Rietbrock, Fred (1839 - 1906), Clark County, Wisconsin History

Surnames: Rietbrock, Whitcomb, Erbach, Kaufmann, Peter, Johnson, Schlaegel, Degner, Kreutzer, Rietz, Klein, Halsey, Hanke, Teusz, Heise, Myszka, Jozwiak, Findorf, Schwager, Bradfish, Berre, Berg, Braun, Krell, Henrick, Meyer, Schaetzl, Wisnewski, Klawinski, Ziegel, Bockhop, Augustine, Matysik, Platta, Reuter, Omelian, Bronowicz, Meier, Nowicki, Soczka, Gauerke, Neuendorf, Kroening, Lipinski, Murkowski, Bergs, Hanke, Heise, Harder, Poniatowski, Plisch, Muehlenkamp

Our Town's Namesake--Frederick Rietbrock (1839 - 1906) Fred Rietbrock was born in Milwaukee, April 6, 1838. Through his efforts many of the original pioneers of Poniatowski came from Milwaukee to settle in Marathon County. He died July 23, 1906 in Athens, WI.

Frederick Rietbrock was born in Kenosha County in April 6, 1839. He was a lumberman, a colonizer, and a lawyer who spent years on the family farm. In his young days he chose to study law. He received his law degree from University of Michigan in 1865; then he decided to return to Wisconsin. Settling in Milwaukee, he opened his own office and later formed a partnership with D. H. Johnson and with a fellow Ann Arbor classmate named Pierson L. Halsey. In a short time Rietbrock became prominent in legal and political circles of the city. His immigrant father had been one of the pioneer settlers of Kenosha County in late 1830. The settlement of Rietbrock & Halsey began in 1878. Rietbrock interested his law partners in his lumbering and colonization plans; eventually their enterprise came to encompass the major part of the three county townships and con- trolled nearly 50,000 acres of heavily timbered land. The partners aim was to sell this land to people interested in settling and clearing the land for the purpose of developing farms where they could raise their families. Most of the land was sold to Polish and German immigrants who were having difficulty finding employment or land in southern Wisconsin. These people, who had left their homeland for various reasons, came because the land was plentiful and cheap. Some came to avoid military service, which was compulsory in Germany for young men over eighteen. Others came to escape crowded conditions. Rietbrock had heard of the closing of the mines in Pennsylvania, throwing coalminers out of work; so he went there and sold tracts of land to quite a number of miners. This venture did not prove successful, however, as the cold climate plus the hard job of clearing land was more than they had bargained for; and most of them returned to the mines. When a group of Polish settlers wanted to name their village after him, he made them a speech about their great patriot, PONIATOWSKI, and suggested they name it after him; which they did.

The lumbering operation had been chosen and pur- chased in 1879. By the early 1880's, a railroad had been built as far as Wausau, but Rietbrock wanted a shorter route to his land. He applied to the railroad company for a spur to Black Creek Falls (now Athens) but was turned down. So in 1890-1891, he built his own railroad from Abbotsford to Black Creek Falls. This enabled him to get his lumber to markets. After he built a saw mill he erected three dams on the Black Creek-which was a respectable stream in those days. This provided a means which enabled them to float logs down to the mill with the spring freshets and raft their lumber down from the mill to the Rib River. From there lumber went on down the Mississippi River enroute to the market at St. Louis. From standing timber to market the cash return was often a matter of two or three years. The average wage in the early 1880's amounted to one dollar a day plus board, with the Rietbrock Company assuming .50 a day per capita for the latter. When the operation of the sawmill needed a good manager, it was turned over to his son-in-law William Erbach who was a very conscientious and a hard- working manager. He was married to Marianna Rietbrock having three children; William A., Frederick R., and Christine (Mrs. Franklin Plisch) who resides in Athens, presently.

