Studies in the History of Fond Du Lac and the Lake Winnebago Region
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HISTORY BY THE LAKE: STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC AND THE LAKE WINNEBAGO REGION Clarence B. Davis, Ph.D. Editor Marian College Press Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, 2005 In memory of Tori (1969-1984) and of Brit (1990-2004): The best and most loving of friends. © Copyright Clarence B. Davis, 2005 ISBN 0-9766911-0-8 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS Page PREFACE 5 Clarence B. Davis, Ph.D. POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT 1. The Emergence of a Professional Sheriff’s Office in Winnebago County, 1920-2000 9 Jason Walter 2. Fish and Man in Lake Winnebago: Saving the Lake Sturgeon 37 Jesse Jensen 3. Democracy Disenfranchised? “At-Large” Representation in Fond du Lac City Council Government 49 Angela Hannemann and Todd Whittaker ECONOMY AND BUSINESS 4. Timber Boom Town: The Rise and Decline of the Lumber Industry in Fond du Lac, 1845-1922 67 Jennifer Stobbe 5. Fond du Lac’s Railroads and Economic Development, 1851-1876 83 Laura Knueppel 6. The Great Depression Strikes Fond du Lac, 1929-1935 101 Nicole Jones 7. The Brewing Industry in Fond du Lac 117 John Iwanski SOCIETY, COMMUNITY AND LEISURE 8. Castles of Dreams: Fond du Lac’s Theaters, 1856-2001 141 Heather Reader 9. Something to Do in Fond du Lac: Public Leisure Activities in the 1920s 167 Todd Whittaker 10. Marytown, A Holyland Community: Built on Dreams, Persisting on Spirit, 1849-2003 183 Katheryn Bartel 11. The Fond du Lac Panthers: A Professional Baseball Team 207 Katerina Harrison 12. “False Also and Harmful to Christian Education:” Coeducation at St. Mary’s Springs 223 Scott Jazdzewski 13. The Shaping of a Mission: The Sisters of Saint Agnes in Nicaragua, 1945-1960 247 Eric Czyzewski 3 THE MILITARY AND WAR 14. The Making of a Civil War Soldier: Colwert Pier of Fond du Lac 279 Rick Hammacher 15. Fond du Lac’s Responses to the Civil War 309 Anita Ewerdt 16. Fond du Lac’s Machinegunners: Company E in the First World War 329 Jody Schmitz 17. A Home Away From Home: German Prisoners of War in Fond du Lac County during World War II 365 Jesse Ruth LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS Successful Fond du Lac Sturgeon Fishermen (ca. 1950s) 36 Mrs. Marvin Amel with a Lake Winnebago Sturgeon (ca. early 1950s) 38 Moore and Galloway Lumber Mill 66 Workers at Moore and Galloway Lumber Mill with Circular Saw Blades 81 St. Paul Depot and East Branch of the Fond du Lac River 82 Chicago and North Western Directors’ Private Railcar (late 1800s) 99 Bechaud Brewery (ca. 1885) 116 Idea Theater Advertising and Employees (ca. 1920) 146 Henry Boyle Theatre (postcard, ca. 1910) 148 St. Mary’s Church, Marytown (during reconstruction after 1907) Photo courtesy Gordie Halbach 184 Boyle Hall, St. Mary’s Springs Academy 224 Colwert Pier in 1858 278 Reunion of Former Libby Prison Inmates, including Members of the Iron Brigade, Chicago, 1890 308 Members of Company E, 2nd Wisconsin Infantry, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, 1916 328 The Western Front, July 15, 1918 357 All Photographs, unless otherwise stated, appear through courtesy of the Fond du Lac County Historical Society. 4 PREFACE This volume is the second in a series of occasional papers devoted to study of the local history of the Fond du Lac and Lake Winnebago region. The earlier volume, Source of the Lake: 150 Years of History in Fond du Lac, concentrated exclusively on Fond du Lac, because it was presented as a part of a sesquicentennial celebration.1 The present volume incorporates some essays that did not fit that earlier format as well as others completed since it appeared, and so the new book is cast in terms of the broader Lake Winnebago region of which Fond du Lac is an important part. Each of the essays has been produced by a Marian College student enrolled in the History Program, the Political Science Program, or the Broad Field Social Studies Program. The essay is the capstone experience for these majors. Students undertaking this course, customarily completed in three segments over a period of at least three semesters, are strongly encouraged to pursue topics in local history or politics because of the availability of primary sources and their convenience of access. Since many of the students plan careers in education, there is also often a direct linkage between their research and material that they will be able to use in the classroom. Local topics also make good practical sense, because few students possess the time or resources to travel to more distant collections. Local history has also come into its own as a legitimate part of the historical studies landscape, and essays on local topics such as these will provide useful insights for historians who will write the more synthetic works on Wisconsin‘s history in the future. At the very least, the work of these students will leave Fond du Lac and the Lake Winnebago region with the rich legacy of a past that has been remembered, understood, and interpreted The intent of the capstone assignment is that students should produce an original essay that makes a contribution to historical understanding, that utilizes significant primary sources and that conforms to the high standard of technical production characteristic of essays produced by professional historians. The range of topics that the students represented in this volume have chosen is impressive, reflecting a broad 1 Claence B. Davis, ed., Source of the Lake: 150 Years of History in Fond du Lac, (Fond du Lac, Wisconsin: Action Printing, 2002). 