Outagamie County, WI - "Readfield Grew From a Melting Pot" ************************************************************* USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net ************************************************************* Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives Subject: newspaper article "Readfield Grew From a Melting Pot" Submitted by: county coordinator EMAIL: jmmarasch@aol.com Date Submitted: 15 March 2000 Source: New London Press newspaper article from Bicentennial issue, undated. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - New London 1872 In the early years beginning around 1849 or 1850 some Scotchmen, Irishmen, Englishmen and Germans settled in this area. The McHughs were the very first family to settle in what is now the township of Caledonia. The Huebners arrived at around 1851 and lived in a dugout along the ledge about a mile north of Readfield for 1-1/2 years. They then erected a log cabin with one room on the homestead. Some families settled north of the ledge including the Trambauers, Fergots, and Gorgeses. The stagecoach route and mail route passed through this community south of the ledge between Menasha and Stevens Point. A hotel was built by Theodore Spengler to house the traverlers overnight. The Jungs built a shop where they sold boots and shoes across the street. The hotel was known as the Waupaca House. The stagecoaches passed this way to Gill's Landing until a bridge was built at Fremont. Many years later the Jungs purchased this building and moved their store into the building. Erwin R. Jung took over the business in 1913 and also operated a barber shop along with the store until his death in 1965. Some years later it was turned into an antique shop. Readfield got its name from Charles Readfield who was the register of deeds of Waupaca County. A post office was established with John Littlefield being appointed as postmaster. His daughter was the first teacher to teach in the first schoolhouse which was on the site of what was later Jacob's Park. Caledonia was formed out of the southern half of the town of Mukwa and held its first formal town meeting in 1853. RELIGION Missionary work was done in this area by Lutherans during the early years. The first three pastors to preach in this area were Gottlieb, Fachtmann, Carl Waldt, and Carl Wagner. St. John's Ev. Lutheran Congregation was organized in 1863 under the direction of Pastor Wagner who was called away from this area the following year. This congregation was accepted as member of the Wisconsin Synod the same year. Zion Ev. Lutheran Congregation was organized in 1866 under Pastor Theodore Jaekel. Their first church building was dedicated on Palm Sunday in 1867. The congregation was accepted as member of the Wisconsin Synod that same year. St. John's built their first church in 1868. Pastor Jaekel was replaced by Pastor August Wiese that same year. Two years later, Pastor Wiese died of smallpox. Many people died in this smallpox epidemic in 1870 and this region was placed under quarantine. The pastors that served both congrega- tions in the following years till 1882. were John Meyer, Christian Reichenbeeker and Carl Althof. The election controversy caused both Zion's of Readfield and St. John's of Caledonia to reject Pastor Althof's teaching concerning this doctrine. Zion's then called August Kleinhans to be their pastor and St. John's called Albert Kluge to serve them as their pastor. They remained separate until 1893 when they decided to jointly call a pastor to serve them both. In 1902 Zion's built a new church at a cost of $6,000 because their first church was too small. The foundation was laid by Paul Neumann and the building was erected by R. Fluor & Brothers. It was painted a combination of reddish brown and terra cotta tint. Some years later it was repainted white with green trimming with a green roof. The first church was then used as a parochial school-house until the Sunday School addition was built in 1966. St. John's of Caledonia built a new brick church in 1913 across the road from their present cemetery. It was built at a cost of $9,000. In 1946 Zion's Church in Readfield was remodeled. During this period members of this congregation attended services at St. John's of Caledonia until the Readfield church was rededicated on March 23, 1947. In 1953 St. John's remodeled their church. Members of this congregation attended services at Zion's of Readfield until the Caledonia church was rededicated on August 2, 1953. In 1960 after Pastor Engle was called away, St. John's of Caledonia voted to discontinue their congregation and merge with Zion's of Readfield. The church was torn down in 1964. The pastors that served both congregations from 1833 on were Herman Gerhard till 1896, Oswald Theobald till 1904, John Dowidat till 1921, Ferdinand C. Weyland till 1944, and Armin Engel till 1960. In 1960 it was voted that the pastor reside at Readfield. Prior