Looking Back; Unity, WI History 6

ADVENTURE IN THE VILLAGE OF SIDEWALKS

By Pastor Robert V. Langseth

Trinity Lutheran Church

Unity, Wisconsin

Winter of 1961-62

The enclosed sketch of Unity, Wisconsin, is a result of enrolling in a U. of Wis. off-campus course in "Rural Community Development" which was offered at Merrill, Wisconsin during the winter of 1961-1962, for county agents, welfare workers, educators, pastors, and other professional people.

As I first began working on this assignment I wondered if Unity had any future. I wondered if it might not be well to plan a funeral service for the village itself since it did not offer several of the important services usually associated with village living, and thus could not compete with surrounding communities. However, after completing this study I am not readily convinced that the only thing ahead for us as a village is the committal service.

The trade areas of the various establishments indicate we do serve a specific area; the village is destined to be a grade school center; those who retire off the surrounding farms continue to come to the village; and we are near enough major centers to have our part time employment, medical and social needs met. Unity will thus continue, but its future more than likely lies in becoming a specialized community. Communities are made up of people. And if communities are to develop it must be through the development of people.

By an act of Congress in 1864 all the odd numbered sections in the towns of Spencer, Brighton, Hull, & Holton were given free of charge to the railroads and exempted from taxes for a period of ten years in order that construction might take place. The grant did not extend further north because the townships there were already owned by land speculators. Congress retained the even numbered sections and encouraged homesteading.

When settlers did arrive and settler they found their taxes to be extremely high due to the fact that revenue could not be raised on the railroad property but only on the even numbered sections. And even though the railroad was given these lands, progress was not swift, no services or benefits were forthcoming to the settlers until after 1872.

“The first train of cars ran into Stevens Point on the 15th day of November, 1871, but the construction crew had already cleared out and surveyed the right of way at that time as far as where the village of Unity is now situated. As soon as a trail was cut and the line surveyed, the fine government lands invited homesteaders and settlement.

--- The railroad was running cars as far north as Colby in the summer of 1872, but the trains were still construction trains.”

This railroad line, together with the rich resources of virgin pine to the south and hardwoods to the north really created our community. As early as 1881, events within the village caused these comments to be written in an official history of northern Wisconsin:

"The village is the result of the construction of the Wisconsin Central Railroad, and lays on both sides of the track. It is on a hard wood ridge, the highest point of land between Stevens Point and Medford, in the midst of good farming country. It is well laid and as an evidence of progress has considerable sidewalk. It is place of constant growth. The population is over 300. The town of Brighton has 847 and Unity town 600.”

The first settlers of the village were Mr. Ed Creed and Mr. F. H. Darling. An account of their pioneering is recorded by Mr. Creed in the "Marathon' County Register," issue of April 10 & 17, 1914;

"In 1871 F. H. Darling and I started out from Amherst to explore this country, without blankets and with an old shotgun and about forty cents' worth of crackers and cheese, that was our bill of fare for six to eight days. The first day we got as far as Steven's Point. I remarked to Mr. Darling, 'I think we had better go to the land office and get some plats of this territory about here.’ So we got plats of Towns 26, 27, 28, & 29, Range 2 East. In looking over the plats I noticed that there was plenty of land in Towns 28 & 29 vacant and subject to homestead entry, but scarcely any in Towns 26 & 27, except a few fractions on the west side of the towns. I asked Mr. Eaton, the register, how this was. He said he could tell me that very quick; that he had been register of the land office a number of years before; that in 1855 and 1856 there was a great rush for land in northern Wisconsin, & that Towns 28 & 29 were not on the market then, they had not been surveyed, and that Towns 26 & 27 had nearly all been bought by speculators. An eastern company had sent him a bundle of land warrants to locate for them anywhere there was any government land. So he located them here in Town 27 as he thought that that would be out of the way of everybody. The railroad was not thought of then. This is the reason why Colby and the vicinity got the start on Unity in population.

"Well, Mr. Darling and I started out from the Point up the line to look for a location. We wandered around until we came to where the Little Eau Pleine crosses the railroad track, Here were some vacant fractions. We looked them over and liked the location. There was the creek, a good place for a dam & pond. I thought there would, be something here someday, so I took the south fraction, and Darling the next two."

