Saturday, October 20, 2012

Kewaunee County...Suceeding Where George Washington Did Not



Nearly 250 years ago George Washington was a young legislator in Virginia's House of Burgesses. Pigs were fouling the water and Washington introduced legislation to keep them off the streets of Williamsburg. As inexperienced as he was, Washington's proposal was not acted upon.

About 100 years later, Ahnapee residents dealt with a similar problem.

Ahnapee's first official village meeting was held at 8 P.M. on July 12, 1873. By then the village had 100 registered voters. William N. Perry was unanimously elected president, Joseph Anderegg was elected clerk and in the first historical business conducted three days later, Michael McDonald was elected marshall. Marshall McDonald had to hit the ground running.

A month following his election, McDonald declared war on swine on the streets. Such a thing was forbidden by the newly created Ordinance 4. Cattle, however, appeared to be exempt from Ordinance 4 because just three years later, the Ahnapee Record commented on the "nerve" of the Village Board in creating an ordinance restricting cows from roaming the streets. Citizens were reminded to "keep your cows off the streets or you may find them milked instead of your coffee."

Farm animals in Kewaunee were an issue 140 years after Ahnape's residents breathed a sigh of relief having a marshall who could meet such a challenge. Kewaunee County Star News' columnist Barb Ludlow noted in the September 8, 2012 paper that Kewaunee's City Council was considering an ordinance allowing city residents to raise chickens. Ludlow wondered if chickens were allowed, would pigs, cows and other farm animals be next? In the next edition, Ludlow told her readers that the Council approved Ordinance No. 567-12. Livestock and other farm animals could be kept in agricultural zones but they were prohibited in other zones.

Ahnapee's Village Board and Kewaunee's City Council succeeded where George Washington did not. At least not the first time.



Friday, October 19, 2012

Kewaunee County and the Civil War, 7


 
Books have been written and movies have been made about wars and the men who fought them. Some deal with the horror while others present a kind of a fairy tale romantic version. The five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo, Iowa, who went down together on a ship during World War ll, were the subject of such a movie. Their parents eventually toured the country selling war bonds, asking that their sons had not died in vain. Eighty years earlier, Ahnapee's George Washington Elliot gave four of his sons to the Civil War. Two never returned. What is written about Elliot seems to indicate "tradition," however there is no Jimmy Stewart, Audie Murphy or John Wayne movie telling the Elliot story.

The first Elliot arrived in Swampscott, Massachusetts in 1628, seven years after the founding of Plymouth Rock. Elliot’s grandfathers served in the Revolutionary War. His father served in the War of 1812 and George Elliott himself was a veteran of the Mexican War. His sons followed the Elliot tradition.

Charles D. Elliot was the first Ahnapee man to enlist on June 28, 1861. He joined Captain - later General - Bragg’s Company E, 6th Wisconsin, which became known as the Iron Brigade. He served at Bull Run and was severely wounded at Antietam though lived to tell about it. Following the war, Charles Elliot became editor of The Star, a newspaper in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Park Benjamin Elliot learned his printing skills at the Enterprize* and was called a superior talent. He was serving as a printer at the Appleton Post Crescent when he joined Company C, 10th Wisconsin. Just a little more than a year later, at the age of 19, he was in a corn field at Chaplin Hills, Kentucky when he was shot in the head while supporting Simon’s Indiana Battery. A fellow soldier wrote that Park was ”as brave as a lion.”

Brother Irving W. Elliot enlisted on August 16, 1862. Though he made corporal a few weeks later, he entered service as a drummer boy and was the youngest man in Company l, 32nd Infantry. Irving Elliot was with Sherman on the march through Georgia and was in Washington D.C. in time to wave at President Lincoln who was on his way to Ford’s Theatre.
David Elliot enlisted on August 31, 1862, just two weeks after Irving. In a letter to his father, David reported that of the 950 men who left Fond du Lac with him, only about 340 were fit for duty and that men were dying at a rate of two per day. David died at Nashville, one of many who died of typhoid.

