Dane County WI Archives History - Books .....The Railroad And The Village - Chapter II 1900 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wi/wifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com November 27, 2007, 4:13 pm Book Title: Mazomanie -History Of The Township And Village CHAPTER II. THE RAILROAD AND THE VILLAGE. 1850-1860. From 1850, when immigration from England almost entirely ceased, to 1856, when the C., M. & St. P. R. R. reached the English settlement, the site of the present village formed part of the farms of John Hudson, William Robinson, and Mr. Walker, and some State school land. During this period the township, including the village site, was simply a farming community. The southern half of the town was but thinly settled by the English group, together with a very few Americans, while the whole northern half of the town contained few or no inhabitants. The population in 1850 was about 165, three-fourths of whom were from England. During the next five years, four or five American families settled in various parts of the township. Among these were Franklin Learnard, Asa Peck and John Porter, with their families. H. R. Learnard, the present village clerk, estimates the total number of new comers from 1850 to 1855 to have been about thirty. This would make the population of the township in 1855 about 250. In 1849 a log school-house was built by the school district, and was located about one-half mile east of the present village. Emma Hayes, now the wife of Henry Powell, was the first teacher. She was followed by Mrs. Williams, Mary Hayes and Mr. Hill. The pupils numbered from 10 to 30. The lady teachers received about $10 per month and boarded around. During the winter debates were held at this school-house, and people for miles around came to hear the exercises. Religious services were also held there. The school-house was at first put up on government land; but later a Mr. Ogden bought the land and, refusing to sell the lot where the building stood, objected to the removal of the building. One moonlight night in 1853, a number of men and boys, among whom was Henry Powell, quietly moved the school-house on land owned by Mr. Howarth, who donated a quarter of an acre for that purpose. The building was 16x20 in size. Long boards attached by hinges to the log walls formed desks for the pupils. Movable benches, without backs, were placed around the room. Mrs. Gleason. Jennie Stewart, Sarah Hayes, Alice Hayes, Orville Hubbard, Mary Partridge, Lizzie Huntington, Theodore Huntington and the Darlington children attended this school. From 1850 to 1855 Dover was the main trading point for the township. It had two general stores, one drug store, two blacksmith's shops, a school-house and a postoffice. The population was about 125. Religious services were frequently held here, and the school was maintained for several months in the year. Besides going to Dover to buy dry goods and groceries, the people often went there to get letters and papers from England, or from some distant state. The young people from the surrounding country often gathered at the village to attend dances. Dover at the present time is in truth a deserted village. Seven houses, two of them vacant, and all unpainted, stand far apart along the sandy highway. A neglected hedge is still seen, and an old school-house recalls the days when children played in the village. The creek still winds its way a quarter of a mile distant, and the landscape under an autumn sun suggests the past. In 1855 the railroad was rapidly extended from Madison west toward Mazomanie. This fact, giving rise to a thriving village and largely increasing the farming population, produced other marked social and economic changes. The site of the present village before 1855 was owned by John Hudson, William Robinson and Henry Walker. Part of it was state school land. The first settler on the village site was John Hudson. As early as 1845 John M. Wilson saw John Hudson and Frank Ranyard living in a small log house about four rods directly across the creek from the present school building. Joseph Bennett saw them there in 1847. About 1849 Hudson built a frame house a few feet back of where Salisbury's drug store now stands. This was the first frame house on the village site, and part of it still stands on Bridge street just south of the creek. In 1855 he was living in the frame house with his wife and five children. In the same year Henry Walker, with his two children, were living in a log house a little east of the present creamery. John Holmes, who had married Mrs. Somerville, sold his farm to Walker. Richard Somerville had come from England in 1844 with his wife and five children and lived in the log house east of the creamery. He died the same year, his death being the first in the settlement. At the same time William Robinson, with his wife and three children, were living on what is now lot one, block one, of Robinson's addition. Hudson, Walker