According to our present setting, the east-west road by the Methodist Church would be the dividing line between the Creeds and the Darlings. Mr. Darling's home would have been located where Calvin Cook now resides and Mr. Creed's home a 1/2 block south.

"On January next, Bill Wicker and I came up with a yoke of cattle and built my log house. We camped down by the creek; there was a stack of hay some one had put up that came in handy for the oxen, besides a bed for ourselves. We intended to build one for Wicker also, but the snow was so deep we concluded to wait till spring. It took us six or eight days to build mine; then we went back. I made a number of trips that winter, hauling up lumber and supplies to live, and on the first of April I moved there bag and baggage, with three horses and three cows.

"The next day Fitzgerald came along. He had the contract to do the grading from Spencer to Colby, and asked me to board a crew of his men. As he would furnish the supplies, we concluded to take the men, and, so I built an addition to my cabin for a dining room.

"I kept on boarding the railroad men that summer and winter. The next spring Fitzgerald began to get discouraged; he was losing money. He was an old railroad builder too, who had built roads on the Union Pacific and got rich at it, but when it got among these pines it was a different proposition. He got two men by the name of Alexander and Seymour to take his job off his hands, but they did not last long.

By this time the road was graded and the iron laid as far up as Flink's Corners, half a mile south of here. The train - an engine, boxcar, & a caboose- came up from the Point in the morning and would go back in the afternoon. There was a short siding there where they would run in & unload what they brought up. Then there was dissatisfaction among the men that were doing the grading - could not get their pay, so the men struck and would not let the work go on. They even felled a big pine tree across the track that morning. The train came up as usual and switched into the siding. The strikers thought they would capture the train and hold it there, but they missed their calculations. The conductor was a big six-foot man and just ended two or three of the hoboes' heels upward and motioned to his engineer to go ahead. He got his train out and went back to the Point. After that they didn't come up any further than Spencer for some time."

During the dawn of the Village, however, lumbering was the most important product of the area. It was the lumber which brought the trains. It was the lumber which caused D. J. Spaulding to purchase mill equipment in the summer of 1872 and have it shipped up the Black River toward Loyal. Alfred Cook, together with a crew of men, cut a trail from Loyal to Spencer and with two team of oxen hauled the equipment to Unity where it was then located just west of the present village dump grounds. According to the following report it was an enormous mill with tremendous capacity:

"D. J. Spaulding and Van Hausear built the saw mill in 1872, upon which the prosperity of the town depends. It cuts 40,000 feet of lumber, 70,000 shingle, and 15,000 lath per day. It has a double rotary and other improved machinery, operated by steam."

In the lumbering days Unity was strategically located and this helped the town hold the mills longer than the others. Referring to these major mill enterprises, Marchetti states;

"From Mannville nearly up to Unity the white pine predominated as standing timber and supplied the mills with raw material. Above Unity there was more of hardwood mixed with hemlock … these mills, ceased to exist after a run of from 15 to 20 years, with the D. J. Spaulding mill being the last to cease operation in 1894.”

Even after these huge, commercial enterprises ceased, Unity remained the site for smaller mill operations for some time. A Mr. Waterman had a mill west of town by the creek which was later combined with Peter Fritz and moved into the northern portion of the village east of highway # 13. Still later August Perschkl had a mill in approximately the same location.

During the height of the sawmill operations as many as 300 men were employed and housed here. A two story boarding house was constructed by the mill on the west side of the railroad tracks, and Mooney’s Hotel was located on the east side of Highway 13 where the south vil1age road crosses the tracks. Ed. Creed had plotted lots on his property being cleared and to house those men from the mill who had families, the mill constructed sub-standard housing in the south eastern portion of the area. This, together with the fact that several half-breed Indians later inhabited some of these buildings, caused this area to be known as "Smoky Row" or "Shantytown" early in Unity's history. This stigma, which has continued to the present day, was influential in gradually moving the village north so that it is presently predominant on the former Darling property, and on the Clark County side of the railroad.

