History: Spencer--Present and Future
Contact: Stan
Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Stevens

----Source: Spencer Advance Editorials

Spencer Advance, Spencer, Wisconsin (20 Jan. 1881 - 14 Jul 1881), Elias W. Stevens, publisher; Elbert E. Stevens, Local Editor.

SPENCER--PAST AND FUTURE (20 Jan. 1881)

There is more business transacted here than would be imagined by a superficial observer. There are seven stores in which general merchandise is sold, one hardware store and tin shop, one grocery and provision store, two furniture shops, two boot and shoe shops, one restaurant, one barber shop, three good hotels, three saw mills, three shingle mills, a planing mill, and a pump factory, and a watch maker.

The manufacture of lumber and shingles is the principal industry, and furnishes employment for from 80 - 100 men, exclusive of the men employed in the lumber camps. Any man who is not afraid of work can make a living here, and secure a home of his own, sooner and easier than in older towns, as lumber is plenty and lots are cheap, compared with towns that have more exalted ideas of their importance.

Among the contemplated improvements we may mention the fact that P. A. Thayer in company with two or three others, is about to commence the construction of a flouring mill and saw mill, which will be running as soon as they are completed. Ferguson Bro's have decided to build a tannery the coming spring. A chair factory is also under contemplation, though we are not authorized to speak definitely on that subject. Good judges predict that there will be more building done here the assuring reason than is any previous year in the history of the place.