Clark County, Wisconsin

THE HISTORY OF ROMADKA

Transcribed by Ken Wood.

Romadka is a neighborhood center in York Township, near the end of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad.  It was formerly the site of a flourishing mill, and the headquarters of extensive lumber operations, and still is an important place for the shipping of stock and cordwood, John P. Kintzele having several cordwood shipping points in the neighborhood.  The name of Mr. Kintzele has been intimately connected with Romadka, and he still has his home and farm there though now serving as register of deeds.  In the early eighties, George Hiles organized the Milwaukee, Dexterville & Northern Railroad, and a line was built from Dexterville via Newton to Lynn.  Later the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul extended the line through the towns of Lynn and York to Romadka.  A survey of this line has been made through York, Loyal, Eaton, and northwestwardly through the county to Bateman in Chippewa County but the line has not be! en built beyond Romadka.  The story of Romadka is an interesting one.  The Northern Manufacturing Co. located at Seymour, Wis., reorganized as the Romadka Manufacturing Co. and in 1883 established a large mill in Section 24, York Township, where they started the manufacture of hubs, spokes and wagon felloes, in addition to general sawmilling.  John P. Kintzele came here as their agent.  At that time the nearest railroads were the Omaha at Neillsville, and the Wisconsin Central at Marshfield.  All the product of the mill had to be hauled out and the supplies hauled in.  When plans were made for extending the Omaha from Neillsville to Marshfield, it was thought that the line was to run near the mill, but the survey was changed, so the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul started to extend their road from Lynn to Romadka.  There was a merry race as to which should be first to reach the crossing and thus establish the grade.  There was much excitement and many personal encounters between the members of the crew.  But the St. Paul crew won, and though the line is now but in little use, and the Omaha runs several through trains every day, nevertheless the St. Paul still has the right-of-way at the crossing.  About the same time, the Wisconsin Central built from Marshfield to Greenwood.  William H. Upham, logging for Davis & Starr, built a logging road from this line extending through Sections 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, Fremont, and Sections 1, 12, 11 and 14 in York, to within twenty rods of the St. Paul Line.  After this logging road was taken up, a part of the roadbed in Section 14 was used for an extension of the St. Paul line.