to this year the pastors that served both congregation had resided at the parsonage at St. Peters in the Town of Winchester, Winnebago County. The Sunday School addition was built in 1966 and dedicated the following year as part of the centennial observance by Zion's congregation of Readfield. The parsonage had been built in the winter of 1962-1963 and dedicated on Feb. 17, 1963. The pastors that have served Zion's congregation since 1960 were Edward Stelter 1960- 1968, and John P. Brandt since 1969. READFIELD MILL The first feed mill was built by Goltzes in 1872 just south of Readfield. It was moved to North Readfield in 1908 and traded to Charles Schneider and Company in 1909 for a threshing machine. In 1950 the name was changed to Schneider Feed & Farm Service which went out of business in 1958. Larsen Co-operative Company bought the mill that year and did extensive remodeling. In 1966 the feed mill burned down so they had to purchase land just east of the site from Squire Dingee Company which had a pickle station there until it discontinued in 1959. The new mill was rebuilt on that site in 1967 and opened for operations the following year. The fertilizer plant began operations this past April. EDUCATION The first schoolhouse was built on the site of what was later Jacob's Park in 1854. Miss Phoebe Littlefield was the first teacher to teach in that school. All the country schools in the town of Caledonia integrated in the New London School District during the 1950's and early 1960's: Crystal Fountain and Yellowstone Trail (Readfield) in 1954, Cut-off in 1958 as well as the Caledonia side of Fountain Valley district, Sandy Knoll in 1960 and Elm (joint district with Mukwa) in 1962. Cleveland school in the southern part of Caledonia township had discontinued operations years before because most of the children were attending parochial school at Zion's of South Caledonia (Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod). The New London School District built a new school at Readfield after purchasing land, from Henry Strelow in 1961. It now serves the kindergarten and the first four grades for some parts of the New London District. TRANSPORTATION The Wisconsin Central Railroad was built through North Readfield in 1878. The railroad was purchased by the Soo Line in 1908. During the heyday of railroad passenger service 12 trains ran on the tracks--six each way. But passenger service started to dwindle during the 1920's until only four trains were left two going each way. On Jan. 6, 1959 Trains 1 and 2 made their last runs. Six years later the last two passenger trains were taken off leaving the railroad entirely to freight service. Yellowstone Trail was made into U.S. Highway 10 when it was concreted in 1927. Readfield had its first bus service when Fox River Bus Lines served this area from 1920 until it discontinued operations because of the depression in the 1930's Greyhound started operating buses through Readfield in 1939 and Seymour Transfer Lines got into competition in this community in 1967. UTILITIES The Readfield Telephone Co. was organized in 1912 by Julius Guenther, Frank Kiesow, and Charles Schneider. There were 60 shares to be sold at $50 a share but only 54 were sold and the company was started on $2,700. By 1963 it had grown to $14,000. Reinhold Westphal was hired as telephone lineman and worked all 51 years until the company was sold to Larsen Telephone Company in 1963. The Washington's Birthday ice storm of 1922 knocked down most of the line between Readfield and Dale and left ice an inch thick on the wires. Westphal had to string wires on fenceposts until spring when new poles could be installed. He retired in The company had its office on the second floor of what is now Howie's Bar until 1957 when they moved into a new building north of what is now Pollo's Bar. The company went dial in 1965 and the new office building was built on the south side of County Trunk H just west of Bigalke's Paint Store. Subscribers can now call Larsen, Fremont, and New London without charge. The Wisconsin-Michigan Power Company brought electricity to Readfield sometime during World War 1. However most of the farmers did not get electricity until the 1930's and early 1940's. The new substation was built south of Happy Kalbus's residence in 1951 and the problem of blackouts which had plagued the Readfield area during the winter months was minimized considerably. SPORTS Readfield had a baseball team in the Outagamie County League in 1950 and 1951. Readfield also has had some softball teams. From 1954 until 1956 two teams playing from this area in the New London Softball league were Neumann's Bar and Schneider Mill. Howie's Bar has been playing in the Dale Softball League since 1969 and has won championships in 1973 and 1975. Pollo's Bar and Bean City have completed in the Women's Softball League since 1973. Bean City has won all three championships beginning that year.