Irving Elliot, who had worked for the Enterprize between 1859 and 1861, wrote his father saying that he would be proud to know he (Irving) had never been in the guard house or under arrest, had never been absent from roll call and had never served extra duty for misconduct. Irving went on to say that few in the regiment could say the same. He continued saying that he “had the satisfaction of knowing that I was not home sucking my paw when the black hearted of the South were trying to tear down the old Starry Banner that we have lived under so many years. I am fighting the devil as long as there are any of them left.”
Irving Elliot was 95 years old when he died in Wauwatosa in December 1941. He had been living with his son Frank for the previous four years. Irving was both Kewaunee and Milwaukee County’s last surviving Civil War Veteran. He was also Wisconsin’s oldest Mason.

The Elliot brothers and the other men of Kewaunee County served in the Civil War with distinction and gave their lives for a cause they believed in. So did the Sullivan brothers and hundreds of thousands other young men, and more recently women, who served in the wars and conflicts in which the U.S. has engaged since the first Elliot arrived in Massachusetts.

*The paper was the Enterprize until 1865 when it was renamed Enterprise.

 

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Surveying Wolf River......



City of Algoma, About 1960

Wolf River's most eligible bachelor had to be civil engineer and surveyor George Washington Elliott. The intelligent, politically connected widower arrived in the fledgling hamlet in 1857. After a few weeks he moved his family* north from the Chilton area and stayed. Kewaunee County had been in existence for 5 years. An influx of settlers meant there was land to be surveyed and money to be made. Elliot was the man to do it, though  making Wolf River his home had not been his original intent.

Elliot's experience included bigger things. In 1836 he assisted in surveying the land on which Wisconsin's state capitol stands. Later James Duane Doty appointed Elliot to look after his Kewaunee holdings, land Doty bought in the big Kewaunee gold rush two years earlier. Elliot's association with Doty included farming and dairying at Tay-che-dah before entering the mill business in Calumet County.

Elliot became a justice of the peace and presided over weddings and litigations while continuing to survey, draw maps and dig up government corner posts. The Plat of Ahnepee** and the first map of Kewaunee County, with the streams outlined, were drawn by Mr. Elliot, or Squire as he was called.

Looking at Algoma's main intersections today, one wonders why there are slight jogs in Steele, Navarino and State at their 4th Street crossings when other streets have no problems. Though jogs are minimal today, just before 1900 a few buildings actually protruded into the right-of-ways. Portions of buildings found on the wrong lots prompted lawsuits and eventually parts of Algoma were resurveyed. Block 5 most recently. The issues date to Elliott's original1850's surveys.

It was Squire Elliot who surveyed the original plat of the present city of Algoma, the SW 1/4 of Section 26, Town 25 North, Range 25 East. A portion of the city, known as Youngs and Steele Plat, was full 40' x 70' lots. Streets were 66' wide and 16' north-south alleys ran through the blocks. David Youngs, George Steele, Solomon M. Kicham and William Clark were sealed as the original owners in the documents signed by Elliot on August 1, 1858, attesting to true and correct accounts, "to true variations of the needle."

The adjacent Eveland Plat was laid out somewhat differently than Youngs and Steele's. Streets were 66' wide running north and south at right angles except those on the "East, North and West which are 30' on half street. Blocks East and West 264' with alleys of 16' running North and South through the centers, leaving lots 124' x 40' except one tier of lots fronting on Navarino Street and lying North and South. Those numbered 1 and 2 and 13 and 14 being 40' x 120'. Those numbered 3 and 12 being 120'; one tier of lots on the south side of the said 40 acres numbered 6 and 7 being 124', and the point from which to make future surveys incompliance with the Statutes in such cases provided being a lime stone 6 inches by 18 inches and 21 inches long marked 1/4 section and planted at the North East corner of said Plat." County supervisor J.A. Defaut and Justice of the Peace Orin Warner signed the survey.

