Thorp Town

Thorp Town

The village of Thorp is the metropolis of the northwestern part of Clark County, Situated on an eminence, on the dividing line of Thorp and Withee townships, in the midst of what was once a deep forest, but which is rapidly being converted into one of the best dairy regions of the state, it has advantages which will contribute to its still further growth. Settled originally by Easterners, some of whom now remain, it is the trading center of one of the most prosperous Polish colonies in the Northwest. Its churches, its splendid school buildings, its magnificent Odd Fellows hall, its beautiful residences, and its air of hospitality and thrift, all tend to make it a most desirable place for residence and business. Among its business industries may be mentioned two banks, an enterprising newspaper, a creamery and cheese factory combined, a sawmill, a drug store, seven general stores, two hotels, two harness shops, three garages, one implement depot, two blacksmith shops, two barber shops, a photograph gallery, a furniture store, a lumber yard, an elevator, a feed mill, two miilinery stores, a shoe store, one tailor shop and two jewelers.

Thorp was settled in the fall of 1872 by James S. Boardman and Ephraim A. Boardman, who erected log cabins and established their families here. Others soon settled in the forests not far away. In 1874 a schoolhouse was built nearby. That year the postoffice of Winnieoka was established on the farm of B. J. Brown, four miles east of Boardman's, with Mr, Brown as postmaster. Mr. Brown also kept a small stock of goods which he sold to the settlers. In 1875 E. A. Boardman put a small supply of provisions in his home, and thus established the first store in Thorp. Soon afterward the postoffice of North Fork was opened at his place. The next year a new schoolhouse was erected, the material being hauled from

Chippewa Falls, over thirty miles away. The railroad came through in 1880. At that time the present site of the village contained but three houses - the residence, store and postoffice of E. A. Boardman, the home and boarding house of J. S. Boardman and the home of George Leslie.

In the spring of 1880 L. O. Garrison erected a store, and in the summer E. A. Boardman erected a separate building for his store. About the same time C. F. Kelner erected a house and started the illicit sale of refreshments. The first train arrived Nov. 23, bringing a consignment of goods for the Garrison store.

Nov. 21, 1880, the railroad company platted the village of Thorp, about a half mile west of the'present village, the work being done by William B, Agnew, on land of Howard Morris. But in the fall of 1881 the Boardmans platted the village of East Thorp, and thus fixed the present location of the business center.

At the close of 1881 the new village contained the general stores of E. A. Boardman and L. O, Garrison, Du Cate & Schroeder's saloon, the notels of J. H. Sargent and J. S. Boardman, the sawmill of Sheldon & Nye, the blacksmith shop of Herman Holzhausen, the station, the schoolhouse, and in addition to the houses already mentioned, the residences of John McGrogan and J. A. Douglas.

The growth of the village was satisfactory. An article written in 1887 described it as follows: "Thorp is the liveliest village in Clark County. It has an exchange bank, three general stores, one of which carries an average of over $13,000 worth of stock; four hotels, two meat markets, two hardware stores, one drug store, two blacksmith shops, one wagon maker's shop, one harness shop, one cigar factor, a flat-hoop factory, a stave and heading factory, one shoe shop, a fine graded school building with four departments, Catholic Church and Baptist Church, one barber shop, coal kilns in process of erection, a beer depot and warehouse, a livery stable and bus line, a large ice house of sufficient capacity to supply the whole village, seven saloons, a newspaper and job printing office, and two sawmills in operation, one of which Nye, Lusk & Hudson's last year manufactured 5,000,000 feet of lumber, 3,500,000 shingles, and 5,000,000 lath and pickets, This company now has over 5,000,000 feet of logs in their yard, and will probably reach 6,000,000 feet before the spring "break up." The town of Thorp contains within its borders the Eau Claire Co.'s farm, which is the largest farm in Clark County, there being 650 acres clear of stumps, eighty acres more chopped, worth, with improvements, $41,100. Surrounded by a rich farming country of the finest hardwood lands in Clark County the prospects of Thorp for the future are exceedingly bright."

The two big fires in the village occurred about a year apart, one in 1893 and one in 1894. On Aug. 9, 1893, the stave factory of J. W. Cirkel & Sons was burned. Rebuilt almost immediately, it was again burned ration was made in 1886. The court appointed Col. C. C. Pope, of Black River Falls, as referee, and Col. Pope reported favorably on the proposition with a slight change in the proposed limits, But owners of certain tracts of land fought the proposition, and at the special election held on June 5, 1886, defeated it. March 16, 1893, a petition was again prepared, the signers being P. McKittrick, C. H. Sheldon, C. A. Van Dusen, Mike Wiltgen, Peter Hipke, George Banderob, Carl Gerbing, T. 0. Mosher, Louis Johnson, William Piske, H. Holzhausen, Christian Tiedemann, Herman Banderob, Julius Rasmussen, N. P. Hanson, John Roth, E. L. Snyder, W. E. Rimenschneider, Frank Klauk, Anton David, George H, Lusk, George Zillmann, Joseph Shelbeak, H. F. Hudson, Q. A. Smith, L. O. Garrison, H. J. Fessenden, Charles Kuehl, Charles L. Adams, T. H. Fielding, W. R, Me- Cutcheon, John McGrogan, P. Schroeder, William Wagner and George B. Parkhill. The census taken March 15 and 16, by Charles L. Adams, showed a population of 883 persons. The survey was made earlier in the year by Christian Tiedemann. The petition was granted and L. O. Garrison, George C. Howard and T. O. Mosher appointed inspectors of a special election to be held on the question May 26, 1893, at the Hipke & Gerbing hall. Before the election took place George B, Parkhill was appointed inspector in place of T. O. Mosher. At the appointed time there were 138 votes cast, 120 in favor of the proposition, and 18 against it.