As he himself admitted Rietbrock was instrumental in bringing over 7000 people into Western Marathon County, not seeking competition but to hurry the clearing of land for agricultural purposes. He invited and encouraged the building of two more sawmills - Braun's and Chesak's. The Ceres Roller Mill was built to grind meal for the farmers. A Hub and Plug Mill was started; a Heading Mill manufactured barrel staves and heads; two Brick Kilns were opened, all of which provided jobs for the new settlers. The Mills are gone; the timber is gone; but the dear land has become productive resulting in a rich dairying com- munity. Dairying became the farmers gold mine. A creamery or a cheese factory marked a cross-road section every few miles. Rietbrock moved to Athens and soon became involved in the development of the agricultural community.

In 1883, he established the Helendale Farm north of the village of Athens, where he developed one of the best herds of registered Jersey cows in the state. He helped the farmers learn about up-to-date - farming practices by keeping in touch with the Agricultural College. He aided the farmers in improving their herds by loaning them his pure-bred bulls for breeding purposes. He charged them ten dollars a year for this service. He hired a dairyman from the Wisconsin College of Agriculture to come to Athens and begin regular butterfat testing of the herds in the area in 1905. "Teksa Sunbeam", - a cow in the Helendale Herd, was the first of any breed to produce over 1,000 pounds of butterfat in a year in the nation. When Frederick Rietbrock's health began to fail and he could no longer stand the cold of Wisconsin winters, he moved to California; but he continued to keep contact with the villagers. In the summer of 1906, he returned to Athens for a visit with his daughter, Marianna, and son-in-law, William Erbach. Here he took gravely ill and died on July 22, 1906, at the age of 68.

Out of love and respect for the man who had done so much for the settlers and the community, the employees at the Rietbrock Mill laid a carpet of ever- green branches all the way from the Erbach home, which stood on a hill across Black Creek, down to the siding of the railroad he had built. Rough clad loggers, lumber-mill workers, nearby farmers, as well as every businessman in the community stood bare- headed while the village priest and long-time friend of Fred Rietbrock, Father Anthony E. Muehlenkamp, delivered the funeral sermon. The coffin was then carried by his men, down the green pine scented path to an official parlor car, of the Wisconsin Railroad, that waited at the depot to carry him to Milwaukee where his body was interred.

The memory of this great man will never be lost in the community of Athens and the surrounding areas. He left beautiful footprints of generosity on the sands of time. Among his many gifts of land to the neighbor- ing communities is a 20 acre plot on which a church and cemetery at Poniatowski are now located. The Athens Village Park, part of the cemetery property and land on which St. Anthony's Church was built are also memories of his generosity.

Athens and the neighboring communities would never have come into being without him. Mankind are always happier for having been happy; so that if you make them happy now, you make them happy twenty years hence by the memory of it. Sydney Smith - "America"

Fred Rietbrock of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. W. L. Erbach, in Athens, Monday morning, July 23d. Mr. Rietbrock was the founder of Black Creek Falls, now Athens, and did more toward building up the northwest corner of Marathon county than any other one man. The remains passed through here Wednesday noon, in President Whitcomb’s private car, enroute for Milwaukee, where the funeral was held this Thursday afternoon, from his late residence on Cedar street.

Note: Mr. Rietbrock’s estimated year of birth is from the Wisconsin State Census of 1905.

William Louis Erbach
groom's birthplace: Milwaukee, Wis.
bride's name: Marianna Rietbrock
bride's birthplace: Milwaukee, Wis.
marriage date: 02 Oct 1895
marriage place: Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
groom's father's name: William Erbach
groom's mother's name: Elizabeth Kaufmann
bride's father's name: Frederick Rietbrock
bride's mother's name: Helen Margaret Peters
groom's race: White
bride's race: White

----Source: History of Marathon County, Wisconsin, By Louis Marchetti, Wausau, Wis. 1913, pgs. 508 - 512

One of the youngest, but the most populous and most active of all villages in Marathon county, is the hustling village of Athens. It is between twenty-eight and thirty miles in a northwesterly direction from Wausau, and fifteen miles northeast of Abbottsford. The Sault Ste. Marie & M. Railroad owns now the spur built into the village by Fred Rietbrock, so that it is directly connected with one of the trunk railroad lines of the state.

