200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page FCl

AUTUMN 2005

Curly Lambeau, Johnny Blood, and the Spring City and the Water War of 1892

BOOK EXCERPT Every Root an Anchor

Wisconsin l-listorical Society 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page FC2 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 1

Big Bay Blue When Curly, Johnny Blood, and Green Bay Showed the Way

THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY (ISSN By Richard Van Scatter 0043-6534), published quarterly, is one of the many benefits of membership in the Wisconsin 16 University Hill Farms Historical Society. Annual memberships are: A Project for Modern Living I •Individual, $40.00 L 'Senior citizen individual, $30.00 By Daina Penkiunas ^ -Family, $50.00 ^^_ -Senior citizen family, $40.00 28 Spring City and the ^^^ 'Institutional, $65. Water War of 1892 I To join the Society or to give a gift membership, send a check to Membership, Wisconsin By David P. McDaniel Historical Society, 816 State Street, Madison, Wl 53706-1482, call the Membership Office at 42 Every Root an Anchor 888-748-7479, e-mail [email protected], Wisconsin's Famous and or go to our Web site. Historic Trees The WMH has been published quarterly since 1917 by the Wisconsin Histoncal Society (608-264-6400). By R. Bruce Allison Copynght © 2005 by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Permission to quote or othenwise 46 An eBay Coup reproduce portions of this copynghted vi^ork must be sought in Vi^riting from the publisher. Communication, The Right Place for a inquiries, and manuscnpt submissions may be sent Frank Lloyd Wright Album to WHS Press, 816 State Street, Madison, Wl 53706-1482 or [email protected]. Further By John 0. Holzhueter information about the WMH is available on the Society Web site. A Reunion of a Different Sort.... 52 vifvinw.vifisconsinhistory.org Letters 54 Photographs identified with PH, WHi, or WHS are Curio 56 from the Society's collections; address inquiries about such photos to the Visual Materials Archivist, 816 State Street, Madison, Wl 53706-1482. The Wisconsin Histoncal Society does not assume responsibility for statements made by contributors. Penodicals postage paid at Madison, Wl 53706-1482. Back issues, if available, are $10 plus postage (888- 748-7479). Microfilmed copies are available through University Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106.

On the front cover: Johnny "Blood" McNally, the Green Bay Packers player known for his speed as well as his spint, led his team to greatness in the 1930s. Goal Line Art, Inc 28

VOLUME 89, NUMBER 1 / AUTUMN 2005 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 2

When Curly, Johnny Blood, a f." ^i By Richard V

> •fea 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 3

$

I nd Green Bay Showed the Way d Van Scoter 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 4

^0"

Groon Bay Pross-Gazotto, October 20,1919 Green Bay Press-Gazette sports page, Courtesy of the Neville Public Museum of Brown County October 20, 1919. The Green Bay In a photo from 1923 or 1924, a young Lambeau shows off the curly locks Packers outscored their opponents that earned him his nickname. 565-12 during the 1919 season.

n 1919, Earl (Curly) Lambeau met with George W. The game's hotbed was in the East with the best teams ("Gal") Galhoun, sports editor of the Green Bay Press- located in Ohio and . Before the turn of the cen­ I Gazette. Subsequently, Gal recruited prospective play­ tury. Green Bay reportedly became the first city outside the ers for a professional football team through the Gazette. As Pennsylvania-Ohio area to field a professional team. Gontests a result, some 25 players joined the team, and 20-year-old generally were held between local-area teams, and it wasn't Lambeau became its coach and captain, while Galhoun long before other Wisconsin cities had football squads. Dur­ served as manager. Gurly, who worked for the Indian Pack­ ing the early 1900s, football enthusiasts from outside of the ing Gompany (soon-to-be Acme Packing Gompany), con­ state started to take notice of the Big Bay Blue. vinced his boss, Frank Peck, to buy team uniforms and some In 1920 several team owners, including , footballs. Peck agreed to donate $500 and provide a playing founder of the Decatur Staleys, formed the American Pro­ field. In return, the name "Indian Packing Gompany" would fessional Football Gonference (APFG)—which became the appear on the team's blue sweaters. in June 1922. The APFG gained Lambeau's squad, dubbed "Big Bay Blue" by Gal who its footing in Midwestern cities such as Rochester, New York; doubled as the publicity agent, won ten straight games against Dayton, Ohio; Hammond, Indiana; and Rock Island, Illi­ teams from Wisconsin and Upper Michigan known, collec­ nois. Halas was the venerable player and coach for the tively, as the "Pigskin 11 s" before losing the final, controversial Ghicago Bears whose persona, like Lambeau's, came to be contest with the Beloit Fairies. (Like many sports teams of the identified with professional football in America. period, the Beloit team's nickname came from the team's In 1921 Lambeau and Galhoun set their sights on joining sponsor, the Fairbanks-Morse Gompany.) Later, in their the APFG, and they convinced Acme officials to apply for a respective publications, popular sports writers franchise. In August 1921, Green Bay was granted the fran­ Oliver Kuechle [Journal) and Stoney McGlynn (Sentinel) chise and within weeks the Packers were playing in the "big referred to the "Big Bay Blue" team as the Packers, and the leagues" of professional football. That same year, unable to name stuck. financially sustain the team in Decatur, Halas moved his Sta­ Professional football in America dates back to the 1890s. leys (named after the Starch Gompany) to Ghicago. Many

4 www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 5

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Green Bay Packers Packers team photo from 1921, the year the Packers joined the American Professional Football Association, later renamed the National Football League.

teams in the APFG started in smaller cities and were nur­ college ranks, remarked, "The League had declared its oppo­ tured by community support. In time, those other early sition to using collegians, but we did not enforce the rule." teams—including the Pottsville (Pennsylvania) Maroons, Professional football had enough public relations problems Frankford (Pennsylvania) Yellow Jackets, and Portsmouth without alienating college officials by using undergraduates (Ohio) Spartans—all withered away. on Sundays. Lambeau was the "new kid on the block," and Green Bay's first season, 1921, was plagued with financial the hard-nosed commissioner made an example of Green hardship. The Packers had a respectable 6-2-2 record on Bay by revoking its franchise in January 1922. the field, but nasty weather drove down attendance. The The next league meeting was June 24, 1922, in Ganton 1921 Packers included 36 players, mostly local talent: Sup­ just a couple of months before the start of the new season. ported notably by tackles Gub Buck (Wisconsin) and Dick Gurly was determined to regain his team; however. Acme Murray (Marquette), along with end Lyle Wheeler (Ripon) relinquished the franchise and Lambeau was on his own. and back Eddie Glick (Marquette), Lambeau played the Gurly could afford to pay the $50 fee to retrieve the fran­ position of . These players were among a hand­ chise, but he couldn't afford the trip to Ohio. As the story ful that lasted more than two years with the Packers. Only goes, a humble Lambeau related his tale to Don Murphy, eight of the 36 on the Packers' team in 1921, including Lam­ the son of a wealthy Green Bay lumberman. Sensing the beau, would remain with the team for the 1922 season. Packers' importance to Gurly and the Green Bay commu­ In addition to disappointing gate receipts. Green Bay's nity. Murphy sold his cream-colored Marmon roadster, first season brought a near-fatal setback. Every team was which brought $1,555, to pay for the reinstatement and using college and high school players under assumed names, travel expenses to Ganton for Lambeau and Murphy. Garr but Joe Garr, the league president, wanted the practice also wanted an apology, which Gurly provided. A condition stopped. George Halas, himself not above dipping into the of the loan was the promise that Gurly place Murphy on the

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 6

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Courtesy of the Neville Public Museum of Brown County George Calhoun, cigar-smoking sports editor with the Green Bay Press-Gazette and co-founder of the Green Bay Packers.

roster for the season's opening game. Murphy played tackle fessional football struggled financially. In 1922 George Halas during the first minute and then retired from football. renamed his team the "Bears" hoping to ride on the success The 1922 season brought more harsh weather, which in of the Ghicago Gubs team. The best team, the Gan­ turn, brought additional financial challenges. Lambeau, after ton Bulldogs, moved to Gleveland after winning back-to-back a rainy Sunday that resulted in low attendance, counted on championships in 1922 and 1923. his inclement weather insurance policy to pay the visiting With Lambeau virtually broke, a group of Green Bay team's guarantee. To his chagrin, the policy called for rainfall businessmen, led by A. B. TurnbuU, arranged for a $2,500 of at least .10 of an inch. The amount that day was docu­ loan to the club, and a public nonprofit organization was mented at .09, and the Packers fell deeper into debt. It was established to operate the Packers. Fans bought shares of the raining again the next Sunday, but a discouraged Lambeau stock for $5 and got a season ticket as part of the package. By had cancelled the insurance. With his players dressed and the start of the 1923 season, the Packers had $5,000 in the waiting to take the field, Gurly remarked to Gal that rather bank, which ensured their solvency. Lambeau was relieved of than going further into debt, the game should be cancelled. ownership and responsibility, which freed him to concentrate Gal called his boss and general manager at the Press-Gazette, on coaching and on playing. Today, the Packers remain a Andrew B. TurnbuU. TurnbuU immediately confronted Gurly publicly held company owned by its fans. and Gal at the park. Without equivocation, A. B. told Lam­ Despite its early financial woes, Gurly Lambeau guided the beau to put his team on the field because to do otherwise Packers through a string of winning seasons from 1922 could signal the end of the franchise. "We'll straighten things through 1928, but no championship. Nevertheless, this trans­ out later, somehow," he explained. lated into increasing gate attendance. By the end of the 1920s, The Packers did not suffer alone. Even in big cities, pro­ Green Bay had emerged as a solid and respected franchise.

6 www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 7

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

efore the NFL's first decade closed, Gurly was deter­ 24, 1929, at the in New York Gity just a few mined to produce a championship. No team had yet weeks after the stock market crash rattled the nation. Both dominated the league, but the Gleveland Bulldogs the Packers (9—0) and Giants (8—0—1) went into this game Ghicago Gardinals (1925), undefeated. New York writers were confident of a Giant's vic­ (1927), and Providence Steamrollers tory since , the Packers' talented quarterback, was 4928) had taken turns at leading the circuit. Gurly's 1928 team out with a separated shoulder. (7-4-3) fielded a solid cast led by Verne Lewellen (Nebraska), In an emotional game before 25,000 fans, an injury-rid­ an all-pro halfback and Lavern Dilweg (Marquette), an all-pro den Packer 11 treated the New York writers and fans to an end. But the shrewd Lambeau also sought out available stars iron-man display of football. The number "eleven" here from other teams. After the 1928 season, Gurly signed tackle deserves a more literal translation than normally ascribed to Gal Hubbard from the New York Giants and guard Mike it. Lambeau creatively rearranged his backfield to compen­ Michalske from the . However, his most sate for the absence of Dunn and, for 59 minutes of play, went heroic acquisition was the talented halfback Johnny (Blood) with the same 11 players. An injured right guard, Jim Bow- McNally from the . These all-pro perform­ den, was replaced in the game's closing minute. Green Bay ers found greener pastures in Wisconsin's rich football soil. won 20 to 6 but finished with only 11 healthy players. Four The 1929 Packers (12—0—1) were one of only seven NFL days later, the recuperating Packers played the Frankford Yel­ teams to go undefeated in a season. Two thousand people low Jackets to a 0-0 tie game for the only blemish on an oth­ turned out for opening pre-season drills in August, and on erwise perfect season. opening day, 5,000 fans witnessed a 9-0 shutout of the Day­ The Packers completed a two-week road trip to the East ton Triangles. When the Ghicago Bears came to town the Goast by steamrollering Providence (25-0). They headed next weekend, an overflow crowd of 13,000 spectators back to the Midwest with a stop in Ghicago on December 8 swarmed Gity Stadium, the Packers' home since 1925. to shut out the Bears by the same score—25 to 0—in the sea­ The Packers held the Bears scoreless (23-0), and pro­ son finale. This was the third win over the Bears that season. ceeded to humiliate seven more opponents. Even more The Packers outscored their chief rival 62—0. impressive than its offense. Green Bay's defense did not allow The following day the Packers headed home to Green Bay. a touchdown until the sixth game. In all, the Packers recorded Five miles from the Northwestern Station, boosters bearing eight shutouts with no opponent scoring more than six points red fuses lit the tracks. Braving freezing weather, a celebra­ in other games. The Packer offense rolled up 198 points over tory crowd of 20,000 swarmed the station carrying gold and the 13-game schedule, while relinquishing just 22 points. blue "Hail the Ghampions" banners. The players joined a The first great game in NFL history took place November parade, which made its way to the Green Bay Gity Hall

Russ Rogers Beloit Historical Society This 1921 Marmon Roadster is the same model as The Beloit Fairies handed the 1919 Packers their only loss the car sold by Don Murphy to help purchase besting the boys in blue 6-0. the Packers franchise.