Having three hundred men around proved to be a distinct advantage when it came to constructing the sawdust trail which has now become Highway 13. This incident is colorfully related by one of the living pioneers:

"The Town of Brighton and the settlement of Unity got together to build a road. Instead of taking valuable land away from the Creeds and the Darlings, it was decided to construct it just west of the line, on the railroad property. When the roadbed was cleared as far as 1/2 mile south & then crossed the tracks, things began to happen. In the morning the railroad shipped a car of ties, a crew, and an inspector to this junction and began laying a siding out on the roadbed. Not wanting to see their work go to waste, the roadbed leaders called up the men from the mill equipped them with poles from the mill and cant hook handles from the stores. Marching down the roadbed as a body they routed the railroad crew and threw the tie's in the ditches. Next morning the crew pulled out and we had our road.

To close out this period of the settlement's infancy, the original pioneer is called upon to relate how Unity received its name. This conversation is recorded for us in the 1918 History of Clark County;

"When a post office was asked for at this place the name of Brighton was sent in to the post office department as the name selected for the new office, but as there was already an office of that name in the state, we tried again and sent in the name Maple Grove, only to he informed that there also was an office of that name already in the state. Some now wanted that name and some another, and before we could come to an agreement the department took the matter into their own hands and gave the new office the name of Unity. The officials at Washington evidently were a ‘unit’ on that name, if the citizens of this place were not, and I was named as the first postmaster. There was some kicking because I was a Democrat, and in order to bring about peace in our little family of pioneers, I refused to accept the office and John Sterling was appointed."

(Note: "The Marshfield News Herald,” of November 7, 1931, related an interview with Mrs. Ed. Creed, in which she is credited with having named the village:

"As Uncle Sam asked that a name be selected for· the new community, Mrs. Creed suggested Maple Grove. Uncle Sam already had a post office in Wisconsin by that name, after which Mrs. Creed suggested that the name be ‘Unity’ as the people of the community were so united.")

Adolescence is a period between childhood and maturity which is characterized by a certain vim, vigor, and amount of wonderful recklessness. Unity had its adolescence as is evidenced by the vigor of having four passenger trains arrive and depart each day, two in the morning and two in the evening, during the early part of the 20th Century. Vim and enthusiasm was characteristic of the political factors so significant in community life. Town chairmen were important figures in the makeup of the community. And competition was keen as is evidenced by this early report:

“Either Cook or Salter was always the head of the town board. At the spring election it would be Cook against Salter, the next year Salter vs. Cook, year after year; but I think the deacon had a little the leverage, as he would furnish the most lager and bologna, and that cut quite .a figure at spring election."

A certain wonderful recklessness evidently characterized the village between 1903 and 1906 when the settlement was twice incorporated. In the early part of 1903 a movement was started for the incorporation and a census was thus taken on April 4, showing a population of 405. A survey was then made between April 6 - 9, and formal application was made April 15, 1903. Balloting was set for June, according to the following newspaper report:

“Eleven of the representative businessmen of the village went to Wausau last Thursday and appeared before Judge Silverthorn in the matter of incorporating the village. After listening to the petition of the applicants and there being no opposition, the judge granted same and ordered an election to be held on the 27th day of June for the purpose of determining by ballot whether the village shall be incorporated or not … there will be some opposition but there is no question but that the proposition will be carried.”

While the balloting results were 52 in favor and 22 against incorporating, this first incorporation was nullified by the courts by reason of irregularities in the census. One, who as a young man helped carry the chains when the original survey was made, relates the matter this way:

"When the proposal was first presented of incorporating the village, Salter was much in favor of the proposition. However, his wife reminded him that if he was within the village limits he could no longer be chairman of the Town. Both Mr. & Mrs. Salter were needed in order to make the population figures meet the required number demanded by the state. So, even though the Salters refused to be counted, the census takers included the names of two daughters who were teaching in Ohio but who returned to Unity for the summer. With these two Salter girls included as residents there was just enough population for incorporation.

"After objections were voiced, the boundaries were resurveyed so as to leave out a 40 acre tract of uninhabited woods on the west portion and take in a 40 acre plot on the south-east corner which had a family of' husband, wife, & five youngsters. With this light adjustment we had five more people than necessary."

