments, 6’ at the base
and 4’ at the top with wings of 16’ long, and a center crib, about 20’ in
diameter, for the swing to sit on. Plans were for Milwaukee’s Wagner company to
construct the bridge which would take about two months.
Before the days of gas - and then electric lighting, - most communities installed oil burning streetlights. The lights needed to be lit at dusk and extinguished at dawn. Lamps required cleaning and wicks needed trimming. Later, when gas arc lights came into being, the often temperamental lamps still needed cleaning and more maintenance. The lighter/maintainer was called a gas lighter and it was the job of the Ahnapee lamplighter/gas lighter to also serve as bridge tender and harbor master.
Stevenson
called his lamplighter “Leerie,” a Scottish word meaning lamplighters. Wikipedia
says the word also refers to the light of a lamp, a candle, or the lamp itself.
As far as can be determined, Ahnapee’s lamplighters were never referred to as
leerie nor were they ever the romantic, dancing figures the movies suggested. While lamplighters in larger cities were more no-account, or just “there,” Ahnapee’s lamplighters were respected members of the community. They were reliable and trustworthy,
serving somewhat like night watchmen.
At first, the Ahnapee streetlights were lit with oil. Ahnapee's lamplighters worked in the same manner as those in other U.S. cities and across the world. He had a ladder which he carried from lamp to lamp to climb and reach the wicks. He cleaned the chimneys, trimmed the wicks, and filled the lamps with oil. He? Men only? It would have been unthinkable for a woman to hold such a job in 1875, or ever, in Ahnapee. When gas lights were introduced, they replaced the oil-lit lamps, and men continued doing the work. Gas lighting was originally used in London in 1807 and soon after, in 1820, in Fredonia, New York. Some said the gas lighting era was a period of gracious living that would never be forgotten.
When a ship
neared the harbor, the lamplighter became harbor master and had to find a berth
for the boat. Then, as bridge tender, he opened and closed the bridge when
boats went up or down river. For that he was paid about $50 a year. https://www.measuringworth.com/dollarvaluetoday
says $50 in 1875 has the 2024 purchasing power of about $1,430.89. Salaries in March 1873 were set at $50
for the bridge tender, lamplighter $20, and harbor master $25, which would be
just under $3,000 in 2024 dollars. In its first action, the new village* council
appointed Joseph Pauly to the three positions.
Some
businesses had their own streetlights and often maintained them. When a streetlamp was put in front of the post office in December 1873,
the Record said it would be convenient for a small expense. In February 1874, hotel owner John Weilep, on the northwest corner of 2nd and Steele, was praised for putting up a large streetlight to throw light on the evening’s
proceedings. That light caused some comment. Weilep surely had the light for
safety as he wasn’t showing the rest of the city who frequented his
establishment. There were Temperance societies and the hotel had a taproom!
When Bill Boedecker raised a large streetlight in front of his hotel at 4th
and Steele in March 1874, he joined Weilep and Charles Hanneman, who was located on the southwest corner of 3rd and Steele. The paper said
some of the businessmen “go home with the girls o’ nights and don’t like them
‘ere streetlamps.” Hmmmm.
By
mid-October 1878, several groups and public-spirited citizens provided lamps
for street corners. “Let the good work go on,” opined the Record.
Halloween 1878 brought word from Moses Teweles who was going to put a streetlamp in front of his saloon just west of 2nd and South Water. Teweles was having tinman Leopold Meyer manufacture it for him and said he would not ask the city fathers to pay for it.
As George
Warner was about to walk home from Fax’s bar at the corner of Steele and 1st on the night of November 21, 1878, he
noticed a suspicious character, thus prompting his return to Fax’s. There he left
his money and watch with Capt. Laurie before starting for home again. He was accosted
by two heavily built men who searched his pockets to only find 25 cents. They
demanded his watch and not finding it when they searched him, they took his
overcoat. The editor said if the neighborhood was possessed of such characters,
something needed to be done about it and that meant streetlamps.
