News: Withee Centennial -
2001
Transcriber:
stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Withee, Doughner, Spaulding, Lauritzen, Thibert, Nielsen, Hansen,
Petersen, Paulson, Tufts, Hamilton
---------Source: Withee Centennial (Owen, Clark County, Wis.) 2001
As the Village of Withee joyously celebrates its first 100 years in this
year of 2001, we are reminded of the many people and events that have helped
shape our past. It is said that the first 100 years are the hardest, then
the next 100 years should be "easy sledding." The following information has
been compiled from historical books, area newspapers, atlases, microfilm and
other writings to give you a "blink" of the past 100 years.
Withee, Wisconsin as we know it today is a village in Northern Clark County
just off State Highway 29 that runs from Green Bay to Chippewa Falls. The
elevation plaque located in front of the former Withee High School shows the
elevation to be 1,270.56 feet above sea level. We are located almost halfway
between the north pole and the equator. The Black River divides Clark County
almost in half. The above information about the village has not changed over
the 100 years we are remembering and celebrating.
Let's start at the beginning when the country was covered with virgin
timber. By 1870 ambitious lumbermen like D.J. Spaulding, and Niram H. and
Hiram N. Withee from Maine bought as much pine acreage as possible, and
especially along the rivers. Men were needed in the lumber camps and once
the timber was harvested, the land was only valuable if it was sold and
cleared of stumps so crops could be grown. By 1880 the railroad opened up
the area and the village of Withee was platted in 1881. It was named for
Niram H. Withee who had been very influential in county affairs by this time
as its treasurer and in the timber business.
This was the beginning of a long and interesting history of determined
pioneer settlers that developed our village and worked with a new sense of
enthusiasm, due to their new found freedom and hope. The year 1890 found the
population of Withee to be 69 people. Among these were W.S. Tufts, who owned
the Hamilton Bros. Hotel and a general store in which the new post office
was housed and to which the stage brought the mail and ended its route from
Neillsville; Felix Douphner, who helped clear the stumps from the land that
the village sits on; and Lucinda Moody, the first school teacher. Land
agents were advertising "fertile farm land" in newspapers, large cities, and
churches in the U.S. and Europe to encourage land sales. Some of the groups
that responded were the French that settled in French Town - like Louis
Thibert who farmed and built a store and saloon in Withee; Germans, Finns
and also the Danes, encouraged by Rev. C.S. Nielsen in 1893, that settled
closer to and in Withee.
By the year 1900 there were 400 residents, and hotels filled with
lumberjacks, salesmen (referred to as "drummers") and prospective buyers
brought in by the land agents. There were about eight businesses, three
saloons, three hotels, one Danish church, two blacksmiths that had a steady
trade of replacing horseshoes, and Mr. Lauritzen the tailor and barber. The
streets were wide paths and with each rain became almost impassable due to
the mud. With the many lumberjacks and saloons, the town was rowdy on
weekends and Mr. Clifton was chosen as constable and a small "cold storage"
jail was built by C.H. Hansen in 1901.
With the many immigrants coming to the Withee area, houses and services were
in great demand. The Farmers Home and Land Co. of Withee sold over 5000
acres of land in the first two years it was in the area, including starting
the new town of Maplehurst, twelve miles north of Withee. Within the first
seven months of 1900, seven new homes were built, many from the bricks
provided by the local kiln of P.K. Petersen east of Withee and good lumber
was provided by Paul A. Paulson's mill south of town.
Albert Kristiansen was the new pharmacist and the town was fortunate to have
Dr. C.S. Nielsen who made house calls, delivered babies and tended Smallpox
and Diphtheria cases of lumberjacks and travelers in the "Pest House". A new
post office was built and telephone service was established between
Neillsville and the depot, where Gilbert Sturgeon was the drayman. All this
made us an "Up-to-date" town that was incorporated in 1901.
|
© Every submission is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.
Show your appreciation of this freely provided information by not copying it to any other site without our permission.
Become a Clark County History Buff
|
|
A site created and
maintained by the Clark County History Buffs
Webmasters: Leon Konieczny, Tanya Paschke, Janet & Stan Schwarze, James W. Sternitzky,
|