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

dinals and Bears, both in close games in the Windy Gity. The Packers were a scoring machine, amassing 291 points and 44 touchdowns. This record stood until the prolific 1961 Packers totaled 49 touchdowns. From late in the 1928 season until 1932, Green Bay won 21 consecutive games at home and a total of 29 in a row. The Green Bay Packers of the 1930s were the NFL's first . That dynasty probably would not have existed without Johnny Blood. Born John V. McNally into a family of means, his beginnings were in classic Midwestern style. He grew up in New Richmond, Wisconsin. His father managed a fiour

Courtesy of the Neville Public Museum of Brown County mill, and his mother was a high school teacher. His parents attempted to introduce the rambunctious lad to culture by Packers stock certificate, 1923. In 1922, the Packers became a publicly-owned team in an effort to save the way of music lessons and poetry reading, but Johnny pre­ financially struggling franchise. ferred the adventure involved with catching freights. Johnny graduated from high school at the age of 15 and attended River Falls Normal GoUege for a short time. Blood where Mayor John V. Diener greeted them. The next evening was small for his age as a youngster and did not play organ­ a victory banquet was held at the Beaumont Hotel to honor ized sports. After his stint at River Falls, he attended St. the Packers. Each player was presented with a Hamilton John's University in . A late bloomer, there he watch and a check for $220 from the Press-Gazette-spon­ played football for the first time. Later, he would enroll at sored players' fund. Notre Dame. The next season the Packers marched to a second league He was a free spirit who played both life and football at championship (10—3—1). Green Bay's third consecutive NFL full-speed. Johnny and a friend, not wanting to jeopardize title came in 1931 when they posted a 12—2 record. The two their remaining college eligibility, used assumed names to join defeats of that year came at the hands of arch rivals, the Gar­ a semi-pro team in Minneapolis. As they cruised on McNally's

www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 9

motorcycle by a movie theatre showing the film Blood and Sand, starring Rudolph Valentino, Johnny suggested that he would take the name "Blood" and his friend could take the name "Sand." By the time he joined the Packers, Johnny Blood had spent four years in the NFL with the , , and Pottsville Maroons.

rom the start, the coexistence of Gurly Lambeau and Johnny FBlood was tenuous. Perhaps it was because these two strong personal­ ities had so much in common. Together, Lambeau knew they were champions, but Johnny constantly broke training rules, ignored curfews, missed trains, and eluded teammates assigned to watch him. One evening Johnny was returning to a hotel after curfew. He had left his key in the room, and Gurly was sitting in the lobby. Johnny remembered that the window was open in his 5th fioor room so he entered a teammate's room on the 6th fioor which was across an eight-foot court. In a driving rain­ Dilweg seemed to have him cornered. But Blood coolly storm, he leaped across the court to the other side, climbed opened the door, stepped onto the rear platform and climbed through the window into his room, and went to bed. to the top of the moving train, where he clambered along Blood possessed speed, elusiveness, courage, and a daring creeping forward and leaping from car to car until he reached spirit. On offense, he was a broken-field runner and superb the engine. There he joined the startled engineer and fireman pass . On defense, he was a ball hawk who could track and rode with them to the next stop. down any runner or receiver. Blood, a clutch performer, saved many games. Blood never complained when Gurly Blood's antics on the field were equally outrageous. Dur­ slapped fines on him—which made him the most frequently ing one game, quarterback Dunn handed the ball to Blood fined player in the NFL—in an attempt to tame the swash­ who displayed one of his patented open-field runs for a touch­ buckling performer. Blood knew he deserved the reprimands down. Later, Dunn tried a similar play. This time, after tak­ and that only served to frustrate the coach. ing the lateral and turning the corner. Blood pivoted sharply After clinching the 1930 title, the Packers celebrated spirit­ and fired a strike back to the startled quarterback who was edly on the train trip home from Ohio. Eventually they settled tackled for a five-yard loss. into card games and the like until Blood became bored and At 6' 1" and 185 pounds, the svelte Blood cut a handsome started throwing wet towels although they rarely found their figure and was popular with the ladies not only in Green Bay mark. But one soggy missile found its mark on the back of end but other NFL ports as well. He was generous to a fault and Lawie Dilweg's head. The jumbo Dilweg, a future attorney, loved to drink, to party, and to entertain. As a result. Blood, was not amused and took off after his teammate. Former often broke, would ask the coach for a pay advance. More­ Packer historian GhuckJohnson relates: over, he was an intelligent and well-read man who combined these two attributes in unusual ways. Johnny would visit With Dilweg in pursuit, the lithe Blood dodged out of the car brothels and buy the place out and then hold discussions on and into the next. The chase continued the length of the literature, politics, and economics with the women. train. Blood laughing and nimbly keeping ahead of his grim While other players would engage in card games during pursuer. As Blood reached the rear of the observation car. train and bus trips. Blood was apt to be reading Shakespeare

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 9 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 1(

or Ghaucer and writing poetry. When drunk, however, he would bury his face in a tawdry, dime-store novel. Johnny managed to find his liquor in as many ways as he could make a first down. During one road trip, his hotel room was located next to the coach's. Blood knew that Gurly had a case of whiskey in his room so the nimble prankster climbed out on the room's 9th fioor ledge and walked along the edge about 20 feet to Gurly's room. There he entered the window, took a couple of bottles, and returned to throw a party for his mates. With the 1931 football season approaching. Blood found himself, once again, short on cash. So, rather than pay for bus or train fare to take him from New Richmond to Green Bay, he hopped freight cars. During a random inspection at one stop, the engineer detected Blood. Recognizing the star halfback, he invited Johnny to take a seat in a coach car. When Kuechle, writer for the Journal, heard this story, he referred to Blood as the "Vagabond Halfback," a label he carried for the remainder of his career.

he fiamboyant Blood was a natural favorite of Packer fans, but Green Bay was Gurly's town. The relation­ Tship between the two men was contentious as a result. On the road during the 1933 season. Blood showed up to a practice session hung over, and Gurly sent him to the hotel. When Gurly said he was letting him go, Johnny didn't argue with the coach. Johnny explained that he couldn't turn away a couple of lovely nurses that had come around the hotel that night. "Alcohol hangs with me," he added, "So the next day, I went to practice and got ready to punt, and the first ball I kicked, I fell fiat on my ass." In June of 1934, Gurly sold him to . It took Blood less than a season to realize that he wanted out of Pittsburgh. Owner liked the young Irishman and encouraged Blood to attend confes­ sion and tried to make a better Gatholic out of him. Nei­ ther did it take Gurly long to realize that the Packers were not the same team without the kid's talents. So, Blood returned to Green Bay. Upon the halfback's return, life did not mellow between the two men. Blood was the same carefree bon vivant, and Lambeau was not about to let up on him. Much to the ire of Packer fans, when irritated, Gurly would bench Blood. Late in the 1936 season. Green Bay traveled to Detroit for a crucial game at Briggs Stadium. The Packers were leading the NFL with nine wins and just one loss, while the Lions were in second place. A Green Bay win would ensure them the title. Courtesy of the Neville Public Museum of Brown County In a pre-game meeting, Gurly announced that the Packers would surprise the Lions and come out running A crowd of 2,831 watched the Packers play the St. Louis the ball. As the premier passing team in the NFL, it was the All-Stars on October 7, 1923, in , Green Bay. Packers who were shocked. The Lions jumped out to a 10-0 lead. When the now "Green and Gold" got the ball. 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 11

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Green Bay Packers - Bears In Action

Courtesy of the Neville Public Museum of Brown County

Courtesy of the Neville Public Museum of Brown County

A view inside Bellevue Park, which served as the home field from 1923-1924.

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 12

WISCONSIN MAGAZI

Blood, who called signals, ignored his coach. Herber promptiy completed a couple of tosses and then fired a touchdown pass to . The all-pro end was in his second year with the Packers. Green Bay took a 13-10 lead. Curly was silent on the sidelines. On the next play. Blood again went to the air but a couple of passes fell incomplete. An angry Lambeau yanked Blood from the game, and soon the Lions scored to take a 17-13 lead. Lambeau then turned to Blood hollering, "If we loose this game it's your fault." A bemused Blood remarked to mates, "I leave the game with us in the lead. They then score to take the lead, and it's my fault if we lose!" With the game slipping away. Blood returned to the line up and called a pass play where both he and Hutson go deep. Herber lofted a harried pass in Blood's direction; Blood leaped between two defenders making a spectacular catch and ran into the end zone. The Packers scored again to snatch a 26—17 victory from the demoralized Lions.

y the early 1930s, the Packers were the darlings of .professional football, and promoters were approach­ ing Lambeau for West Coast exhibition games. Curly was only too happy to take his team to sunny California where the charismatic coach fit comfortably into the Los Angeles scene. The games were mostly for PR purposes, and Curly would spend much of his spare time with Hollywood types interested in filming a movie on the Packers. A young starlet named Myrna Kennedy served as a guide of sorts for the Pack­ ers. In return. Curly invited Miss Kennedy to sit on the Pack­ ers' bench as honorary coach for one game. Curly seized on opportunities to travel to California for business or otherwise. His detractors in the 1940s claimed that the Packers' decline began with Curly's distractions in Los Angeles. However, this view con­ veniently ignores the Packers' success throughout the 1930s. After the NFL established a playoff system in 1933, Green Bay won titles in 1936 ( Redskins [21-6]) and in 1939 (NY Giants [27-0]). Not all was well behind the scenes, however. In 1933, the Packers weathered their first season below .500—winning six games while losing seven with one tie. Off the field, the troubles ran deeper. A fan, Willard Bent, fell from the stands and sued the club for $25,000, which it did not have. The company insuring Green Bay declared bankruptcy, and Bent eventually was awarded $5,200—big money given the Packers' financial shape. With $12,300 in debts, the Packers went into "friendly receivership" which was held by a local businessman. A. B. Trumbull and his supporters organized another stock sale, reincor­ porated, and broadened the ownership base. Once again, the Packers were solvent.

12 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 13

Mike Michalske, Curly Lambeau, Red Smith, Milt Gantenhein, and take time out from practice to pose for this photograph in 1937. seum of Brown County

City Stadium, pictured here in the early 1950s, was home to the Packers from 1925 to 1956.

UMN 2 00 5 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 14

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

In 1944 Green Bay won its seventh, and final, NFL championship until the arrival of Vince fifteen years later. Between 1921 and 1947, the Pack­ ers had only one losing season. By the early 1940s, however, hard times were emerging. One-by-one Lambeau's great ones retired delivering a brutal blow to Lambeau's team. In 1948 the Packers struggled through a 3 and 9 season and then a 2 and 10 season in 1949. The 1940s generally were hard times for the NFL. First, World War II dimin­ ished interest in sports, and then the AAFG (All- Gonfer­ ence) began to compete with the NFL for players by bidding up salaries. Finally, the post-war recession from 1947 to 1949 substantially reduced game attendance. The Green Bay Pack­ ers suffered more than other NFL teams. In 1948, on the verge of bank­ ruptcy, a statewide appeal raised $170,000, and the Packers remained in business.

fter the two devastating sea­ sons, Lambeau relinquished Athe team's reins in 1949. Fortunately, he witnessed the revival of Green Bay's excellence with the com­ Courtesy of the Neville Public Museum of Brown County ing of in the late In the first game played in the new , September 29, 1957, 1950s. On June 1, 1965, Gurly died at the Packers defeated the Bears 21-17. The stadium was renamed in 1965 the pinnacle of the "Second Goming of after the death of Curly Lambeau. the Packers." A month after his death, Gity Stadium was renamed Lambeau Field. As forjohnny Blood, he ended his football career with brief stints coaching for the and for St. John's About the Author University, his alma mater. Although his teams had winning records, he retired early recognizing that his temperament was Richard Van Scotter lives in Colorado not suitable for coaching. When the Pro Football Hall of Fame Springs and is a native of Wisconsin. A was established in 1963, Lambeau and Blood were among the four-sport athlete at Elkhorn High small inaugural group that included fellow-Packers tackle Gal School, he played football and ran Hubbard and end Don Hutson. Fullback Glarke Hinkle and track for Beloit College graduating in guard were added in 1964; quarterback Arnie 1961. At onetime, he held the school's Herber was inducted in 1966, underscoring the dominance of pass receiving record—for receptions the 1930s Packers. and yards. As coach Carl "Pill" Nelson remarked after a game against Grinnell Notes 1. Chuckjohnson, The Green Bay Packers: Pro Football's PioneerTeam (New York: Thomas College, "You looked like Don Hutson out there today Van." Nelson & Sons, 1961), 60. An exaggerated compliment to be sure; yet, he would have preferred Johnny "Blood" McNally.

14 www.wisconsinhistory.org

200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 16 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 17

Plan A-

i-i 1 i_ i_ F^^ r^.N/t

University Hill Farms A Project for Modern WHSM96-012 Early proposal for the development of Hill Farms prepared by Madison Planning Living Engineer Walter Johnson. In January 1954, the plan was presented to the city-university coordinating committee.

By Daina Penkiunas

any of today's developers and planners of new residential developments embrace the ideas of neo-traditional urban planning and point to the positive traits of early twentieth-century urban neighborhoods as the idealM. Advocates of "new urbanism" focus on the many community-building attrib­ utes of these early twentieth-century developments—walkable neighborhoods, mix­ ture of land uses in close proximity to each other, and housing affordable to different economic levels. They favor front porches, closely spaced houses, garages South Segoe Road circa 1960. relegated to rear alleys, and housing styles reflective of historic periods as elements Several houses on the inside curve of this type of community. However, it is not so much the physical attributes of the were part of the 1957 Parade of housing that helps build a strong community, rather, it is residents being able to Homes. The school parcel is outside walk comfortably to shop or to work, children being able to walk safely to school, as of the frame to the upper right. well as the social benefits received from a sense of community. Exposed culverts running through Other models for development exist in the more recent past that should equally the center of the street raised safety f concerns and were covered. inspire modern-day developers and planners—models providing a fully planned community, integrating residential and commercial zones with a variety of housing types reflecting contemporary architecture and integrated park and school parcels. Such a development was created fifty years ago on the western edge of Madison at the University Hill Farms. Unlike earlier examples of planned communities under­ taken by industry or the federal government as worker housing, this was a neigh­ borhood geared to the professional and middle class with spacious home sites, apartments for young families, corporate and state offices, large parks, and a regional shopping center. Unlike typical developments of the mid-twentieth century. Hill Farms was the project of the University of Wisconsin and its Regents who influ­ enced and oversaw the community's development as it crafted its own study in mod­ ern living.

17 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page If

•^r5?V?

.ML0^9^'

''^3

Am iVi I ^.?'

t^'

^o-^^>4m^^*K:^m 'r--i UW Archives 35499-C The University continued to purchase and increase the size of the experimental farm through 1947. Here (above) Ira Baldwin, dean of the College of Agriculture, helps a man baling hay on the farm in the 1940s.

The former Harmon Hill house (right, circa 1877) and the later associated farm iiii buildings (below, 1914) stood near the intersection of University Avenue and Segoe ^--"j^i .\:;.:,-^ Road. In 1846, New York native Harmon Hill and his wife Clarissa moved to the farm site, and constructed the stone house in 1857. The Hills retired to the city in 1893, and sold the farm to Benjamin Lewis, who in turn sold it to the University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture in 1897.

