Maple Park Historic District

Three weeks after the battle a new party came 'from Chicago by way of Marengo. While the late contention was in progress Mosher and Van Slyke had slipped away and. representing themselves as sole claimants at Lake Geneva, had tried to induce Lewis B. Goodsell, George L. Campbell and Andrew Ferguson to buy their rights, which they offered at a low rating. Goodsell had known Van Slyke at Cooperstown, and did not fully trust him; but he risked and lost four hundred dollars. Mosher then went out into the vastness of Illinois, and Walworth knew him no more. Payne heard of this sale and, as he was unable to renew war. he went to Chicago and thus Goodsell learned some useful truth. Hodgson, too, was sent for, and came from Waukesha. He first offered to sell to Noyes and Coe a half-interest in the mill section, if Ostrander and Henry would sell their shares; but these men saw some larger advantage in holding them. Hodgson then offered to give his quarter-interest if his past expenses were paid. But Noyes had now some larger plans. The Goodsell party had found R. Wells Warren at St. Charles and had taken him into their partnership, and to these men Hodgson sold his own and Brink's rights - without the latter's knowledge or approval. Payment of two thousand dollars left the Goodsell-Warren party in possession and the settlement of Lake Geneva went peaceably forward unto this day.

Passage source: History of Walworth County, Wisconsin .., published 1912.

Mr. Simmons, in his "Annals," mentioned other manufacturing enterprises - among them the Crawford reaper works in 1875. Most of these began with reasonable hope of success and some of them flourished for a few years, bringing to the village increase of population and general trade, and some of that good remains. But the conditions which now for long have brought the smaller factories throughout the country quite generally to naught have been felt here. If water power is of yet further use to man as, no doubt, it is. that at Lake Geneva will not forever flow uselessly, or but for minor uses, on its tortuous way to the gulf.

Passage source: History of Walworth County, Wisconsin .., published 1912.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Lake Geneva City - 9,371 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.