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Spencer
History
The History of Northern Wisconsin
(1881) - Spencer
The Spencer Fire of 1886
The History of Marathon County, Spencer Village &
Town (1913)
(Transcribed by Marla
Zwakman)
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1881 History of Northern Wisconsin (Marathon County,
Wisconsin
SPENCER
----Source: "The History of Northern
Wisconsin," (1881) page 572
The settlement of this village dates from soon
after the completion of the railroad to this point. In May, 1874,
the erection of the Pioneer House was begun, and other buildings
soon followed.
Up to 1874, the town was a part of Hull. It was
then set off as a part of Brighton, and in 1877, it became Spencer.
April 2, of that year, the first town meeting was held at the house
of M. Waters. It was voted to raise $600 for general town expenses,
and a special sum of $1,000 as a road tax.
The following officers were elected; the
Inspectors being J. W. Lowe, H. M. Bennett, with C. K. Richardson,
Clerk; J. K. Hayward, Chairman; Ch. McMiller, J. H. Mann,
Supervisors; Frank Whipple, Town Clerk; John Dimond, Treasurer; H.
M. Bennett, W. S. Benedict, R. H. Wright, Justices of the Peace; G.
H. Reas, P. Crammer, Constables; Ed. Heath, Assessor.
Whole number of voters registered, 157.
Town officers for 1878:
H. H. Chandler, Chairman; John Gardiner, W. O.
Wade, Supervisors; Frank Mann, C. K. Richardson, W. S. Benedict,
Justices; J. W. Lowe, J. S. Sidmore, Constables; James Wright,
Assessor.
Registered voters, 193.
Officers in 1879:
A. J. Brock, Chairman; F. M. Thompson, D. W.
Bodle, Supervisors; Frank Whipple, Clerk; John Dimond,
Treasurer; A. J. Wood, F. H. Johnson, Justices; George Houer, P.
Crammer, Constables; James Vought, Assessor.
Number of voters, 202.
Officers, 1880: P. A. Thayer, Chairman; J. S.
Damon and W. S. Benedict, Supervisors; C. K. Richardson, Clerk; J.
Hanneywell, Treasurer; P. H. Coonon, W. S. Benedict, H. W. Raymond
and C. H. Richardson, Justices; George Hauer, P. Crammer and J. J.
Campbell, Constables; F. F. Damon, Assessor. Number of votes, 228.
Present officers, 1881: M. C. Clark, Chairman;
John Dimond and John Whiting, Supervisors; T. S. Norton, Clerk;
Frank Whipple, Treasurer; B. J. Dent, C. F. Pierce and T. S. Norton,
Justices; George Hauer and Patsey Brusnihan, Constables; P. P.
Ferguson, Assessor. Number of votes, 352.
Among the earliest comers were Oscar Lattin, T.
S. Norton and J. K. Hayward, who lived down the road a short
distance.
In June 1874, J. L. Robinson bought the
eighty-acre tract where the village now is; A. J. Brock started a
hotel; W. S. Meach, a butcher shop. Mr. Robinson began the mill in
June, 1874. About the 4th of July four blocks were laid
out of the village site, and called Irene, but this name has gone
into desuetude.
Patridge, Truman & Co. came the same Fall,
built a mill, ran it about one year, when it was burned. Blake, Wood
& Co. soon rebuilt the mill, but it soon burned again. It was
rebuilt by W. J. Clifford. This mill was again consumed by fire on
the 5th of July, 1880, and reconstructed in about sixty
days.
Frank Whipple came in the Fall of 1874. Soon
after, John Gardiner, who went into general merchandising.
In 1875, Kerr, Kelter & Co. built a shingle
mill, which afterward went into the hands of L. Richardson. W. J.
Clifford now has the machinery.
Hall & Co. have a hard wood saw-mill.
P. A. Thayer has a lumber and shingle mill,
built in the Spring of 1881.
Joseph Mayer, saw-mill east of the village, on
the Little Eau Pleine, run by water-power.
Blacksmith and Wagon Shops – G. W. Wendall and
Nelson Ziegebour.
Shoe Shops – Anton Schafer and William
Hasfelbring.
Jewelry, etc. – M. H. Du Cate.
Meat Market – Miller, Kissinger & Co. and John
Eichert.
Barber – M. Langdon.
Brewery – Knethe & Walter.
Hardware and Tin – Neils Bros.
General Merchandise – J. Dimond, John Gardiner,
A. Prentice & Co., D. M. Hanson & Co., W. J.Clifford, W. J. Hallock
& Co.
Millenery – Mrs. O. K. Richardson.
Drugs and Medicines – Frank Whipple and E.
Heath.