^^^

^yj- -m

WHi (0487)5134 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 19

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

adison is a city of distinctive neighborhoods, that incorporated shopping, employment, schools, recre­ each with its own characteristics and history, ation, and multiple-ho using types, as "an endowment for the from the bohemian atmosphere of the City and the University" and a "unique and dynamic exper­ WilliamsoMn Street area to the collection of impressive, archi­ iment in development." tect-designed homes clustered on the hilltop in University While the special committee of the Board of Regents Heights. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, many of headed the project, other departments of the University used Madison's distinct neighborhoods were laid out and devel­ it as a teaching tool. Professor Richard Ratcliff, land develop­ oped by investment and realty companies either as streetcar ment expert in the UW Commerce School, oversaw the proj­ or automobile suburbs. However, in all cases, the focus was ect for the University. Ratcliff held a doctorate in urban land to create a contained residential community with most of the economics and was instrumental in establishing a real estate employment opportunities and needed services located out­ department at the UW. As the plan developed, law school stu­ side of the immediate neighborhood. Fifty years ago, the dents and graduate students in city planning studied the pro­ University of Wisconsin undertook the development of a posed shopping center and worked on the language of the complete, planned community at the site of the University's deed restrictions. In an article about Ratcliff, the Wisconsin experimental farms on the west side of Madison. Richard State Journal described the project in educational terms: "The Ratcliff, the University's liaison for the project, called the university .. . gained the unmeasurable profit of a unique 'lab­ Hill Farms development "the largest and the first 'integrated oratory' for applying community planning theories and for community' plan in Madison's history." study by future students of real estate economics." Dane County, and with it Madison, grew tremendously between 1940 and 1950 with a population expansion of 30 per­ PLAN cent (from 130,660 to 169,357 county residents). Coupled with Soon after the approval of the project, Rennebohm asked the surge in University enrollment after World War II and a for the city's assistance in preparing a development plan. growing professional class in Madison, The plan prepared by the City Plan Commission was char­ the city faced an acute housing short­ acterized by its response to the rolling topography of the site age. Blocking further development on and its clustering of residential lots around cul-de-sacs with the city's west side, and serving as a bar­ larger acreage lots along the future expansion of what is now rier to established neighborhoods Whitney Way. The plan also designated a regional park in beyond, was the 600-acre University the southwest corner of the property and incorporated sec­ Hill Farm. Located roughly in the tions devoted to a neighborhood park with a school parcel, quadrant now defined by University greenways, and apartments. Avenue, Midvale Boulevard, Mineral In March 1955, the Regents secured the services of plan­ Point, and Rosa roads, the University ning consultant Carl L. Gardner and Associates of Chicago had begun acquiring the land for its to create a final master plan. Gardner had served as the College of Agriculture in 1897. Unable director of the Chicago Plan Commission for nine years and to expand further because of increasing had worked as a planner for the Federal Housing Adminis­ land values and adjacent development, tration. A press release issued by the Regents reiterated the and pressured by the city to open the participation of both the city and the University in the plan­ land for housing, the 1953 state legisla­ ning process and stressed that this development was to be a ture authorized the University to sell complete community: "(Gardner) will work closely with Hill Farms and to use the proceeds to purchase new research lands in nearby Richard U. Ratcliff, land development specialist in the WH, (032) 843 Arlington. School of Commerce; Walter Johnson, Madison planning engineer; and the Wisconsin State Planning Division in Concurrent with the authorization, the University designing an attractive, complete, and modern community Regents appointed a special Committee on Agricultural for the Hill Farm area that will be a real contribution to the Lands with former Oscar Rennebohm as chair. City of Madison "* The original intention was to dispose of the lands at market Gardner's master plan maintained aspects of the city's value; however, studies indicated maximized profits by plan­ plan. Parcels were set aside for churches, parks, and a school. ning and developing the property as a multi-use, planned Other large sections were dedicated to a shopping center, community.'^ Accepting the challenge, the Regents and the offices, and state office buildings. A park and garden apart­ special committee delved wholeheartedly into the project ments formed a transition between the single-family residen­ and made bold plans. As it neared completion, the January tial portions and the more highly-developed shopping and 1961 Wisconsin Alumnus hailed Hill Farms, a development office building areas. The Gardner plan largely abandoned

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 19 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 2(

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

the cul-de-sac and, instead, used long blocks and curvilinear buyers, builders and developers purchased much of the avail­ streets that responded to the rolling topography of the site. able property.^ Eighty-one lots sold to builders participating Mid-block cut-throughs near the school and park provided in the annual Parade of Homes. Interestingly, the large-scale shorter routes for school-bound children and other pedestri­ buyers tended to buy multiple lots scattered throughout the ans. After a period of comments and revisions, the original addition offered for sale rather than in a cluster. This mix of plat was recorded on October 7, 1955. With the exception of individual and developer-built homes contributes to the the northwest corner of the property, the current Hill Farms absence of repetitive houses within the streetscape. The con­ development closely mirrors Gardner's proposal.^ struction costs varied as well from $20,000 to $60,000, which resulted in a mix of housing sizes and finishes. SALE AND DEVELOPMENT In a press release issued February 2, 1956, the Regents PRECEDENTS announced the sale of lots in the new neighborhood empha­ The Hill Farms site plan shows the influences of the late sizing the all-inclusive aspect of the community: "Its sale has nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries' community been authorized by the State Legislature, and the area has planning theories that explored both naturalistic been planned as a model for ideal community developments. approaches to the layout and the ideals of the Garden City ... It has been planned so that, in addition to attractive movement. Of great influence was the 1929 plan of Rad- home lots, there will be parks, a shop­ burn. New Jersey, that considered the ping area, space for family and com­ growing popularity of the automobile munity recreational activities, in its plan by providing superblocks churches and schools." Unlike a typi­ with cul-de-sacs, spines of parks, and cal development where the price was gradations of streets designed to carry set by the market, the sale price of lots local through regional traffic. While within the development was subject to the cul-de-sac design was proposed in the approval of the State Building the City of Madison's plan for Hill Commission. The University further Farms but not adopted in the final announced that the streets in the com­ plan, other aspects of the planning munity would be named after Wiscon­ philosophy that Radburn represented sin counties "in recognition of the fact were incorporated. One of the that this, in a sense, is a state venture." designers of Radburn, influential The neighborhood was offered in planner Clarence Stein, wrote about sections of approximately 100 acres the importance of providing for social which allowed the University to main­ life within the plan of a community, tain good prices for the lots without such as schools, shopping centers, and flooding the market and for the city to outdoor meeting places. Additionally, expand and extend its services incre­ he felt that it was important to relate mentally. The Regents retained Mead the location of homes, community and Hunt of Madison to work out the UW-Madison Archives facilities, and workplaces to one engineering aspects of the plan and to The University of Wisconsin relieved another. The phased development of oversee the construction of the infra­ Professor Richard U. Ratcliff of some Hill Farms overcame one of the iden­ structure. While the University did of his official duties to oversee the tified shortcomings of the construc­ arrangements for the sale and not release all of the land for sale at tion of the planned community. The development of the community. University was able to control the once, the plats for the various addi­ Ratcliff was a land development tions were recorded in quick succes­ specialist in the School of Commerce. overall timing of the expansion, to sion. With the exception of several pay for the infrastructure before the parcels within the boundaries and the eventual departure of lots were sold, and to sale the land gradually, all of which the University's Seed Farm from the area, most additions allowed a successful completion of the project. The cooper­ were recorded between 1956 and 1959. ation of the University and the city also ensured the place­ In August 1956, the Regents contracted with John Haley ment of a school within the boundaries of the master plan and Sons of Madison to act as brokers for the sale of the indi­ as well as the planned locations of the parks. vidual lots. The first lots sold to the public in 1955 prior to the Also discussed in Madison were many of the national ideas press announcement of the sale and the first homes were con­ in city planning. Architect William Kaeser prepared a report structed in 1956. While some of the parcels sold to individual on the design of a master plan for Madison in the 1930s.

20 www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 21

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Drawing on Eliel Saarinen's writing on planning, Kaeser advocated the use of a master plan noting that "modern con­ ditions require that new buildings and new district be built according to a definite plan" that examines the relationship of the unit to the whole. The Hill Farms plan recommended that various activities be set apart from each other by using parks and recreation centers to create buffers and privacy for residential areas. The Hill Farms development also incorporated specific guidelines set out by planner Ladislas Segoe in his 1939 com­ prehensive plan for Madison. Segoe recommended that all new subdivisions conform to the comprehensive plan and incorporate any thoroughfare, boulevard, or parkway desig­ nated on the plan. As a result, all of the major roads in the region were either left in place or continued within the plan. Within these defined traffic arteries, the layout is more infor­ mal. Segoe also stressed the importance of planning for schools, playgrounds, and parks of varying sizes within the neighborhoods. The Hill Farms plan incorporated these important elements into its land use allocations.

ARCHITECTURE Acting on the advice of the Madison Board of Realtors, in 1955, the Regents appointed an Architectural Control Com­ mittee for Hill Farms. Its chair was Professor Richard Rat­ cliff. The other two members were also University officials: G. William Longnecker, Professor in the College of Agricul­ ture and Executive Director of the University Arboretum, and Albert Gallistel, director of physical plant planning for the University. The committee's mission was to evaluate and to maintain architectural standards in the new community by ensuring minimum standards for improvements. No building could be constructed without committee approval of its exte­ rior design, of its building materials, and of its location on the lot. The deed restrictions allowed only single-family homes of ^^y^ ^-_y PRDAN , ^ A\/E:, a minimum square footage with attached one or two car XC XJ: garages. No outbuildings of any type were permitted on the The Radburn Association parcels.' The neighborhood's Architectural Review Commit­ Many aspects of this 1920s design for Radburn, New Jersey, tee continues to oversee any proposed changes or additions to became important standards in urban planning. Planners the existing homes or the construction of new housing in the Clarence Stein and Henry Wright separated vehicular and pedestrian traffic, used cul-de-sacs to organize housing, and neighborhood. Furthermore, with few exceptions, parcels created ''superblocks^' with shared park land. and homes within the neighborhood come with a Declara­ tion of Covenants, Restrictions and Easements that was recorded at the time of the original plat of the section. Parade houses of the era, the Hill Farms neighborhood is a The architecture in the neighborhood reflects popular textbook example of what was popular and what was pro­ housing styles of the period with numerous variations of the moted in the Madison housing market in the late 1950s. Four ranch and some later Colonial Revival-influenced designs. of the decade's Parades were in the area—1957, 1958, 1959, Dotted throughout the neighborhood are unique architect- and 1960. These Parade homes represent 10 percent of the designed houses; the most notable is the Frank Lloyd Wright- entire proposed single-family housing in Hill Farms. designed prefabricated house built by Marshall Erdman and The 1957 Parade was located in the original plat along Associates as a 1959 Parade of Homes entry. Richland Lane and Segoe Road. Prior to the sale of lots to While the Erdman prefab was the most famous of the builders in 1956, the area of the Parade was reconfigured

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 21 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 22

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

with increased frontages to accommodate the new, longer, offices were sold around the shopping and larger houses that had become the Parade norm. The center site. In 1962, the state con­ Parade book advertised not only the builders and the homes' structed its first office building, now the amenities, it also promoted University Hill Farms with each central office of the state's Department plan page touting the location: "A Complete Community," of Transportation; the building was i\^i*-»^\ r "City Location in a Planned Community," "A(n) Ideal Loca­ expected to house over 2,000 workers. ••'C tion for Every Member of the Family." Home designs Additional State buildings were antici­ included one-story ranches, the newly popular split level, and pated, bringing the anticipated number an example of a modular home. of state employees in the area to 6,000. Subsequent Hill Farms Parade sites were located in the However, a push by the city in the late newly opened sections. The 1958 through 1960 Parades were to maintain state offices in down­ along Juneau Road, Pepin Place and Marinette Trail, and town Madison led to the sale of a por­ Door Drive, respectively. The 1958 Parade continued to tion of the parcel to the Red Cross for showcase Ranch style designs although several added a sec­ its headquarters' building. ond story or incorporated Colonial features, which were Located in the northeast quadrant, gaining popularity again. As noted above, Marshall Erdman at the intersection of the two busiest and Associates premiered Frank Lloyd Wright's prefab design streets already existing when the plan at the 1959 Parade, which was the most visited and the most was drawn, is Hilldale Shopping Cen­ expensive of the 1959 designs. Other models that year ter, opened in 1962. Planned as a included the newly popular split foyer (or bi-level) designs, as regional shopping center, the owner­ well as other split plans. Both 1958 and 1959 included an ship, the management, and the loca­ example of a custom, fiat-roofed, contemporary design. 1960 tion near an established residential was the first year of a dual site Parade—University Hill Farms neighborhood were contentious issues and Arbor Hills (on the city's south side). The 1960 designs in the early years. Because of the were generally conservative, although the first-floor family higher-than-average incomes and the room had become a standard feature reflecting modern fam­ tremendous growth in the vicinity, ily life. studies found the location to be ideal for a shopping center containing both COMPLETE DEVELOPMENT local and national retailers. Overcom­ In addition to the houses, which make up the bulk of the ing original concerns, Hilldale became neighborhood, the Hill Farm's plan and implementation con­ a successful large-scale, suburban shop­ tained other important aspects that created an all-inclusive ping center that served both the imme­ community. Clustered at the intersections of Segoe Road and diate residents of the vicinity and the Regent Street is Karen Arms, an early garden apartment larger Madison community. complex in Madison—the first building completed in 1959— Part of the commercial core, con­ consisting of 11 buildings on 11 acres. Largely occupied by structed between 1959 and 1961, near older residents today, the apartments were originally planned the shopping center was headquarters for young families. The Gardner plan indicated additional and offices of large companies and garden apartments on the of the community park; organizations, including the Wisconsin however, the strip along Sheboygan Avenue became the site Life Insurance Company, Dairyland Mutual Insurance Com­ of the city's first high-rise apartment building, the Park Tower pany, the Fortune National Life Insurance Company, and the that opened in 1961. The area along Midvale Avenue housed State Pharmaceutical Association. Smaller businesses, includ­ a University trailer park; this area was redeveloped as a series ing banks and professional offices, completed the commercial of individual, four unit apartment buildings that helped to core. By 1964, the estimated work force for the commercial create a buffer between the commercial development and the zone, which included the state office building, the shopping adjacent established residential area. center, and the office buildings, was 4,500 employees, nearly From its earliest plans. Hill Farms was to be a community the number of anticipated residents in the community. that incorporated all aspects of daily life, including provisions Noted earlier were the school and park parcels. To prevent for employment within the neighborhood. Ninety-four acres the parcels from being developed for other purposes, the City of the original plan were set aside for commercial purposes. At purchased the areas set aside for these uses when the plan was the north end of the plan, the State retained a 30-acre parcel approved by the City Plan Commission in 1955. The 22-acre for state office buildings. Individual lots for businesses and school site contains a combined elementary and middle school

22 www.wisconsinhistory.org and extensive playing fields. The elementary school opened in Swim Club resulted from community interest in a neighbor­ 1957 and the original section of the planned junior high school hood swimming pool. Anticipating and planning for this section was added in 1959. The schools were named after for­ need, the pool committee had this portion of the site mer University president Charles R Van Hise. redesigned prior to being placed on the market, leaving a Located in the center of the residential section is a city large parcel across the street from the neighborhood park as park, later named after Oscar Rennebohm. The park forms a a pool location. The pool opened in 1960 and continues to be transition between the single-family homes to the south and a favorite summer gathering spot for children and families. the apartment buildings to the north. From the earliest plans, Churches, banks, a post office, a movie theater, and a city the highest point on the farm property, at the southwest cor­ fire station are also part of the final community. Certain ner, was indicated as a regional park. With its panoramic aspects of the original services have changed or disappeared view of the city and Lake Mendota in the distance, this is the over time. For example, a gas station, a bowling alley and a 42-acre Garner Park. restaurant once operated near the shopping center. While not included in the original plan, the Hill Farms Long time residents, such as the Clark family, commented

AUTUMN 2 005 23 on the convenience of the neighborhood. With children and A special 1958 census report issued by the city indicated that a non-driving wife in the household. Hill Farms was an ideal 755 adults and 891 children lived within the 428 units in Hill location for them. Schools, shops, medical offices, entertain­ Farms. From the beginning, residents exhibited community ment, and church were all within walking distance. Soon, bus spirit forming the neighborhood association in 1957. While service was extended to the neighborhood. Overall, the com­ the once-popular block parties and community-wide parties munity was very popular with families. The Godshalls, also have dwindled, other events continue the traditions. Each early residents, noted that very few yards were fenced, which Fourth ofjuly, the neighborhood gathers for a parade, a pic­ allowed children to travel freely from one yard to another, nic, and games at Rennebohm Park, while in December San­ encouraging a sense of community and fostering friendships. tas in full costume visit neighborhood children.