The large business of this thriving burg is summarized up in this short statement : It has three large saw mills, a heading and stave factory, a canthook factory and a flour mill. During the winter of 191 1 to 1912 the freight shipments averaged five hundred cars per month. The products exported by rail were dairy products, lumber, pulpwood, bark, cordwood and bolts. There is a sufficient amount of timber standing to supply the mills with logs for the next twenty-five years. To manufacture all this freight, there is need for willing hands to work, and need for import of such things as make life comfortable, which are supplied by the commercial houses of the village. The splendid farming communities furnish also a large part of the mutual commerce which goes to benefit all the people of the community.

The beginning of Athens hardly dates back to 1880, when everything was in its wild, original state, except for the pine, which was cut in early days along the shores of the streams and floated out, leaving only the stumps as witnesses of a past age. A vast change has taken place in and around the territory in this short space of time, and where there was formerly unbroken forest, with an occasional cutting of pine which would have been hardly noticeable except to the trained eye of the woodsman, there are now rising the spires of great church edifices, fine residences and well laid out streets, good hotels and stores where every comfort and even articles of luxury can be had, greet the visitors, and roomy and neat schoolhouses and the many highly cultivated fields which the travelers pass before they reach the village are proof that there is a civilization which may pass comparison with some of the oldest settlements in this wide land.

Athens is situated on the high land in the southwestern part of section 31, township 30, range 4 east, as originally laid out and platted, but includes now portions of three townships. On the north and east of the village runs Black creek, a large stream which empties in Rib river about six miles further east. The village stands on a plateau gently rising towards the west, affording an excellent drainage in two directions into Black creek, so named in distinction from Black river. The village was located in the midst of a splendid hardwood forest mixed with white pine, which extended for many miles in every direction. On the shores of Black creek the white pine predominated and logging was carried on in the vicinity for years in early days, but it was confined to the cutting of the logs in close proximity to the streams.

The founder of the village was Fred Rietbrock, of the law firm of Johnson, Rietbrock & Halsey, of Milwaukee. Fred Rietbrock came to Wausau first in the year 1876, no doubt attracted by the opening of the country by the Wisconsin Valley Railroad and the advertising given to this section of the state by that railroad and by J. M. Smith, their land agent residing at Wausau. Rietbrock became convinced of the adaptability of the forest lands of this county for agricultural purposes and bought a large tract with the intention of bringing settlers to the lands from the congested districts of the big cities. He was successful in settling first a number of people of the Polish nationality from Milwaukee in the present town of Rietbrock, although some of them returned to Milwaukee, but many stayed and became substantial farmers. He increased the land holdings of his company in this county in the northwest until they had quite a large compact tract of land, which it was Rietbrock's intention to colonize.

In 1879 he. in company with William Allen, the county surveyor, cruised over the land holdings of the company, examining it as to timber, facilities for a road and adaptability for farming. They had passed Black creek going west; after examining the surroundings, and worn and weary from the long tramp through the woods, they sat down on a big rock, which reared its head out of the ground, and Fred Rietbrock exclaimed. "This is a good place to layout a village," which was done in September, 1882, by Johnson, Rietbrock & Halsey as the village of Black Creek Falls.

In the year 1879 Rietbrock cut out a road from Dorchester to his settlement in the present town of Rietbrock, which shortened the distance to the same by more than twelve miles than on the road from Wausau, besides giving prospective settlers from Milwaukee and the lower part of the state a direct railroad communication to Dorchester, and from there to his lands, instead of going the roundabout way from the south to Tomah and up to Wausau. In the same year he brought some settlers in from Dorchester and built a log house, named the Company's House, as a sort of station, and called the place Black Creek Falls. He saw the necessity of providing some employment for newcomers to enable them to earn some means in the first years of their settlement until their farms could support them, and also the need to supply lumber for buildings without going too far a distance, and in 1880 he built a saw and planing mill at Black Creek, which burned down the following year, but was promptly rebuilt and has been in operation ever since, only greatly improved and en

Meanwhile the settlement grew, and in order to give encouragement, Rietbrock, in company with Charles Schlaegel. of West Bend, erected a flour mill. This flour mill, like the saw mill, still exists, being incorporated in 1892 as the "Ceres Roller Mill." with George Schlaegel, a grandson of Charles Schlaegel, as general manager.

