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.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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.

 

Red River Township and the Two Darbellays.....

Friend Sally lives near one of Kewaunee County's tiniest, but most well-known, communities. For most, it is a 45 mph limit nuisance with a tavern. Sally mused that if she lived near Darbellay, she wouldn't even know it. But, does she know that she lives near Rushford and Royal Creek which disappeared before Joseph Wery even thought of naming his area - nearly 25 miles north - Darbellay? And, Darbellay? There were two of them!

The first Darbellay was actually a postal community that opened on March 16, 1874 in the SW 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Section 21 in the Town of Red River. Joseph Wery requested the office which brought business to his store, the site of the office. That office closed on January 1, 1875 and was relocated to Thiry Daems where Constant Thiry became the postmaster. It took Wery until July 7, 1887 to establish the second post office to be called Darbellay and in the same location. That Darbellay was closed in 1904 with the advent of Rural Free Delivery in Kewaunee County.

Darbellay appears in Wisconsin's 1901-1902 business directory. It was in the approximate area of the intersection of today's Kewaunee County Highways S and SS, an area of cornfields. There isn't even a 45 mph sign. Why Darbellay when Wery could have easily named the spot for himself? Joseph Darbellay was a Kewaunee resident who was appointed a postal inspector in 1867. More importantly, he was in charge of relief work following the horrendous Peshtigo fire in 1871. The fire ravished much of the northern portion of Kewaunee County, especially the towns of Red River and Lincoln. The high esteem in which area residents held Darbellay is evident in the naming of the postal community.

If Sally should venture north to find Darbellay, she won't find a 45 mph sign marking the community, but she will find corn growing on some of the finest farms around.

Silver Creek: Where Did It Go?

Silver Creek was so tiny that using the word "hamlet" implies too much. Had it been settled by Germans, such words as "dorf" or "flecken" might have been an appropriate  part of its name, which now indicates an area north of Algoma, but then Wolf River.

James Norman purchased 58 ½ acres in Section 7 of the Town of Ahnapee at the mouth of Silver Creek from the federal government in 1855. One acre was set aside for the school that became known as Woodside and ½ acre for a burying ground. Captain Zeb Shaw’s grave is about all that remains visible in the old cemetery.

Early businessman Albert Wells built a pier a few hundred feet out into water deep enough to allow sail boats in to load wood products. Pine, hemlock, cedar and hardwood was brought to the pier by oxen or horse drawn sleds and loaded onto schooners to be shipped, primarily, to Chicago markets. In the early days, the highway called County S did not exist. The road going out from (then) Ahnapee turned east at the Shaw farm, now the intersection of County Highways S and U, and followed the lakeshore most of the way to Sturgeon Bay, thus avoiding swampland. 

Captain Zeb Shaw was Silver Creek’s third resident and surely the most illustrious. Born in Nova Scotia in 1815, he married in Memphis and met and sailed with George Fellows, Sr. in Chicago. Shaw arrived in Wolf River, now Algoma, in 1851 and began hauling wood products. Later he relocated to the farm that remained in the family for well over 100 years. Eventually Shaw carried mail between Ahnapee and Two Rivers. Shaw and Fellows’ son Charles had a significant historical impact on Silver Creek, the village of Foscoro, now Stony Creek, and the Town of Ahnapee in general.

Today it is difficult to believe that Mrs. Perry Austin operated a restaurant a short distance from the mouth of the river or that the area had its own post office. Theodore Tronson used windmills to provide power to his sawmill business and Charles Serrahn built a cheese factory, the area’s last place of business. There is no sign of the pier or any of the other businesses in another of Kewaunee County’s long-forgotten early villages.

When Captain Shaw's son Moses applied to the federal government for a post office, the request was honored and the office opened on March 13, 1899. It was discontinued on November 15, 1902 when its papers were sent to Algoma. Moses Shaw was its only postmaster. Following the example set by his father and grandfather, Norman Shaw retired from Algoma post office in 1958.

Note: The map is part of Moses Shaw's request for a post office. It has been taken from Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County.

Conflagration at Forest Hill.......

Forest Hill in the eastern-most part of Town of Carlton numbers among Kewaunee County’s long forgotten communities. Forest Hill, in Section 7 along Lake Michigan, was completely destroyed by fire on June 26, 1864. U.S. Post Office Department records indicate the place was also called Carlton, and one of the two places known as Sandy Bay.

