Ahnapee: Almost a Harbor of Refuge

Algoma, 1990s

It was not long after first settlement in 1851 that the harbor in what is now Algoma became an issue.

The river's mouth - the pier area - was the busiest part of the small community, however it took five years for the first pier to be built. In 1856 businessman David Youngs built it on the north side of the river so boats did not have to cross the ever-shifting sand bar at the mouth.

The Wolf – now called Ahnapee – River entered Lake Michigan east of the Harbor Inn. From that point, the river turned south for a few hundred feet, connecting to the channel residents know today. It was years later that the U.S. Engineers “straightened” the channel. In January 1860 residents of Ahnapee, as Wolf River was renamed in 1859, established a committee tasked with making plans for a harbor and estimating costs. The decision to build a 200' pier for protection at the mouth of the river was made at a well-attended community meeting. Attendees envisioned building the pier by subscription with the community doing its own work.

Kewaunee Enterprise was organized in September 1859. In 1860, Ahnepee had yet to have its own newspaper, relying on meeting notices being published by the Enterprise. However, the Enterprise failed to publish the harbor meeting announcement, felt by some due to hostility regarding Ahnapee's success. Editor Garland responded by saying his paper would "cheerfully publish" Ahnepee matters if such information was provided. In the years to come, the sparring kept up.

The Enterprise did, however, carry the news in February 1860 when it reported Ahnepee's piers would be extended into the lake 360' on the south side of the river and 240' on the north, thus improving protection. Additionally, the piers would be a great help to farmers who could produce more hay since the shifting sands at the mouth would not back up water in the river. Two months later the Enterprise was extolling the virtues of Ahnepee, saying it was a small village that built a pier independent of government assistance. By then Youngs sold the pier to Charles Griswold Boalt, a man reportedly arriving in town with $400,000 in his pocket. Youngs associated in the forwarding business with Boalt and Boalt's partner Edward Decker until 1872. The Enterprise did not mention C.G. Boalt's wealth, but it did comment on the unusual facilities for a smart thriving town.

A month following the first harbor meeting, project leadership was named: David Youngs was chosen president while A.D. Eveland and the two Halls, Abraham and Simon, were named directors. George Elliot was the clerk and J.M. Parker was named treasurer. Twenty-three hundred dollars was raised to extend the piers. This time the Enterprise said the protected harbor would benefit up-river settlers, enabling them to cut more logs, again because water would not back up as it did with the constantly shifting sand.

During February 1860, Mathias Simon wrote to tell Edward Decker in Kewaunee that Ahnapee was going ahead with harbor development and had spikes out. Following the spring ice break-up, about 500 piles were driven, and they were still being driven when the Civil War stopped all activity.

Sometime following the close of the Civil War, Governor Lucius Fairchild, realizing the Republican party could not go on forever promising veterans’ benefits, changed his cause to internal improvements, including railroads and river and harbor improvements along Lake Michigan among other public works.

U.S Engineers; map, 1870; the river is shown entering the lake north of the proposed north pier.

Years after harbor development was interrupted by the Civil War, Congress authorized the expenditure of $1000 for a survey of the Ahnapee harbor. A correspondent for the Milwaukee Sentinel advocated the Ahnapee harbor as early as October 1867 when he wrote that the harbor provided good lee and good anchorage. It was pointed out that reefs jut out from both north and south points in the lake, which make it a "good lee in all winds." The correspondent had called for the necessity for refuge points along the lake. The Racine Journal ran a supportive article on the appropriation for the Ahnapee harbor in March 1871. It said there was no point on the lake at which there was a more needed harbor. The Journal said river sand and "secretions" did not wash into the lake as they did in most harbors, and the inner harbor provided six miles of slow moving water for ships of light draft. There was enough timber and stone in the area to do the job and since the public had voted to tax themselves, public action should be considered. The Journal continued saying that in terms of refuge, the harbor would pay for itself yearly in the marine disasters it prevented. Ahnnpee’s harbor was looking like a “go."

Both Kewaunee Enterprise and Door County Advocate watched the goings-on in Ahnepee with interest. In September 1870 both papers knew there was a fair probability that the government would aid local residents in improving the harbor.

The 1883 Birdseye map shows the piers and new entrance to the river while also showing a
part of the old part of the river, from the entrance,before being straightened.

It was Congress that provided for the harbor’s survey, completed by Civil Assistant Capt. Miller of the U.S. Engineer Corp. Most necessary was a harbor of safety – and possibly two – between Manitowoc and Baileys Harbor. Michigan’s improved harbors were spaced about every 15 miles of shoreline. It was accomplished with public money. While Michigan’s harbors were close, appropriations were made for harbors to be about every 25 miles from Manitowoc to Chicago. Manitowoc to Baileys Harbor is about 82 miles, and in 1870, there were no harbors of refuge.

At the harbor planning meeting on February 5, 1870, residents felt harbor improvements would make it practical for rafts and schooners to be floated out into the lake.  It was said vessels with ordinary drafts would be able to get cargo into the river. Townsfolk knew in 1870 that although the harbor gave protection, the river was a problem. The town wanted a protective pier and moved to secure government appropriations by asking the Legislature to authorize $20,000 in improvement bonds payable in one, two or three years. The $20,000 harbor improvement tax levy was voted in overwhelmingly, 262 - 23, at a town meeting in April.

Captain Miller, of the U.S. Engineers, completed a preliminary government survey for Ahnepee’s north pier project in late August 1870. Harbor Commissioner Casgrain said the outside approaches to the mouth made it one of the best points on the lake. Soundings showed a 14-foot water depth just one hundred feet from shore. The channel inside was deep, wide and easily improved, with the exception of a rocky ledge limestone obstruction about three blocks from the mouth. Townsfolk already knew that was going to be difficult. The obstruction was about four rods wide, going from bank to bank, covered by about 6’ of water. If the appropriation were to be made, the village would be required to remove the limestone. It was felt the $20,000 could be used for the project.  A special election was called on October 8 to vote on a $2000 tax for drilling and blasting through the rock west of the bridge.