Communications with the outside world were still very deficient, as new roads in a new country running through the forest always are, and in order to improve the condition in that respect he set himself to work to induce the Wisconsin Central Railroad to build a line to Black Creek Falls, and failing, tmdertook and succeeded in building himself a railroad from Abbottsford to the village, completing the line in the year 1889. It was named Abbottsford- North Eastern Railroad. By this road there was an outlet for logs and lumber, which was of much benefit to farmers, who were obliged to cut down the timber to make room for fields. After the completion of this road the settlement increased quicker and the country developed rapidly. To encourage farming, he had a farm cleared himself, called the "Helendale Farm," which will be noticed later.

The first settlers in what is now Athens, were Henn. Degner, Andrew Kreutzer and William Rietz, who came November ;. 1880: but Henry Degner had been there in 1879. When Rietbrock built the Company House, and returned to his home in Grafton, Wisconsin, getting ready for his change ofresidence. When they arrived at Black Creek they found fifteen persons, mostly employees of Rietbrock, in the Company House, one of them being Mrs. Franz Albrecht, the housekeeper, and all living in the same house. Early in 1 88 1 came Louis Klein, who built the first private house in Black Creek Falls and opened a store and saloon, but a farm settlement had sprung up in every direction from Athens.

History of Athens, Wisconsin

The Village of Athens is located in an agricultural area of North Central Wisconsin approximately 25 miles northwest of the City of Wausau.

Athens, originally Black Creek Falls, was founded by Fred Rietbrock in 1879, who operated a sawmill and provided the economic base throughout the early years. The village was surveyed and plotted in 1882, with a village square being laid out in the center of the village. This village square, with a bandstand which provided concerts for the early settlers and mill workers, is still the main focus of the village today. The village was named Athens in 1890 by Mr. Strupp, based on his love of classic Greek and similar topography of Athens, Greece. The Village of Athens was incorporated in 1901, from parts of the townships of Bern, Halsey, Rietbrock, and Johnson.

During the early years, the Village of Athens thrived on the timber industry. Besides the timber industry, Mr. Rietbrock was instrumental in encouraging strong and hardy Germans and Poles from foreign lands to come to America and settle in Athens, clean the land, develop it into good farm land, and own it.

By the early 1900’s, Athens had three sawmills operating, a Central Hotel, three blacksmith shops, general merchandise store, hardware store, two planning mills, stave and heading mill, Flour Mill, paint and decorating shop, men’s clothing and tailor shop, livery stables, harness shop, cheese factory, cigar store, electric plant, bowling alley, three grocery stores, a bakery and confectionary store, doctor office, dentist and veterinary offices, three other hotels with taverns, a Catholic, Lutheran and Christ United Church along with Catholic and Lutheran schools, public grade school and a high school started, along with construction of a railroad built by Rietbrock from Abbotsford to Athens, named the Abbotsford North-Eastern Railroad. The railroad was dismantled in 1971. The Athens Central Park Association was started in 1907. The first park named “Schuetzen” was developed for picnicking, target practice, and general park purposes in a grove two miles north of Athens.

As the lumber industry declined, agriculture gained importance. Production and distributing these farm products now play an important role in Athens’ economy. Additionally, a local industrial park was developed in the 1990’s to diversify the employment opportunities for village residents and expand the tax base.

The Village is comprised of approximately 2 square miles of land which is currently being used for residential, agricultural, commercial, governmental, industrial, transportation and recreation purposes.

The Village’s residential development is concentrated in the central area along and close to the major roadway, State Highway “97”. It is bounded by two creeks on the north and south sides which meet along the east side, and provide the village with special physical features.

The town of Rietbrock is situated in the northwestern part of Marathon County. Highway 29 borders it to the south, County Trunk H. to the east, Highway 97 on the west, and east Townline Road separates it from the town of Halsey to the north. According to the soil conservation department of the county. Rietbrock contains a variety of soils but most of the land is well suited for agriculture. The terrain of the land is hilly and its chief body of water is Black Creek, which empties into Rib River. In seeking in- formation, it was noted that the granite beds in the Mosinee area lay at one time in the region, but the glaciers swept the huge deposits of granite southward. The glaciers are also responsible for leaving an un- believable amount of soil, including white quartz, on top of a mountain range in this area and, besides this, tests showed a gravel pit in the area to be a mile deep, all evidence of the glacier period.