Physician and Surgeon – J. M. Adams, M.D.
Lawyer – G. I. Follett.
Real Estate and Collection Agency – Th. S.
Norton.
Hotels – Blackstone House. G. I. Follett.
Pioneer House – Mrs. H. Pool; P. J. Brusnehan,
clerk.
Railroad House - Anton Schafer.
Spencer House – James Barber.
Newspaper – The Spencer Tribune, A. B. Barney,
proprietor. Started in the Fall of 1881.
Churches – There are three churches.
This church was built in 1879, and has
worshiping in the same temple the Free Will Baptist, with Rev. E. W.
Stevens as pastor.
The First Baptist Church was built in 1878.
Rev. Mr. Sweet is the pastor.
Spencer has good schools. In the Winter of
1881, the school-house was consumed by fire, but was at once
rebuilt, improved and enlarged. It has two rooms, with two
departments and three teachers.
Logging is a great business here, and among the
successful loggers may be mentioned J. J. Kennedy, Ferguson Bros.,
Damon & Son, A. J. Black, J. W. Lowe, T. H. March.
The station agent is W. E. Young, with David
Van Kecke, assistant.
Spencer is on the Wisconsin Central Railroad,
in the southwest corner town of Marathon County. It is a level spot,
surrounded by heavy pine and hardwood timber, and must have, at this
time, at least 1,000 inhabitants, and is growing rapidly.
Mannville is in the town of Spencer.
C. J. Kershaw & Co.
have a saw and shingle mill.
Buckstaff Bros. own a shingle mill.
Tyson & Pierce have a planing
mill.
B. F. McMillan & Bro. have a mill on the
Little Eau Pleine, and ship from Mannville.
The Spencer Fire (1886)
----Source: Spencer Record (Spencer, Marathon County,
Wis.) Monday, 99 Aug. 1886
Scorched Again! The Most Destructive Fire That Has Ever Visited
the Town, Sixty Buildings Burned
Sunday, the eighth day of August, will long be remembered as the
darkest day in the history of the village, and all owing to the
foolish act of a dashed fool man. For several days previous to
Sunday, fire which originated on the D. F. Cressy place, worked
its way eastward threatening the town at different times with
destruction which was averted for the time being by the wind
being in a favorable direction. Saturday, however, the wind
changed, and it was only by a strong effort that the fire was
kept out of Cliffords mill yard. Sunday morning the wind changed
and blew almost a gale from the southwest bringing the fire
directly toward the village. The alarm was given and soon the
citizens were busily engaged trying to keep the fire out of
Thayer’s mill yard and men worked lying flat on the ground to
keep from being suffocated.
The battle was about won when the wind capriciously shifted and
blew in an easterly direction carrying the fire into Clifford’s
mill yard. The mills, barns, boarding house, store building,
dwelling houses, and lumber were soon a mass of flames. The
aspect of the fire at this time was terrible. The wind blew the
flames across the railroad track setting fire to the depot and
water tank of the W.C.C.R. Company, and lumber of the Hartman
Bros. & Oettel, and from there springing to the warehouses of
the Necedah Lumber Company and John Graves & Co. The whole east
side of the village was soon a mass of flames, the fire
destroying the Catholic and Methodist churches, the dwelling
house and blacksmith shop of I. N. Welch, the dwelling house of
D. F. Creassy, the saloon of Rudolph Oettel, Louis House and
barn, John Gardiner’s store, dwelling house and barns. The post
office was in this building but the fire came so suddenly as to
preclude the possibility of saving the mail matter.
The fire swept on taking the school building, the dwelling house
belonging to Luke Leatherdale, occupied by D. W. Seybert, the
dwelling house belonging to D. W. Bodle and occupied by Mrs.
Haner, the building belonging to J. W. Lowe occupied by M. P.
Hartford, the house owned by A. J. Wood and occupied by C.
Williams, the residence of T. Box, the Thomas Welch house
occupied by M. Winters and the house and barn of W. F. Blaisdell.
About the time that the fire crossed the railroad track, the
residences of S. C. Hall, and the planing mill of S. C. and C.
H. Hall took fire as well as the lumber belonging to Neils Bros.
and P. A. Thayer.
The fires swept up through the piles of lumber and the dwelling
houses of S. E. Brooks, A. Jenecke, H. Ehnert, A. Wichtman,
August Neils, Geo. Dill, and the sawmill of P. A. Thayer,
sweeping all clean in its path.
The large hardware store of Neils Bros. was the next building
sacrificed, the fire from there jumping across the street to C.