Elliot was an experienced surveyor. How did he survey adjacent plats so that three streets meet in irregular intersections? How did it happen that only property owners within a small area were affected? Why did he change the size of several lots? The two plats meet at 4th Street. Youngs and Steele Plat has the Ahnapee River as its north boundary. Tiny Fiebrantz Plat, only a couple hundred feet, comes between Eveland's Navarino Street boundary and the Ahnapee River.

More than 150 years later, there are still a few inquiring minds that want to know how it happened.
----

*A widower, Elliot was joined by his sons David and Irving, daughters Frances, who married DeWayne Stebbins, and Ella, his son-in-law Rufus Wing and brother Thomas. Two other sons, Charles and Park, lived in Wolf River for a short time. Both died in the Civil War.

**Ahnepee was the original spelling. It was an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" thing when the Village of Ahnapee was chartered in 1873. Ahnepee was consistently misspelled, even by the state.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Zavis: Saved From Oblivion.....


 
Vying for the title of Kewaunee County's most obscuue community is the once thriving West Kewaunee hamlet of Zavis. In its heyday, Joseph Horak ran both grist and saw mills. The place also included a store and post office, however all that remains today are a few remnants of the old mill on the east side of the water's flow, noted as the Mishicott River on the federal postal site document. And, were it not for the postal history, Zavis might have well sunk into oblivion.

Zavis post office came into existence on January 3, 1878 but was discontinued a little less than 18 months later on June 11, 1879. When Viet Rudolph applied to the U.S. Department of Post Office, he said that the office would serve 300 folks. His post office served area residents from its location along the road in the SW 1/4 of Section 32 in the Town of West Kewaunee.

A postal site document dated December 26, 1877 indicates that Zavis was on Route 25365, the route from Casco to Mishicott in Manitowoc County. Montpelier, 4 1/2 miles west, was the nearest post office on the same route. To the east, the nearest post office was Norman, 4 1/2 miles in a southeasterly direction.

The flow of the river, noted as the Mishicott on the U.S. Topographer's map below, was instrumental in the development of the grist mill. A Kewaunee County map from the same period illustrates the flow of the East Twin River through Section 6 and Section 31 of West Kewaunee. Both the gristmill and store were built along the road which was roughly parallel to the river. Early enthusiasm for the mill waned rapidly as the river never reached original expectations. It happened while Zavis was quickly faded into the annals of a history just as obscure as the community.



 
After its 18 months of operation, Postmaster Compensation Records tell us, "1879, Compensation not listed." Patricia Sharp's 2007 photo above shows today's buildings in the area called once called Zavis. More about Zavis is found in Here Comes the Mail: Post Offices of Kewaunee County, c. 2010.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Euren, "Oy-ren" and the Bottkols.........


 
Known far and wide because of its unusual sounding name, the Kewaunee County hamlet of Euren is just west of Algoma on County Highway S. Originally called Bottkolville after the Bottkol family, the name was eventually changed to reflect the family birthplace in Euren, Germany, a suburb of Trier located on the German-French border. And, in German, what became Euren sounds like "Oy-ren."

Born in 1805, patriarch Michael Bottkol served in the Napoleonic Wars. His older sons were compelled to serve in the Germany army. Bottkol despised war, and it was Germany’s glorification of it that prompted the decision to immigrate to America.

Letters said that military service in the United States was not compulsory and that forested lands could be purchased for $1.00 an acre. Possibilities of purchasing 100 or more acres, freedom of speech and religion, and thoughts of equal opportunities were overwhelming. It was even said that in America one could have meat daily. Meat consumption for those of Bottkol’s station was reserved for Christmas and Easter in Germany.

Bottkol was denied the right to immigrate, possibly because he had sons who would be eligible for military service. Whether a guard was paid off is anyone’s guess, but the Bottkols escaped across a bridge over the Moselle River and eventually sailed from France. Canal boats and steamers finally got the Bottkols to Milwaukee where they bought four 40-acre tracts, one with a stream, on the Door County Peninsula. On arriving at the tiny settlement of Kewaunee, Bottkol hired a land cruiser so inexperienced that he was afraid of the thickly forested area thus necessitating Bottkol return to Kewaunee to hire an experienced cruiser to search the blaze marks and finally locate Bottkol’s property.