In the 1870's, the country was undergoing serious problems so a law firm in Milwaukee, including Fred Rietbrock, Pierson L. Halsey and Judge Johnson decided to buy up land owned by the Western Valley Central Railroad Company to use for possible settle- ment, to provide income for the unemployed and also to thin out the congested urban areas.

The settlement of the towns of Rietbrock and Halsey began in 1878. Founder Fred Rietbrock, of the Milwaukee law firm of Johnson, Rietbrock and Halsey, colonized these towns and named a town after each of them. Up until 1879, this area was a part of Stettin. The Town of Stettin consisted of Township 29, Range 2 (Holton), 3 (Johnson), 4 (Rietbrock), 5 (Rib Falls), and 6 (Stettin). Holton separated itself from Stettin September 12, 1875, Rib Falls followed in 1877, Rietbrock on November 12, 1879, and Johnson on November 15, 1883. Records from the Clerk's book of 1880 show the following:

"At a meeting of the Town Boards of Rib Falls and Rietbrock concerning the settlement between said towns, it could not be exactly ascertained which have been all the assets of said town of Rib Falls and therefore it was concluded by the two said Town Boards of Rib Falls and Rietbrock that the town treasurer of the Town of Rib Falls shall pay over to the Town of Rietbrock one-third of all the property credit, effects and assets now on hand or that shall be hereafter levied and collected upon the joint territory of said towns of Rib Falls and Rietbrock, according to the following order of the County Board of the County of Marathon, to wit: The County Board of Supervisors of Marathon County do ordain as follows: That the Town of Rib Falls consisting of Township Twenty-nine (29) - Range four (4) and five (5) East - be and the same is hereby divided and all the territory embraced in Township Twenty-nine (29) North of Range four (4) East is hereby detached from the Town of Rib Falls and is hereby erected and created into a new town. Said Town shall be known under the name of RIETBROCK.

The first annual Town meeting in said new Town shall be held in the building known as the "COURT HOUSE", situated upon the North East-of the North West Quarter of the South East Quarter of Section Number fourteen (14) in Township Number Twenty- Nine (29) North of Range Number four (4) East". The existing indebtedness of the present Town of Rib Falls shall be and the same is hereby divided pro rata according to the last assessment roll of the pre- sent Town of Rib Falls and all the property, credit, effects and assets now on hand and to be hereafter levied and collected upon the joint territory of said Town are hereby and shall be divided between said old Town of Rib Falls and the new Town hereby erected, pro rata, according to said assessment roll and the ordinary expenses only for maintaining the Town Government shall be borne out of the Common Fund now on hand and hereafter collected.

On motion the meeting adjourned sine die. Dated at Rib Falls July 19th A.D. 1880. Supervisors of the Supervisors of the Town of Rib Falls Town of Rietbrock: C. Hanke, Peter Teusz, A. Heise, Jacob Myszka, Wm. Harder, Anton Jozwiak.

In search of rich farmland, the first settlers being of Polish nationality bought land from Rietbrock on favorable terms becoming lumberjacks, worked in the sawmill of Rietbrock, cleared the land of rocks and started what has become a century of family farming. With the Johnson, Rietbrock and Halsey law firm ad- vertising in Polish language newspapers other settlers from Pennsylvania and Poland soon arrived.

POLS-E KIOLONIS ROLNICZA RETl ROCK & HALSEY, W clclkk POLISH LAM COWRIES -PORIATOWS.EI. XA.ATHOX 0. WOSOONSLK L. God-- POI1.1 0h0. 1 Neighborhood -- 0000 Ro0d_ RA RNOX & HALSEY, o.. O1,.t oy .. CA. 1-. r. f he Oentennial Bok.

