The Independent -
Wausaukee 6/2/1902: Town of
Wausaukee Fire Fighters were
given a new Waterous
Gasoline Fire Engine
to enhance the volunteer
fire fighters ability. One
large 12 x 20 foot well
dug to a depth of 10 feet
has been completed to supply
water to the engine. The
engine did very well on the
test, throwing a stream of
water though 500 feet of
hose and over the high pole
in front of J.C. Hubbard's
Saloon. The fire engine
house is located south of
the town hall and shelters
the engine, hose cart and
other equipment. A second
well is scheduled to be dug
south in the Village. There
is no established fire
department at this time and
calls were made to form one
now that they had the
equipment.
Norm Smith remembers the
first fire engine and
recalls the unit didn't
always work so when they got
to the house there was a
good chance it would burn
down due to the
unreliability of the fire
unit. He said they replaced
the water unit with a
chemical firefighting unit
and that wasn't much better.
1908 street view with an
unidentified boy on a horse,
newspaper clipping
identifies location of
multiple buildings in the
downtown area. Who is the
boy?
The Wausaukee Hospital
The Independent -
Wausaukee 10/21/1905: On the
site of the F. C. Miller's
drug store is the location
of the Wausaukee Emergency
Hospital which opened as an
experiment in January 1905
by Dr.'s Bell and
Anderson, the doctors will
expand their hospital
by adding one story to
complete a ward sufficient
to handle 25 beds.
Contractors Louis Slaets and
N. M. Toutloff started the
work this week and it will
be rushed to completion. The
demand for the medical
services has exceeded their
capacity forcing them to
expand.
Five private rooms are
available as well as the
ward when completed and
their will be a staff nurse,
Miss Wangberg from
Marinette, on site upon
completion of the ward.
Two forms of tickets are
available, and they report a
good sale of the $10
tickets, which entitle the
holder to medical and
surgical treatment and
board, whenever disabled by
sickness or accident at any
time during one year after
the ticket is issued. A
monthly ticket is also
issued upon payment of $1,
which entitles the holder to
medical or surgical
treatment. Agents for the
hospital are now selling the
tickets to woodsmen in the
camps and quite a number
have been sold to residents
of the village.
Bird & Wells to
Shut Down
In 1910 it was announced
that Bird & Wells Lumber
Company will be
merged with the J. W.
Wells Lumber Company of
Menominee Michigan.
Because of freight costs
and economy of producing
the product in a larger
Menominee market, the
Wausaukee plant will be
shut down and all
employees will be
offered better jobs at
the new plant when it is
finished. This led to
the realization that
farming and dairy cattle
would be the main source
of work in the area.
Businesses over the
years that were created
include, pickling
station, blueberry
production, curtain
hanger extension maker,
sheep farming,
bakery, broom factory,
land sales, potato
crops, theatre, soda pop
production, a
distillery, cigar
factory, black smith.
Miscellaneous Businesses
Underwoods Log
Cabin Saloon
1913
Underwood
Saloon Clients
Original Pickle Factory
1917
Current
Wainwright Tiles
Location
2009 Image
Underwoods Log cabin and
saloon was one of many
Saloons serving a
thriving business. In
1901, 3,282 barrels of
beer were shipped to the
village via rail and on
some occasions the
supply simply ran out.
The building was
renovated by the Rollo's
and then expanded by the
current owner as
Newingham's Supper Club.
Patrons at the
Underwood saloon
include: Left of the
chain handler is
Henry DeGroot, wearing
the bow tie is Adam
Pleckinger, to
Pleckinger's
right is Anton J.
Edlebeck, extreme right
is Barney DeGroot, Carl
Degroot
has moustache and
brimmed hat.
In 1917 the McNeil
and Libby pickling
station stood where the
current Wainright Tile
Shop is located today.
Ownership passed to the
Bond Pickle
Company of Oconto and
the last known owner was
a local named John Alsteen. There were
five or six big wooden
vats filled with brine.
The vats were two
stories tall and went
into the basement with
about two feet exposed
above the ground floor.
