Also of interest is the small cannon resting in our village park. This brief account is taken from an article written by Mrs. Ernest Matson (Faith Mabbott), which is on file at the State Historical Society in Madison.

The cannon with the following inscription No. –155-C-2-1 M was brought here even before the village was organized. The Grand Army of the Republic obtained the cannon from Fort Howard (near Green Bay) in 1880. Men and ox teams were sent to bring it here. The trip was financed by local contributions.

The cannon was first mounted on wood which has deteriorated. It is now mounted on concrete. In the early days it was used to report election results, and on the Fourth of July by shooting three rounds at sunrise. It is now a silent reminder of the past.

The members of the class graduating in 1954 were: Jerome Tennis, Charlotte Mohan, Robert Johnson, Renata Johnson, Gerald Hebert, Darlene Molle, Shirley Johnson, Philip Knuf, and Darlene Rachu. This was the last class to graduate from the Unity High School.

We have had fine representation on the County Boards. During the early years Edmund Creed, J.W. Salter, and Deacon Cook were the supervisors. Later on we had two as supervisors who each served over fifty years, they being William Creed on the Clark County Board and George Cook on the Marathon County Board.

In 1906 Ransom Brown was appointed Marathon County surveyor.

Marathon County has had four Highway Commissioners, three of them coming from Unity; namely, Herman Voght, Jesse Clark, and Lyle Fuller.

We honor three married couples who have lived most of their lives here and have now enjoyed over sixty years of wedded life. They are: Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Nickel (65 years); Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Justman (61 years); and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Binning (61 years).

Unity is the birthplace of two of our senior ladies: Mrs. Henry Binning (Borghild Nelson), born January 23, 1890 in the house now owned by Syd Bauer; and Mrs. B. W. Mabbott (Vera Cook), born January 29, 1901 on the Cook farm. Both have always been "Unity, Wisconsin" as their address.

Henry Binning is our oldest resident, being 89 on April 25^th.

Unity Opera House (1901).

The balcony was used by the band for summer concerts.

The smaller building was the barber shop of Van Misner.

Memorial Hall

When ice was cut in large square blocks and kept in the barn behind the Kops Hotel (C. Reise’s).

The wooden sidewalks.

The steel post along the main street to which the "traders" would tie their horses.

When we had several passenger trains daily, and the villagers would meet the trains.

When bread was packed in large wooden boxes and was shipped by train to the local merchants.

In 1923 when the Unity Tourist Park was being developed and Unity folks had a place for their picnics.

The exciting basketball games of the High School and the city "Tigers" that were played in our "cracker-box" hall. This hall was replaced in 1947 with the present structure.

George Cook was appointed the first State Traffic Police.

Two of the frame houses were built in 1847 are still in use; the Edmund Creed house is occupied by the Ralph Leonhard family and the F. Darling house is the home of Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Cook.

Country children were brought to school by horse drawn covered wagon or sleigh. In cold weather it was heated by a kerosene burner.

Kids shoveled the snow from the pond south of town and enjoyed ice-skating there. A large bonfire provided warmth and light.

Rural mail carriers used horse drawn vehicles in summer and winter.

It has been interesting to learn of the progress made from the time the small family of pioneers came and settled until the present time. We close our book with this thought: we leave the future of our village to you – the future citizens. May you always have the pioneer spirit to reach new goals. May you preserve the traditions of our early settlers to have a charitable concern for each other, and continue to live in unity for the good of all.

I ran across the following poem and I think it tells so much of what many of us feel about our town:

West side of town – Feed store, Creed’s Merchantile, Hardware, Tavern

(across the street the C. Healy store, later Van Misner Barber Shop).

J.P. Johnson – Wagon maker in his shop on West side.

Horse Pulling Contest – on West Street 1910.

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