Among the early settlers were Peter Teusz; Ludwig Findorf; L. Schwager; M. Milkowski; Bloczynski; Lukowicz; Hart; Retka; Myszka; Schwittlick; Nowicki; Kreft; Klawinski and others. Peter Teusz was the first chairman of the new town, and Ludwig Findorf and L. Schwager, who kept tavern and was the first postmaster, the name of the post office being "Poniatowski".

About the same time came Fred Bradfish, who settled in Township 29, range 5, east of Poniatowski, followed by the families of: Berres, Bergs, Brauns, Krells, Henricks, Meyers, Schaetzls and many others. The population in the year of 1880 was 409, and at present we have a population of 1019. The first voting place was held at the "Court House" in the village of Poniatowski from 1881 until 1887. The courthouse was then destroyed by fire, and voting was then held at District No. 3 (the White School House) at Poniatowski from 1887 to about 1924, when they were held at the John Wisnewski Hall. Here, they also held their town meeting until in the years of 1932 (or 1933) when they were held at the John Gesicki Hall, until the new Municipal Building was erected in 1977.

The Town of Rietbrock had four public schools, and one Catholic School. Records taken from the Clerk's book show that registration of school officers and terms of office took place as early as 1879. Jacob Myszka was the 1 st Clerk of School Dist. No. 1 from Sept. 1878-Aug. 1881 and the first Director was Joseph Klawinski from Sept. 1878-1881. In the 1930's and 1940's the public schools closed their doors, sending the children to public schools at Athens and Edgar - with the exception of the Holy Family Parochial School which remained open until June of 1970.

The Town in the 1880's had two creameries - one operated by Mathias Braun until he moved to Athens and one that was then located behind the Chesak Store and Saloon, but later was destroyed by fire and replaced by one built facing the road south of the saloon and store. In 1912, more factories were started, the Matysik's Cheese Factory at Schnappsville, a Marathon Creamery across from Heier's Comer (now Pioneer Bar), Bergs Cheese Factory (Cherry Grove) and Clover Belt. The Town of Rietbrock has a new Municipal Building built in 1977.

One Holy Family Catholic Church and the following businesses: One General Merchandise Store, Tavern and dance hall-that of John R. Gesicki, Seven taverns, namely: Tony and Charlene Zychowicz, owners of Tony and Charlene's Frank Ziegel, owner of Detour Inn Fred Bockhop, owner of Dew Come Inn, Walter and Annette Augustine, owners of Annette & Wally's Mike and Rita Matysik, owners of Schnappsville Bar Leonard and Lena Platta, owners of Pioneer Bar Clarence and Rita Trzybiatowski, owners of Owl's Club Bonin Store & Locker- Joe Bonin Snack Shack Eat Shoppe - Leonard and Shirley Lechleitner Country Ceramics - Bev Stencil & Gayle Mauer Co-owners Excavating, Trenching & Bulldozing - Nicholas Karlen Carpenter & Contractor - Ervin Karlen Rietbrock Ready-Mix - Arlyn Stencil Bob's Welding & Repair - Robert Scheelk Ellenbecker Construction Poniatowski Service Center - Kenneth and Marvin Reuter Frank Omelian & Sons Sales & Service Tractor & Equipment Dealer - Bronowicz Bros. Inc. Ted Meier & Sons - Forest Products - Sawmill Peter Nowicki's - Sawmill & Commercial Hauling Stencil Excavating - Joseph Stencil Harvey Soczka - General Trucking Gravel - Forest Products - Lumber Les Gauerke & Sons, Inc., L.P. Gas and Neuendorf Freight and Gravel Dennis Kroening - Cattle Trucking - Dealer Sylvester Lipinski Jr.- Cattle Trucking Kenneth Reuter - Milk hauler & Gravel

April 6, 1880 - April 5, 1881 Minutes of Proceedings of the annual Town Meeting of the new organized Town of Rietbrock in the County of Marathon held on the 6th day of April A.D. 1880 for the purpose of electing the Town Officers and transacting the general Town business. At 1 o'clock Ludwig Findorff, acting as Inspector of Election called the meeting to order. He then stated in short what business is to be transacted. The question then was put up how many mills road tax shall be raised. Motion was then made and carried that Seven Mills road tax shall be raised for the ensuing year. As the roads are in a poor condition a motion was made and carried that Two Hundred ($200.00) Dollars shall be raised "Special Road Tax" for the ensuing year. Motion was next made and carried, that Two Hundred and Fifty ($250.00) Dollars shall be raised for the ensuing year as "Incidental Fund". Next motion was made and carried that One Hundred ($100.00) Dollars shall be raised for the next year for the Town School Fund, and motion made and carried that Fifty ($50.00) Dollars shall be raised to be known as "Town Poor Fund".