Bottkol built a store, saw and grist mills, a tavern, cheese factory and more. Bottkols applied for a post office at Euren and when the post office was approved, the Bottkols ran that too.

Kewaunee County residents fondly remember Euren’s most prominent citizen, Dr. Edward Kerscher who delivered thousands of Kewaunee County babies before his retirement in the 1960s. He was married to Helen Bottkol. Though the Bottkol name is one that has disappeared from Kewaunee County directories, the family and its descendants have had a major impact of the county’s residents.
The above 1908 postcard was taken from Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County. By then Bottkol's mill had been destroyed by fire. The building on the right in the 1908 card was the Bottkol store. The building still stands and was Mel Hucek's tavern when the photo at the left was taken. Today the popular spot is called Tippy Canoe.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Kewaunee County: Here Comes the Thrashing Crew, Fire Up the Cook Stove!



Grandma always said they ate like a thrashing crew. "They" were the boys. And the thrashing crew? It's hard for the non-retired - especially the city slickers - to understand.

Thrashing was just about the year's biggest farming event. Like so many other things, it was a man's domain.. Thrashing was hard work and neighborhood men went from farm to farm working together to get the shocked grain off the field, into the thrashing machine and finally the granary. Men, often referred to as "the menfolk", did all the outside work, but it was the women who fed them and the esteem in which women were held was often determined during thrashing.

The crew would show up at a farm right after the previous farm was finished. Whether it was morning or afternoon, the farmer's wife had to be prepared. In addition to meals, the women provided morning and afternoon lunches that were more like a meal than a snack. Roasts, chicken, pork chops. Cake, pie and more cake and pie. Bread to be baked. As the saying goes, the men worked from sun to sun but the women's work was never done. Often a woman's sister or friend came to help make the huge amounts of required food and wash the mounds of dishes for which water had to be hauled and heated.

Friday had moved to her husband's farm following their marriage. A few months later her mother-in-law suddenly died. Nobody told the city girl about thrashing. Her husband just figured she knew what to do when the crew showed up. That first early morning Friday thought she'd bake a cake for dinner, but when the men came for mid-morning lunch, they not only ate the cake but they ate most of her dinner too. Luckily her sister had chosen that day to visit. Seeing the men at the table four times in one day convinced Sis to stay and help for the next few days.

Friday's neighbor on the next farm was most impressed by the men who  worked so hard and so fast that they rarely had to come in for a meal. They even brought sandwiches and water for mid-morning.  After the crew's first year at that place, they knew they'd never go back to the house. Diapers hung from clotheslines criss-crossing the kitchen right above the table. Flies were thick on the diapers and were floating in the water pail. Running water had yet to be a rural luxury and drinking water was dipped with a common dipper from the pail.

Pity the poor woman who set a good table. The men rushed to get there and then slowed down to get one last good meal before moving on. Good cooks were exhausted. Everybody on the farm was glad to see threshing done, but maybe the woman of the house more than anyone. She had twelve months before she had to do it again. For Friday, thrashing came faster than Christmas.

Note: The photo is from Cousin Marie, an historian whose dad used his camera to chronicle so much early 1900 history.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Ahnapee and Pabst........It Wasn't All Beer

Temps close to 100 degrees and an ice cold glass of the liquid that made Milwaukee famous prompted this history nut to think of Pabst, Wolf River and Ahnapee. There is a connection. The community that calls itself Algoma had a healthy respect for Pabst well before Milwaukee did. But, it wasn't the beer. Not in 1860, at least.

Goodrich's three-masted barkentine Cleveland served Green Bay, Kewaunee and Wolf River during 1856. The ship's master was Captain Frederick Pabst who went went on to to captain Goodrich's Comet in 1861. At the time, the Enterprize* reported the Comet was "one of the best boats on the lake" and that it was "officered by true gentlemen" who were great favorites of the traveling public. It was also said Pabst was "every inch a sailor" and a fearless man who would pick a German crew whenever possible.