24 www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 25

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

UKlVIRSrTIr AVIHUE

GARNER PARK SITE

pPABKWAY J I . \ **HiAHP coum M I H K I A I MINERAL

PARt y JX' Oo^t-^ /e^-f- A4cf\ rWHSM96-012 T7ie i/(// Farms development plan, around the time when the neighborhood was nearly complete with most of the residential areas built out. The greatest variation from the depicted plan is in the area labeled North Hill. The private quadrant in the lower left was opened for development in 1975.

COMPLETING THE PROJECT Rennebohm felt that both objectives had been accom­ Chair Rennebohm reported on the project to the Univer­ plished. By 1962, twelve subdivisions in the University Hill sity of Wisconsin Regents in March 1962. He reiterated the Farms area had been approved and were expected to add two main objectives of the sale of the farm authorized in $24,000,000 in assessed property values to the city of Madi­ 1953. The first was to establish a new experiment station in son. "Major improvements," Rennebohm wrote, "include Arlington with more modern buildings and land more suit­ 760 single-family residential lots, sites for approximately 50 able to the University's research needs. The second objective apartment buildings, four church sites, an elementary school, was to develop "an attractive residential, retail business, and a junior high school, a city fire station, a large State Office office community" on the 600 acres. Building occupying 30 acres, 25 commercial lots including a

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 25 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 26

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

1957 Parade of Homes Plan Book (below left) and plan book home number 7 (left, as illustrated, and below, in 2004). 1957 was the first of four Parade of Homes in the University Hill Farms. House #7, built by Way Construction, shows many features that have now become standard in home construction, including a two-car garage, a second bathroom, and a family room.

mm Oaina Penkiunas, 2003

bank and several office buildings, a 20-acre park, and a shop­ same with an influx of foreign-born University research fel­ ping center." All but five of the 760 lots were sold with 650 lows and faculty and their families. The greatest changes in homes built or under construction. The population of the the neighborhood are taking place in the commercial core. neighborhood at the time of Rennebohm's report was 3100 Joseph Freed and Associates, a private shopping center devel­ with an expected final population of 5500. oper, purchased Hilldale Mall from University related inter­ Hill Farms continues to be a popular residential neighbor­ ests in 2004. ^ The shopping center is slated for upgrades and hood. The first residents were doctors, engineers, attorneys. redevelopment with new stores, parking structures, and addi­ University faculty and employees, businesspersons, and state tional housing on the shopping center parcel. Several corpo­ and city employees. The resident mix remains somewhat the rate headquarters that once ringed the mall have also left the

26 www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:18 PM Page 27

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

area for larger buildings or corporate campuses on Madison's outskirts. These building are being replaced by high-rise con­ dominiums, while others will be demolished to make way for the expansion of the shopping center. With many long-term residents and new families with children moving in, the residential area remains a vibrant community. Now fully absorbed into the greater city, many of the residents take for granted why the area is a popular and convenient place to live. Much of the success can be attrib­ uted to the fulfillment of the master plan. As reported in the First Residents Wisconsin Alumnus in January 1961, "Hill Farms is con­ The Frank Holliday ceived as a community within itself The development of the I family moved into their community has been keyed to establishing three distinct new home on Wal­ aspects of modern life—the residential, the commercial, and worth Court in June the recreational." While these areas have undergone some 1956 becomingthe first changes reflecting the growing density of the city and the residents of the Hill changing economic needs of businesses, it is the interrela­ I Farms neighborhood. tionship and the proximity of these aspects and the popular­ At the time, the unfin­ ity of the residential sections that continue to define Hill ished roads were Farms today. impassible for passen­ I ger cars, and their Notes home lacked the usual 1. Ratcliff's address to the Rotary Club reported in "Roads Started in Hill Farms," Capital Times, October 13, 1955. services. Mail pick up 2. Original estimates indicated that the land would bring |100/acre if sold in large was at a rural mailbox parcels. After implementation of the master plan, the first 100 acres sold for over |426,000. Wisconsin Alumnus (January 1961) expected the net return from the proj­ on the main road, and ect to exceed |3,500,000. phone service was only 3. "Know Your Madisonian: Richard U. Ratcliff," Wisconsin State Journal, September 29, 1957. available at a contrac­ Photos courtesy of the HollJday famJIy 4. Press Release dated March 2, 1955. University Archives. tor's trailer on Segoe 5. This area was planned for single family housing lots, but was replaced by apart­ I Patty Holliday at ments. Road. It was necessary her new house. 6. The Capital Times was a harsh critic of many aspects of the project, including the favors given to business connections and the attractive price given to builders who for the family to cross purchased multiple lots. muddy tracks through other properties to reach their 7. Only one of the later plats (Gugel Addition, 1975) permitted the construction of duplexes on a limited number of lots. house. Mrs. Holliday, born and raised in downtown 8. Until 2004, Kelab, Inc., a non-profit organization that directed profits from the Madison, initially found the lack of completed side­ center to the University of Wisconsin for scholarships and research, owned the shop­ ping center The oi^anization and complexity of the corporate structure of the enter­ walks, and the wide open spaces unnerving. prise raised questions of conflict of interest and the role of the University in a profit-making enterprise. In 1960, the State Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hilldale By the following year. Hill Farms was a bustling in the law suit that resulted. community. The newly opened Van Hise elemen­ 9. The middle school was renamed in honor of Madison educator Velma Hamilton in 1993. tary school was full of the new residents' children. 10. The mall itself had been owned by Hilldale Inc., a for-profit company owned by Most of the families were of a similar age with pre­ the UW Foundation. The land was owned by Kelab Inc., a nonprofit corporation that benefits UW—Madison. school- and school-age children, which provided playmates to share adventures in the "woods" in the undeveloped portions of the farm or to see the horses on the working parts of the farm. About the Author Throughout the neighborhood, residents gath­ ered annually in the court for a potluck block party. Daina J. Penkiunas is the National This popular and long-held tradition remains but, Register Coordinator at the Wisconsin with the aging of the court's residents, the event has Historical Society. In May 1990, Daina moved indoors. The sense of community kept the received the first doctorate awarded in family in the neighborhood despite Mr. Holliday's Architectural History by the University job relocating him to the east side of Madison and of Virginia. She lives in the Madison Hill Farms neighborhood with her husband to other outlying communities. Mr. Holliday, now a and tw/o children. widower, moved from his home in 2005.

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 27

200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 25

"•-WAOKEE. ^0. 40ifr 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 3(

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

n the last moments before a midnight that would usher in covery made by a thirsty and bewildered man on a warm Sunday, May 8, 1892, the citizens of Waukesha, Wiscon­ day in August of 1868—a year his doctor had said might very Isin, awakened to the incessant pealing of the town's fire well be his last.'^ bell. The Waukesha Freeman reported that "the peaceful vil­ Golonel Richard Dunbar (a title he likely conferred upon lage was in the deep sleep of midnight but it was not long in himself), an Irish immigrant born in Gounty Mayo in 1826, awakening." Soon, hundreds of townspeople, groggy yet anx­ grew to maturity in the expanding American republic. While ious, many in hastily-improvised attire, began streaming down engaged in railroad construction in the Old Northwest, Dun­ Wisconsin Avenue toward the Fox River and the site of the bar had occasion to visit sleepy Waukesha, Wisconsin, where Hygeia Spring, a source of supposedly medicinal waters owned he met and, in 1857, married a local woman, Gatherine and operated by Ghicago entrepre­ Glarke, also of Irish immigrant neur James McElroy. Forewarned stock, thus forming a connection on Saturday that McElroy might with the town that would prove be planning an invasion of the providential. A man of consider­ town, Waukesha village president able engineering ability, Dunbar W H. Sleep established a night removed to the nation's capital watch, while city officials warned during the Givil War where he the populace that the sounding of a accepted a position with the fed­ fire bell on that night would indi­ eral government and, in time, cate that help was needed at the helped establish a modern water­ Hygeia site from every able-bodied works for the District of Golum- man; help, that is, to repel invaders bia. After the war, he sailed for who were intent upon laying a Guba to assist in the construction pipeline to carry the town's pre­ of a railroad, but the combination cious waters south to Ghicago in of an oppressive climate, ill health, time for the opening of the World's and the "proverbial bad faith of Golumbian Exposition one year the Spanish government," left him hence. As over two hundred work­ a bitter and broken man. In 1868, ers, armed with picks and shovels the Golonel returned to the United and led by "a brawny Irishman States complaining of acute weak­ and a swart Italian," advanced ness and a general malaise that he along the railroad track toward the Waukesha County Historical Society blamed on his exposure to the and Museum, Research Center Hygeia bottling house, they were "beastly Guban climate." Soon, met by some seven hundred towns­ Colonel Richard Dunbar's brush with however, his family doctor. New people who had hastened to greet death and seeming salvation by York physician Willard Parker, Bethesda's healing waters initiated them with axes, knives, revolvers, determined that Dunbar was suf­ Waukesha's Spring Era. rifles, shotguns, the town's fire hose fering from diabetes meliitus. His carts, and a small ceremonial can­ disease appeared so dire that, non known as the Rail Splitter, first according to his doctor, "there was used by the county's enthusiastic Republicans during Abraham no use in resorting to any more remedies as the condition was Lincoln's presidential campaign in 1860. There in the cool beyond . . . medical aid." Following a fruitless tour of Europe night air, above the roaring of a stream swollen by spring rains, on doctor's orders, Dunbar "returned home unbenefited" to resolute voices shattered the eerie, uncertain silence of the first where he struggled to put his house in order and moments of this lantern and torch-lit confrontation. '"Throw resign himself to his cruel fate. At the point of despair, a kinder them into the river,' yelled the crowd." The Waukesha water fate interceded and led this desperate man to the site of what war had begun. ^ he would later term "the great miracle of my life." He would travel west to the quiet village of Waukesha that, like the good Colonel Dunbar's Thirst Golonel himself, would soon be transformed by a bubbling Although the area around present-day Waukesha had pool of water.-^ long been known to indigenous tribes (especially the Not confident that he would live a single day beyond his Potawatomi whose village of Tschee-gas-cou-tak pre-dated doctor's recent estimate of six weeks, Dunbar traveled with today's Spring Gity) as the place of sweet water, the story of his wife to Waukesha in August 1868 to attend the funeral of Waukesha's rise to international renown began with a dis- his mother-in-law, Bridget Glarke, whom he "expected soon

30 www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 31

JME (10ST POPULAR TWO STEP OUHB^ft'S WONDERFUL OtSmEny, Dedicsted io MR.TED S.PARK,

BETHESDA SPRUSIG.

^Publk\e.J by RiCHARX) DVNBAR, Mamager,

9I7VLIETST MILWAUKEL.WIS WAUKESHA, WIS.

John Schoenknecht John Schoenknecht German-born musician, Theodore Kelbe, composed a [n early ad alerted visitors to Colonel Dunbar's miracle spring. two-step in honor of Bethesda Spring and dedicated it to orchestra leader Ted Parks.