The limestone outcropping inside the mouth was especially serious when the water was low. The channel needed to be at least 12' deep, 150' wide and 700' long. Because the limestone made it impractical to have a harbor inside the river, the decision was made to submit an outer harbor project. By 1870, it was more than shifting sands. Driftwood, sawdust and refuse also often blocked the entrance to the channel. Depths varied making dredging a necessity. Cost of this March 1871 project was estimated at $25,000.

The Record told readers to "look to the future." If the town was to offer vessels shelter, it needed to open the channel. The editors continued by saying the government had spent large sums and citizens should do their part to ensure growth and prosperity. The Sturgeon Bay Expositor was not so positive. Its editor said he was glad not to own land in Ahnapee because of the $700 debt for fire equipment, the thousands spent for the harbor and the big splurge for the schoolhouse. 

Ahnapee’s problems continued.

Note: During the period of this article, the place that is now Algoma was "Ahnepee." It was in 1873 when the small community received its village charter that there was a spelling change to "Ahnapee." More on that can be found in an earlier blog about the community's various names. The paper known as the Kewaunee Enterprise for more than 100 years, was Kewaunee Enterprize from its founding in 1859 to 1865. The spelling changed during the years the above article covers. Spellings in the article for both the the place that became Algoma and the newspaper are the most widely used.

Sources: Ahnapee Record; An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River?, c. 2001; Door County Advocate, Kewaunee Enterprize/Enterprise.

Kannerwurf, Sharpe, Johnson Postcard Collection; U.S. Engineers' map 1870; 1883 Birdseye Map of Ahnapee.

Ahnapee/Algoma and the Village Blacksmith

Blacksmith at the William McKinley Museum, Canton, Ohio

“Under the spreading chestnut tree, the village blacksmith stands,” Longfellow wrote that in 1842, a time when communities all over the U.S. were dependent on horses and blacksmiths. Blacksmiths were essential, and highly esteemed members of the community. Their skills were not only important to thriving villages and fledgling hamlets that depended on the smiths to shoe horses, fashion hames and whipple trees, but, in just a few years, to Kewaunee County, which, as the rest of the country, needed all sorts of forged goods. Where blacksmiths and wagon-making businesses once dotted the landscape, we find gas stations, one-stops and hardware stores.

Longfellow wrote that the smithy was a mighty man with large, sinewy hands who had arm muscles as strong as iron bands. His description portraying blacksmiths as compassionate, spiritual and almost larger than life failed to tell of the dirt, grime, burns and injuries in a smithy. Blacksmiths were hard- working men.

John Roberts appeared in Ahnapee about 1860. His blacksmith shop was one of Ahnapee’s first. Roberts located in various places around town, including near the northwest corner of 4^th and Steele and, in July 1907, on 2^nd and South Water, now Navarino, Street. Storm and Bro. wagon and sleigh shop was operating in 1873 in what had been Roberts’ 4^th Street shop. Roberts made news during the blasting of the limestone ridge in the river during 1879, but not because he had anything to do with it. A stone weighing about 5# was blasted so high that when it came down, it made a sizable hole as it went through the roof of his 2^nd and South Water Street shop. Luckily, his was a two-story building, and that second floor prevented an employee from being severely injured by the stone.

Thain and Elliot were partners in 1874, however by November 13, 1884 J.H. Thain and J.R. Curie formed a blacksmith and wagon business on Fremont. John Johnson, another 4^th St. blacksmith, bought out Louey Mason, the wagon maker who was associated with him in 1879. The men had worked together for about a year. Earlier in the year, Johnson and Mason’s facility burned down in a fire appearing to be arson. When the Kewaunee Enterprise reported the fire, the paper opined that it was set by an enemy of Mr. Johnson who did more work than any blacksmith in town and that he had just paid for his new shop. Was the fire indeed arson? The building and tools were insured for $800, however insurance fell far short of the loss. Johnson moved equipment from his 3^rd Street shop on the northwest corner of 3^rd and Fremont and used his rebuilt shop as the wagon shop.

Mikkleson blacksmith site

Boeder Mikkleson was a west side smith. April 1893 saw Mikkleson building a new blacksmith and wagon shop just east of the northeast corner of Navarino and Mill on property purchased from Michael Melchior. Charles Bastar opened his blacksmith shop in 1880 on his premises in “Slab Town,” as the area around the mill on the South Branch was called.  The Ahnapee Record called Bastar’s blacksmith and wagon shop “first class. Bastar had been located in part of the

Bastar's shop

foundry building at 6^th and Fremont. It was there that Hamachek’s electric light plant had its start. Bastar later relocated to the northeast corner of Mill and Navarino, the site Boeder Mikkleson once owned. Mikkleson seemed to move around. He was renting Wenzel Blahnik’s blacksmith shop in 1898. Wenzel Blahnik sold his shop to his brother Frank in 1902.  John Teich bought it in 1906, but then leased it to William Bohne the same year.

Another early resident - Christian Knospe - opened a blacksmith shop in 1865 on the east side of 4^th on the approximate site of today’s LCL Printing Co. George Doerfler and Simon Pies were operating their shop in 1873 on 4^th on the site that several years later became Knospe’s, just north of the present Walters’ Hardware.

John Kumbalek and Simon Pies began their smithy on South Water, now Navarino Street, and relocated a year later to the Danek building on south side of Steele, today the site of Harmann’s Studio. Frank Jirtle married Kumbalek’s daughter and took over the business. Jirtle also leased the east portion of Henry Baumann’s building during the 1880’s.  By then Mr. Jirtle was in the harness business.

Former government employee John Utnehmer announced in August 1880 that he would do blacksmithing. His shop was located on the flats on the north side of the river, the area east of what was Sunrise Cove in 2018. For a time in 1884, Utnehmer ran a shop on the east side of South Water with Simon Pies. Utnehmer also worked for other village blacksmiths.

