Changes We Made As Time Moved On

Withee Township, Clark Co., Wis.

Thorp, Wisconsin

"I came across an addition of the Thorp Courier dated June 3, 1993 that is titled "History of Thorp's First 100 Years".  There is a lot of information in here but I thought I would post some trivia for those interested."  Enjoy, Kathy

• St. Bernard's Church was constructed in 1885
• The first train ran through Thorp in on Nov. 23, 1880.
• Tom Mosher owned the first hardware store.
• St. Hedwig's church was built in 1903.  The land was donated by 2 Polish land agents from Milwaukee.
• James Seneca Boardman moved from Minnesota to  a log cabin in the present town of Withee, then known as Hixon, in 1870.
• In 1871, D.R. Goodwin and Geo. W. Richards moved into the present town of Withee and Michael McCaffrey built the first farm house within the limits of the present town of Thorp.
• In 1873, Mabel Boardman, the first white child born within the Thorp borders.  She died at age 7 from a diptheria outbreak.
• In 1874, a log schoolhouse was built and Mrs. Almeda Edmunds taught there.  That same year the Post Office of Winnieoka was established at B.J. Brown's farm and he was the postmaster.
• In 1875, E.A. Boardman stocked a small amount of goods and provisions at his log cabin, hauling them in from Colby which was 27 miles away and soon became Thorp's first merchant.
• In 1876 the township of Thorp was established.  April 4th, a town meeting was held at the schoolhouse and the twon officers were elected:  E.A. Boardman-chairman; C.D. Richards and S.S. Warner-supervisors; J.S. Boardman-treasurer; Geo W. Courter-clerk; and Chris Nelson-assessor.
• Thorp's namesake was Joseph G. Thorp Sr, an Eau Claire lumber baron.  Mr. Thorp died in 1895 in Cambridge, Mass..  His wife died in 1893.
• In 1881, J.H. Sargent built the Forest Queen Hotel and opened it in the fall.
• Thorp consisted of 2 general stores which were Boardman and Garrison Brothers, one saloon owned by Peter Schroeder and Mitch DuCate, two hotels owned by Sargent and J.S. Boardman, a blacksmith shop ran by Herman Holzhausen, a schoolhouse, the railroad station and five homes.
• The First Baptist church was organized in 1882.  It was finished and dedicated in 1886.  The Union Sabbath school was also organized and C.F.Stone as superintendent.  The Methodist Episcopal Church also evolved around this time and was completed in 1887.
• May 10, 1883, the first areas newspaper, The Pioneer, was published by W.A. McIntyre.  It was sold by November, publication suspended, and on Nov. 23, 1883 the first issue of The Courier came out.
• Thorp was incorporated as a village on May 26, 1893.  Thorp's population then was 837.
• The Thorp Telephone company was organized in 1904 by Myron Lund, James Connor and C.F. Rainey.
• The first Polish settlers, the Gruzynski, Ignatz, Wojtkiewica and Barney Maslowski families came to Thorp around 1900.
• Six doctors served Thorp in its first fifty years.  They were Dr. Seldon, Dr. McMutcheon, Dr. Riapel, Dr. Jackey, Dr. Kulig and Dr. Neis.

Other Changes

• News: Thorp, New Electric lights

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