5 spectrum of student interests that spans political issues, military affairs, economic development, social customs, leisure, education, religious life, and historical ecology. Some of the essays reflect an interest in current public policy issues. In such a project, the process of research and writing is inevitably a shared one. Students work in small seminar groups, sharing their research and issues with the instructor and one another. Teaching is a mutual process, with students developing expertise that is imparted to an instructor who does not specialize in local history, or for that matter American history, while students learn the craft of the practicing historian. At the core of any project such as this are library archives and the help of the librarians who sustain them and make them usable. Wisconsin is admirably served by its well-organized and professionally staffed historical archives, and students have benefited by having available to them the Cardinal Meyer Library at Marian College, the Public Library of the City of Fond du Lac, the Fond du Lac County Historical Society‘ Adams House research unit, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin at Madison, and its Area Resource Center at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, all of which have been utilized in the production of these essays, as have certain other archives that are not open to the general public, including, among others, those of the Winnebago County Sheriff‘s Office, Saint Mary‘s Springs High School, and the Congregation of Saint Agnes. Many of the essays also incorporate the results of oral history investigations. This work is a collaborative one to which many people not listed as authors have also made a contribution. Several people deserve acknowledgement for their significant roles in its production. Mary Ellen Gormican, Director, and Sarah Sturke, Reference and Bibliographic Instruction Librarian at the Cardinal Meyer Library at Marian, both assisted students in obtaining needed materials and helped begin their education as researchers. Sally Albertz of the Fond du Lac County Historical Society provided extensive research assistance through her encyclopedic knowledge of the collections at the Adams House research facility, and she helped identify appropriate photographs. Mary Georgeff of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin provided much help to students in navigating the massive collection of materials located in Madison, a task more recently undertaken by Rick Pifer and other staff members at the State Historical Society. 6 My colleagues in the History Program, including Dr. Richard Whaley, Dr. Mary Gross, Sister Marie Scott, CSA, and Father Ron Jansch, OFM Cap. all contributed to this project, suggesting topics, providing research materials, offering insights into the historiography of Wisconsin, reading and commenting on essays, and attending presentations of completed student research. They also read this manuscript and offered suggestions for its improvement. Father Ron deserves special mention for his unequaled skills as a proofreader, as does Dr. Mary Gross for her work on the cover design. Sister Margaret Lorimer, CSA, emerita professor of history at Marian College and historian of the Congregation of Saint Agnes, provided invaluable information on topics related to the Agnesians in Fond du Lac and Nicaragua. Mrs. Lisa McArthur, Secretary for the Social and Behavioral Sciences Division, provided typing and manuscript production assistance. Mr. Jeff Kuhnz of Action Printing provided assistance in production of the book. But the main credit for this volume belongs to the eighteen authors whose work appears here. This volume represents a shared project in other ways. Funding to support its production has been provided by the Fond du Lac Public Library through its Bernice and Robert Seefeld Fund, for which I thank Mr. Ken Hall, Director, by members of the Fond du Lac County Historical Society, and by Marian College of Fond du Lac, through the efforts of President Richard I. Ridenour, M.D., and of Vice President for Academic Affairs Sheryl Ayala, who both have been continuing supporters of this project. Special acknowledgement must be made of the support and encouragement of Dr. Larry Robinson, Dean of the Marian College School of Education and of Professor Michelle Majewski, Director of the Social Science Research Institute at Marian College.