The meeting then proceeded to elect viva voce the Path master for the different Road Dis- tricts for the next year. Peter Teusz was elected Path Master for Road dist. No. 16 Jacob Myszka was elected Path Master for Road dist. No. 13 J. Murkowski was elected Path Master for Road dist. No. 12 Andrew Jozwiak was elected Path Master for Road dist. No. 11 Motion was then made and carried that the next annual Town Meeting shall be held in the School house in the School district No. 5 Town of Rietbrock. Next motion was made and carried that all money delinquent road money shall be worked out by con- tract, let by the Town Board and paid out by the T. Treasurer. The polls were then opened Inspectors, L. Findorff to receive the ballots. Peter Teusz, Wm. Bergs Minutes of Proceeding of a town meeting held on the 10th day of April A.D. 1880 for the purpose of having the Town Officers receive the T. Treasurer's bond and make contracts with its Assessor and Town clerk.

All members present. The chairman stated its business to be transacted. All the officers have been sworn in, except L. Findorff, J. of the Peace. Agreement was then made between the town board and Jacob Murkowski, that he shall receive for making the assessment in the Town of Rietbrock, for the ensuing year, truly and faithfully, the Sum of Forty ($40.00) Dollars, to be paid out of the Incidental Fund, not otherwise appropriated. The Town Clerk shall receive for the work belonging to the Town Clerk's office, The Sum of Seventy-five ($75.00) Dollars, and for all other extra work he shall be paid extra. The Town Treasurers bond was then examined and approved by the chairman.

The board adjourned sine die. Supervisors, Peter Teusz J. Myszka A. Jozwiak Proceedings of a town meeting held on the 23rd day of April A.D. 1880 for the purpose of dividing the Town of Rietbrock into Road districts, changing the names of the School districts and making out the Road Warrants. All members present. The board then proceeded to -sub-divide the Town of Rietbrock into Six Road districts and caused the following order to be made out to wit.

We the Supervisors of said town, do hereby order, that said town is hereby divided into Six (6) road districts as follows: I.- Road district number one (1) shall include Sec- tions 1, 2, 3, 10, 11 and 12. All the inhabitants liable to work on highways residing in said dis- trict are hereby assigned to said road district number one (1).

II. - Road district number two (2) shall include Sec- tions 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. All the inhabitants liable to work on highways residing in said district are hereby assigned to said road district number two (2).

III. - Road district number three (3) shall include Section 13, 14, N1/2 or 23 and NI/2 of 24. All the inhabitants liable to work on highways residing in said district are hereby assigned to said road district number three (3).

IV. - Road district number four (4) shall include Sections 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, W1/2 of 21 and Wi/2 of 22. All inhabitants liable to work on highways residing in said district are hereby assigned to said road district number four (4). V. - Road district number five (5) shall include Sec- tions the SI/2 of 21, the S1/2 of 22, the S1/2 of 23, S1/2 of 24, the W1/2 of 27, Sections 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32. All persons liable to work on highways residing in said district are hereby assigned to said road district number five (5). VI. - Road district number six (6) shall include Sections

25, 26, El/2 or 27, Sec. 33, 34, 35 and 36. All the inhabitants liable to work on highways re- siding in said district are hereby assigned to said road district number six (6). The names of the School District have been changed by the following order, to wit.