Welniak's 4th Street blacksmith shop

The Record found it newsworthy when Welniak & Son put in a new shoeing floor in 1897 and in 1904 when Walter Knospe began using a windmill. Perlewitz Blacksmith Shop installed electric blowers in the forge in 1916. That was a big labor saver. Perlewitz’ new drill was another newsworthy event that year.

On December 19, 1928 Algoma Record Herald carried an article about Perlewitz Wagon Works saying the company had just completed 50 years in business. Perlewitz shoed horses for 15 cents in 1878. By 1928, the price had increased to $2.00. First class wagons sold for $42 in 1878. If one could be found in 1928, the buyer paid $85. The civic minded Perlewitz Brothers’ best years were between 1890 and 1910 when two blacksmiths and several wagon makers were employed. The years 1927 and 1928 saw only one wagon sold each year. Perlewitz’s promoted the community, contributed to the dredging project, assisted in establishing the grain market, assisted in financing the merchants’ dock and much more.

Sam Noetzel and Henry Muench appear as neither wagon makers nor blacksmiths in Ahnapee’s history, yet, following his arrival in Ahnapee, Henry Perlewitz worked as a wagon maker for each. The Perlewitz brothers built a 16’ x 24’ facility on the site of Urbanek’s South Water Street barn in 1878, and then bought out Pies and Utnehmer. In mid-July 1922 Lorenz Perlewitz’ old barn, a “State Street landmark,” was removed when a new paint shop was under construction.  

Charles Zapetal operated his harness shop in the Schubich building on the northeast corner of 2^nd and Navarino near the 2^nd Street Bridge, and John Madden took charge of Welniak’s 4^th Street blacksmith shop in 1913. It was a time when Algoma was beginning to see autos on the road, although as most knew, such contraptions would never replace the horse. For awhile, they did not.

By 1923 as autos were becoming more prevalent, William Bohne announced his new blacksmithing location in Fred Braun’s State Street building. August Zimmermann, formerly at Rankin, relocated his blacksmith and horse shoeing equipment to Algoma in 1933 and opened a shop in the Empey building near the steam laundry. Autos and trucks were all over, but horses were still seen on the streets of Algoma.

Dependence on the horse finally came to an end in Algoma in late October 1941 when long-time drayman Louis Kammer ended his business. Draying thrived at the turn of the century but as vehicles replaced horses, it was no longer profitable. Kammer continued his career, however it was in trucking for the Ahnapee and Western Railroad. Kammer entered the draying business in 1913 and then bought out the Hilton Fuel and Transfer on March 27, 1916. In the early 1920s, Kammer had as many as 8 horses and 4 men in his employ. He noted that during the “last war,” (World War l) hay was $35/ton and oats cost $1.35/bushel. Now there was the cost of gasoline. Before Kammer entered the business, it was Henry Haucke who took over William Torge’s draying operation thus meeting the needs of residents.

When Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the poem about the village blacksmith, he wrote about an indispensable member of the community. The clang of the hammer on the anvil told about life as did the school and church bells. As the horse was replaced by the automobile and blacksmiths faded into existence, a generation or two of grade school kids memorized the poem, which by then was nostalgic. Even the nostalgia has faded away.

Sources: Algoma Record Herald; An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River?, c. 2001; Cox-Nell House Histories, found at Algoma Public Library; Commercial History of Algoma, Wisconsin. Vols. 1 & 2; Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County; The Village Blacksmith, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Photos from Algoma Record Herald, Kannerwurf, Sharpe, Johnson Collection, and blogger's collection.

Where in the World is San Sauveur?

Finding the area of Kewaunee County once called San Sauveur is indeed a challenge today. The settlement was one of many originating with the Belgian immigrants to Kewaunee, Door and Brown Counties in the mid-1850s. The largest concentration of Walloon immigrants came from the region around Grez-Doiceau in Brabant, Belgium and settled in the tri-county area where, in Kewaunee County, they founded such settlements as Walhain, Rosiere, Tonet, Thiry Daems and San Sauveur. Populated by those named LeCaptain, Alberts, Flavion, Ferron, DeGrave, Moens, Moreau, Fabry nd more, their descendants are still found in Red River and throughout Kewaunee and Door Counties.

Door County historian Hjlamar Holand says the place was first called St. Savior, however newspapers and other articles refer to the community as San Sauver, San Savior. San Sauveir, San Sauvuer and perhaps others.

San Sauveur never had a “downtown” such as the nearby hamlets of Lincoln and Thiry Daems, but if there would have been one, it surely would have straddled the Lincoln-Red River town lines, the northwestern corner of Section 19 and the southwestern corner of Section 13 of the towns, respectively, the locations of a cheese factory and church.

Lincoln Farmers’ Cheese Factory was nearly on the town line on its Red River side, about a half mile north of the tiny village of Lincoln, from its founding in 1923 to closing in 1989 when it was affiliated with the National Farmers Organization, or NFO. There was an earlier factory about which little is known.

By 1925 Wisconsin cheese inspectors identified the newly constructed Lincoln Farmers as a model factory. Whey was stored in tanks above the boiler room ensuring there were no frozen pumps during the winter simply because there were none. The plant’s 65 patrons were able to drive to a hose and thus fill up without finding frozen whey in winter or flies in summer. And, dirt was not a factor. Cheese makers Peter Sticka and William Vlies lived with their families in on-site housing offered by the brick duplex that matched the factory.

At the time, there were many who felt the high quality cheese produced at the plant was a no-brainer. After all, its milk came from some of the well-kept farms around. Henry LeCaptain, for instance, had a herd of Holsteins in a stanchioned barn with a concrete floor. His cows had water in easy reach. Besides that, LeCaptain had electricity. His brother Joseph LeCaptain, who served as Red River town clerk, was another Holstein farmer.

Charlie Alberts was one on the cutting edge in his advocacy for wooden silos, although not all agreed with him. He felt silage froze fast in concrete silos while there were others who thought any kind of silo was bunk and that contents were certain to be detrimental to cows. Charlie’s brother Jule’s herd included Guernseys with the popular Holsteins. Jule even had running water in the barn. Another Alberts – Moses – was known for his clean, white, dustless, neat-as-a-pin barn with all the necessary cow equipment. His farm was called one of Red River’s model farms. It boasted a concrete stable with a mow above it, a stone hog building at the rear of the barn and a machine shed with a blacksmith shop. Louis Moreau was another of the Holstein milkers.