The first annual election was held on June 23, 1893, and the following officers were selected: President, George H. Lusk; trustees, E. A. Boardman, Joseph Sterling, T, O. Mosher, Victor Fellows, C. H. Sheldon and W. R. McCutcheon; supervisor, E. R. Wiley; treasurer, L. O. Garrison; clerk, H. J. Fessenden; assessor, Christian Tiedemann; police justice, George Burke; marshal, Thomas I. Steele; justices of the peace, L. N. McGuire and A. T, Adams; constable, Peter Walsdorf.

In 1893, the year of incorporation, the assessed valuation of the village was $82,410, the amount of taxes assessed being $3,208.77. In 1917 the assessed valuation was $461,307, and the taxes assessed amounted to $12,287.62, a most remarkable gain in less than twenty-five years.

The municipal improvements of Thorp consist of an excellent water works system and fire protection, a sewer system, a municipal electric light plant and public library.

The first to be installed was the water works system, the original contract being let on June 14, 1894, and the work being completed before the close of the year. The original plant consisted of an artisian well, an engine house with a pump having a capacity of 150 gallons a minute, and an upright tubular boiler, 3,675 feet of mains laid seven feet under ground, and ten fire hydrants.

At the time the water works was installed 1,000 feet of hose was purchased, and on May 28, 1895, the Thorp hose company was organized with James Connors as chief and James Covert as assistant chief,

The public school building erected in 1883 is still in use for the lower grade pupils of the village, and for the manual training department of the public schools. Originally consisting of four rooms, it did service as the village school for many years. In time two more rooms were added. But with the growth of the village and surrounding country, a larger institution was necessary, and plans were set on foot for the erection of a suitable high school building. This beautiful structure, erected in 1912, ata cost of $30,000, is a sightly, commodious structure, fully adequate for its purpose in every way. It has a Bedford stone foundation and trimmings, and is of vitrified brown brick, two stories high. It has eight rooms in addition to the library, offices, cloak rooms, retiring rooms and basement. It is heated with hot air, ventilated by the fan system, lighted with electricity, supplied with hot and cold water, and has ample provision for correct sanitation. A full high school course is given, with special studies in Manual Training and Domestic Science, and a "Short Course" in Agriculture. A library of 300 volumes is maintained. Among the features of school life are a moving picture machine for the showing of pictures from the State University Extension Department, a piano and a victrola. The teaching force consists of a principal and nine instructors.

The public library had its inception in the minds of William Wagner and George B. Parkhill, who established a lbrary of 120 volumes in the printing office of Mr. Wagner. Interest grew, and in time the city erected a suitable building, and took over the management of the library. The institution now has some 1,600 books in charge of Violet Parks as librarian.

The first postoffice at Thorp was established in 1876, at the residence of E. A. Boardman, who was the first postmaster, the office being called "North Fork." Mr. Boardman continued in charge of the mails until 1881, when he was succeeded by E. P. Brown, the name of the office being changed to Thorp, In 1885 William Wagner became postmaster, serving under the first administration of President Cleveland until 1889. L. O. Garrison and C. H. Sheldon each served a portion of the following four years. In 1893 Mr. Wagner was again appointed postmaster, and was succeeded in 1897 by W. R. McCutcheon. Five years later George B. Parkhill was appointed, serving until 1913, in which year he was succeeded by George Burke. Mr. Burke held the office until June 1, 1915, when William Wagner again took charge, and has since remained postmaster. Four rural mail routes, with Ignatz Prybylski, Hugo Quast, H. M. Mead and Martin Zeaman, as carriers, distribute mail daily in all directions from the office. The office went into the presidential class during Mr. McCutcheon's administration.

Dairying is the principal industry of the territory surrounding Thorp, and cheese and butter constitute the principal shipments from the village. In 1916 some 279,785 pounds of butter and 1,832,788 pounds of cheese were shipped; while in 1917 there were 93,992 pounds of butter and 3,072,- 447 pounds of cheese. The Thorp Dairy Company now controls four factories in this vicinity, with headquarters in the village. The first creamery was started in 1892.

The Thorp Dairy Company was organized in 1907, by William Krause, George Biddle, R. Verweyst, Val Przybylski, Martin Burzyuski, T. F, Murphy, Andrew Brenner, Felix Mikolainis, T. P. Bolin, Max Weber and Caesar Barth. The first officers were: President, William Krause; vice president, R. Verweyst ; treasurer, T. P. Murphy; secretary, Val Przybylski. The well equipped building was completed in August of the year of incorporation, and its success was insured from the start. Later, a cheese factory was added, with living rooms in the upper story. The company now owns and operates one creamery and five cheese factories, and during the year of 1917 paid its patrons $148,630.33 for 315,007 pounds of cream and 5,022,750 pounds of milk delivered at its factories.

The present officers are: President, William Krause; vice president, R. Verweyst; treasurer, George Burke; secretary and manager, Leon E. Bogumill. Their patronage averages from 300 patrons in the winter to about 600 during the summer months, handling the production of from 2,400 to 4,200 cows.