Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

July 16, 2003, Page 21

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

 

Clark County News

 

July 1873

 

J. Rossman is laying the foundation for a large addition to the Hubbard House, which will be a wing to a new hotel that he intends to build next year. It will be on the same site of the present wing.

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A man residing along the Yellow River, in our neighboring Wood County, last Sunday started a mosquito smudge.  He got rid of the mosquitoes, also a barn and a valuable yoke of oxen.  He won’t have mosquitoes about him, no way.

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At the Annual School Meeting, held in the principle school building last Monday evening, the following exhibit was made by the Treasurer, Jas. Lynch:

 

Receipts:

 

On hand beginning of year, $1,929.21

Received of Town Treasurer, $1,755.00

Received of County Treasurer, $146.98

Total $3,831.19

 

Expenditures:

 

For teachers’ wage and incidentals, $2,796.84

 

The report of the treasurer was accepted and the redeemed orders destroyed by a committee appointed for that purpose.

 

An election for clerk then took place, resulting in the choice of G. A. Austin.

 

It was decided to have nine months of school during the ensuing year, to commence in September and close about the 1st of July.  There would be vacation of three weeks during the winter holidays and in the spring, dividing the time in three terms of three months each.

 

Taxes of $800 for teachers’ wages, $250 for incidental expenses and $1,000 for building purposes were voted.

 

Everett Bacon was elected a member of the Building Committee in place of John S. Dore, removed from the district.

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On Monday, of last week, E. L. Brockway and his son Melvin, of Black River Falls, were assaulted and severely injured by a party of men engaged in driving logs on Levis Creek.

 

Brockway has just erected a saw mill and dam on the creek for other parties.  The men who made the assault had a few logs on that stream, which they wished to drive two or three miles below.  In order to do this, they considered it necessary to tear out the dam.  To this proceeding, Brockway objected with a quarrel and fight as the result.  Brockway was knocked down by a blow on the head with a heavily ironed pike pole, which left him insensible for a time.  While Brockway was down, he was severely kicked in the head and side by the men.  The men engaged in the assault have been arrested and are being held on bail at $300 apiece, to appear at the circuit court.

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St. Mary’s Institute, at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, opened December 8th, 1872.  The new institution is being conducted by the School Sisters de Notre Dame.  The Sisters will spare no pains to give their pupils a thorough and accomplished education in the languages, sciences, music and fine work.  It is a Catholic institution, but is open to all.  Terms: Board tuition, bed and bedding $150.00.  Languages, music, painting, and so forth, form extra charges.  Terms for the Day School: Senior class, per term, $6.00, Junior class, per term, $4.00.  Sister M. Patritia is the Directress.

 

July 1938

 

The large flag, 16 x 21 feet in size flown over Main Street, July 3 and 4, is over 65 years old.  Its 37 stars show it was made when there were only 37 states in the Union.  This is probably the most prized flag in Clark County and is the property of Robert Kurth.  His father, Charles Kurth, grandfather of Postmaster Louis Kurth, cut down a pine tree to secure a flagpole 110 feet high, from where the flag was flown on Kurth’s Corners.  The flag was displayed on state occasions until in 1882, when it was cut down for a new brick house that was built on that site.  The flag cost $65 and Kurth recalls after it was put up, somebody cut the rope and it took a steeplejack to re-thread it.

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Wm. Hickathier, of Bloomer, fixed a contraption for the front of his car to catch grasshoppers as he ran it through the field.  The grasshoppers fell into a pan at the bottom of the car and in a short time; he caught five-grain sacks full of hoppers.

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The Willard Baseball team defeated the Christie team in a 14 to 9 slugfest on Sunday.  E. Trunkel, E. Gregorich and John Zallar shared the pitching for Willard.  Monday, Willard handed Christie a 5 to 2 defeat to remain undefeated for the season.  Tony Zupance tucked in a neat three-hit performance for the winners.

 

Any team playing independent baseball and desiring games, please contact Martin Kirn, Willard, for open dates.

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Clark County Sheriff Mats Madsen is on the trail of one or more fellows who traded a car to Arthur Gress for another one, which was found in Cunningham Creek along Highway 73 on Sunday and recovered by Gress.  The car, which was traded to Gress, has been claimed by a Shawano dealer.