William Flavion bought pure-bred Guernseys as the foundation of his herd. Hubert DeGrave also raised Guernseys in his refurbished barn that was complete with stanchions and water cups. Peter Moens lived across the road and often worked in company with DeGrave. Emil Fabry’s farm was near San Sauveur School. He and son William continued to grow the farm on the land purchased in 1856 by Emil’s father. Fabry was another with a full set of blacksmithing equipment.

Red River didn’t forget its children and in 1925 planned to build a new school to replace the original San Sauveur School. The district hoped to attach to nearby Lincoln and build a graded school, but that did not happen and a new, rural one-room District #5 school was built. Years later, the school even had a hot lunch program. District #5 children were offered educational enrichment in bus trips to places such as Milwaukee, but that came later.

San Sauveur pupils began attending Casco Graded School when some grades were absorbed during the 1960s. That followed the selected grades’ absorption at both Fayette and Lincoln. With that consolidation, San Suaveur School faded into history. Several years later both Red River and Lincoln were two of the Kewaunee County towns that joined in the creation of the Luxemburg-Casco School District.

Gospel of Truth Hall, also called both San Sauvior and Lincoln Presbyterian Church, had its beginnings in 1920 as the Plymouth Brethren Church on the corner of today’s Townline and Martin Roads. What prompted the location of the church? Was it the proximity of the old cheese factory and the possible location of a much older store? Or, was it something else? There were Catholic churches in nearby Lincoln and Thiry Daems

Peter (Pierre Joseph) Houart was an early San Sauveur businessman who had other interests in Red River, in Ahnapee,* and was also in the lumbering and flouring business in Door Co. with George Bottkol of Bottkolville.* Houart was born in Belgium and married Mary (Marie) Noel there just before immigration. Mary’s brother, Amand Noel, joined Peter in a general merchandise store that opened in 1860. The men operated their San Sauveur store until 1881 when Houart bought out his brother-in-law.

Houart owned property in Sections 7 and 18 in the Town of Lincoln. The 1876 Kewaunee County Plat Map shows Noels and Houarts owning much of the western halves of both sections.  It shows additionally that Catherine Noel was the owner of the NE ¼ of Section 24 in the Town of Red River, immediately to the west of what would become church property years later. It seems logical that the store would have been in Lincoln’s Section 18 because of property ownership, however “store” does not appear in that area on the 1876 map.

Also fading into memory is the church, however the cemetery remains as a testament to those who lived in the area. The cheese factory is long gone but the rich farmland remains. San Sauveur Kermis isn’t like it was when it was celebrated at Gigot’s Hall in Lincoln, but Belgian pie, cheese curds, booyah and beer are still popular. Gigot’s hall has become history, but Joe Rouer’s isn’t far.

Finding San Sauveur might be a challenge, but it is still there.

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Notes:  Wisconsin Historical Collections gives St. Peter/St. Pierre in business with Mr. Noel. It is most likely that St. Savior and Peter Houart were confused.

*Ahnapee was renamed Algoma in 1897 and Bottkolville was renamed Euren, reflecting the Bottkols’ ancestral home near Trier, Germany.

Photos of the cows were found online from Hoard’s Dairymen.

Sources: Algoma Record Herald; An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River? c. 2001; Cox-Nell House Histories, c. 2013; History of Commercial Development in the Youngs and Steele Plat and Other Selected Properties in Algoma , Wisconsin, c. 2006; History of Door County, Wisconsin, The County Beautiful, Hjalmar R. Holand, c. 1917; Wisconsin Historical Collections, V 13; Wisconsin 1901-02 Gazetteer; Wisconsin: Its Story and Biography, c. 1914

Clyde Station: A Moment in Time

1912 Plat Map showing Clyde Station and the railroad

Clyde Station is another of the Kewaunee County places that has found its way into the more forgotten annals of history. It was the only stop on the Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western Railroad between Kewaunee and Casco Junction. It was a place where passengers could catch the train and, between 1891 and the beginning of RFD in Kewaunee County  on November 30, 1904, mail for Ryan and Slovan was dropped off and picked up there.

The mail was the big thing and in May 1892, the Ahnapee Record told readership that mail from the south and west arrived daily in Ahnapee by about 1 PM, thanks to Ted Richmond and his white mule. The morning mail came via train to Clyde and was carried to Casco where Ted picked it up. The paper felt Ted would keep up his exceptional speed until the iron horse replaced his mule. It was only weeks before the railroad entered Ahnapee, but until then the community was served by Ted.

Clyde Station often made news, but not the kind one would think. In late July 1892 Charles Kinstetter’s cow was run over and killed by a Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western train nearing the station. Just about a year later, another cow was killed near the station, but then the paper said the cow was hit by a “wild train.” When Judge C.G. Boalt was making a business trip to Green Bay in August 1894, he missed the train at Ahnapee. Hiring a livery team, Boalt made it to Clyde Station in time to make connections with the west bound Kewaunee train.

It wasn’t only cows the train collided with. During February 1894, it collided with its own equipment. Workmen were on the track using hand cars near the station as suddenly a west bound train was barreling down the track. The workers escaped serious injuries – or perhaps death - by jumping off the hand cars which were badly wrecked in the incident. However, the only damage to the locomotive was to its headlight.

Clyde Station finally got a depot building in 1900. Plans were announced in January that the railroad had determined a site and that erection of a depot similar to the one at Casco Junction would begin soon.

By late March 1904, spring rains were playing havoc with the place when the train from Green Bay was forced to turn around at Casco Junction. Three miles of track were under water following a huge washout and conditions were decidedly unsafe. Kewaunee’s mail did go through, however, as the A & W brought it to Algoma where it was then transported to Kewaunee. As it was, Conductor Walker felt that although conditions were fine near Kewaunee, the outlook was poor beyond. He further felt that when the frost started coming out of the ground, there was going to be trouble at the cranberry marsh. Interestingly, it was another cranberry marsh  between Algoma and Sturgeon Bay that caused the Ahnapee & Western problems.