The cucumbers picked in
the fall were stored in
the brine until they
could be trucked out to
be processed at the main
plant in Green Bay. The
factory was only in use
for a month during the
cucumber harvest when
Joe Alsteen weighed in
the gunny sacks full of
cukes and gave the
farmers a receipt.
Joe Alsteen's shoe
repair shop was located
on the property south of
the old telephone
exchange building on
Main street. It is
represented by the empty
lot adjacent to Marquis
Style Shop.
The current
Wainwright Tile Showroom
building (former
Pickling Station)was originally
a restaurant called GG's
Italian Restaurant and
was open for a number of
Years in the late 90's
to early 2000 when it
was purchased and
re-opened as a
restaurant again under
new management of Kelli
Zeutzuis. She later sold
the building to Rich
Wainwright and she
purchased the Heritage
Inn in McAllister.
Wausaukee Tire
Shop
Jakes
Dry Goods and
Ladies Apparel
Shop
Former Jakes
Store, Sliver
Slipper Location
2009 Image
Site of the
former Bucket of
Blood Tavern
2009 Image
Wausaukee Tire Shop
and adjacent building
were located on the site
where the Village Post
Office and the Byron
Marcusen home are
currently. There were
not many gas stations
around at that time and
the Ford dealership had
a single pump outside
the building. A Mr.
Parsons owned the Ford
Dealership in town.
Jake Freedman owned
the Jake's Dry Goods
store with an apartment
above and the adjacent
store was a
Ladies Apparel shop. The
store was located on the
site where the former
Silver Slipper bar and
current We store is
located.
Interesting story
supplied by a local
resident about Jake's
Store which
appears in the first
Photo. Jake hired a sign
painter from Marinette
to paint the advertising
on his store. Jake
wanted it simple but the
painter, being paid by the letter,
wanted to add a lot of
text. Jake made it very
clear that on the front he wanted
Jake's Store, that's
all! And left for the
day, hence the
sign. The painter
did not get paid but
said it was worth it.
Jake had an apartment
above the store. Jake
felt it was such a funny
story, he left the sign
the way it was.
During a conversation
with one of his
customers, Pete Marquis
was discussing what may
have been here on
his lot before he
purchased and built his
shop. Things found in
the dirt as they were
excavating were bottles
with Sinkey Soda clearly
labeled. It was
interesting to find
intact bottles on the
site. The customer also
told Pete that at one
time there was a bar
called Bucket of Blood
located on the site he
was planning on building
his shop. Alan Van Pae
was the owner but no
information is available
about the bar and time
frame it was open for
business.
Laun's
General Merchandise
Store
Laun Hardware
1920's
Launs Store
Interior
Laun Store
Interior
Laun Bros Store
Destroyed by
tornado 1958
Construction of
Brick Store
Henry G. Laun was
manager of the Laun
Brothers Sawmill, served
as president. He was
also director of the
bank and was postmaster
from 1899 until 1908. He
owned and operated a
large general store in
the village, which was
the largest store of its
kind in any of the towns
or villages in the
county. The wooden Laun
Brothers Store and
Warehouse suffered a
direct hit in the
Tornado of May 21, 1958
and a new brick building
was constructed as its
replacement. The Laun
Bros Store officially closed in
1967 ending an era in
Dry Goods Stores in our
area.
I was
outside
getting
something
from my
freezer
and it
was very
quiet. I
looked
up and
saw the
funnel
cloud so
I went
back
into the
building
to get
shelter.
I looked
over to
the
Gamble
building
and saw
the
windows
bulge
out and
break
all
over.
Ferd
Laun was
across
the
street
and had
a
kitchen
set out
and I
saw his
windows
bulge
and the
chairs
were
picked
up and
then
later
found in
Stephenson
MI. I
always
wore a
paper
hat
while
cutting
meat and
the hat
got
blown
off my
head.
After
the
storm,
Ferd
Laun
came
over and
said I
got
something
for you.
A
customer
said she
wanted a
baby
buggy so
I went
up to
the
shelf
and went
to grab
it and
your hat
was up
on the
shelf.
The wind
had
sucked
up my
hat and
layed it
on a
shelf in
the Laun
store.