John Schoenknecht BOTTLED AT THE FAMOUS BETHESDA SPRING BON-TON BEVERAGES INCORPORATED WAUKESm.WIS. According to this Bethesda label, drinking a lot of their water John Schoenknecht was the prescription for your ailments. In addition to its famous water, Bethesda also bottled and sold soft drinks. 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 32

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

to follow to the grave." While there, Dunbar reluctantly The selling of the miracle cure, however, would not be an agreed to tour his sister-in-law's horse pasturage and soon easy matter. From the outset, Dunbar confronted skepticism found himself on the edge of her property suffering from heat and endured insults hurled by local farmers and the home­ and an insatiable thirst. His host quickly procured a tumbler spun citizens of the village itself "Though not claiming to be of water for him from a nearby spring, and after drinking cup a prophet, but only a help to humanity, he was mocked at, after cup of "the most delicious, the most grateful beverage jeered, derided, abused, and even persecuted by many of the that entered [his] mouth in years," he rested under a "wide- incredulous good people of Waukesha." Among other things, spreading oak." That evening, the revived Golonel took to the citizenry called Dunbar an imposter, a false prophet, a bed at half past nine and slept soundly throughout the warm speculator, and even accused him of drugging the spring night. "Such a night of undis­ with medicinal potions ob­ turbed repose," he claimed, "I tained from a secret apothecary. had not enjoyed in years." In the "So fierce was the blast I had to morning he arose, eager and encounter," said Dunbar, "that refreshed, now feeling as well as I would have relinquished the ever. Although believing himself spring if I had not been drawn "positively and completely and impelled forward;" im­ cured," he remained in Wauke­ pelled, he believed, by a divine sha for three more days drinking voice that directed him to freely from Miss Glarke's spring. "h^Jush Bethesda; you can not When he left at last for New say too much for it; don't ever York, Dunbar, now without the abandon it."° And push slightest hesitation, pronounced Bethesda he did! In a few short himself "entirely cured." He had, years, with the aid of an aggres­ he trumpeted, gained a new lease sive local newspaper, small on life from Waukesha's miracu­ town boosterism, numerous lous spring. claims of miracle cures by pil­ grims from near and far, and, Bountiful Bethesda perhaps most importantly, the Thinking himself cured, Dun­ Golonel's own Barnumesque bar returned home but quickly salesmanship, Dunbar, the so- made haste for Waukesha when called missionary of miracles, he suffered a relapse while on had silenced "the voice of sneer­ business in Washington D.G. At ing incredulity." According to the salubrious pool on his sister- an 1873 local history, "[t]he in-law's property, he "drank once healing properties of the spring again from the same spring, and are acknowledged. Golonel was restored." Shortly thereafter, Dunbar by the discovery has he purchased a one-half interest enriched even his persecutors." John Schoenknecht in the spring and moved his fam­ Bethesda water, a pleasant ily to Waukesha determined to The grand oak tree where Dunbar found himself drink that would win interna­ near death before drinking Bethesda's healing live or die in the midst of the tional acclaim by capturing water became a gathering place and a symbol of medals at world's fairs in Paris, magical waters that seemed a lat­ civic pride in Waukesha. Here the tree is decorated ter day version of the biblical with flags in honor of the World's Fair. St. Louis, and San Francisco, healing pool known as Bethesda. did more than snatch a sleepy Dunbar, while advertising his village from obscurity—it ush­ "miraculous specific" declared, "I have called the spring ered in a thirty-five year period of fame and dramatic expan­ Bethesda because the Lord was merciful to me in leading me sion for Waukesha: a period filled with charm and grace, to the healing font. The word Bethesda signifies mercy." elegance, notoriety, and widespread profit; an age of hand­ Early in 1869 he launched a campaign to publicize his some horses and fine carriages, of gentlemen in top hats, of restorative water in an effort to provide relief for the suffer­ southern belles in hoop skirts, and of soft music in the ing. His efforts brought fame and fortune to both himself and night—a time when the village became known far and wide the village of Waukesha.^ as Spring Gity.'

32 www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 33

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

John Schoenknecht An advertising card from the Columbian Exposition highlighting Hygeia Spring as serving both Waukesha and Chicago.

Spring City Neither the Mansion House nor the larger Spring Gity Hotel, Driven by the swift and spectacular success of Dunbar's however, could match the grandeur of the city's most elabo­ Bethesda Spring, Waukesha became a veritable boomtown. rate showpiece, that stupendous creation of Ghicago investor The Golonel, although charging twelve dollars a barrel for his Matthew Lafiin, known as the Fountain Spring House. exported water, could not keep pace with demand. Indeed, in Dubbed "the Queen of the Northwest," the Fountain Spring the first week of September 1873 alone, 1,540 guests appeared House, constructed on 140 acres of land, celebrated its formal at his spring. As the decade advanced, in fact, the Bethesda opening on July 4, 1874, with much fanfare and a sumptuous spring and the town's two hotels and its few boarding houses banquet attended by many prominent people, including 250 had difficulty handling the massive influx of tourists and special guests—members of the Wisconsin editorial associa­ health-seekers. Opportunity having knocked, however, within tion, who thereafter freely sung the praises of the establish­ fifteen years of the establishment of the Bethesda Mineral ment. After a fire destroyed the original structure in 1878, Springs Gompany, the village of some five thousand perma­ Lafiin watched his hotel rise Phoenix-like on the same spot, nent residents contained thirty hotels (ten of them of excep­ bigger and better than before, to become one of Waukesha's tional size and refinement) and a dozen major spring sites (all great landmarks. claiming to have Waukesha's best, most healthful, water). The Waukesha, during America's Gilded Age, became a place town played host to an estimated 25,000 visitors in 1890. The to be and a place to be seen. Beyond the magic and myster­ number of patrons became so vast in the 1880s that twenty-five ies of its alleged cures, the expanding village (with a popula­ trains a day arrived from Ghicago alone during the peak of the tion of 2,633 in 1870 and 6,321 by 1890) provided elegant summer "watering season." accommodations, temperate summers, lovely music and Elizabeth Glarke, the wealthiest woman in the village and other entertainments. Spring Gity became a glorious stage one of the first enterprising residents of Waukesha to take upon which some of the nation's wealthiest families appeared advantage of the vast new housing market, transformed her each season to meet and mingle with their own kind, to home near the Bethesda Spring grounds into an elegant small smoke fat, expensive cigars on moonlit verandas, to saunter hotel. Her Mansion House, a beautiful and spacious four-story along the boardwalks in soft cotton dresses and beautiful frame structure, became a public hotel by the spring of 1871.° wide-brimmed hats, to forge business deals, occasionally to

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 33 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 34

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

fall in love, and, in general, to while away the summer in style possessors to destroy the mineral water interests in Waukesha." in a place deemed exotic. Upon this pleasant scene, however, By giving Ghicago the opportunity "to get pure water at a cent at the dawn of the 1890s, burst a man with a plan for personal a glass," McElroy's opponents feared that the great city would fame and profit—a plan that would set the village of soon demand it "in immense quantities." Waukesha, and its civic leaders in particular, back on Undaunted by his first unsuccessful attempt to their heels and ultimately lead an enraged citizenry run his pipe under the streets of Waukesha, to the point of armed conflict. McElroy proceeded to purchase Hygeia Spring and its hotel in September 1891 for $30,000 McElroy's Machinations (bankrolled, in part, by the corrupt Ghicago traction Hoping to take advantage of the investment magnate, Gharles Tyson Yerkes). Thereafter, the opportunities associated with the upcoming persistent entrepreneur tried and failed on two other Golumbian Exposition (a world's fair to be held in occasions to gain a pipeline franchise from the Vil­ Chicago's Jackson Park commemorating the 400th lage Board. It soon became clear that opposition to anniversary of Golumbus' first voyage to the New his scheme was quite formidable. On February 3, World), Ghicago entrepreneur James E. McElroy, a 1892, concerned citizens crowded the meeting room fiamboyant, free-spending, thirty-six-year-old with to overflowing to present a petition signed by five rakish Burnside whiskers and influential friends, hundred residents opposed to the pipeline. At the devised a scheme to transport, via pipeline, the now meeting, cheers greeted each voice raised in opposi­ world famous Waukesha spring water to the great tion to the franchise, while "threats, catcalls and fair He intended to offer millions of fairgoers an angry words confronted each friend of Hygeia who opportunity to sample nature's most pure and ben­ dared to speak." ^^ The confrontation grew so heated eficial product for a penny a glass. ^ that after the board had adjourned "a misunder­ McElroy entered the Waukesha scene in July of standing arose" between a village clerk named Smith 1891 as the manager of the newly incorporated who had expressed some sympathy for Hygeia and Hygeia Mineral Springs Gompany, an organization that venerable figure, the Reverend Father Miller, formed by two Ghicagoans who had recently pur­ an emotional opponent of the franchise. "Warm chased Waukesha's prominent watering site, the words" passed between the priest and the clerk, and Hygeia Spring. The Hygeia Gompany wasted no "there promised to be a hot time." Fortunately, time in announcing its intention to lay pipes from its calmer heads prevailed and the crowd dispersed spring to the great city of Ghicago in time for the without further incident. opening of the Exposition. McElroy, who had been Rebuffed unconditionally by Waukesha, McElroy "engineering the Hygeia Spring Gompany scheme," sought extra-legal means of achieving his goal. While made application to Waukesha's Village Board for meeting early in March with his Ghicago backers, the permission to lay pipe under the local streets, which so-called "Hygeia Gaper" was hatched. McElroy was granted without objection. Expecting no opposi­ decided to employ men from the Windy Gity, 215 to tion, McElroy was shocked when a vast popular be exact, led by combative ex-alderman outcry arose after news of the decision reached ribbon probably Thomas Kelly (a machine politician known to worn by a Waukesha the village. Leading citizens, led by attorney T. E. have performed miracles in the past) to con­ resident while Ryan, called on the board to rescind the franchise struct a pipeline in the dead of night, presum­ protesting the pipeline the day after its adoption. Bowing to public pres­ in Madison. ably as the good citizens of Waukesha slept. sure, members of the board declared that they Planning the operation well in advance and pro­ would revisit the question of McElroy's pipeline. ceeding with great care, McElroy's special army As a result, there followed a grand battle over the waters in of diggers finally set out from Ghicago over the Belt Line late council chambers, in the courts, and among the citizens of in the evening of Saturday, May 7, 1892. The invaders clat­ Waukesha. Responding to charges that the project might prove tered on into the night aboard a special train consisting of detrimental to the well being of the village, McElroy replied three passenger cars, two cars loaded with "highest quality" that, on the contrary, it would "be of immense advantage. It steel pipe, one car carrying provisions, and one stock car filled would prevent no one from coming here and it would be the with horses, bound for Spring Gity with insidious intent. •^ very best advertisement Waukesha water could receive." In Confident that the train would arrive undetected, Kelly response, opponents of the plan termed Hygeia a "soulless" cor­ observed to his chagrin the presence of about fifty townspeople poration "organized to speculate and make money," and on the platform upon reaching the Waukesha station near mid­ declared that such a franchise "puts it within the power of the night,. "I don't know how the Waukesha people learned that

34 www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 35

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

we were coming," he said. "We had the trip planned for weeks •'^e:^-^- and exercised the utmost secrecy in arranging it." Yet word had indeed reached them. Not only had rumors of an invasion of the town been flying all day Saturday, but, when Waukesha learned (late in the night from an agent at the St. Paul depot) that instructions had been received "to clear the track for a spe­ cial from Ghicago," authorities took steps, in earnest, to pre­ pare for a confrontation. Later, at about 11:45 p.m., when the town's welcoming committee determined that "the Hygeia men had arrived in force and meant business," fire bells began to ring "and presently," according to Kelly, "more than six hundred angry citizens with revolvers, shot-guns and clubs sur­ rounded us. We stopped right there." The commotion attending the arrival of the "special from Chicago" disturbed the sleep of six-year-old Francie Wardrobe. Seeking a gun kept locked away in a drawer in Francie's bedroom, "Papa" startled his little girl. When he "saw that she was awake he explained that he needed the gun because the men from Ghicago had come in the dark to steal the water from the Hygeia Spring." After he left the room, Francie jumped out of bed and ran to the window in her nightie. She could hear the people shouting, "The Pipeliners are coming! The Pipeliners are coming!"^^ WAUKESHA FRIGHTENING AWAY THE CHICAGO HOG. With tensions at a fever pitch (not only had guns and a Milwaukee Record, April 22, 1893 small cannon been trained upon the workmen but "the hose A political cartoon expresses the anger many Waukesha carts" had been hauled down with the intention of giving a residents felt toward Chicagoans who wanted to pipe water from free bath to the first laborer that struck his pick into the earth), Waukesha to the Columbian Exposition. prominent citizens Thomas Ryan and Theron Haight stepped

From the collection of John Schoenknecht. Photo by Joel Heiman Waukesha spring water was available in a variety of beautifully decorated bottles.

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 35 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 36

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

to the front and advised the crowd against violence. Presented with such a show of force, the confused workers made no attempt to begin their assigned task. Instead, they milled about on Hygeia property awaiting further instructions, hop­ ing all the while that the crowd would remain under control. Even a disguised McElroy who had shaved his face, pulled his hat down and his coat up, and carried a big pick handle on his shoulder could not reverse the flow of events in Waukesha that night. Town president W H. Sleep had spotted him within the crowd and "informed him quite sharply that he would not be allowed to trample on the rights of Waukesha people." At about three o'clock, the laborers received a meal with hot cof­ fee in the Hygeia bottling house, and, a short time later, they trudged back to the depot and boarded the train, which soon pulled off to the east. Watching the train depart, the village breathed a sigh of relief Too tired to express jubilation over their victory, most villagers simply headed off to bed. WHi(X3)40415 Straw boss Kelly, however, had no intention of quitting the Opening day of the Columbian Exposition. McElroy finally scene. Too much had been invested, and too much remained obtained water from Waukesha County through pipes and at stake to justify a swift retreat. Having traveled only a few tankers. Hundreds of fair-goers included a trip to Waukesha in miles east to the neighboring town of Brookfield, the train their World's Fair plans. turned around and returned to Waukesha still with the inten-

The large inset drawing of the Fountain Springhouse Hotel on this bird's-eye map leaves no doubt as to the importance of the springs to Waukesha.

|fi"i-i-isiin^iiOT:;:" Image ID 22823

36 www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 37

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

About ten percent of Waukesha's population boarded a train to Madison hoping to convince Governor Peck to veto McElroy's pipeline.