Just before Christmas 1911, a County Board special committee made up of Frank Kott and John Baumeister met with Casco’s town board for the purposes of supervising contracts for a new bridge to be built across the Kewaunee River at the new Clyde Station in that town.  After receiving bids for the project, they let the contract to Worden Allen Co.* of Milwaukee for $1078.00 and awarded the abutments contract to Wenzel Opicka for $475.00. Casco Town and the County were to furnish the material at a cost of $259.93. Kott and Baumeister recommended that as Chairman and Clerk of the committee, they be authorized to draw and sign an order in favor of the Town of Casco for $906.46. Other towns were also liable for bridge costs.

The train from Kewaunee ran into more washout problems in September 1912 and could not get to its destination. Mr. Hollister, the engineer, had to travel slowly and after passing Clyde Station found the track undermined where, in some places, 3 or 4’ of gravel was washed out. Section crews and Conductor Lake tried making temporary repairs, but eventually, the train needed to return to Kewaunee.

The big news on Christmas Eve 1915 was the man who took “French Leave” of the Kewaunee train near Clyde Station. As it was, former Slovan resident William Bouschek feared the train would not stop at the station when it was urgent that he reach his destination. Bouschek risked death and caused significant problems for the crew. Conductor William Lake was aware of Bouschek’s destination and when he went to tell his passenger, he was unable to find him on the train, which had not stopped between Casco Junction and Clyde Station.  Jerry Robillard, the car inspector on board, noticed the passenger had gone out on the platform in front of the car. That led the crew to think he had fallen from the train. After depositing the other passengers and mail at Kewaunee, the train returned to Clyde to investigate.  Near the station called “Old Clyde,” Bouschek’s footprints were found in the snow. He had apparently jumped off the train, fallen and rolled down the embankment, but he was not found. Because there was no evidence Bouschek had been killed, the train returned to Kewaunee. The conductor said there was no trace of the man. A year earlier there were jokes about the Italian immigrants who were en-route to Kewaunee for work at the Nast Lime Kilns. When the train arrived at Clyde Station, the men were certain the place was the City of Kewaunee and were about to leave the train when the conductor explained. They did get off at Casco Junction though – and had some walking to do.

Then there was a fire, but it was Michael Smithwick’s barn just east of the station.  The barn he was using for storage and a house were deserted that October 1916 day. It was uncertain what caused the barn’s destruction but it was believed the conflagration started with a spark from a train engine.

An ice floe damaged the bridge over the Kewaunee River near the old Clyde Station during flooding the following March. As the southerly approach to the bridge washed away, the bridge fell into the river. Repairs were made to the bridge, and train service was quickly restored.

February 1919 saw those around Clyde signing a petition to keep the depot. There were rumors of closure but the neighbors felt it was a busy place and wanted it to remain. Again in 1923 there were discussions about closing Clyde Station when the railroad applied to the Railroad Commission of Wisconsin for authority to discontinue stopping there. Again the citizens protested as closure would be inconvenient to those who would need to travel to Casco or Kewaunee for train service. The railroad withdrew its request, however the Railroad Commission required that Clyde depot would be cleaned and maintained in the future.

Clyde Station continued to serve until the early 1930s. Eventually the station stood idle and deteriorated, although trains continued to pass by. Late in 1942 Frank Opicka bought an old station car which he used as a shed on his farm. Today most memories of Clyde are those of the pupils at Rosebud School. Clyde Station faded into the past.

Sources: An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River? c. 2001; Here Comes the Mail: Post Offices of Kewaunee County, c. 2010;  History of Commercial Development in Algoma, Wisconsin Vols. 1 & 2, c. 2006 and 2012; Algoma Record Herald files.

Photos: 1912 Plat Map of Kewaunee County and Blogger's postcard collection. 
*Worden-Allen was a Milwaukee company that built other bridges in Kewaunee Co., most notably in the Town of Franklin.

Breezy Knoll: Kewaunee County's First Golf Course

Golf was something for the rich and for big cities. Few folks in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin were familiar with the sport 100 years ago, but when there were rumors of interest, the Record Herald was there with an opinion. The editor was no doubt honest when he said what he knew about golf could be put in a small container, but the paper did opine anyone could play. It wasn’t violent. Age was not a factor, and women could play. In the 1920s, golf was touted as a way to walk and a way to keep the populace away from its fascination with wheels. At the time, it was felt golf would empty the grandstands to fill the playing fields or, in other words, get moving.

Where did golf come from? A Google search takes one back to the Chinese. Sources date U.S. golf to the late 1700s, but the sport really began catching on in the late 1880s. Golf was associated with leisure time in an era where the word “leisure” was virtually unknown. In an agrarian place such as Kewaunee County, if one had that much time, there was obviously work being neglected by one who’d never be accused of hard work! Golf was associated with being “citified,” and “why on earth would anybody chase a little white ball around?” Golf did, however, come to Kewaunee County.

Golf on the Peninsula made news by 1914 when Peninsula Park Superintendent Doolittle was charged with laying out two golf links of 60 acres each, one near Fish Creek and the other near Ephraim. During the late 1920s Baileys Harbor was chosen for a golf course by a Chicago fellow, Peter Collins, who was in the community visiting relatives. The place he chose offered views of both Lake Michigan and Kangaroo Lake. That golf course remains and is Maxwelton Braes. In May 1930, it was announced that 8 holes of the new golf course would open and be available in addition to the original 9 holes, making it Door County’s largest golf course. By then new roads in Peninsula Park offered added convenience to the course there.

In September, Kewaunee jumped on the golf bandwagon, but it was with miniature golf. After being open only a week, the Enterprise told readership that after A.J. Westerbeck completed his course along Highway 17 (now Highway 42) a week earlier, the course was drawing patronage and proving to be a popular pastime. During November the Record Herald wrote that commercial fisherman Frank Chapek started work on his miniature golf course, adjacent to his tourist court along the lake at the bottom of the Lake Street hill. A Clintonville firm was laying out an 18 hole course.