and Robinson all lived within the present village limits in 1855. At the same time several families were near neighbors: John Royston, with his son Reuben, lived on the present Royston farm; Mrs. Bennett and three children lived one-half mile west of Hudson's farm; John Wrigglesworth, wife and four children lived a few rods west of Bennett's; Robert North, wife and two children lived just west of Bennett's; Mrs. Williams and four children lived about half way from the present Sauk bridge to Butz' grove; Mr. Howarth, wife and three children lived about one mile east of John Hudson's house. There was no one living in the south part of the present village and none on the north except Walker and Robinson. In 1855 all of the land south of Hudson's house and within the present village limits was a prairie, without a single tree, and supporting a luxuriant growth of prairie grass. The land for forty rods west of the station sloped gradually over the present railway. A depression just east of the station has since been filled in from the cut on the west. North of Hudson's house lay the same kind of prairie except where it had been inclosed by rail fences and cultivated by Hudson, Walker and Robinson. The only bridge across the creek was one near the present Sauk bridge. It was made of log stringers covered with logs and dirt. Edward Brodhead and others caused to be recorded the first plat of "Mazomanie" on July 5, 1855, and the first train by an official time-card arrived at the station on June 7, 1856. In the autumn of 1855 many new-comers arrived, bought lots and began to build. The first structures were some shanties for the men at work along the railway. George Butler built the "American House" on the present site of Lamboley's store, and about the same time the "Mazomanie Hotel" was built by H. A. Cowdery on the site of Lappley's drug store. The station house was a two-story building with lunch rooms in the upper part, approached by a broad stairway in front. Martin and Holbrook started the first general store in the building now occupied by Mr. Cork; a little later D. W. Branson began a general store on the present, site of Mr. Vogel's meat market. William Freeman and Sydney Vedder had a general store in the same building now used as the Huggins House. The postoffice was kept in this building by Freeman, who was a deputy for the postmaster, Mr. Whitney. L. D. Brooks kept a general store where Murrish's store now stands. W. U. Hover kept a tin shop and some hardware in the front part of his dwelling, which is now used as a part of the Congregational parsonage. Angus and Allen McDonald had a small hotel near the site of the present Catholic church; their building is now used for the parochial school. The Congregational society erected a church on the hill in 1855; the building now stands across the street from the residence of George Clough. Only five buildings were south of the railroad in March, 1856, when J. B. Stickney first came to Mazomanie. North of the railroad there were no residences except those of Hudson, Walker and Robinson, and those in the two hotels and five stores. During the years 1856-57 the number of buildings very greatly increased. On November 15, 1856, the Madison Patriot stated that Mazomanie had about eighty buildings. Lots ranged in price from $50 to $500. Dwellings were rapidly contracted, and people were moving in from Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio and eastern Wisconsin. A few houses were moved from Dover. Alfred Senior moved his drug store and stock from that place in 1857. The same building is now used as a barber shop by G. F. Dewey. Charles Hall kept a drug store in the Brooks block before Senier came. James Cawley started a general store in a brick building which is still standing near the east end of Crescent street, Charles Butz opened another store in a building now occupied by Mrs. Kohlman. Barney Campbell kept a store in the house now occupied by C. C. Whelan. Lynch and Walker erected a grist mill east of the station. A two-story building called Haskall University was erected in 1857 on the present site of Fred Trager's residence at the corner of Third and State streets. During the same year a district school building was built on the corner south of George Ellis' present residence. Most of the residences up to this time were between the railroad and the creek and extended from Ray street to Mill street. During the next two years the building was not so rapid, but there was some progress, and the census of 1860 shows that the population of the village was 604, and of the township 372. There were 516 males and 460 females. The village and township formed one election district, which gave Douglas 107 and Lincoln 161 votes. Within five years more than 700 persons had been, added to the population of the township. The original plat of the village was recorded in the office of register of deeds July 5, 1855. The owners of the land were