Stoltenow’s building, and from there to the saloon building of
P. J. Bresnahan, and store building owned by M. H. DuCate, and
occupied by F. Burnside & Co. Here the wind suddenly lulled and
the Blackstone house by dint of hard work was saved, thus
checking the course of the flames. Had this building burned, the
others to the northeast must certainly have gone.
The Stevens Point fire engine was telegraphed for but did not
reach Spencer until all communication was shut off by fire.
The fire came so sudden that many families were unable to save
anything in the way of household goods and were left destitute
as well as homeless. Everything that could possibly be done to
stay the progress of the fire, was done, and many men were
fighting fire on the west side of town when their homes were
burning on the east side.
The scene during the progress of the fire is beyond description.
All was confusion and people were in doubt as in which direction
to go, the fire seemingly being on all sides. Women carried
their little all and followed by crying children hurried through
the streets looking for a place of safety. Loaded teams were
driven at full speed to the west side of town, the goods
unloaded and in this way nearly every house in town was emptied
of its contents and the loss by breakage will be considerable.
To mention all the names of all who assisted with the teams in
moving goods after it was thought impossible to save them from
the fire would require too much space here. Suffice it to say
that their kind efforts were appreciated.
Mayor W. H. Upham and a large number of the whole-souled
citizens of Marshfield came up as soon as the fire would admit
of it and brought with them two wagon loads of provisions which
were divided among the needy who had been left without food or
shelter. Mayor Upham, in behalf of the citizens, invited all who
were unprovided with shelter to accompany them to Marshfield.
Nearly all were provided, however, having found a place with
friends. Nevertheless, the kindly aid given and the hospitable
invitation extended will not soon be forgotten by the people of
Spencer.
The trains were somewhat delayed as the rails were badly warped
where the fire passed. The telegraph wires were also down, but
were soon repaired and an instrument placed in the Blackstone
house.
We have interviewed some of our citizens who were burned out and
in answer to the question, are you going to rebuild? The reply
has been yes, in most instances. Many will not rebuild so long
as the weather keeps as dry as it has been during the past
season, but as soon as all is favorable we will expect to see
buildings going up on the sites of those that are now
smouldering in ruins.
The records of the town were saved.
The railroad company will rebuild the depot 250 feet north of
where it formerly stood. For the time being a freight car will
be employed as a freight room. The post office is located in the
Hagen building.
----Source: History of Marathon County Wisconsin and
Representative Citizens
(1913) written by Louis Marchetti, pages 523-526
THE VILLAGE OF SPENCER
was incorporated in 1904 from part of the town of Spencer, and
George Farrington was elected its first representative in the
county board. It became a village almost simultaneously with the
building of the Wisconsin Central Railroad, and for some time
had a very fast growth. The territory was thickly studded with
big, heavy pine timber, and as early as 1877 there were four
large saw mills situated in the site of the present village. In
the congressional election of 1878 the town of Spencer, which
then included the present town and village (but there was hardly
any settlement in the territory outside the village), cast over
two hundred votes, the largest that was cast in any town or
village in Marathon county outside of the city of Wausau. From
that time on the vote decreased continually. The saw mills
pulled out one after another as the timber vanished, until all
had disappeared. But in nearly the same degree as the mills and
the mill population decreased, the farming settlement increased,
and while the village lost, the town gained year after year, and
Spencer village became a good country village.
There is now one saw mill situated in the village, the mill of
Herman Martin, which does custom sawing for the farmers and
lumber dealers. There are nine stores in the village, most of
them with a large assortment of goods to supply all demands
without resorting to mail order houses.
The Graves Mercantile Company has a department store. It is
incorporated with a capital of $15,000, with J. D. Graves as
president, and S. E. Graves as segretary and treasurer. George
Farington has a general store, and there are besides the
following others: Fair Store, owned by A. Moselneck, and A.
Harschmann, manager; Max Stoltenow and Otto Plathner; Farmers'
Cooperative Store, with Fred Rienow as manager; Cool & Luepke
have a hardware store; F. A. Allar deals in general produce and
as commission merchant; G. H. Heath keeps the drug store, and
Mrs. C. K. Richardson a millinery; Charles Haslow does a large
business as stock buyer.
Herman Schwantes keeps the National Hotel, and Phil. Bonville
the Johnstone Hotel. There is also a restaurant kept by Roy
Crawshaw. Martin & Wellnitz have a livery stable. There is a
cheese factory in charge of John Holzchuh; a blacksmith shop
kept by Herman Facklam, and a garage by E. G. Ingham. Herman
Siemers is a tonsorial artist; Frank W. Heath is postmaster.
There are two duly licensed physicians and surgeons, Dr. F. A.
Soles and Dr. Don. Miller.
