• Bird & Wells to Shut Down

• View of the Village of Wausaukee in 1908 overlooking the Bird & Wells Lumber Mill. The Village appears to be prosperous but the lumber era was starting to wind down as the cost to ship product became more expensive.  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.

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• Miscellaneous Businesses

• Underwoods Log Cabin Saloon 1913

  Underwood Saloon Clients

  Original Pickle Factory 1917

  Ranger City Pharmacy 2009 photo

  Laun's Cement Warehouse

• 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 Ranger Pharmacy 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 Ranger City Pharmacy was the original site of the Bond Pickling Station. The building was originally built by a family that operated GG's Italian Restaurant. The building was sold to Kelli Zeutzuis who ran it as a local restaurant but later sold it to Rich Wainwright for his Tile and flooring showroom. It was sold in 2009 to the Crivitz Pharmacy who now run the Wausaukee Pharmacy and is open three days per week. Directly behind the pickle factory across the railroad siding was the cement Warehouse. It had been an old country school that had been purchased by HG and moved to this location primarily to store cement and wallboard. One end of the building was shored up with 4 by 4's on concrete pads. Next to it was the Coal Shed also owned by HG that had a concrete floor with several bins for storing different types of coal (anthracite-hard coal, soft coal in chunks, briquettes, or stoker size). Al Huempfner shoveled the coal onto the delivery truck, then weighed the truck on a big truck scale built into the concrete floor to determine the charge to the customer. At the customer's location, Al hand shoveled the coal off the truck into the customer's coal bin.

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• 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

  The Wausaukee Creamery

• 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. Tom Lubinski's Cheese Factory was a family operation with Tom and one of his four sons and one employee making cheese 7 days a week. The building was located on Fairgrounds road and Cedar Street. Each day the truck driver would pick up fresh milk from the local farmers, the cans would be weighed and the price was set for the farmer after testing for butterfat content. A by- product of cheese making was Whey, it was placed into a large tank, transferred to a truck and sold to the farmers as pig feed. No Photos are available. Behind the Evergreen Park was located the Wausaukee Creamery locally known as the "butter factory". It was run by Polly Polomis and was off limits to Kids. The photo above indicates the Wausaukee Cooperative Creamery and is unknown as to location or information about the person in the photo.

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  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   Launs New Completed Brick Store Interior Laun Hardware Laun's Closing 1967 Former Laun Bros, Gamble Store, Hardware Hank, Gocht Suites 2009 Image   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

Rec Building and Pond

Village/Town Campground

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