Edward Brodhead, Anson Eldred, Moses S. Scott, Eliphalet Cramer and Abram Ogden. Hudson's First Addition was recorded July 28, 1855, and his Second Addition August 31, 1855. Robinson's Addition was recorded October 6, 1855. Senior's First Addition was recorded January 8, 1856, and his Second Addition June 20, 1856. Prairie Addition was recorded March 15, 1856. The land was owned by John Catlin, Edward Barber and A. W. Curtis. Walker's Addition was recorded in November, 1856. The University Addition, owned by William Robinson, was recorded March 21, 1859. Bronson's Addition was recorded May 10, 1873. In 1858 the legislature detached from Mazomanie the present township of Black Earth. The village site was selected by Edward Brodhead, who was superintendent of construction for the railroad company. He named the village, and later told T. B. Stickney that the name was that of an Indian chief, and that it meant "Walking Iron," or "The Iron that Walks." In 1836, nineteen years before Brodhead named the village, and sixteen years before he came to Wisconsin, the name from which Mazomanie was derived attained a sudden and wide-spread notoriety. At that time Port Winnebago, now Portage, was the chief trading point for the Indians of southern Wisconsin. Pierre Paquette, the agent at Fort Winnebago of the American Fur Company, was known not only to the Indians, but also to all the white traders from Green Bay and Milwaukee to Mineral Point and Prairie du Chien. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1796, and, at the time of his death, was six feet two inches in height and weighed two hundred pounds. His father was a Frenchman and his mother an Indian woman. Pierre Paquette was a good friend of the Winnebagoes, but he had assaulted and beaten one Man-ze-mon-e-ka, the son of Whirling Thunder, a Winnebago chief. Man-ze-mon-e-ka went to Portage in 1836 to have trouble with the giant half-breed. Paquette, hearing he had come, approached for the purpose of beating the Indian again. Man-ze-mon-e-ka, raising his rifle, warned the trader to keep away, but Paquette, pointing to his own breast, said, "Fire if you are brave." The Indian fired, and the noted fur trader fell dead. Man-ze-mon-e-ka was tried for murder, and the story was told throughout the state, and appeared in the newspapers. Man-ze-mon-e-ka was an Indian word that meant "Iron Walker." Nineteen years after the event Edward Brodhead had heard the story and changed the name to Mazomanie. The people who came to the village from 1855 to 1860 were mainly from southeastern Wisconsin, and from Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and Ohio. Society was very democratic, there being few or no class distinctions. It was customary to have dances in the new buildings as they were completed. In 1856 mixed passenger and freight trains left for Madison twice each day. Trade and business of all kinds were very active. Politics ran high. On August 4, 1856, a "Fremont and Dayton" club was organized with William Powell as president and J. B. Stickney as « treasurer. A society of spiritualists had many seances. In 1857 Henry Walker published a paper called the "Mazomanie Herald." It was a small weekly newspaper, and ran less than a year. Walker sold out to a Mr. Boardman, who published the "Weekly Mazomanian" for some months. In May, 1855, the Weekly Argus and Democrat published the prices for the "Madison Markets" as follows: Flour, $8.50 to $9.00; wheat, $1.38 to $1.40; pork, $12 per bbl., lard, 7c; butter, 20c to 25c; brown sugar, 7c to 8c; coffee, 14c to 20c; potatoes, 75c; tallow, 13c. In July, 1860, the Milwaukee Sentinel quoted: Flour, $4.50 to $6.00; wheat, $1.12 to $1.15; oats, 28c; corn, 46c; rye, 68c; butter, 7c to 9c; eggs, 9c to 10c. The township and village were from the first religious communities. The Methodists were the first to hold services in the township. John M. Wilson and Thomas Wilson, who came from England in 1844, state that William Wrigglesworth was the first preacher in Mazomanie. He preached in various farm houses before 1846. In that year a regular church was organized with Schuyler Waldron as minister, Succeeding Waldron were James Lawson, Mr. Barnes, J. T. Pryor, Robert Robotham, John W. Ford, Mr. Buck and John Murrish. Samuel Hawley and George Cutler also preached occasionally. The society did not have a church building until 1866, when the present structure was built. The services were held in various houses, but after 1857 they were conducted in the school-house or "Town Hall" near the residence of George Ellis. The Primitive Methodists also held services in the township and village from 1846 to 1860, when they put up the small church building now used by the Lutheran congregation. The trustees of the Primitive Methodist church in 1861 were: Amos Ellis, Thomas Ellis, George Stephen, John Wrigglesworth, William Darlington and Richard Thornber. The first Congregational society was organized in the log house of