THE BANK OF SPENCER
was established in the year 1908, and to its existence and
careful management is due much of the growth of the village and
the surrounding farming community. Its condition is reported
officially at the close of business on February 4, 1913, as
follows:
Resources.
Liabilities.
Loans and discounts............................. $ 94,508.73
Capital stock paid in .......... $ 10,000.00
Overdrafts ........................................... 11.03
Surplus fund ....................... 2,300.00
Bonds ................................................. 9,500.00
Undivided profits ................. 2,534.99
Banking house ..................................... 2,375.00
Individual deposits
Furniture and fixtures............................. 1,479.86
subject to check .................. 38,602.93
Due from approved reserve banks ........ 17,623.35
Time certificates of deposit .. 43,901.28
Checks on other banks & cash items .... 1,021.31
Saving deposits ................... 29,525.15
Cash on hand ....................................... 5,309.12
Cashier's checks outstanding 4,764.05
Total ,,...................................................
$131,828.40
The officers of the bank are: John D. Graves, president; George
Farrington, vice president; A. L. Boock, cashier. Board of
directors: J. D. Graves, George Farrington, Frank Neumann,
Wesley Vanderhoof, William Reinheimer, Herman Manthe and A. L.
Boock.
SCHOOLS.
The village school is a brick building with ample room space. It
is a state graded school, the course of instruction including
the ninth and tenth grades, equal to the first and second year
in a high school.
The principal in 1912-1913 is Henry Schellhause, with Mrs. Agnes
Pickett as assistant. Clara Oberlatz is in charge of the
intermediary and Miss Ines Fulton is teacher of the primary
department. The school term is nine months, the average
attendance is one hundred and twenty.
CHURCHES.
There is a German Evangelical Lutheran church and one Methodist
church. The St. Trinity Evangelical Lutheran congregation was
organized in September, 1882, with about twenty charter members,
of which the following are still members: Karl Craemer, Gottlieb
Voelker, Otto Plathner, Karl Stoltenow, Franz Korth, Franz
Luebke, John Mueller and August Griepentrog. The first resident
minister was John Schuette; he was succeeded in 1884 by Rev. F.
H. Siebrandt, who remained with the congregation until 1893,
when he was in turn succeeded by Rev. John Toat, who remained
until the year 1899, and was followed by Rev. August Imm, who
remained in charge of the congregation until he was succeded in
1901 by the present pastor, Rev. Karl E. J. Schmidt. The present
church edifice was built in 1896 and dedicated the same year;
the congregation number seventy four families. The parochial
school has an average attendance of twenty-five pupils, under
the instruction of the pastor. The following are the officers:
Rev. Karl E. J. Schmidt, pastor; Wilhelm Foht, Herman Plathner
and August Griepentrog, deacons; Karl Craemer, Franz Luebke and
Franz Korth, trustees; Herman Schwantes, chairman; Gottfried
Rindfleisch, treasurer; Karl Dittmann, secretary.
The Methodist church congregation is organized, but has no
resident minister. Rev. D. S. Householder is the visiting
minister. Both congregations have a Ladies' Aid Society.
The First Baptist church was organized June 19, 1878, with eight
members, by Rev. A. B. Green and Rev. H. W. Steams general state
Baptist missionaries. The church building was dedicated June 24,
1879. The following are the eight original members: J. W. Lowe,
Susannah Ring, Eliza Saunders, Martha Lowe, Frank Cressy, Isaac
Ring, Reuben Ring, S. E. Brooks.
TOWN OF SPENCER
----Source: History of Marathon County Wisconsin and
Representative Citizens (1913) written by Louis Marchetti, page 557
The town of Spencer was organized in 1877, to consist of
township. 26, range 2 east. Its first chairman was John K.
Hayward. The Wisconsin Central Railroad enters the township on
the southeast corner and runs practically exactly diagonally
through the township. It seems that the first homestead entered
in all the territory along the Wisconsin Central line was made
in this town. The earliest settlers in this as in other towns
along the line of the Wisconsin Central were native Americans,
many of them veterans of the Civil war. The German emigration
set in afterwards, and a great majority of the town of Spencer
belongs to that nationality. Some of the earliest farm settlers
in that town who made fine profitable farms were: Charles Rienow
who died about six years ago (but his family occupies the farm)
and Gottfried Riendfleisch. Aug. Griepentrog, and Charles
Cramer, who have excellent farms, although the clearing and
getting out the stumps was unusually hard in that town because
of the very large pine stumps which were on the land. There is a
little saw mill in that town owned by the Consolidated Farm
Company, which is doing some custom sawing for farmers. There
are two cheese factories located in this town. The town is
divided into three school districts, each having a good modern
schoolhouse. The largest part of the settlement is on the east
and north side of the town.