The Enterprize often mentioned Pabst and his schedules. His consistently good time was attributed to his courtship of a young Milwaukee woman. Pabst married brewer Jacob Best's daughter in 1862 and eventually took over Best's company. That was the beginning of the brewery carrying Pabst's name. For whatever reason, it was nearly 100 years before Pabst introduced a beer called "Jacob Best."

It took awhile for the beers that made Milwaukee famous to catch on in Ahnapee. Harriet Warner was 9 years old when she arrived in Wolf River with her parents on July 4, 1851. The Warners were one of three founding families of what would be Algoma. Harriet, by then Mrs. Abraham Hall, was interviewed by the Record about the early days .She remembered the fun and music loving Wolf River residents as having a dance any time there was a fiddler around. With the dances came plenty of homemade beer.

Following the Civil War the Ahnapee brewery was born. Less than ten years later, the Record reported hearing from DePere visitors that Ahnapee beer was better than the famous Milwaukee lager. If people north of town were not able to get to the taverns, brewery manager Henry Sibilsky used the sloop Whiskey Pete to deliver beer.

Ahnapee's brewery had been in operation less than  20 years when John Skala discontinued the business and moved the equipment to Hagermeister Brewery of Green Bay.  A closer look at saloon photos about 1900 reveals Algoma establishements were serving Rahrs' products, not Hagermeister's. By the time there was a Pabst back in town, it was in a bottle, and by then Capt, Frederick Pabst, who had meant so much to the early residents, was long-forgotten.

Note: Over 140 years later, the building is the home of Von Stieh Winery. The above drawing of Woyta Stransky & Co. Ahnapee Brewery comes from the advertising on the 1876 Kewaunee County Plat Map.

*The Enterprize changed its name to Enterprise and the Goodrich Line waa a Manitowoc ferry and shipping company.

.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Pure Magic: Algoma's Majestic Theater


The Majestic Theater as it looked in 1919

Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Durango Kid, Alan Rocky Lane, Randolph Scott, Joe Palooka, the Bowery Boys, Jungle Jim,Tarzan and more. Friday nights in Algoma during the late '40's and '50's didn't get much better than that. Some parents allowed  two movies a week. That meant Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Debbie Reynolds, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers on a Sunday afternoon, but that always meant dancing and love. White hats, swinging thru the trees and dreams of dancing with Fred like Ginger did. It all happened at the Majestic Theater. Roger Reinert was in charge and there was no nonsense.

The Majestic Theatre, on the 2nd and Steele Street site now occupied by Citizens Bank, was founded by David Burke before the advent of World War l. Others operated it before Reinert purchased it from Louis Hasberg in 1945. Hasberg bought it in 1923 from Eugene Pellettieri. In its earlier days, the building had dance hall and bowling alleys in addition to a stage for class plays and community events, but by the '40's the place held only movies and pure magic for a generation of Algoma kids. 

On March 20, 1914 the Majestic opened with a bang presenting a silent film starring Mary Pickford, the sweetheart of the American theatre. “Quo Vadis”, presented in eight acts, was another of the first attractions. It cost 25 cents. Thirty-five years later grade schoolers were paying 12 cents while adults were charged a half dollar. Mom's didn't have to tell their kids to drink milk in those days. For awhile anybody bringing in enough red handles from Pleck's milk got in free. Whether the really tall kids got in for milk handles is anyone's guess as some had to produce a birth certificate just to get the kid price. Being short had its monetary advantages.

Before the Majestic opened, there were films at George W. Timble’s Little Gem Theatre, now the Community Improvement building - best remembered as Timble's Barbershop - or at the Perry Opera House which stood on the east side of Third Street near its intersection with Clark Street. For a while, the Gem operated in the newly constructed Busch building.