By 1923, papers were encouraging a golf course in Algoma saying many of the “bugs” went to Sturgeon Bay each week, thus Algoma had the nucleus for a golfing organization. The paper said a course would cost a lot of money as did the hospitals to which many contributed weekly. A strange comparison. A few months earlier the paper said Algoma’s cool breezes offered paradise to a fat man golfer. Fat men were congenial, the paper opined, they spent money, did not rush from place to place and, in short, Algoma had much to offer fat golfers. It was another strange comment. E.W. Anderegg, R.P. Birdsall and W. Perry made news in fall 1923 when they went to the Appleton Country Club to spend the day playing golf as guests of Neenah’s Nathan Bergstrom. The paper also noted that of the 1,806 women enrolled in UW winter sports, 30 chose indoor golf.

As area golfing news was being made in 1930, it came from Algoma too. In August Joseph Weber leased 75 acres of his farm at the northern edge of the city. The greens keeper and golf pro at Green Bay’s Oneida Golf Course laid out the new place. The hills, valleys and waterways on the farm made the place perfect. The work went forward in haste and in late September it was announced that 9 holes were seeded and more than a mile and a half of water pipe had been laid. Tees were being built and fairway construction would begin in a week. A power pump located on the river bank provided liberal sprinkling. At the rate the course was being built, the Weber farm no longer looked like a farm. Remodeling the barn as a clubhouse and using the silo as a lookout over the course were in the plans. A circular stairway built into the silo would offer views of the Ahnapee River, Lake Michigan and beauty in every direction. Prospective golfers to the area felt Algoma was going to be a mecca.

Algoma’s Breezy Knoll golf course was the site of Kewaunee County’s first golf tournament. Entries were expected to pass 50 before all the qualifying rounds were played. It was September 1931 and Green Bay pro James Coffeen was in Algoma to bracket players. Prizes included a leather duffel bag, sweater and hose set, wood golf club, golf balls, and a golf bag which was the blind bogey prize. It

wasn’t only the tournament that brought golfers. Thursdays from 8 – 4:00 were designated as Ladies Day. There would be no charge for using the links and arrangements for balls and clubs could be made at the club house. A women’s tournament was also being planned. Algoma’s first tournament showed just how much interest there was in Kewaunee County.

In mid-February 1932 golfers around Algoma were already looking forward to a new season at Breezy Knoll, likely beginning on May 1, or even maybe before. It was a cold May Sunday morning at Breezy Knoll when 30 golfers were out on the course. Executive secretary R.P. Birdsall said the cold weather that year was responsible for a lag of interest but still season ticket sales were progressing. Breezy Knoll was sure to be a popular place.

1930 Kohlbeck's ad
Algoma Record Herald

Improvements accomplished over the 1931 late fall and winter were indications that the course would be one of Northeastern Wisconsin’s finest.  Grounds equipment such as a power mower would keep newly seeded grounds in outstanding condition.  There were new fairway signs and traps. Caddy service was offered. And, rates went down. Yet another fee schedule appeared in the paper the following week. Weekdays and Saturdays remained at 50 cents but Sundays and holidays were reduced to 75 cents. A week later, there was a change in ticket rules. Non-stockholders were charged $10 more seasonally than stockholders and “family” was defined to mean head of house and those under his roof. Stockholders had perks others did not – clubhouse privileges, a bath and locker area.

Ed Anderegg made the paper in July by leading Cowboy Wheeler in a 36 hole match, with 9 left to be played. When the 4-man matches were finished, both Anderegg and Wheeler’s groups tied at 203. Then the 4-man Southpaws led the right-handers. Another Kewaunee County Championship tournament was planned for August.

Breezy Knoll continued to grow and by August 1933, over 1,550 had registered at the club house. It was expected that by the time the season closed, the season would see at least 2,200 golfers. Many were sure to play in the tournament, an event won by Ed Anderegg for the first two years. In order to generate more golf enthusiasm, the 1935 season opened with a “Get Acquainted” tournament that was open to all. Good golfers wouldn’t have advantages over beginners, and anybody could win the prizes. There were twosomes, threesomes and foursomes and the entry fees were just 10 cents for each of the ten weeks of tournament play.

Late in 1936 it was announced that Ed Kabot, pro at the Alpine, had moved his family to Algoma. Ed was the new Kewaunee County Golf course manager. The Weber farm was still being leased with an eye toward its purchase, but a year later a press release told about the Weber farm course being abandoned. Algoma and Kewaunee folks joined those in other parts of the county who were calling for a new course at Alaska on a farm that was part of the Janda property, once owned by John Meyer of Algoma. The location was ideal and the terrain was positive. As early as January 1937, the new course was named Alaska Golf Club.

In June 1938, the Record Herald commended those with the foresight in moving the course to Alaska, a much more centrally located place. The paper felt that over the years, the course would develop into one of the best in “this part of the state, another tangible asset will have been added to the county’s list for citizens to refer to with pride.” By May 1939, Stony Janda, who had engineered many of the changes, was in charge. Pro Don Nelson had joined the Coast Guard. Janda’s changes must have worked as the paper reported that golfers were having a rollicking good time.

If Coast Guardsman Nelson made golf news during the war, it didn’t seem to be reported in the paper, however Yeoman 3-c Richard Cmeyla made some news in August 1942 when he placed second at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, golf course. Cmeyla’s prize was $2 worth of golf balls, a win that some thought was ensured when his folks sent him the golf shoes he used to trek around the Alaska course.

As for the course at Alaska – it is just over 80 years old and remains a popular spot.

Sources: An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River?, c. 2001; Commercial Development of Algoma, Wisconsin, c. 2010 ; Cox-Nell House Histories, c. 2012; Algoma Record Herald. Postcard from the blogger's collection; ads from Algoma Record Herald.