Two conflagrations that come to mind when one thinks of such destruction in Kewaunee County are the Peshtigo fire of 1871 and the 1898 fire within the City of Kewaunee. However there were others. Perhaps it was because fewer people were affected, or maybe it was due to the era's primitive communications that these fires don’t have much of a place in county history.

Throughout May and June 1864 forest fires raged all over the county.Thousands of dollars were lost in the burned timber lands. Finally, fire destroyed Forest Hill.

Fire had been ravaging the woods near the small community for several days. Its residents had been working day and night to keep the fires at bay but then, just as in the Peshtigo fire years later, it was a strong wind - a south wind - that brought the fire into the small village destroying the entire settlement’s 25 buildings in less than an hour. Saving anything was nearly impossible. Some families threw whatever they could over the lake bank while they themselves were escaping to safety. A team of horses hauling water for Dean and Borland was cut off from safety and perished in the fire, as did dogs, pigs and other animals.

Villagers spent that Sunday night on the beach. As soon as the news got out, teams were sent from Kewaunee to get women and children, however most preferred to stay until they could plan for themselves. Area residents sent food and whatever they could.

Dean and Borland’s store, sawmill, warehouses, 12,000,000 shingles, 1,000 cords of wood, wagons, sleds and more were destroyed. Even the bridge pier that extended hundreds of feet into Lake Michigan was consumed by the fire.

The loss of the pier meant a loss of shipping, but Dean and Borland rebuilt. Forest Hill never regained its economic importance and faded into the annals of history along with Carlton Pier and Dean’s Pier, later names for the same place.

Ironically, seven years later, the Peshtigo fire also occurred on the Lord's Day.

Note: The above photo was taken from Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County.

Kewaunee County and the Election of 1860

Hundreds of thousands of vacationers will travel to Mount Rushmore this summer. Visitors will marvel over the history and the four presidents whose heads are carved 60' tall into the South Dakota mountain.

One hundred fifty two years ago, few residents of Kewaunee County would have believed such a thing would have ever taken root. Abraham Lincoln was not popular in Kewaunee County. He was most unpopular in Red River. When the town's votes were counted for the 1860 election, of the 105 votes cast, Lincoln received only one.

Abraham Lincoln was nominated as the Republican candidate on May 18, 1860, though the news didn't reach Kewaunee County until  the Racine came in on the 22nd. Capt. Smith brought newspapers that were read and reread. Kewaunee County's few Republicans, led by Kewaunee's James Slausson and J.R. McDonald of Ahnapee, were enthusiastic about Lincoln's nomination while Democrats were enthusiastic Douglas men who felt a compromise with the South could be reached. John Breckenridge, the third candidate who ran as an Ultra Democrat, represented Southern Democrats. Though Breckenridge had no following within Kewaunee County, he came in third place nationally behind Lincoln and Douglas, a Northern Democrat. Breckenridge finished second in the Electoral College vote.

Election day 1860 dawned crisp and clear. Lincoln and the Republican ticket carried the small village of Kewaunee by a mere seven ballots, 76-69. Lincoln carried Pierce Town by even fewer votes. Three. However, it was his opponent Stephen A. Douglas who swept the county of 5,530 persons - most of whom were women and children - by 362 votes. Little did county residents know until a week later that Lincoln had been elected. Then they thought of the great internal conflict facing the country.

When Congress met in Washington on December 3, 1860, South Carolina had already passed an ordinance of secession following the confirmation of Lincoln's election. President James Buchanan's cabinet was in a state of flux while the citizens of Kewaunee County nervously awaited steamers bringing newspapers. It was February when South Carolina's ultimatum demanding all federal property in the state be turned over to the state government.

Members of both political parties attended the Union meetings that were held in some of the larger cities. "Save the Union at all hazards" was the slogan.  As Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, Kewaunee County Republicans and Democrats gathered to celebrate in Kewaunee. When Editor Garland wrote about the event, he said it was "a scene of beauty and splendor never before seen in this part of the state.* Eight days later, county residents were able to read President Lincoln's inaugural address when Ahnapee merchant David McCummins brought a copy of the Evening Wisconsin from Milwaukee.

When Algoma's John Densow died in October 1916, he had the distinction of being the last county person on the ticket that included Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was at the head of the ballot while Densow was at the bottom. He was running for coroner.

*Kewaunee County was  2 months short of its 9th anniversary when Garland made the comment.