County of Marathon Town of Rietbrock s It is hereby ordered and determined that the W l/2 of Section 2 and Sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and the Wl/2 of Sec. 11, the Nl/2 of Sec. 15, Sections 16, 17 and 18, known as School district No. 6 in the Town of Rib Falls, shall now be known as School district No. 2 in the Town of Rietbrock, and Sections 13, 14 and the S1/2 of Sec. 15, Sections 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36, known as School district No. 5 in the Town of Rib Falls, shall now be known as School district No. 1 in the Town of Rietbrock. The Board next proceeded to make out the Road Warrants, a copy of which is on separate paper to be filed in the Town Clerk's Office.

The Board then adjourned sine die. Supervisors, J. Myszka Peter Teusz A. Jozwiak

NOTE: As the former Road districts have been changed and two new ones formed, it was necessary to appoint two path masters more in addition to the four elected at the annual Town meeting. The following persons are also path masters of the respective road districts. Michael Lemanski, Road district No. 1. Andrew Jozwiak, Road district No. 2. John Bloczynski, Road district No. 3, Jacob Murkowski, Road district No. 4, Jacob Myszka, Road district No. 5, Peter Teusz, Road district No. 6. Proceedings of a Town meeting held on the 3rd day of May A.D. 1880 for the purpose of granting Town license to Frank Jermann and dividing the work to be done in the several road districts.

All members present. Frank Jermann appeared personally and applied for Town license to keep a saloon, and it appearing to the Town board that there is no reason for refusing to grant the same, the following order was caused to be made out to wit. County of Marathon ss

Whereas Frank Jermann of said Town, has applied to the undersigned, town board of said Town of Rietbrock, for license to keep a saloon on the following descended premises, within said town to wit. On the NE comer of the NE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Sec. 14T. 29-R4 East, for the sale, in quantities less than one gallon, of strong, spirituous, malt or intoxicating liquors, to be drank on the premises or not to be drank on the premises.

It is therefore ordered, that to the said applicant the license applied for by him be granted, upon his duly executing and filing the bond required by law, and upon his paying for such license the sum of Twenty Two Dollars to the Town Treasurer of said Town and that the Town Clerk detest and deliver such license to each applicant therefore, upon his producing to said clerk a receipt, showing, the payment to the Town Treasurer of the sum hereby required by him and upon his filing with said clerk the bond aforesaid.

The Town Board then divided the work on the roads among the several Road districts by the following order, to wit. County of Marathon Town of Rietbrock s We, the supervisors of said town, do hereby order that the overseer of highways in Road district between Sections 12 and 13, and that the overseer of highways in Road Dist. No. 3 shall do all work on the East half mile between Sec. 11 and 14, and that the overseer of highways in Road district No. 2 shall do all work on the East line of his district between Sec. 9 and 10, and on the South line of said district between Sec. 7 and 18 and the West 3/4 mile between Sec. 8 and 17, and that the overseer of highways in Road Dist. No. 4, shall do all work on the North line of his district the East 1/4 mile between Sec. 8 and 17 and 1 mile between Sec. 9 and 16 and on the South 1/2 mile between Sec. 14 and 15 and that overseer of highways in Road Dist. No. 3, shall do all work on the N1/2 mile between Sec. 14 and 15, and that overseer of highways in Road Dist. No. 5 shall do all work between Sec. 23 and 26, on the South 1/2 mile between Sec. 27 and 28 and the East 1/4 mile between Sec. 28 and 33, and that overseer of highways on Road dist. No. 6 shall do all work on the W3/4 mile between Sec. 28 and 33 and on the I mile between Sec. 24 and 25.

Given under our hands this 3rd day of May A.D. 1880. The Board then adjourned sine die. Supervisors, Peter Teusz J. Myszka A. Jozwiak

At a meeting of the Boards of the Towns of Rib Falls and Rietbrock held on the 7th day of June A.D. 1880 at Rib Falls, in regard to settlement between said Towns it was agreed, that the roads on the Range line between Ranges 5 and 4 being also the Townline between said Towns shall be worked and kept in repair as follows, to wit. The first one half mile running South from the Townline between Towns 29 and 28. And it is hereby agreed, that in case there should be ever necessary to build a bridge across the Black Creek on said Range line between Ranges 5 and 4 the respective Town of Rietbrock and Rib Falls each shall pay the half of what it will cost. One motion meeting adjourned sine die. Supervisor of the

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