Casco Junction: Created by the Railroad

Ahnapee & Western and Green Bay, Kewaunee & Western trains 

meeting at the Casco Junction Depot

When the Ahnapee and Western rails were laid to meet the Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western railroad at Casco Junction on Saturday, August 20, 1892, it was the completion of a dream that started with Casco’s Edward Decker before the Civil War. Trains began running on the day that track was completed, two years after the project started.

Edward Decker was given credit for the railroad, and he served as president. As early as 1860 Mr. Decker was applying to secure a railroad from both Ahnapee and Kewaunee to Green Bay. While Decker was serving in the State Senate in 1861, his relative W.S. Finley was a member of the Assembly. Finley introduced a bill to incorporate the Kewaunee and Green Bay railroads, a plan interrupted by the Civil War.

Years later – 1868 – Edward Decker was about to go forward with an idea that could have been the first railroad from the Northeast to the Pacific. With his business associate C. B. Robinson, editor of the Green Bay Advocate, Decker and lumberman Anton Klaus obtained a charter and were organizing a railroad line from Green Bay to St. Paul when the unthinkable happened. On May 22, 1869 Decker was trying to control the horse he was driving when the horse seized Decker’s arm, chewing it and the hand almost to a pulp while nearly trampling the man to death. Decker’s arm was amputated and his life was in jeopardy. It was a year before he was again seen on the streets. In an ironic twist of fate, U.S. railroad history was made 12 days prior to Decker’s accident. The Golden Spike was driven at Promontory Summit in the Utah Territory on May 10, 1869.

After Decker’s health forced his withdrawal and resignation as railroad president, the railroad was built instead to Winona, Minnesota. It was years before Decker completed a freight and passenger line, but this time it was from Casco Junction where it connected with the Ahnapee & Western – and Sturgeon Bay from Ahnapee- and the Kewaunee, Green Bay & Western lines.

Ahnapee & Western Railroad was incorporated on August 18, 1890 and began service in 1892. Financed largely by Decker, it serviced his business interests while serving both Kewaunee and Door Counties. Built without federal subsidizies, the company did secure about $76,000 in assistance from the county and the communities on its route. The Village of Ahnapee voted to contribute $23,000 in support of the bond issue, and to provide $10,000 in depot and dock privileges. Providing most of the capital, Decker eventually acquired most of the railroad’s stock and was its first president. His company was short-lived however as when his family fortune collapsed in 1906, Green Bay & Western purchased controlling interest in the Ahnapee & Western, although kept its name.

Location of Casco Junction, 1912 Plat Map

It was the railroad that put a place called Casco Junction into the annals of Kewaunee County history. Surprisingly there was no big celebration the day the track was extended to Ahnapee, in part because of possible delays. There was a special train made up of the construction engine and a caboose, and when it came into Ahnapee factories blew steam whistles and flags were flown from hotels, buildings and boats. Even though it was stipulated that the track would be laid within two years, few believed it would happen. When the Ahnapee Record editorialized on the new line in August 1892, it said the success that would follow was in the hands of the city. Edward Decker, George Wilbur, Maynard Parker and Frank McDonald were on the train and attested to that.

By May 1885, Casco Junction was touted as a meeting spot for trains and for passengers. The place really was a junction and not much else. Both morning and afternoon trains met there, offering a convenience for the traveling public that wished to visit for a few hours with those along the line and yet return home the same day. Checking the schedules in the county papers meant folks didn’t have to plan in far in advance and could make plans as opportunities arose.

During May 1899, the Record told readership about the wild ride that passengers to Green Bay had. Coming from Sturgeon Bay, the train had an accident thus was delayed in leaving Ahnapee. The delay prevented the connection at Casco Junction prompting orders given to Conductor Decker to take the train through to Green Bay. Engineer White opened No. 2’s throttle, thus making the distance of 35 miles – including 3 stops – in 50 minutes. A stop at Casco let a passenger off. A switch was turned at Casco Junction and orders were gotten at Luxemburg. It was the fastest trip ever made between Ahnapee and Green Bay with running time about a mile a minute.

Taken at the Pony Express Museum

News was made again in August 1900 when 275 passengers were aboard at Casco Junction, all going to Green Bay for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. The train opened a new world, and Casco Junction was the portal to Green Bay and the world beyond. Buffalo Bill drew the whopping 274 on the train, however as early as 1893, the railroad was announcing excursions to Green Bay for the Ringling Brothers Circus.

Maybe it was because Casco Junction was out of the way that theft seemed easy. A young man brought before Casco’s Justice of the Peace Bohman was charged with stealing potatoes. Fifteen bags of potatoes being taken from Sturgeon Bay to Kewaunee were left on the Casco Junction platform to await the next train. The young man standing before Bohman was a section hand who took two of the bags and hid them under the platform. He returned at night to get them, but the potatoes were missing and others felt the man’s actions were suspicious. The railroad had enough of the thievery at the Junction and announced the place would be closely watched in an effort to stop it. Who knows if the survelience stopped it?

Perhaps the 1904 telephone installation at the Junction’s depot helped. Kewaunee’s William Rooney was working for Ahnapee & Western stringing telephone wire from Casco to the Junction in order to connect both depots. The railroad felt the service would be invaluable and would be used by the traveling public as well. A story about a traveling man using the depot phone was most likely what happened to others. While waiting at the Junction, he decided to make a call. He noticed the train moving but felt it was backing up. It wasn’t and the fellow walked to Casco a few miles north.

Door and Kewaunee folks got used to the world at their beckoning, but by November 1917, Casco Junction meant delays. Chicago and Northwestern Railway made changes to its schedule, changes that affected both the A & W and the Green Bay, Kewaunee and Western. Passengers were forced to wait at Casco Junction for two hours, in essence because the line was “small potatoes.” As the paper pointed out, patrons of the C & NW would not desire to have their Green Bay connections broken. There were, however, positive things happening at the same time.

Algoma Record sketch

In late November, also in 1917, the paper reported on the new “Y” being built at Casco Junction to replace the turntable that would be removed and taken to Maplewood where some trains had to run backward. It wasn’t the only turntable moved. During July 1893 a turntable was built near the veneer plant in Ahnapee. A year later it was moved to Sturgeon Bay.