Thus, on April 28 & 29, 1904, a new survey was made. On June 13, 1904, an entirely new census was taken showing 424 names. Application for incorporation was again made. A most interesting summary of the running battle and resulting court cases is contained in the County Courthouse at Wausau. Objections to this second incorporation were raised on the following counts, headed by J. W. Salter:

2) The territory is not compact in form. Territory within 100 rods of the center has been omitted in order that 40 acres be included.

3) Said 40 acres is all of a mile or more from the center of population and is in fact an extensive stock farm; this 40 acres belongs to the J. W. Salter and is taken for the sole purpose of injuring the said owner.

4) And, the census reporting 424 names, does in fact contain only 361 resident people.

Beaten in Circuit Court the objectors carried the case to the Supreme Court but were again defeated. The new incorporation was thus effected in 1906. The map of the village shows there are to be two rocks with a cross on top which mark the northern and southern boundaries of the village. When asked about this in an interview Mr. G. S. Cook replied:

“Yes, I helped put them in. They are 8" square sandstone rock, 3 feet in length. Two feet of the same were dug into the ground and 1 foot remained above the surface. The north one should be East of #13, between Langjahr's and Thompson's. The south one should be located on the East bank of the railroad track directly opposite the road which leads to the Brighton Cemetery."

The roar of dynamite blasts replaces the thud of the axe as Unity leaves it adolescence. The land is cleared of the pesty stumps & agriculture predominates. Unity settles down to the responsibilities of maturity. The village serves a definite community, providing the area with primary services.

The municipal advantages of telephone and electricity arrive in the area at an early date; and, in 1913 the flourishing service center prides itself in the following enterprises:

Sawmill & Cheese box factory; 3 general merchandise stores; Hardware store; Meat market; Machinery dealer; Blacksmith; Harness & Leather Works; Creamery & Cheese Factory; Drug Store; Newspaper; Physician and Surgeon; Bank; School; Methodist Church

Merchandise store; Mill & Farm products; Hardware; Furniture & Funeral; Hotel; Wagonmaker; Livery; Barber; Saloon; Lutheran Church

Two major fires occurred within ten years and took their toll. In 1909 fire started in Button Membrue’s Hardware Store and spread north to Fred Wescott’s Saloon, and the Forest House Hotel which stood on the corner of P & 13. Then, it spread south to engulf Zell Bros. General Store, and August Wiede’s butcher shop & shoe shop. It was halted directly north of the post office. A second fire occurred in 1917, right south of the post office, & destroyed the drug store, Clark County Telephone Office, and two private residences.

As maturity and responsibility developed, so did conservatism. This together with the history of the past, began to catch up with the community. During the depression of the 1930's many of the surrounding hamlets installed municipal sewage & waterworks; through the assistance of the W.P.A. program. Unity, however did not include itself in this project as it was too spread out …to use the words of the original court battle in 1904, "It is not compact in form" … and its population & evaluation too small, believed the village fathers, to merit such an outlay. Somewhat as a compromise, I suspect, the streets were graveled to enhance the cement sidewalks which had been installed some years before.

Marchetti in 1913 describes Unity as a community with “considerable sidewalk,” and such it has remained.

There have been, and there presently are, capable leaders within the community. We do well, however, to remember that "communities and institutions” are much like trees, they begin dying at the top."

In a human lifespan man eventually matures past the hustle and bustle of activity and gradually begins to specialize. There are certain things we can not do, like running a quarter of a mile, and there are certain things which he can do better than others. This is also true of communities. Unity is entering upon this era of its life. There are certain basic services which others can offer better than ourself, and vice-versa. Education is a prime example. Because technology provides modern machinery & creates fewer farms; because roads & transportation allow quick transit; and because the development of knowledge has developed so rapidly it is impossible for one teacher to be qualified in all areas of life, Unity's High School, … the first in the state to be located north of Stevens Point … was consolidated with the Colby High School in 1954 and moved to Colby. However, due to a good location, Unity can be of real service in grade school education. This strength is definitely going to be a specialized contribution of the village and of the area.