Designed by the  architects who designed two Green Bay theatres, the Majestic was said to be most impressive. Its front was mission brick and sported 13 electric lights.  Dark oak covered the outside lobby which had a natural wood foyer. A French beveled plate mirror was hung on the exit side. The theatre had 320 seats, emergency exits, a 12 x 20 stage with a 12 x 14 opening and three drops to look like a street, a garden and a parlor. An 8 x 10 operating room had two movie machines. There was a vapor and steam heating system. Ten years after opening, the theater got even better.

In September 1925 the Majestic announced an addition and added 225 seats. The basement was expanded to hold five bowling alleys. The stage was enlarged and dressing rooms were added.  Projection lenses were replaced and the new pipe organ was installed as soon as refurbishing was completed. The expanded seating capacity provided greater opportunities to see such things as the high school senior class play and more.

During the Depression residents didn't have the money to see movies but by the mid-1930’s, the theatre offered inducements to regain business. One such promotion was a Wednesday evening show that offered the movie plus a piece of glassware, now called Depression glass,all for 5 cents. The taverns also offered specials. On Wednesday evenings it was possible for two people to attend a movie, take home a piece of glassware, and have a large glass of tap beer plus popcorn for 20 cents. All that and greats Greta Garbo, Rudy Vallee, Carole Lombard, Buddy Rogers, Mary Pickford and Will Rogers besides.

When the Majestic was torn down for the rebuilding of Community State Bank, maybe it wasn't only the kids of the '50's who remembered the good ole days.

                                                                   1920s ad


A white banner proclaims "A Big Show Today" at the Little Gem Theater in the Busch building on the south side of Steele Street., between 3rd and 4th Streets. Algoma was welcoming visitors and residents to its 4th of July celebration about 1920.

Cover and postcards from the Kannerwuwrf, Sharpe, Johnson collection c. 2010.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Ahnapee and the 4th of July......


Ahnapee, July 4, 1886
Frank McDonald took this photograph looking east from Steele St. as it intersects with 4th

Celebrating the 4th of July was an event anticipated by the residents of Ahnapee and 1873 was no exception. The day dawned with a heavy fog prompting many to fear the long-awaited event would not be realized. Just before noon, there was a heavy thundershower, but an hour later the sun came out and fears were erased.

Citizens well remembered the remainder of the day which included a fund raising picnic for the Ahnapee band held at Rosier Place, the southwest corner of the intersection of today's Highways 42 and 54. Rufus Wing delivered the oration which was followed by dancing and visits to the various refreshment stands. At a grand ball given at Wilhelmshoeh, a silver watch was presented to the best marksman in the day's shooting contests. The Record reported that the day not only provided enjoyment, but was also a source of profit to "the excellent institution" - the veterans' organization - holding the celebration.

Ahnapee citizens celebrated the country's centennial on the 4th of July 1876 largely because of Wenzel Wenniger. DeWayne Stebbins, who had purchased the newspaper from W.H. Seymour a month earlier, had been trying to stir up interest in a centennial celebration. Few were interested. Then Wenniger got involved and enthusiasm spread.

Wenniger engaged the Ahnapee Brass Band to play for a picnic at his Wilhelmshoeh on the hill on the north side of the Ahnapee River. Ahnapee's string band played for a ball at Weilep's - today called the Stebbins - the night before. The First Baptist church - today the library site - held a dinner before a centennial party and program at the school just down the block to the west. The Record spoke of "good times" at Detloff's and Burke's at Alaska and of celebrations at Sturgeon Bay and Kewaunee. Ahnapee wrapped itself in bunting, displayed flags and enjoyed socials, fireworks and ice cream.

Independence Day 1880 was to be the largest celebration ever. Advertising in nearby towns, Ahnapee promised "no end" to amusements for young and old. The day began with a 38-gun salute, a shot for each state in the union. There were games, a parade, bands, dancing and fireworks, but the festivities did not hide feelings of ill will within the community.