^•,«3 W-.-V* Waukesha County Historical Society, Research Center

tion of unloading the laborers and setting them to work dig­ ging trenches and laying pipes from Hygeia Spring south to VOLUME 82. NO. J the city limits. "Again the laborers were unloaded and again The Wisconsin the alarm was given [this time] at about five o'clock. The State Journal town was turned out as before and men were in several reported on the degrees worse humor."-^'' religious fervor Having been awakened, now for a second time, Waukesha's with which enraged minutemen wavered on the edge of violence. The people protested arrival of the imposing Bethesda Springs owner Long Jones McElroy's pipeline. The (known locally as "the Waukesha light pole"), however, gave I marchers even Warn u^wum^ the locals pause. Jones climbed atop a boxcar and managed to composed a song ^'"Mwft^fcfai tap calm the crowd of tired, agitated men. Then, turning his based on the attention to the invaders, he told the foreman of the work crew popular hymn 1 "with convincing seriousness" that the patience of the towns­ "Throw Out the people had been exhausted. He gave the work gang one hour Life Line." a to leave town, and said he would not be responsible for the 9a actions of the good people of Waukesha thereafter. Faced with this second show offeree, and impressed, no doubt, by the ter­ rible resolve of Mr Jones "the train pulled out, and nothing more has been seen of it in this vicinity." ° Although the confrontation between the citizens of Wauke­ sha and McElroy's pipeliners was one of the village's defining I moments (of which Longjones said, "There never was more ••I manhood to the square foot than found right here"), McElroy remained a thorn in the side of the town for months. He con­ tinued to scheme, lobby, and some say bribe, until he secured a bill in the state legislature permitting him to run a pipeline through Waukesha. Incensed by this unkind turn of events, Wisconsin State Journal, Waukesha officials declared April 17 a town holiday and April 17, 1893 '

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 37

200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 39

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

urged citizens to use that day to travel to the state capital in protest. "Filled with a martial spirit," about eight hundred men boarded a train to Madison and upon arrival "took pos­ session of the town" as they "stormed the governor's citadel THE TVAUKESHA and laid before him arguments why he should veto the bill." " Faced with such a show of force and emotions, on April 19, Governor G. W. Peck did indeed veto the bill thus bringing, it

OF WAL'KSSH.V, WIHCOXSIN. was said, "an immense public smile" to Waukesha.'^^ Despite many setbacks, McElroy did in fact deliver spring water from the Waukesha area to the Golumbian Exposition. Having purchased land twelve miles south of Waukesha in Big Bend, he managed to construct a pipeline from that point south to Ghicago's city limits where he again met with oppo­ sition. Prevented by city fathers from running pipes under the JI1RECTION& FDR {Js'NQ JT, streets of Ghicago, the ever-resourceful McElroy arranged to WILLIAM B. ENTWISLE, have his water shipped along Lake Michigan to the Exposi­

[JOI PENNA. AVENUE, tion grounds in giant tankers. Having coursed along 100 miles of steel pipe, however, it arrived too warm and a bit cf Virpnis. unsavory to the taste. "With all that handling through pipes, reservoir, and finally tankers," we are told, "the water tasted fiat."21 John Schoenknecht WHS Library pam 57-1823b The champagne­ A pamphlet published in After the fiasco at the fair, McElroy abandoned his interest like packaging Washington, D.C., shows the national in the spring water industry. He sold his Hygeia properties to implies that this appeal of Waukesha's miracle water. a Ghicago businessman and thereafter entered Wall Street water was truly and the world of high finance. His new career would also special. prove to be short lived. On June 30, 1894, James McElroy died of appendicitis, and, his doctor claimed, overwork, in New York Gity—he was thirty-eight years old. The following An angel hovering year the Waukesha Hygeia Mineral Spring Gompany went above Bethesda into receivership with a total indebtedness of over 1.3 million Spring on this dollars. Like Hygeia, and its fiamboyant owner, the Waukesha advertising pamphlet suggests spring era was also heading for a fall, surviving McElroy by lit­ the heavenly and tle more than a decade. A victim of social and cultural healing quality of changes at the dawn of a new century, of automotive trans­ Library pam • the spring water. portation, and of modern skepticism regarding "miracle waters," the spring era symbolically came to its close in 1905 with the sale of the famous Fountain Spring House to the Metropolitan Ghurch Association.

Epilogue Many of the prominent men and women who flourished during the peak of Waukesha's spring era remain there. They rest under ornate markers and small shrines indicative of a lost and proper time. They have left behind parks, streets, and buildings that bear their names, but the pageantry and the glory that was Spring Gity sleeps as they do. The waters of Hygeia, covered for some fifty years, rose in April 1956 to vex the workmen digging an excavation to hold an underground storage tank for a gasoline station erected on the very spot where a beautiful, neo-classical spring house once stood. The John Schoenknecht workers capped the spring unceremoniously with concrete A rare look inside Bethesda's bottling plant. and completed the station on schedule. In that same year, the

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 39 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 4(

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

CAPITAL PAID IN SUOOOOO.t ompaiul.

mEPS CFTNE WAUKESHfl-HVGEIA Ml ^lERAL SPRINGS iMD BOTTLlNfi WCKX^X J KERS OFTHE HYGEIA PIPE LINE. TO CHICAGO A^0 IHL WORLDS FAI

CofiiNEFi KiHiiE & ORLEANS STS. ^^ HOHAE U.lM HOK TELEPHONE E>;PnE5S STB. uca^C';-

John Schoenknecht

Stationery from the Waukesha Water Company of Chicago, which owned Hygeia Spring, touted its pipeline to the World's Fair.

Fountain Spring House, serving as the headquarters for a Nearby, for years, stood the sad and misshapen stump of the religious group for nearly half a century, became the property great Dunbar Oak, the victim of a windstorm in 1991. Now of a Milwaukee real estate firm that announced plans to with the passing of the years, the glory of the past lies buried demolish the massive structure and replace it with an apart­ along with those individuals who helped bring charm and a ment complex. Despite an outcry from state and county his­ bit of magic to Waukesha, a place once known far and wide torical societies, it fell to the wrecking ball. "I don't think the as Spring Gity.'^'^ city needs it now," said the mayor; "I don't think the city is interested." At about the same time, Waukesha's greatest Notes 1. Waukesha Freeman, May 12, 1892, 1. shrine, the 1890s-era pavilion that had been built over Dun­ 2. Libbie Nolan, "Tah-Kip-Nee-Peesh," Landmark 25, no. 2 (Summer 1968): 2. Accord­ bar's miracle spring, disappeared early one morning in ing to an account published in the Cincinnati Gazette on Kugusx, 12, 1869, "[s]tories are told indeed of Indian encampments that used to gather here [Waukesha] centuries June—razed by its owners, the Bon Ton Beverage Gompany. ago; of invalids brought hither by friends from all the shores of the Great Lakes and Despite local interest in preserving the structure, the com­ from the banks of the Father of Waters, to find new life ... in these magical waters." 3. History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, 330. pany proceeded with its unannounced demolition in order to 4. Ibid., 330. 5. Ibid., 331. streamline their bottling operations. The Bon Ton Beverage 6. Ibid. Gompany promised to replace the grand springhouse with a 7. Atlas of Waukesha County, Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin: Harrison and Warner, 1873), 23. So famous had Colonel Dunbar's waters become that a fine local institution, "new structure to be constructed of colored cement block and Carroll College, included in its advertisement for the spring term of 1873 the prom­ glass brick in the same shape as the old structure." But today ise, sure to increase enrollment, that Bethesda mineral water would be furnished free to all students. a windowless, octagonal concrete blockhouse, its single steel 8. Edith (Carney) Tallemadge, unpublished memoir, June 8, 1953, Waukesha County door padlocked and covered with rust is all that is left. Historical Society collection. 9. Milwaukee Journal, 'Exclusively Yours," October 11, 1971. 10. John Lobenstein, "Piping a Dream," Landmark 25, no 2 (Summer 1992): 46. 11. Ibid., July 30, 1891, 1. 12. Ibid., February 4, 1892. 13. MiltuaukeSentiml, May 10, 1892. About the Author 14. Ibid. 15. Mary Sargent, "The Littlest War," Badger History 12, no. 1 (September 1958) :20-22. 16. Waukesha Freeman, May 12, 1892, 1. T. E. Ryan later claimed that at about this time David R McDaniel, a native of Minnesota, earned his PhD in he heard McElroy declare that he would put in the pipe even if he had to wade knee American history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in deep in blood. 17. G. H.Koenig, "The Great Hygeia Spring Caper," Waukesha Freeman, August 1,1981. 1999. He is currently a member of the his- ^B^^^I^^B^H 18. Ibid. Early in the morning of May 8, officials called on McElroy, then asleep in a tory faculty at Carroll College in Hi^Br ^^B local hotel, and arrested him on a charge of disturbing the peace and inciting to riot. After two hours in jail, he was released on |300 bond. Earlier, authorities had discov­ Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he teaches ^11^' "- 'TT™ ered a loaded revolver and a roll of bills amounting to |8,000 in his pockets. a wide variety of courses and drinks the •'' 'J yW 19. OshkoshNorthtuestem, April 20, 1893. 20. Waukesha Freeman, April 20, 1893, 1. local water with his wife, Kristen, and son, iPif —"^3 21. Chicago Tnbune, April 21, 1893. John. Dn McDaniel is currently working on ^pi^^ Jfl 22. Waukesha Freeman, June 21, 1949, 1. On May 4, 2004, an oak sapling created when small pieces of the original Dunbar Oak (reduced to a stump following a windstorm a study concerning cultural change and c. /^^ on July 7, 1991) were grafted onto bur oak seedlings, was planted by Waukesha offi­ Chicago's world's fairs of 1893 and 1933. : A. cials on the exact spot the Dunbar Oak had stood before its removal in 2004. This done of the mythic tree, although only about four inches in diameter at the time it was planted, has the exact genetic makeup of the original.

40 www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 41

.^

^Vt" PI'.^^^ENTS

''^^

u °X.f

V>1» w r s>^ ,>.^^' ~-^* 'o

.A•y . ^, ,^> ^^/f oo "^^'L^^i^A WATtftV,^-f- '^^s.... C\TJ, vVISCO'"

Courtesy of John SteJner Boro-Lithia water came from Hygeia Spring. Hygeia was named for the Greek Goddess of Health.

THE SARATOGA. OF THE "WEST

The Fountain House hotel built this elaborate spring pavilion to welcome visitors from across the country and from around the world.

dTofao^KKiEJEHiiiq EtafijafiiaEB

WHS Library pam 57-1825 The Fountain Spring House drew on the reputation of Saratoga, New York, which was famous for sweet mineral water and its alleged medicinal qualities. 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 42

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY EVERY ROOT . AN ANCHOR Wisconsin's Famous and Historic Trees By R. Bruce Allison

When a man plants a tree he plants himself. The following is an excerpt from Every Root an Anchor: Every root is an anchor, over which he rests with Wisconsin's Famous and Historic Trees by R. Bruce Allison, published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. grateful interest, and becomes sufficiently calm to feel the joy of living. He necessarily makes the acquaintance Reinenibered Elms of the sun and sky. Favorite trees fill his mind, and, he black plague of Dutch elm disease found its way into while tending them like children, and accepting the TWisconsin in the early 1950s. The epidemic spread rap­ benefits they bring he becomes himself a benefactor. idly from street to street and from forest to forest. The full death count will never be known. In one year alone, the city of Milwaukee lost more than 16,000 trees. Nothing has done John Muir, Steep Trails more to raise the tree consciousness of the public. "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone!" And with the passing of the elms we lost a lot. Streets that had inviting canopies of green reverted to barren roadways. Urban parks lost the cool­ ing shade of wide-crowned trees. Home yards no longer had the added architec­ tural punctuation of the elm's graceful arch. Elms, both past and remaining, are a particularly important part of the state's tree history. A Sawyer Gounty elm, only 15 feet 6 inches in circumference, which blew down in the Flambeau River State For­ est in 1952, was 352 years old. It had started growing in 1600, before the first European explorers came to Wisconsin. There were, and still are, many elms in Wisconsin over 100 years old; some started growing before Wisconsin became a state in 1848. One of the largest American elms was a tree near Gotham in Richland Gounty. It had a WHJ(X3)38161 (1939) circumference of 20 feet 7 inches. General Grant Giant Elm Elms planted in the 1870s on the

42 www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 43

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

University of Wisconsin campus in Madison do not have especially large dimensions, but those trees, as well as elms The Grant County Sycamore planted on the state capitol grounds, have been there almost as long as Wisconsin has been a state. he farm is named Sycamore Grest Farm and the road is At Lake Mills, in Jefferson Gounty, was a very large elm Tcalled Sycamore Road. And, yes, there is quite a story to (now taken down) that probably started to grow in 1821. This the old sycamore. tree preceded the first settlers and was doubtless self-planted One of Grant Gounty's earliest settlers,Joseph Grain Orr, went from a seed which blew there. The first settlers in the Lake south after the Givil War to find his son, who had been taken pris­ Mills area arrived in 1836 when the tree was about 15. oner Orr found him, but unfortunately, the young man was near Almost 100 years ago, near Neillsville in Glark Gounty, death from his wounds and the effects of his long imprisonment. Gelia Reed and Julius Benedict were married. In honor of the Though moved to a hospital in Tennessee, he died. occasion. The Rev. William Hendren, who performed the Orr, accompanying his son's coffin, returned to Wisconsin ceremony, twisted together two elm saplings, each smaller in via his original home state of Ohio. While there, he chose a diameter than a pencil, and planted them. In a living symbol sycamore seedling to bring back to the new homestead. He of unity, overtime they merged together as one tree, eventu­ planted the young tree in the yard, just south across a field ally towering over 80 feet high. The marriage was also a suc­ from the local cemetery where he buried his son. cess, producing five sons and a daughter. The massive sycamore was "discovered" shortly before its At Whitewater in Walworth Gounty an elm so huge it 100th birthday by the seventh and eighth grade classes at the shaded three lawns stood beside the home of G. H. Wellers. This tree, in 1952, was 96 feet tall and had a crown spread of more than 113 feet. Its cir­ cumference was 17 feet 6 inches. Wellers, who estimated that the tree was between 300 and 400 years old, spent a great deal of money in caring for the monarch and protecting it against Dutch elm disease. When he died and the house was sold, such care was no longer possible, and the tree died in the late 1970s. Its loss was noticed and mourned by the entire town. In Spring Green, in a farm field below Taliesin stood a regal, open-grown elm. It was a landmark leading the way to the home of world-famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Regular fungicide injections had protected it against Dutch elm disease. Sadly, the same 1998 wind­ storm that toppled the Frank Lloyd Wright Tea Gircle Oak also caused irreparable damage to the Taliesin elm. It was taken down the next year. Another huge elm, the General Grant Giant Elm, was located southeast of the intersection of Green Bay and Good Hope Roads, at the site of the Post Village Stage Relay Station, part of the Green Bay—Milwaukee—Ghicago Post Mail route. Sources: Evelyn Cobb, Lake Mills; Mrs. Alfred -Wolfgang Hoffmann (1979) Kolmos, Whitewater Grant County Sycamore

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 43 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 44