Unity is not dead; however, it is entering an era of specialization, as is borne out by a listing of the services provided and the services for which we look to other communities.

Medical - Colby Clinic, Marshfield Hospital; High School education; Communication - Marshfield paper & library, Colby telephone exchange; Legal – Colby, Spencer, or Marshfield; Major Clothing - Marshfield, Colby or Wausau; Bulk Gas & Heating - Colby & Abbotsford & Spencer; Recreation – Abbotsford, Colby Marshfield; Off-farm employment – Marshfield, Abbotsford and Colby

Feed mill, Juvenile Chair factory, Barber shop & Beauty shop, 3 Taverns & 1 Café, 2 Filling Stations, Cheese factory, Blacksmith, Automobile & Implement dealer, Bank,

Post office & Rural Route, Grade school, Lutheran & Methodist Churches, Weekly roller skating, Bi-weekly square dances, Volunteer Fire Department, County Bookmobile and village library, Cabinet Shop, Bi-weekly record hops.

"Unity has a remarkable unanimity in church matters, as there is but one denomination represented here, the Methodist. This society was organized in 1876, and the church was built in 1880."

So wrote the historian in 1881 to indicate that since the dawn of the community the English speaking Methodist congregation has been alive. However, this "remarkable unanimity" was not long in existence as the Scandinavian immigrants began to purchase the land sold by the railroad brokers in the 1880's at a reasonable price in so far as the tax-exempt status had been terminated. It was this language barrier which called for a worship center in the Scandinavian tongue.

That doctrine was not the dividing factor is validated further by the recollections of old timers who recall a Pastor Jensen - who was not a Lutheran - serving the Scandinavians by bringing his own musical instrument, the harp, to the homes for worship. Arriving by train from the south, the news of his presence would be spread through out the neighborhood, and worship would take place.

Any day that a missionary would be able to 'make the round' was the day to attend services."

This group of people officially organized as the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Church on November 4, 1900, and a frame building for worship was constructed the following year.

The third denomination to enter the village was the Church of "Christ's Disciples", which was erected in 1909. This group has long since disappeared from the community and the graded public school has a parking area on the lot which was once occupied by this church.

Since "Main Street" has always been the center of activity, it seems strange that the two existing congregations are located so far away from the beaten path. However, -there is a historical reason. Since the original hamlet was further south than is now the case, and since the original settlers were of English blood, the English speaking Methodist congregation located near the first homesteads in the south-east portion of the village. When the Scandinavians arrived the tracts in Clark County were sold first & consequently the Scandinavians settled west of the Englishmen. Add to this the long range plans which once called for the Swedish Cemetery to be located on the lovely slope just west of the church, and you have accounted for the location of Trinity Lutheran.

June 4, 1905 proved to be an exciting one for the churches of the community. A tornado struck in the evening and toppled both the frame structures over. The Methodist Church was so completely demolished so as to be used for kindling wood. It was subsequently rebuilt of stone and mortar & remains to this day. The Lutheran Church was only blown over onto the south half of its roof, and;

"The congregation hired a company to return the church to its foundation … very little the worse for wear."

As early as 1913 Marchetti comments on the fact that "there are no resident ministers in the village." This trend continued for numerous years and has left its mark upon the churches, as they continue to be thought of as little more than regular preaching stations.

Up until 1920 the Lutheran congregation was yoked with Prentice, Ogema, & Westboro, & served from there. Later, it was yoked with Wisconsin Rapids, and not until 1921 did it secure its first resident pastor. The reorganization of the congregation from the Scandinavian Ev. Lutheran Church into the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in late 1920; the separation from any yoked field in 1927, plus the erection of a new brick edifice in 1929 and a parish education addition in1957, provide the turning points for progression within the history of this congregation.

The Methodist congregation has been yoked at various times with Colby, Spencer, Beaver, Maple Grove, & Hope Chapel. Resident pastors have been here off and on, but, for consistently short periods of a year to a year and one-half. If my judgment is correct, these early resident pastors were largely responsible for inducing the males of the congregation to take a major part & thus have made the congregation as effective as it is. At present it is considerably smaller than the Lutheran church and is thus yoked with Colby and with Spencer.

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