On May 5. 1881,the council appointed John Cooper, Sr. to serve all three positions. Cooper was appointed at the same meeting that
gave the street commissioner’s job to George Bohman. Less than a year later,
City Marshall Joseph Pauly was appointed bridge tender, lamplighter, and harbor master.
Before Pauly's appointment, John Cooper was paid $36.00 in salary
as a bridgetender, harbor master, and lamplighter, and for buying a dog in
early July 1882. In April 1883, the motion was made and seconded that John
Cooper be appointed lamplighter for the coming year. He was also appointed as
harbor master. Who was the bridgetender?
George Bohman was appointed in April 1885 and again in April 1888 to all
three positions.
In 1889, the
village board bought 18 oil lamps for street lighting and mounted them on cedar
posts in strategic places. They were lit from dark to daylight except on
moonlit nights when they were not needed. The lamplighter had his work cut out
for him.
At the board’s
September 4, 1890, meeting, it was moved and carried that George Bohman be
dismissed and the offices of lamplighter, bridgetender and harbor master be
declared vacant. What happened? Earlier that year, on April 10, 1890, George
Bohman received 5 votes in the council’s informal vote for bridge tender. In
the vote for harbor master, he received 5 of the 6 votes cast. When the vote
was taken for lamplighter, Bohman received two where Simon Pies received 3.
When a formal vote was taken, results were the same. When a second formal vote
was taken, Bohman received 3 votes and was declared lamplighter, but that
changed by meeting’s end.
When Fred
Wolfgram submitted his resignation as city marshal to the council on September 4, later that same evening he was appointed to the offices of harbormaster,
bridge tender, and lamplighter, the positions previously held by George Bohman
and for even a few minutes on September 4. Since Wolfgram’s resignation left
the city without a police officer, the mayor appointed E.C. Cameron to the
position as a special policeman. Cameron had served as the city marshal, a job
he held admirably. It was felt the council would approve the appointment.
When the
council was paying its bills in January 1893, Emil Schubich’s salary as bridge
tender and lamplighter for 7 months was $49.00. The harbor master was set as a
separate job, however the year’s salary was fixed at the same rate. One year
earlier William Koch served as lamplighter for just one month and was paid
$20.00. How did that happen?
The 1883 dynamo Edison-Hopkinson graphic comes from https://www.fineartstorehouse.com/legends-icons/famous-inventors-thomas-edison-1847-1931/dynamo-machine-edison-hopkinson-1883
In 1885,
Wodsedalek’s foundry and light plant were burned in a most destructive fire, plunging the city into darkness. Wodsedalek rebuilt less than six months
later. At first, only the streetlights were operated, but a few days later,
the plant was running regularly to include inside lighting. Three new streetlights
were put up and all lights were kept burning from dusk till daylight.
The Record felt the first carbon arc electric lamp on the Peninsula was lit when Adolph Hamacek received a 2000 candle power arc lamp and put it in front of their foundry on July 4, 1890.
https://edisontechcenter.org/ArcLamps.html says "the carbon electric lamp was the first widely-used type of electric light and the first commercially successful for of electric lamp."
The graphic at the right comes from https://edisontechcenter.org/ArcLamps.html. The site is a go-to for electric light history.
Carbon arc lights were brighter and cheaper streelights than gas or oil. Still, the carbon rods didn't last long and had to be replaced often, thus a full time job. Carbon lights were fire hazards in places like theaters Carbon monoxide was bad indoors, however buildings were poorly insulated that fresh air did enter the building.
In August, about 300 Invitations were issued for an Electric
Light Hop at the Music Hall. Hamacek and Co. was sponsoring the dance in the
hall lighted by an electric arc lamp. How much light one lamp provided is
curious.
Because of
its geographical position, Ahnapee followed Kewaunee with installation of
telephones and natural gas, but when electric lamps illuminated Ahnapee on
March 11, 1891, the city was the first on the peninsula to be so lighted.
Things
changed in April 1892 when Anton Hamacek took over lighting for the city. Aided
by Ordinance 9, Hamacek furnished three lights of 2000 candle power, two placed
in the original part of the city - the Youngs and Steele Plat - and one in the Third Ward, the northside of
the river. The cost was $300 per year and since the Third Ward was outside the
original part of the city, Hamacek was compensated for erecting, operating and
maintaining lights there.