Judge Charles G. Boalt was one of the speakers. He seemed to be pointing out that those with less than he, financially and intellectually, should not infringe on others such as himself. Boalt's speech railed against a minimum wage. He talked about ignorant people accepting communism and a religious fanaticism that seemed to be directed at Catholics. Although the papers often praised the industrious Germans, Boalt complained about them and other immigrants as well. Even before that, there were some years when Yankees and Germans held their own dances, possibly due to ill will. A year later, in 1881, some said celebrating the 4th was "humbug" because it was controlled by the "damn Yankees."

At least a thousand visitors came to Ahnapee on a G.A.R. - Grand Army of the Republic - excursion in July 1894. Steamer Eugene Hart left Marinette with about 750 men, women and children bound for celebrations in Sturgeon Bay and Ahnapee. The 200 who stopped at Sturgeon Bay enjoyed an afternoon of dancing. Those who went to on Ahnapee were met at the harbor by swarms of residents and two bands and were taken to a beautifully decorated new hall. Soldiers, citizens and music paraded past buildings festooned with bunting and flags. Following the afternoon ball, guests were escorted to the waiting steamer. "Overflowing hospitality and genuine open hearted attention" were shown by the residents of Ahnapee according to an article posted in the July 18th Marinette Eagle. It went on to report that the day provided travelers "happy recollections" for the rest of their lives.




Sunday, July 1, 2012

The Ahnapee Record..........

Though high school newspaper editors are 16 or 17 years old, one would be hard pressed to find someone so young editing a community's newspaper. Two such young men are even more surprising. But, it did happen and the newspaper in question was published for more than the next 100 years.

In June 1873, 16 year old George Wing and 17 year old Charles Borgmann put out the first edition of the Ahnapee Record. Their elders provided the backing and the rest is history. It was Harry Heidmann who bought the Algoma Record at the advent of World War l, merging it with Algoma Herald. Harold Heidmann sold Algoma Record Herald to Frank Wood who eventually merged the paper with the Kewaunee Enterprise and the Luxemburg News  creating a new paper called Kewaunee County News. Gannett Corp. purchased the News and eventually Kewaunee County Star News was born. By then, the Kewaunee Star was included.

As the story goes, one 1873 May day Squire Walker and Joseph Knipfer were on the street between the Ahnapee House and the McDonald building at Steele and 2nd discussing the need for a newspaper in Ahnapee and wondering who could possibly run it. Young George Wing overheard the conversation and said he would do it if the men would help raise the necessary funds. Apparently Walker and Knipfer never asked Wing about his credentials at 16 years old, however they did ask Wing what his paper's politics would be. Wing said there would be none,  but he went on to say, "I'll just hew straight to the line and let the chips fall where they may." The paper became a reality and the line was on the paper's masthead for a little over 100 years.

Wing and Borgman were young men ahead of their time. They called it agitating when their editorials provoked action among the citizenry. They agitated for such things as ridding the city of briars and stumps and replanting with trees providing shade and beauty. They felt the city had much going for it, however felt that beauty and good schools were necessary to attract new residents who would provide capital for business ventures.

The young men surely were unfamiliar with words such as pollution and environment, but they knew what it was when they saw it. They railed against the mill owners who dumped sawdust and slabs into the river. All that debris came downriver and necessitated dredging. They agitated about Eveland Swamp, a jewel called Perry Field today. They agitated for crosswalks and good streets and the need for lighting in town at night when strangers were abroad. They praised business owners for improving their boardwalks and painting their buildings, or even just painting their signs. Residential owners often got a nod for improvements to their property. City cleanup? It’s been going on for at least as long as there has been a city newspaper.

If Wing, later founder of Kewaunee County Historical Society, and Borgmann could look back, they’d be glad to know their agitating continues. In their brief tenure as editors, they made a mark. The young men had their dreams though Borgman did not live to see his come to fruition. He was in his early 20's when he died of consumption in 1878. Wing, who went on to read law, edited his family newsletter, The Owl, and kept the history of Kewaunee County alive.