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History: Knowlton Twp., Marathon Co., Wis. (1913)

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----Source: History of Marathon County Wisconsin and Representative Citizens, by Louis Marchetti, 1913, pg. 541 -  542.

----Township of Knowlton, Marathon Co., Wisconsin 1913 History

THE TOWN OF KNOWLTON.

The settlement in this town was one of the earliest in Marathon county, but, like the settlement in Wausau and Mosinee, it was a pinery settlement. There is a tavern which stands to this day, not used as a tavern now, still in the possession of the family of Leonhard Guenther, who purchased it from the former owner in the early fifties—the historic Leonhard Guenther tavern, or Knowlton House, the most popular roadhouse, which had a very large number of patrons until the building of the railroad to Wausau in 1874 ended the road travel. The settlement was confined to immediate surroundings of the tavern, and the saw mill of the Starks, father and sons, which was located a short distance below the tavern. The town was created by the county board in the year 1859 to consist of township 26, in ranges 8 and 9, and all of range 7 of the same township, lying east of the Wisconsin river. This settlement has been noticed in Chapter IX and it did not materially grow after the railroad was built.

There is a tradition that a mill once stood on the Wisconsin river at the mouth or just below the mouth of the Eau Plaine river, which empties a little more than a mile above Knowlton, at a place called Warren's place, and it is barely possible that Andrew Warren thought of building, or had a little mill there (it must have been a steam mill if one was there at all, but no reliable data can at this time be ascertained. Certain it is, that since 1850 no mill has been there.

In the last six years, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad has nm a spur track for about four miles east to a saw and planing mill owned by F. W. Huebner. and still further east for about eight miles, more to assist in the settlement of the lands in that territory.

In the village of Knowlton there is a saw mill owned by Charles Guenther, doing custom sawing, a grist mill owned by the same gentleman ; a general merchandise store conducted by C. Guenther & Sons, and a general merchandise store conducted by L. Breitenstein.

There is a creamery in the village which has a very large patronage and its products are shipped to the east. A public hall owned by Adam Feit is the central meeting place for social entertainings and public meetings. There is a Catholic church in the village, built by Leonhard Guenther in the year 1875, and it is visited by the resident priest at Mosinee. A Methodist congregation was organized in 1900 by Rev. Burton Richardson and services held in the schoolhouse. On January, 1905, the eleven members of the society purchased half an acre of ground from the Wendell Stark farm for a church site and in the same year, with the assistance of their neighbors, regardless of religious beliefs, finished a tine chapel costing about twelve hundred dollars—which was dedicated December lo, 1905, by Rev. Perry Millar, D. D., assisted by Rev. Oliver Saylor, local pastor. The memberships consisted of the following persons : Mrs. Jane Wilcox, Mrs. F. A. Wilcox, Mrs. St. Rogers, Mrs. Robert Brace, Mrs. L. Kuntzmann, Mrs. R. Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. Arleigh Peabody, Mrs. Maria Baxter, Mrs. Kate Richmond and Miss Bertha Richmond.

The lands east of the village which are yet nearly uninhabited, will, from present appearances, be taken up and settled upon in not far time.