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

nearby North Andover School near Bloomington in Grant man had been lost, it is not likely that he would have contin­ Gounty. They measured the tree and wrote to the State Gon- ued to travel westward, away from the Wisconsin River. servation Department (now the Department of Natural The finders of the grisly surprise finally theorized that the Resources) suggesting the tree's inclusion among the state's man, whoever he was, had been pursued by Indians, had record trees. Shortly afterwards, the tree gained official des­ taken refuge in the hollow tree, and unable to get out again, ignation as the largest sycamore in Wisconsin at that time. had died there. According to the Rusk Gounty weekly, the Source: Craig Tiedemann, Madison body was supposedly shipped to the University of Wiscon­ sin—Madison. The two loggers vowed never to return to the haunted forest near Ladysmith. The Coffin Tree Rusk County Durand Lynch Tree Pepin County tale worthy of a Halloween telling involves a large, hol­ Alow basswood tree, a forest near Ladysmith in Rusk n old oak tree on the lawn of the Durand Gourthouse in Gounty and two loggers. Art Gharpin and Walter Latsch, APepin Gounty figured in the lynching of Ed Williams who were scared out of their wits on a February day in 1926. back on November 19, 1881. Ed and his brother Lon, who It was first told by a Rusk Gounty weekly. specialized in stealing horses but dabbled in other crimes— The day started out innocently enough. The basswood such as bank robbery and murder—were sometimes com­ had been marked by a timber cruiser for cutting and Gharpin pared to the James Brothers. The story was written up by and Latsch were wielding the saw. They noticed a large hole Ghristine Klatt, an early Dunn Gounty settler, and was pub­ in the tree some 30 feet above the ground, but they felled it lished by the Dunn Gounty Historical Society. anyway, figuring they'd get a 20-foot log out of it. The trou­ When two lawmen, ex-sheriff Gharles Goleman of Pepin ble started when they tried to saw through the trunk. The saw Gounty and his brother Milton, who was under-sheriff of bound up against something hard. They came in from neighboring Dunn Gounty, tried to arrest the two Williams another angle. The saw again hit a rocklike center. At this point they were curious about a rock inside a tree, and turning the log as needed with a cant hook, they managed to saw all the way around the "rock" and pull the end of the trunk away. The wrinkled face of a man stared up at them. Shaking, they hightailed it back to town. Eventually their story was believed and a party of four went into the woods to investigate. Sure enough, when the trunk was completely removed, they found the body of a man, fully clothed in coarse homespuns and buckskin, which fell away when touched. The head, covered with long hair, still wore a coonskin cap. With the mummified body the men found an old muzzle- loading flintlock rifle and a fancy muzzle- loading pistol. Pieces of paper found on the body at first seemed to identify the man as a Gaptain D' Artagon who had been with the Marquette-Jo liet party seeking a route to the Pacific Ocean in 1673. This seemed totally implausible, however, as the exploring party never MelbaBaehr(1962) came near Rusk Gounty, and if the Durand Lynch Tree

44 www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 45

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

brothers in Durand, the sheriffs were both shot dead on the gerous desperado from the face of the earth should be com­ spot before witnesses. The subsequent chase of Lon and Ed mended instead of condemned." Williams ended in Nebraska with the capture of Ed. Lon The Knapp News added a last word: "There is seldom an escaped. They brought Ed Williams back and jailed him in evil done but there can be some good traced from it. So in the Menomonie, then took him to Durand for preliminary exam­ hanging of Ed Williams, we believe that the effect will be salu­ ination. When they debarked from the ferry at Durand, they tary on all those who might have been ambitious of following found about 50 people waiting. The crowd muttered a few in his footsteps. The boys who entertain a desire to become threatening remarks but no real trouble ensued. bank robbers will now hesitate lest they meet a similar fate." At two o'clock the next afternoon, Ed Williams appeared in The hanging tree was cut down in 1977. It was dying and court. Men, women and children from nearly all parts of Pepin was considered a hazard to pedestrians. and adjoining counties crowded the room, eager to get a view Sources: Melba Baehr, Eau Claire; Christine Granger Klatt, Menomonie; of the "notorious criminal." He gave his name as William E. Howard Mead, Madison Maxwell (Ed Williams was an alias), pleaded not guilty to the charges, waived an examination and was committed for trial. The officers started to lead him back to his cell. Then someone Capitol Tree Tour in the crowd yelled, "Hang the son of a bitch," and "a dozen or more determined men tackled the officers." Did you know the "The officers made a desperate resistance," and "Maxwell Wisconsin State Capitol fought like a tiger," but to no avail. A noose with a hangman's Park includes a hophorn- knot was slipped over his head, and he was dragged out on beam, a horsechestnut, and several Kentucky coffee- the porch and across the lawn to the oak tree "and quickly trees? History buffs and tree suspended in the air, with his handcuffs still on and a heavy lovers can join R. Bruce pair of shackles hanging from his left foot." After about 15 Allison on an Autumn Tree minutes, the officers were able to get to the body. They cut it Walk on the capitol down, and it was later interred in the Potter's Field of the grounds during this year's Durand Gemetery. Wisconsin Book Festival, The community did a bit of soul-searching after the 3:00 p.m., Saturday, Oct­ episode, debating the issue in the local newspapers. An item ober 15, 2005. Meet at the in the Eau Galle paper noted that "A more brutal affair WHS Museum on the capitol square (30 N. Carroll never happened anywhere and ... it is a reflection upon the Street) for a brief presentation and book signing, and morality and civilization of Northwestern Wisconsin." The then join Bruce on a v^^alking tour of capitol trees in their lynching continued to be debated in the press as Durand autumn glory. This event is free and open to all. took on a reputation as a "Hanging Town." It was also accused of not having borne its share of supplying men or provisions during the hunt for the Williams brothers. The Menomonie press smugly noted that while Ed Williams was About the Author in the Menomonie Gourthouse, surrounded by a dense throng of people, nearly every one of whom was a personal R. Bruce Allison has a degree in v^riting from Brov^^n friend of the murdered Goleman brothers, and with no University, a Masters of Science in Forestry, and a Doctorate in Land Resources from guard but the two or three officers in charge, he "was yet the University of Wisconsin- unmolested and so far as personal violence was concerned, Madison. He has been a profes­ was in perfect safety." sional arborist in Madison since The Durand Courier attempted to put the case in per­ 1974 and has served as president spective. "Finally, we think we can truthfully assert that Ed of the Wisconsin Arborist Asso­ Maxwell was hung, not in the spirit of revenge, for the crimes ciation and as chairman of both the he had committed, not to show the bravery of the community Dane County Tree Board and . . . but on future protection to this place and other commu­ Wisconsin Urban Forestry nities. A man who not only boasts of his past misdeeds but Council. He is the author of Wisconsin's Champion expresses determination to continue on his evil course, and Trees: A Tree Hunter's Guide; Tree Walks of Dane County; Tree Walks of Milwaukee County; and numer­ asserts that he will not allow any number of lives to stand ous articles on trees and arboriculture. between him and his liberty, is too dangerous a citizen to let live, and any man or number of men who wipe such a dan­

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 45 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 46

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY An Ebay Coup The Right Place for a Frank Lloyd Wright Album

By John O. Holzhueter

arely, if ever, in the history of the Wisconsin Histori­ Wright's mother's family association (the Lloyd-Joneses). cal Society, has an archival or library acquisition In the last minute of bidding, the price rose dramatically Rreceive d from $10,500 to the public atten­ $22,100 with tion that was three bidders in accorded to the the fray. The eBay online auc­ seller was Helen tion purchase on Gonwell of Fair- January 28. The hope, Alabama, item acquired is a retired physi­ a photograph cian who had album that illus­ purchased it at trates the 1911- an estate sale in 1912 construc­ Fairhope in 1988. tion of Frank Pledges were Lloyd Wright's pro-rated to personal master­ meet the pur­ piece, Taliesin, chase price. The outside Spring Society made Green. The story the initial finan­ made the front cial commitment page of the Mil­ to purchase the waukee Journal album because Photo by Joel HeJman Image ID 29066 Sentinel and was of its potential featured in the Frank Lloyd Wright originally used a plaster cast of a sculpture by Richard Bock, for research, the Sunday New "Flower in the Crannied Wall," (above right) as a focal point in the courtyard, rarity of the York Times — a spot now occupied by broad stone stairs leading to the "tea circle." thirty-three im­ e:q30surc of which The "tea circle's" giant oak centerpiece toppled in a windstorm several years ago. ages in the al­ public relations Today (above left), the sculpture resides under cover toward the west end of the bum, the desir­ staffs dream, but "Hill Wing" of Taliesin where it is less endangered by weather. ability of keep­ usually occur ing the album spontaneously as a result of human interest factors. intact rather than having a dealer break it into components In this case, the human interest revolved around the man­ to maximize profits, and because the album complements the ner in which the Society acquired the album: the ad hoc Society's already significant collection of Taliesin-related assembly of a consortium of institutions and individuals to photography and publications. support the purchase. Led by the Historical Society, $25,200 Wright specialists know that few photographs survive of was raised—in amounts ranging from $50 to $2,500 from Wright's first iteration of Taliesin, which only stood for forty-five donors—in three days with the assistance of the slightly more than two years before it was burned by an Frank Lloyd Wright Building Gonservancy, the Frank Lloyd arsonist who also murdered seven persons on August 15, Wright Wisconsin Heritage Tourism Program, various col­ 1914. Although devastated by these losses, Wright quickly lectors and enthusiasts from coast to coast, and members of rebuilt the house (the fire had not touched the adjoining stu-

46 www.wisconsinhistory.org dio), but at the same time he altered both the interior and how it came into the hands of Helen and Dale O'Brien from the exterior in some essential respects, leaving it to future whose estate Helen Gonwell acquired it. The O'Briens, historians to puzzle out the differences between Taliesin I Ghicagoans, purchased a farmstead near Taliesin as a sec­ and Taliesin II, as they are now known. Few drawings sur­ ond home in the 1960s. How did the O'Briens come to own vive of either version of the house because Wright worked on the album? Because of their personal ties, they could have the spot. To fully understand the significance, scholars need come into its possession from Wright-related connections in to solve several mysteries about the album itself While a either Ghicago or Spring Green. While the album has great skilled draftsman or draftsmen (no women then worked in utility for scholarship at several levels, it also holds great Wright's drafting room) clearly assembled the album just as importance and usefulness for publication and exhibition. Taliesin was being completed in the spring of 1912, neither Two of the pages already have been reproduced around the the creator nor the recipient has been identified—nor do we country—a "triptych" of the living room, and the dining know the photographers. It is likely that Taylor WooUey, a alcove at the south end of the living room. These pictures draftsman from Utah, took some of the images; but it is show significant architectural and design variations from equally likely that Wright directed the composition of the later versions of the rooms. Since January, the album has pictures or even took some of them himself Exhaustive com­ become a publicly owned and publicly accessible resource parative work of all known Taliesin I images is called for. for studying the life and work of Frank Lloyd Wright for as There is also the question of who received the album and long as people value fine art and architecture.

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 47 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 48

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Photo by Joel Heiman

Taliesin from the south, spring of 1912 (right). The bedroom wing appears on the left with a covered terrace off the living room on the right. Over time, the bedroom wing, the living areas of the house, and the terraces expanded in both length and width, while the slope was graded, losing both trees and some of its irregularities (above).

Image ID 29061

www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 49

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Image ID 29072

The original dining alcove (right) was a simple space with only one chair and benches for seating. It is likely that George Niedecken of Milwaukee, one of Wright's preferred assistants/collaborators, made the furniture. In the current dining room (below), a massive stone wall expands space to the left, and much more elaborate furniture and artwork characterize the present space. Wright's famed barrel chairs appear in the center.

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 5(

[SIN MAGAZINE OF HISTOR"

The original studio space at Taliesin (right) had windows to the south and to the north with two ranks of simply-made drafting tables. Colored plaster, wood trim, and window detailing lent architectural interest to an otherwise utilitarian, rectangular room. Though the door remains in the same location, the studio (above) has been greatly expanded to the north, and the windows on the right have been extended to the floor. The studio no longer serves as a space for designing, but is used to display art and artifacts from Wright's era, and, from time to time, student and associated architects' work. Image ID 29068

www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 51

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

ftsmens bunkroom, Taliesin, 1912. s room is at the west end of the studio wing. A drafting table and Tsquare indicate that it was a workspace as well ^ a living space. The bunks can be seen on the left.

Photo by Joel Heiman Image ID 29072

If you go: About the Author Jack (John O.) Holzhueter has been a There are many opportunities to tour the Taliesin estate contributor to the Magazine since 1966 and grounds including walking tours, extensive house and served on the Wisconsin Historical Society staff from 1964 through 2000. tours, and even a sunset tour featuring a reception on He currently serves on the Society's Wright's personal terrace. Tours begin at the Frank Lloyd Board of Curators, is active in Frank Wright Visitor Center, located at the intersection of Hwy Lloyd Wright preservation organiza­ G and 23, south of Spring Green, Wisconsin. For tions, and led the effort to acquire the more information call 877-588-7900. album he describes in this issue. He was born in Menomonie, lives in Mazomanie, and earned his degrees at the University of Wisconsin. He works as a historical consultant.

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 52

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

WHS Museum 1951.2690 Pink gabardine dress worn by Eleanore Brown, Madison, Wisconsin, ca. 1901

Courtesy of Ann Agard Eleanore Brown wearing the pink gabardine dress, ca. 1901.

A Reunion of a Different Sort

round 1901, Eleanore Brown (1892-1992) of Madi­ sories based on fictional girls living during notable periods in son, Wisconsin, preparing to have her photograph America's past, made a reproduction of the dress for its char­ Ataken, chose to wear a pink woolen gabardine dress acter Samantha, whose stories are set in 1904. The next year trimmed with white satin and black velvet. Since Eleanore a version of the dress appeared in the movie Samantha: An did not have a sister to pass it on to, the dress sat in the closet American Girl Holiday. While writing about the movie, a of the Brown family home for the next fifty years. Then, in Wisconsin State Journal reporter learned the story of the 1951, the dress was donated to the Wisconsin Historical Soci­ dress and its Wisconsin connection. Luckily for the Wiscon­ ety as part of Annie (Storer) Brown's estate. Annie, Eleanore's sin Historical Society Eleanore's daughter, Ann Agard of Mil­ mother, was the wife of Fred Mason Brown, a member of a waukee, saw the story and knew she had the photograph of prominent Madison family and vice president of the Gentral her mother wearing the dress. She brought the photo to the Wisconsin Trust Gompany. For another fifty years, the dress Society's attention and now, for the first time in over fifty seemed destined for obscurity. However, in 2003 American years, this beautiful dress and the photograph of its original Girl, creator of books and accompanying dolls and acces­ owner can be seen together. 52 www.wisconsinhistory.org I ;23_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 53

3 C 3 C a E EL n r ^ You are Invited to The Wisconsin Historical Society Press 150th Anniversary Celebration

Monday, October 17, 2005 7 0 'clock p. m. Wisconsin Historical Society Auditorium and Lobby 816 State Street, Madison

Join the Wisconsin Historical Society Press, Wisconsin's oldest book publisher, as it honors all of its authors, past and present. Speakers include Patty Loew, Jerry Apps, Richard Zeitlin, Brett Barker, and Margaret Bogue. Reception to foUow.

