Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Schwellenbach, Henchen, Ehlers, Sischo, Schultz, Hagen, Wilde, Domine, Hediger
----Source: Tribune Record Gleaner (Loyal, Clark Co., WI) 12/05/1974
Schwellenbach, Mr. and Mrs. Ben (Schwellenbach Implement Co. - 1974)
Mingling with Mary (By Mary Woods)
Mr. and Mrs. Ben Schwellenbach, owners and operators of Schwellenbach Implement Company, Christie.
As one travels through various parts of the country, whether it be for business or for enjoyment, the small villages, or towns always leave some sort of impression on the passerby. Clark County has many of those small villages where just a few people live and work … but within these “family communities” perhaps some of the people who have history written in their memories, with the future to look forward to are found. It has long been the desire of this writer to find an individual who would be referred to as a “logger” and it just so happened that she found one in one of those small communities. The man is familiar to so many, but not by his logging career, but by his farm implement shop that has become a place for many to stop and visit and have a chat while his machinery is repaired … the man and his wife are Helen and Ben Schwellenbach of Christie, owners, and operators of Schwellenbach Implement.
Before one looks at the machinery business, a look into the past is in order. Ben Schwellenbach was born in the small community of Globe, where he grew up, and attended school up to the eighth grade. At the age of 12 his mother passed away, and while pursuing his high school education at Neillsville, his father passed away, leaving Ben and his four younger brothers, and sisters without a home. Since he was the oldest, 16, he was left to “be on his own” while the other four were put in St. Michael’s Orphanage in La Crosse.
At the age of 16, Ben began his life of work. His first job was at a farm owned by Clarence Henchen in his home area. As all young boys do, Ben got the desire to search, and travel, and so he left with a friend for South Dakota, where they sought employment in the grain fields. His stay out west was hampered by sickness, and so he returned to the area, and rested up at the Henchen home. But the rest didn’t last too long, and again in 1928, he and his friends left for the west again, North Dakota, in their Model T, for grain field work. After working in the fields for a while, he and his friends left for the Canadian line, where work was supposed to be better, but it didn’t happen that way, but the two got hired by a farmer in Grand Forks to help with the threshing. So, for twelve days, at 55-cents per hour and sleeping in a chicken coup, the boys worked. They later moved on to the border, and were hired to mow hay for ten days … but the living was a little too rough, and so the group of four returned home.
Upon his return to the area he began working for the Dell’s Logging Company near Globe. Working in the mud and the snow, hauling logs to Neillsville where they were shipped to Eau Claire by rail, Ben began his logging year.
According to Ben the winter was cold, but perhaps having a team of four horses as his pride and joy, made the winter all-right. A group of pictures he had taken during that year perhaps portray the cold, the high snow banks, and the work that went into the logging work, better than words. A picture of him standing with his team, and logs perhaps is the best described, for one thing takes away the harshness of the winter, and that’s the smile that he still has today!
But when spring came, the life of logging also ended, along with rooming in the shelter with all the other loggers. He once again, began hauling milk for Alvin Ehlers. He stayed at the farm for one year, and that same fall began working at the Roy Sischo residence for $12 a month. Following that year, another farm was also worked at along with hauling milk for Otto Schultz.
In 1933, he left again with a friend for the west. His friend, Bill Hagen, and he worked in the threshing fields of North Dakota, and telling of the set-up, Ben points out that the living conditions were much better, and you began to feel like “one of the family.” But again, the move to back home was taken and for some reason no more traveling was in his mind, at least not right away.
In the fall of 1934, he began working for the Leo Wilde Garage in Loyal for $15 a week, doing mechanical work. In the beginning of 1935, he was laid off from that garage, and began working for the Ford garage in Neillsville, for $12 per month. After working there for the rest of the winter, Ben decided that he “could make it on his own,” and in the spring opened up the garage at the corner of County Highway H and 73 for business. In 1936, he married the girl, who had become a special person in his life while he worked at Loyal. Helen Domine of Loyal, and who through rough times stood by him, and still today, works by his side.
The young couple moved into the house next to the garage for a while, and made it through the war time, when everyone had to struggle. In 1936-37, the road which went by their house and business was worked upon, and so they purchased some land up the road from Hedigers, and built a shop out of an old cheese factory that stood in the back. For a while the couple lived at the apartment house, down the road which is now the feed mill, but in 1941, built their present house. The house stands 26 x 30 and has five rooms downstairs which cost them $55 to plaster.
In the beginning only repair work was done, but later the business of buying and selling machinery was started, and continued to grow to what it is today. Commenting on the war years, Ben notes that business was rough, and parts were hard to get, and the draft became a subject to worry about, but for Ben and several other boys, the draft board felt that some should stay at home, and keep the homes from going, and so he was not called.
In 1948, Ben and his wife, and two children left their shop to operate a root beer stand in Waukegan, Ill., but the style of life didn’t seem to be what they wanted, and so they sold the business, and returned to the Christie area, and their implement business. In 1952, the Schwellenbachs started in the Ferguson machinery line, and in 1953, Massey-Harris purchased the line and so the Massey-Ferguson line became the selling line at the implement shop.
Commenting on his business, Schwellenbach states that some yeas business is good, and like all other businesses, we have our ups and downs. “I recall one year when we sold 23 pull-type combines” which was a good year. He also notes that the size of machinery continues to grow and the days of selling 30 HP tractors for $1,500 has gone up to the days of selling 35 HP tractors for $5,000. He also notes that when the 100 HP tractors came out in 1960, he had to send a man to school to learn the tools, and the trade of repairing the machine that would soon become a familiar tractor on many farms.
Since he began his shop in 1935, much has taken place as far as machinery goes, and with the changes he has also expanded the shop four times, in order to meet the needs of his customers that come from all directions within a 50-mile radius.
Turning to Mrs. Schwellenbach for a moment, it should be pointed out that when it comes to knowing the books she does … asking her about the work, she states that some men come in, and ask for Ben right away … but then there are those who know that I have been in the business just as long as he has, and I know something (but adds with a smile … Ben knows more … but one day I did sell a combine.)
Along with bringing up their business to what it is today, the Schwellenbachs have raised two children: Edward, who now lives in Janesville and works at the Chev Plant, and Del (Delmane), who is employed at the Spencer State Bank. The Schwellenbachs also have six grandchildren.
After sitting and listening to the Schwellenbachs, who reside in one of those small communities, where everyone passes through, but no one stops, one begins to think of how it was when times were hard, and starting out in a business today seems to be much simpler than it must have been. But, for Ben and Helen Schwellenbach, the years of hard work, and pleasing their customers, have been well worth the time and energy put forth … because they have learned that Christie is not just another small community where most people pass through, but a community on Highway 73 that has been their home … and no doubt will always be, because that’s the way they want it!