Rudy
Messar
The building was purchased
by Bob Bastian and
run as the Gamble Store
until Gambles went out
of business. Bastian
then changed franchise
and the name changed to Bob's Hardware
Hank Store until he
closed the hardware
store and created four
suites and an apartment
within the space. One of
the suites run by
Bastian was The Cone
Corner Ice Cream stand
which became hugely
popular. Bastian sold
the Cone Corner business
equipment to Judy
Engelmann and she
created the Ice Cream
Station at the south end
of the village. Another
hugely popular business
serving sweet treats.
The former Laun building was sold to
Ken Gocht, who was the
adjoining building
owner, he remodeled the interior
into three business
suites. The former
apartment was remodeled to house
the Wausaukee Public
Library's new location
in November of 2009. Many
improvements have been
made to update the
library's book capacity and
technology which will
now be central to the
down town district.
History of the Wausaukee
Schools
1903 - 1913
Wausaukee School
1913 Wausaukee High
School Students
1915 Wausaukee
School
1995 Wausaukee
School District
Building K-12
The first Wausaukee Public
School built in 1903 was at
a cost of $8,000, Furniture
and equipment was $2,000 and
insurance and building
contents
was $7,500. It burned down
in 1913 in the early morning
hours. Before
Fire
crews
were called at 4:15 Am the
flames had reached the roof
and the fire was
uncontrollable. All property
including the donated 2000
library books were
destroyed. Until the new
school was built, St.
Augustine's church
allowed the 5th and 6th
grade students to attend
school in the parochial
school building. Seventh and
Eighth graders met in the
Knights of Pythias building
and high school met in the
Bird & Wells store building.
The replacement school
building was brought up in a
special election with 221
residents voting to bond the
town $20,000 for its
construction. The
1915 school, also made of
brick and was built on a
lower elevation location
where it underwent three
future enlargements before
being replaced in
1995. It was built at a cost
of $24,000. The current
school is located in the
town of Wausaukee on a new
site at a cost of $7.5
million.
Rec Building and Pond
Wausaukee Recreation
Hall
Recreation building
over looking pond
Wausaukee Pond
Swimming Beach
Evergreen Plaza
location at site of
former Recreation
Bldg. 2009 Image
The
Wausaukee Recreation
Building was constructed
in 1929 and housed a 4 lane
bowling alley, basket ball
court, banquet facility and
unfinished hotel room areas
on the second floor. The
owner/developer, Ed Kunke, ran into financial
troubles and could not
complete the hotel portion.
This was the second
identical building for this
developer and the first
building was located in the
Chicago area. The building
was used for proms, parties,
and weddings.
Several people leased and
ran the complex but it was
later sold to a group called
the Albertian Brothers who
wanted to run a sanitarium
under the auspices of the
Catholic Church. The
Brothers were not recognized
as a religious arm of the
Church and the plan failed
to materialize. The building
was torn down in 1967 to
make way for the Evergreen
Plaza apartment complex.
Village/Town Campground
Campgrounds is
situated on the
Town/Village North
line and is funded
by both entities.
Laun Family Donation
of Pond Memorial
Stone
Wausaukee Pond
Swimming Beach
In 1901, H.P. Bird
donated to the village the
site that is now occupied
by its public campground.
The former pavilion and band
stand were the gift of the
Woman's Club of Wausaukee.
The campground offers
RV/tent camping w/hookups,
Volley ball, basket ball,
tennis, 3 picnic pavilions,
playground equipment and a
toilet pavilion. The
Evergreen Campgrounds is currently co
owned and financially
operated by the Town and
Village of Wausaukee. See
Village / Town for
details and additional
photos. Upgrades to the park
facilities have been donated
by local non profit
organizations.
The former Bird & Wells
log pond north of the
Recreation Building served
as the Village of
Wausaukee beach and swimming
area. When the mill
closed, H.G. Laun purchased
the site and in 1927 donated
it to the Village. The beach
area was equipped with sand,
low and high diving boards.
During the winter the pond
also was used for ice
skating. There is a newer
dam built in 1930 on the
outlet portion of the pond
operated and maintained by
the village. The pond's dam
contains a fish chute to
allow native fish to pass
the dam and continue on thru
the Wausaukee River which is
the ponds water source and a
Class 2 Trout Stream.