 

Three fellows tried to make a deal with the Welsh Chevrolet Co. but didn’t succeed.  Later, it was noticed that one of Welsh’s cars had been stolen.

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A farmer, living near Christie, reported losing a wallet with $50 in cash and valuable papers, the night of July 3 while watching the free acts on Sixth Street.  Also, a woman said she lost $60.  Wheeler Forman lost a wallet with $15, his driver’s license and some receipts the afternoon of July 3.  It is thought some St. Paul fellows sneaked in here and pulled the pickpocket stunt.

 

Two Twin City racketeers, who came in without permits and opened stands on Sixth Street, were chased out.  One had a blanket stand with a gambling wheel on which a stool pigeon won $12, so then a few others bit.  However, a stand near the corner got quite a sum of money out of a farmer and a farmer’s cream check before being discovered.  The stand owner was chased out.  Extra police and sheriff’s deputies were put on duty and from then on, excellent order prevailed with no accidents.

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Two Greenwood families, Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Elmer and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Quast, celebrated their golden wedding anniversaries Sunday, July 3, with their children and many friends attending, in honor of the event.  The Elmers were married at Columbus and moved to Greenwood nearly 40 years ago, where they raised a family of ten children, all of whom were present for the festivities.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Quast were married in Jefferson and resided there until 1907, when they settled on a farm south of Greenwood.  Later, in 1917, they moved into Greenwood, where they have since lived.  Mr. Quast was county treasurer at Jefferson for a number of years.  He has served as a trustee of St. Mary’s Church.

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Milo Mabie has moved his barbershop to the building opposite the First National Bank.  The new quarters give Mabie a splendid location and ample room for his growing business.  The place is newly decorated and neatly furnished.

••••••••••

Flying over Neillsville at the rate of four miles a minute, Thursday morning, Howard Hughes and his party of four, in their round-the-world flight, gave many of our citizens quite a thrill.  Like a silver bird, almost two miles up in the air, the plane passed over here quickly, with the roar of the two 550 h.p. motors being plainly heard.  Kurt Listeman, with a telescope from the roof of his home perhaps to the best view, but his wife was first to hear the plane, which passed the northern boundary of the city.  At best, only a fleeting view was possible because of the speeding bright ship and bright sunlight.

 

The party of fliers passed over Neillsville 33 minutes after leaving Minneapolis and they arrived in New York three hours and 53 minutes after passing over Neillsville.  This gives some indication of how short great distances are made to seem by the high speed of modern airplanes, which will be going still faster in a few years.  The flight across Wisconsin was made in one hour and 18 minutes.

••••••••••

A Stevens Point taxi driver, last Thursday, drove a beautiful dark-eyed blond to a greenhouse where she told him to go in and buy a large bouquet of flowers.  When the taxi driver came out with the flowers, the pretty blond and the car were gone.  The car was later found near Neillsville, without the blond in sight.

••••••••••

Neillsville’s new $60,000 post office, which was dedicated recently, is one to the finest and most modern federal buildings in the Northwest for a city the size of Neillsville.  The building is imposing in architecture and combines beauty and utility to a high degree, with every modern convenience to be found in a federal building.  Every new device to handling mail expeditiously and safely is to be found here with the newest ideas in lighting, heating, ventilation and general arrangement.

 

The new post office building was dedicated July 3 with impressive ceremonies and an address by U. S. Senator F. Ryan Duffy, whose influence helped secure the building for the city.  The visitors’ day and inspection of the building by the general public took place Saturday, June 11, with the building being occupied for the first time Monday, June 13.

 

The site on which the new post office is built is one of the most historic in Neillsville.  For many years, the O’Neill House, the first three-story building in the city, stood on this location. This hotel was widely known in Central Wisconsin and many famous people stopped there while it was running.  The hotel burned down some years ago and the site was vacant thereafter until the new post office was built.  It was from the hotel to O’Neill Creek that the struggling village of Neillsville was built over 80 years ago.  A rival place was Staffordsville, beyond the North Side hill, but the location near the creek proved most suitable for the building growth of the future city of Neillsville.

 

The first post office here was opened May 31, 1885, with Simon C. Boardman as the first postmaster and the name of the post office at that time was Clark County House, which was changed to Neillsville on October 6, 1856, in honor of James O’Neill, one of the founders of the city.  Boardman served as postmaster until July 17, 1857.