Please join the WHS Press in celebrating this remarkable occasion. This event is free and open to all. For more information, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org/publications or call 608-264-6465.

18SS-Z00S -»»•»» CeUhreiiitm The WHS Press 150th WHS W 150 Anniversary Celebration is a xuisconsin festndl PRESS JHH YEARS Wisconsin Book Festival Event.

U] T3 3 C 3 C 3" 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 54

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

The Wisconsin Historical Society Board of Curators Letters Director: Ellsworth H. Brown Jerry Phillips, Bayfield Janice M. Rice, Stoughton Officers Fred A. Risser, Madison President: Mark L. Gajewskj John M. Russell, Menomonie President Elect: Judy Nagel John Schroeder, Milwaukee Treasurer: Craig Culver Dale Schultz, Richland Center Many thanks for sending . . . Secretary: Ellsworth H. Brown Anne M. West, Milwaukee Carlyle H. "Hank" Whipple, Madison WISCONSIN this spring's issue of the Wis­ Board of Curators consin Magazine of History. As Betty Adelman, Mukwonago Ex-officio Board of Curators Ruth Barker, Ephraim Kathleen Sweeney, President, newcomers to Wisconsin, we Thomas H. Barland, Eau Claire FRIENDS of the Society are certainly in need of infor­ Murray D. "Chip" Beckford, Cascade Bette Arey, President, Wisconsin mation about the state! I thor­ Terese Berceau, Madison Council for Local History oughly enjoyed the article Patricia A. Boge, La Crosse Bruce T. Block, Pres/denf, Wisconsin Mary F. Buestrin, Mequon Histoncal Foundation about the Kosciuszko Reds. . . . Thomas E. Caestecker, Kenilworth, IL Cora Marrett, Senior VP for Academic The magazine is beautiful— Linda Clifford, Madison Affairs, University of Wisconsin and beautifully written. Kenneth Conger, Kohler System William J. Cronon, Madison Laurie Davidson, Marinette DEBBIE ATTANASIO Victor Ferrall, Orfordwile Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club Ness Flores, V\i^ukesha Stephen J. Freese, Dodgeville Beverly A. Harrington, Oshkosh John O. Holzhueter, Mazomanie We received the Spring issue of the Wisconsin Magazine John Kerrigan, Dubuque, lA Helen Laird, Marshfield of History yesterday. Thank you and your staff for this Ellen D. Langill, Waukesha informative and beautiful work of art. It has occurred to us Genevieve G. McBride, Milwaukee that an article on what goes into the making/editing of the magazine and something about the printer would be of inter­ est to your readers.

EVA AND KEN HEINTZ The Wisconsin UW-Stout Historical Foundation

I received yesterday my copy of the Wisconsin Magazine President: Bruce T. Block, Milwaukee Margaret B. Humleker, Fond du Lac Vice-President: Daniel W. Erdman, (emehta) ofHstory (Spring 2005) and I want to tell you how impressed Madison Paul J. Karch, Appleton I am. The cover is simply stunning—nothing less than a work Vice-President: Walter S. Rugland, W. Robert Koch, Madison of art. I think the articles, photos and other visuals are out­ Appleton Roy C. LaBudde, Milwaukee Treasurer: Rhona E. Vogel, Brookfield Mark D. Laufman, Madison standing. Jim Potter's photos of the bank are wonderful, and Secretary: Melinda V. Heinritz, Paul Meissner, Milwaukee I think the photos of Sullivan along with two of his Ghicago Madison George H. Miller, Ripon (emeritus) buildings and his Grinnell bank (as well as the Newton, Iowa Asst Treasurer £ Asst Secretary: Judy K. Nagel, Green Bay bank) are nice additions. I also commend you . . . for the W. Pharis Horton, Madison Peggy A. Rosenzweig, Wauwatosa Diane K. Ballweg, Madison Richard L. Schmidt, West Bend superb captions for the photos. Hartley B. Barker, Ephraim David G. Stoeffel, Milwaukee Thomas H. Barland, Eau Claire Carol T. Toussaint, Madison (emehta) GARY MEYER (emehtus) Edwin P. Wiley, Milwaukee (emehtus) UW-Stevens Point Robert M. Bolz, Madison Robert S. Zigman, Milwaukee Rockne G. Flowers, Madison John J. Frautschi, Madison Mark L. Gajewski, Madison Michael Gotzler, Madison Richard H. Holscher, Lake Tomahawk

54 www.wisconsinhistory.org 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 55

WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

I got my most recent copy of the Wisconsin Magazine of • Hstory ... it must be the most visually stunning issue yet. I WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY H almost gasped at the cover (I swear I can almost feel the sun BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS ^M coming through the stained glass) but think even it might be outdone by some of the inside pages. The complexity of the color registrations is perfect; some of the artifacts almost The Wisconsin History Society's Business Partnerships Program gives H jump off the page, as they seem almost three-dimensional. businesses the opportunity to support the preservation and promotion of H Regarding content, of course, I've been looking forward Wisconsin's rich heritage. Partners enjoy a package of benefits including H for some time to my dear colleague Neal Pease's article. . . . discounts on membership for employees, subscriptions to Society ^M He gave a presentation on the research in our department publications, and recognition opportunities. ^^^| coUoquia series a couple of years ago which was so promising. . . . Eat your heart out, Smithsonian! The following are generous Business Partners of the Wisconsin Historical T Society. There are currently 79 Partners of which 27 were new supporters in 1 GENEVIEVE G. MCBRIDE fiscal year 2005. To learn more about the benefits of this program for you and 1 UW-Milwaukee your employees, please contact Laurie Stensland at 608-261 -9363 or • [email protected]. 1 I certainly do have fond memories of listening to Ranger Mac at a one room country school in "Daneville," located John Muir Partners Ttie Director's Circle ^M $25,000 or more $1,000-$2,499 • near Cataract, Wl. The program certainly had an effect on Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc. Alpha Investment Consulting Group 1 all of us. I still live near that old school site and remember the Appleton 1 Black Hawk Patrons old AM radio that was sometimes full of static. Especially if a Beyer Construction M $10,000-$24,999 The Coburn Company, Inc. H storm was on the way. Brass Light Gallery Darrow, Dietrich & Hawley, S.C. H Ranger Mac influenced me to enjoy nature—especially Wisconsin Education Association Full Compass Systems H the woodlands. Since the late '50s it has been my privilege to Council Gardner Carton & Douglas LLP H GPD/Gilbane 1 Belle Case La Follette Associates help nature in reforesting abandoned and sandy former farm­ International Truck & Engine H $5,000-$9,999 land. Corporation ^^^B Accurate Response Kohler Company ^^^| I was a farmer in this area until several years ago. (Now Alliant Energy Foundation Lands' End, Inc. ^B retired) but still planting trees both for myself and as a custom American Girl The Manitowoc Company, Inc. H Culver's Frozen Custard tree plant (Norway Pine). Mead & Hunt, Inc. H Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Mortgage Guaranty Insurance ^B Many thanks to Ranger Mac. Spacesaver Corporation Company ^^^| Wisconsin Fiadio Network Name Badge Productions ^^^| BOB ANDERSON Phoenix Resource Group ^^^H Frederick Jackson Turner Society The Printing Place ^^^H $2,500-$4,999 QTI Group ^^H 3M Corporation Thrivent Financial for Lutherans ^B American Family Insurance Group Windway Foundation, Inc. B To Our Readers ^ Banta Corporation Foundation, Inc. Wisconsin Energy Corporation B CGSchmidt Construction, Inc. Is there information about Wisconsin history that you Foundation, Inc. B DEMCO, Inc. Wisconsin Physicians Service B think we should know about? We'd like to hear from our Kikkoman Foods, Inc. readers. Write to: Madison-Kipp Corporation Lyman Copeland Draper Supporters 1 Mead Witter Foundation, Inc. Wisconsin Magazine of History $500-$999 J Robert W. Baird & Company Wisconsin Historical Society Badger Meter Foundation B 816 State Street, Madison, Wl 53706-1482 Foundation, Inc. Boelter & Lincoln ^^^B Rural Insurance Companies or e-maU [email protected] Eldon Manufacturing ^^^B Sensient Technologies Foundation Famous Footwear ^^^H Webcrafters-Frautschi Foundation, Godfrey & Kahn ^^H Inc. Books featured in the Wisconsin Magazine of History Great Big Pictures ^^^B Wisconsin Broadcasters Association may be purchased from the Wisconsin Historical Jackson County Bank ^^^B Foundation Museum store at 608-264-6428; toll-free 888-999-1669; J.P. Cullen and Sons, Inc. ^^^B or online. Mercury Marine ^B Northern Lake Service, Inc. B River Architects, Inc. ^^^B WWW. wisconsinhistory. org/shop Trostel, ^^M Twin Disc, Incorporated ^^^B Urban Land Interest, Inc. ^^^^B

AUTUMN 2 0 0 5 55 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 56

his remarkable one-of-a-kind marquetry table daughter, Ruth Faye Schlaak Cutler (1915-1994), and as created by August Schlaak (1869-1946), a gave it to her when she was battling spinal meningitis at er in the wood gluing department of the about age eleven. Before presenting the table, Mr. U.S. Forest Products Lab in Madison. Constructed with Schlaak counted exactly 17,625 pieces of wood used in scraps from the lab for the marquetry (inlaid veneers fit­ the table's construction. When he gave the table to ted together to form a design) and his own formula for Ruth, he challenged her to count the pieces as a way to the finish, Mr. Schlaak's four-legged bureau table is a keep busy whUe she was recovering. He later recorded combination writing and dressing table with five draw­ the number of pieces on the underside of one of the ers and faux drop leaves affixed at each side. The table's drawers. exterior surfaces are decorated with intricate geometric The marquetry table, along with a pedestal and patterns of marquetry, the largest piece of which is less magazine rack also made by August Schlaak, wUl be than one square inch in size. A combination of twenty- featured in a special display at the Wisconsin Historical five different tree species—primarily birch, cherry, gum, Museum in Madison from September 27 through Japanese dye wood, mahogany, maple, pecan persim­ October 22. mon and walnut—create the striking color variations in The marquetry table wUl also be featured on the the patterns. It took Mr Schlaak seven years to com­ Society Web site as the Museum Object of the Week plete the piece, which was featured in an article in Fur­ during the week of September 29-October 5. After niture Manufacturer, May, 1930. According to family October 5, information on the table wUl continue to be history, he made the table as a Christmas gift for his available in the site's archives.

www.wisconsinhistory.org/rnuseurn/artifacts/archives.asp 200823_EP.qxd 10/4/05 12:19 PM Page 57

EVERY ROOT .^^^^^^ AN ANCHOR

The Wisconsin Historical Society Press offers reat gifts for everyone on your list! IT Wisconsin History Highlights: Third Down and a War to Go: Delving into the Past The All-American 1942 Wisconsin Badgers By Jonathan Kasparek, Bobbie Malone, Erica Shock By Terry Frei hardcover, $39.95, ISBN 0-87020-358-4 hardcover, $26.95, ISBN 0-87020-360-6 Wisconsin in the Civil War: The Home Front and At the Creation: Myth, Reality, and the Origins of the Battle Front, 1861-1865 the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle, 1901-1909 I By Frank L. Klement By Herbert Wagner hardcover, $30.00, ISBN 0-87020-286-3 paperback, $24.95, ISBN 0-87020-351-7 Women's Wisconsin: From Native Matriarchies to the New Millennium erers Edited by Genevieve McBride History Just Ahead: A Guide to paperback, $37.95, ISBN 0-87020-364-1 Wisconsin's Historical Markers Indian Nations of Wisconsin: By Sarah Davis McBride Histories of Endurance and Renewal paperback, $1 2.95, ISBN 0-87020-31 7-7 By Patty Loew La Pointe: Village Outpost on hardcover, $39.95, ISBN 0-87020-335-5 Madeleine Island paperback, $21.95, ISBN 0-87020-332-0 By Hamilton Nelson Ross hardcover, $34.95, ISBN 0-87020-320-7 paperback, $14.95, ISBN 0-87020-321-5 Every Root an Anchor: Aztalan: Northern Outpost of the Mississippian Wisconsin's Famous and Historic Trees Indians By R. Bruce Allison By Robert Birmingham and Lynne Goldstein paperback, $21.95, ISBN 0-87020-370-3 paperback, $14.95, ISBN 0-87020-362-2 Available November 2005 Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter By Keith Crowley Who Loves a hardcover, $34.95, ISBN 0-87020-343-6 aperback, $22.95, ISBN 0-87020-344-4 "When Is Daddy Coming Home?": An American Family during World War I By Richard Carlton Haney Mai Ya's Long Journey hardcover, $18.95, ISBN 0-87020-364-9 By Sheila Cohen paperback, $12.95, ISBN 0-87020-365-7

Wisconsin Historical Society Press books are available at Or order by phone: many bookstores and through online retailers. Shop in person at the Wisconsin Historical Museum Shop, located Toll free: 888-999-1669 on the Capitol Square, 30 N. Carroll St., Madison, Wl 53703. In Madison: 608-264-6428 o9-a 'JdWHOKESHfl , Wl

omers flocked to enjoy the healing waters from this elaborate spring house, at Waukesha's once-prominent watering site, the Hygeia Springs. In 1892, James McElroy, manager of the Hygeia Mineral Springs Company, intended to lay a pipeline from Waukesha to Chicago and make his fortune selling the spring water at the upcoming Chicago Columbian Exposition. When the cit­ izens of Waukesha resisted the export of their precious water south to Chicago, McElroy hatched a scheme to invade the city and lay the pipeline under cover of night. Read all about it in "Spring City and the Water War of 1892" by David P. McDaniel. WISCONSIN magazine ^yhistory

Wisconsin Historical Society • 816 State Street • Madison, Wl • 53706-1482