June 1893 saw Hamacek’s – by then called Ahnapee Foundry and Machine Shop – form a partnership with Joseph Wodsedalek and August Ziemer – called Joseph Wodsedalek and Co. Having experience in several businesses, the men felt the new company would meet all expectations.
When Hamachek’s Foundry, in 1894, added a dynamo to its equipment to furnish electric arc lamps for street lighting, the company had 60 patrons in addition to the city. Electricity did not totally end the lamplighter's job as carbon rods in the 1890s needed replacing after about 75 hours. By 1910, the rods lasted twice as long.
Joseph
Wodsedalek had just been paid $110.35 in February 1898 for city lighting when
he received a new arc lamp to be used in a streetlamp trial. However, the lamp
was broken in transit and could not be used. Martin Bretl was the first in the city to try a
gas arc lamp in April 1899 and felt it was impressive. The gaslight had a small
chamber holding a quart of gasoline which was warmed with a generator and ready
to go. Cheap and efficient. Electricity was less work.
Once again,
on May 14, 1898, Ahnapee Record said the city had the distinction of
being the first city on the peninsula with electric streetlights. Results were
positive and traveling men said the lamps equaled the brilliant lights of
larger cities.
The arc
lamps were of 2,000 candle power each. Though some of the needed materials –
lamps, wire and regulators - were purchased outside of Ahnapee, Adolph Hamacek
and company designed nearly all the machinery in the plant. Not long after the
street lighting was introduced, business owners and industries were interested.
So were homeowners.
Adolph
Hamacek was living in Sturgeon Bay in October 1898 when the U.S. Patent Office
awarded him a patent for his electric arc lamp. By then, Algoma** was enjoying
its light.
Residents were reminded of the old days when the main
shaft at the lighting plant broke in July 1907. The issue necessitated bringing
out the stored old oil lamps and cleaning up the chimneys. All electric
lighting was cut off and finding sidewalks was hard. Once again, the city
needed lamplighters. Inside lighting was back online days before the streetlights
were back in operation.
Well over 50 years after oil lights were last used in the city, in May 1950 Door-Kewaunee Normal School students held the spring formal
themed “The Old Lamplighter.” Decorations and slow, modern music, furnished
by the Polka Dots, harkened back to a day that was.
The lamplighters were not forgotten when lamplighter ceremonies were held marking
the event when Gerhart Leischow threw the switch at Algoma’s utility plant.
Mayor Malcom Empey offered the dedication when two magnesium bombs (fireworks) exploded
over Perry Field. It took 18 months to get to a point where Algoma’s new system
of mercury-vapor lights were a reality. Hundreds lined the street and the
stores featured lamplighter specials. Algoma High School band paraded down the
street and all were invited to a free dance at the Dug-Out given by the Ernest
Haucke Legion Post.
The stationary
2nd and 4th Street bridges eliminated the need for bridge
tending, the marina takes care of docking, and Algoma Utilities is serviced by WPPI Electricity.
To read the Record is to wonder about the checkered history of the three jobs. What was going on? Politics? Lamplighters,
bridge tenders and harbor masters – the days of yore.
NOTE: *Ahnepee became the Village of Ahnapee in 1873. The village became the City of Ahnapee in 1879.
**The City of Ahnapee was renamed the City of Algoma in 1897.
SOURCES: Ahnapee Record, Algoma Record Herald, An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River? Commercial History of Algoma, Wisconsin, Vol. 1,
Disney Wiki; https://disney.fandom.com › wiki › Lamplighters
https://edisontechcenter.org/ArcLamps.html. The site is a go-to for electric light history.
https://www.fineartstorehouse.com/legends-icons/famous-inventors-thomas-edison-1847-1931/dynamo-machine-edison-hopkinson-1883
https://www.measuringworth.com/dollarvaluetoday
https://en.wikipedia.org>wiki>Arc_lamp
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