 

In all, 19 postmasters have served in the office here from the time of S. C. Boardman to Louis “Frosty” Kurth, present incumbent.  Boardman served from May 31, 1855, to July 17, 1857.  The other 18 postmasters and tenures were: Geo. W. King, July 17, 1857, to Dec. 23, 1858; Chauncey Blakeslee from Dec. 23, 1858, to May 2, 1860; William C. Tompkins from May 2, 1860, to April 11, 1863; Charles W. Carpenter from April 11, 1863, to Nov. 28, 1865; Andrew J. Manley from Nov. 28, 1865, to Sept. 11, 1867; William T. Hutchinson from Sept. 11, 1867, to June 22, 1871; James W. Ferguson from June 22, 1871, to July 1, 1882; Wm. Campbell from July 1, 1882, to Aug. 2, 1886; Isaac T. Carr from Aug. 2, 1886, to Sept. 9, 1890; Frederick Reitz from Sept. 9, 1890, to Dec. 11, 1894; William Huntley Sr. from Dec. 11, 1894, to Jan. 7, 1899; Llewellyn B. Ring from Jan. 7, 1899, to March 18, 1903; Frederick Reitz from March 18, 1903, to April 19, 1906; Arthur E. Dudley from April 19, 1906, to July 23, 1915; William Huntley Sr. from July 223, 1915, to July 1, 1919; Arthur E. Dudley, acting postmaster, from July 1, 1919, to May 28, 1920; Anton C. Martin from May 28, 1920, to Sept. 30, 1929; Benjamin J. Brown from Sept. 30, 1929, to Jan. 30, 1934.  The present postmaster, Kurth has served since Jan. 30, 1934, being recently re-appointed for another four year term.

 

In addition to Postmaster Kurth, the local post office has the following personnel: Jesse W. Scott, assistant postmaster, Arthur J. Haugen and Miss Laura North, clerks; Albert Dahnert and Barney J. Haas, city carriers; Ben Brown and Paul A. Bartell, sub-clerks and city carriers; James D. Cummings, O. S. Aspen, Albert Kuehling and Arnold Yankee, route carriers and Walter Bryan, Sheridan T. Braken and George H. Bryan, sub-route carriers.  The janitor of the building is Victor Carl, temporarily until fall when a full-time employee will be appointed.

 

The land for the new post office building and grounds were purchased by the government through a composite purchase from the North estate, Henry J. Naedler, Judge O. W. Schoengarth and P. M. Warlum, all of whom held equity in the vacant corner lots.

 

The Ebbe Construction Co. of Trenton, Missouri, had the general contract for the erection of the building and work was started September 1937.  Harold Ebbe was superintendent of construction with William W. Cooke, construction engineer for the government.

 

The building proper is 56.6 by 60 feet in size, with a full basement, one-half of which is completed to handle the present needs.  The building is of buff tapestry brick, with Dolomite stone trim, granite steps and the roof is of gravel and copper construction.  The building entrance fronts on Hewett Street.

 

At the rear of the building is a concrete loading platform, 9 by 16 feet, with an enclosed vestibule, 9 by 6 feet in size.  Entrance to the rear of the post office building is by a concrete driveway from Hewett Street and abutting the north side of the building to the rear of the building where the excess grounds have been concreted to permit the parking of the cars of the employees.

 

The lobby woodwork is of oak. The floor of unglazed quarry tile and the lock boxes are bronzed and of Grecian style.

 

Entrance to the private office of the postmaster is gained from the lobby, the office being on the north end of the lobby.  The woodwork of the office is also oak, as is the floor.

 

The main office is adequately lighted and spacious, having more than 1500 square feet of working space for the convenience of the working personnel.

 

Access to the large vault is gained through a steel cage in which the registry, stamp and money order clerks work.  The floors in the main work office are maple with birch trim woodwork.  The parcel post window counters are covered with stainless steel and all of the furniture and equipment are new and modern. 

€€€€€€€€€€€

 

Celebrating July 4th in Neillsville between (circa) 1912-1918 was this group of citizens who were standing on the south side of West 5th Street between Hewett and West Streets.  Standing in the middle of the group, wearing a dark suit, hat and mustache, is Sheriff Hanke. The photo postcard was mailed to the Frank Scholtz family.  (Photo courtesy of Arlen Scholtz Belmer)

 

 


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