Mr. Hays, a mile and a half east of the present village, in 1853. There were eight or nine members, and David Jones was the minister. He was a Welshman, living near Arena, and, while not a fluent speaker, he was well liked by the people. William Howarth, James Hays, Henry Howarth, Eliza Howarth and Elizabeth Peniston were the first members. The services were held at the log school-house near the house of James Hays until 1855, when the congregation built the church opposite the present residence of George Clough. Mr. Wadsworth succeeded David Jones as minister, and services were held in the new church until about 1860, when the society disbanded. The next church society was that of the Baptists. It was organized in 1855 by Moses Rowley, who served as their minister for nearly three years. The services at first were held at the house of Rowley, who lived about one-half mile north and a little east of the present railroad station. Some of the members were: William Robinson and wife, John Hudson and wife, Mr. Crosby and wife, Mr. Goldthwaite and wife, and Mrs. Lyman of Dover. The Haskall University building was erected in 1857, and then the services were held there. Luther Humphrey followed Moses Rowley as minister, and Rowland Hill also preached to the Baptists. In 1856 the Catholics were united in a society, and the village was made a mission for the next three years. During this time Rev. F. N. Weinhardt of Sauk City conducted services at this mission once each month. The first church was located about a block north of the present Catholic church. The same building is now used by Miss Nettie Lincoln. The second church, built in 1865, was near the site of the first. Some of the members then were Michael Welch and wife, Daniel Riley and wife, William Borman and wife, John Calahan and wife, and Edmund Carey and wife. The Haskall University was an institution that attracted considerable attention in 1856-59. Its chief promoter was Moses Rowley, who named it after a minister in New York. It was incorporated by an act of the legislature on March 1, 1856. The first section of the law provided "That William Robinson, H. A. Bentley, Rowland Hill, Joseph Stephenson, J. D. Sweat, Moses Rowley, John Hudson, T. Crooks, W. Bowman, J. B. Sweat and Henry Howarth, their associates and successors, be and are hereby created a body corporate and politic to be known by the name of the Haskall University." Other sections of the law fixed the value of each share at $25; gave the owners one vote for each share; authorized the election of not less than six nor more than twenty-four trustees, and gave such trustees full power to manage the affairs of the University and employ teachers. Two years later the law was amended limiting the number of trustees to six. It was designed to have the University in numerous and spacious buildings on the hill northeast of the village, and the stone foundation of one building was laid there. The corner-stone, containing coins and various articles, was laid, and there was singing and an address by Moses Rowley. A temporary building two stories in height was erected at the corner of Third and State streets in the early months of 1857. The upper part was used as the school-room and the lower part as a dwelling. The school opened in 1857 with an attendance of about fifty the first day. Prof. S. S. Benedict, a graduate of the State University at Madison, was the principal, and Miss Caroline Prescott, a graduate of Mt. Holyoke Seminary, was the assistant. They taught Latin, French, geometry, algebra, astronomy, music, drawing, and some of the common branches. Tuition was charged. Some of the pupils came from a distance, but most of them were from the village. The second principal was Luther Humphrey, who staid only six months, at the end of which time he and Miss Prescott were succeeded by Dr. Hooker and his wife. The attendance decreased until the early part of 1859, when the school was abandoned. Mrs. Frederick Stickney, Mrs. Blanchard, Mrs. Gleason, James Greening, James High, Mrs. Charles Kerr and Mrs. Alvord attended this school. About 1859 Jonathan Jones taught school in the same building. The failure of the school in the Haskall building was due in part to the rise of the public schools. The district school building opposite the present residence of George Ellis was a one-story frame building about 20 by 40 feet in size and erected in 1857. Miss Ayres, Miss Carrie Freeman, Mr. Hutchinson and Miss Park, now Mrs. Blanchard, taught there. For a short time the Haskall building was used by the district until the south half of the present high school building was erected. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF THE TOWNSHIP AND VILLAGE MAZOMANIE BY WILLIAM KITTLE MADISON, WIS.: STATE JOURNAL PRINTING CO. 1900 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wi/dane/history/1900/mazomani/railroad225gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wifiles/ File size: 20.0 Kb