The Casco Junction turntable saved a life during a 1912 train collision when a Kewaunee train was switching tracks. What was called a catastrophe with nobody at fault, wrecked the Algoma train, damaged the Kewaunee train and badly shook up passengers. A brakeman on the Algoma train was in the baggage car when he spotted a signal from the Kewaunee train’s conductor. Knowing what it meant, he jumped from the train into turntable pit thus saving himself from being crushed to death as the baggage would have all gone forward.

It was the railroad that created Casco Junction and gave it much of its history. The trains are long gone, but mention Casco Junction and most people know where it was.

Sources: An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River? C. 2001; Decker files at the Area Research Center, UW-Green Bay; Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County, c. 2010;  Doug Larson Door County Advocate, 9/18/1998; Kewaunee New Era. 

Kewaunee County and the GAR

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain planned on going to the 50^th reunion in Gettsyburg, but was ill. Ironically, he died on February 21, 1914, almost on the eve of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the battles that would follow. In the 1860s and beyond, it was called the Great War. Who would have believed there would be another “Great War” engulfing so many countries? History eventually called that one World War 1, which separates it from World War ll. Chamberlain, who was with Robert E. Lee, saw horrific death and destruction. That did not change in the wars that followed, but in the Civil War, that death and destruction was visited on families, friends and countrymen.

Pickett's Charge, July 3, 1863; Gettysburg

Eventually called the Civil War, battlefields of the Great War of Rebellion became places of reverence. Fallen comrades – North and South - were, and are, remembered. It was in February 1896 that Gettsyburg Association turned its holdings over to the U.S. to preserve the battlefield. By September 1908, preparations were being made to build a magnificent highway from Washington D.C. to Gettsyburg, a hard place to reach at the time. Civil War battlefields are places to learn U.S. history from exceptional National Park Service staff and volunteers, however the solemnity found at Gettysburg 40 years ago has been replaced with a more of a Disneyland atmosphere today.

Little Round Top at Gettysburg

At the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln said, “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” After Lincoln's assassination, Senator Charles Sumner said Mr. Lincoln was mistaken saying, "The world at once noted what he said, and will never cease to remember it.” Even in today’s carnival atmosphere, we do not forget.

Our Kewaunee County ancestors kept the battlefield memories alive in their G.A.R. posts and encampments. As the August 1885 G.A.R. celebration at Milwaukee drew near, the Record mused about the old stories while facetiously mentioning the joy in eating hard-tack and talking about battles which killed or maimed so many. And, the rampant disease.

Men of Co. E, Kewaunee County

A big event at the Milwaukee encampment was a panorama of the opening siege at Vicksburg on May 2, 1863. It commemorated a charge that was one of the war’s fiercest. Chicago followed with a panorama of a Gettysburg scene. The panoramas must have taken on a competitive nature as it was said the “fighting” in Milwaukee’s presentation was more realistic and that the dead, dying and wounded were exact representations.

When the GAR’s National Encampment was held in Milwaukee in 1889, nothing was left to chance for a crowd expected to exceed anything Milwaukee had seen to that date. Thirty-five hundred tents were being provided and bands joined to form a 1,000 piece ensemble for a concert at Schlitz Park. There were competitions and cash prizes for drill units and bands. Fireworks displays were the crowing event.

Following the glowing news reports from the Milwaukee event, there was planning for a reunion the following year. A November 13, 1890 article told readership that relic sellers at Gettysburg were said to be importing wagon loads of junk from southern battlefields and selling them for Gettysburg relics.

Railroads and steam boats were advertising low rates of $3, a point not lost on the 70 Ahnapee residents who planned to go to the 1889 gathering. The list of attendees read like an Ahnapee Who’s Who, most of whom were members of the Joseph Anderegg Post. They were joined by large numbers from Sturgeon Bay and Forestville posts, and, of course, countless others from Kewaunee County. Kewaunee County men served and died in the Civil War’s most well-known battles.

It was in 1923 that Haney Ihlenfeld shared articles with a G.A.R. Convention. The articles came from a Confederate newspaper purchased by his grandfather Sgt. John Ihlenfeld before the siege at Vicksburg. In it, General Grant was quoted as saying he’d eat Sunday dinner in Vicksburg, but the paper opined that he’d have to catch the rabbit first.

Ahnapee’s David Elliott was at Vicksburg and in a letter to a friend he mentioned the battle at Corinth and went on to say how sick many of the men were and that only 1/3 of them were fit for duty. David was waiting for action.

Civil War veterans, Frank Gregor, I.W. Elliott, Gene Heald
1937, Record Herald photo

Seventy-five years after Gettysburg, I.W. Elliott attended a veterans’ reunion held there. When he gathered with family in August that year – 1938 – he proudly displayed momentos gotten there.

At a 1944 Memorial Day commemoration, the names of deceased Ahnapee Civil War veterans were read. Irving W. Elliott was both Kewaunee County and Wisconsin’s last surviving veteran. The list fails to include others identified with Ahnapee, however there are vets such as Henry Baumann/Bowman and Magnus Haucke who relocated following the war. To check Wisconsin Volunteers, one must sometimes spell an ancestor’s name as it might sound to another. Typesetting of the era was accomplished by setting pieces of type upside down and backward, prompting one to search for other letters when the name includes a lower case “n” or “u.”

The GAR - Grand Army of the Republic - was made up of Civil War veterans, including the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service. Founded in Decatur, IL in 1866, the GAR grew to include hundreds of posts across the country. Although posts were mostly in the North, there were also posts in the South. The group lived on until the last member died in 1956. The men of the GAR made up a political advocacy group, which among other platforms, supported voting rights for black veterans.

A section of the battlefield at Vicksburg

Note: To learn about the Belgians in the Civil War, read John Henry Mertens'  The Second Battle : A Story of Our Belgian Ancestors in the American Civil War, 1861-1865.




Sources: Algoma Record Herald, battlefield visits; Wikipedia. Photos were taken at the sites except where noted..

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