Walworth Village (part 2 of 2)

Big Foot Academy

Men and women of Walworth in its first twenty years felt the need of something more for their children than the opportunities of the district schools, however excellent these schools were for their time and its circumstances. In a new country there was no overshadowing educational center near enough to be available, to which the brighter youth might be sent. One forward step mighl Ik- taken at home if home sentiment might be unified to such a desirable end. It cannot now be said who led or who were first to follow. But there weir always men who were never far behind in any good work.

\ meeting was held in April, 1855, at which Harlow M. Coon presided and Mi". Bell was secretary. Mr. Randolph moved to elect nine trustees, and tin- was shown to be the sense of the meeting. William Bell, Carlos L. lass, ll.irlow M. Coon were chosen for one year ; Elijah Easton, William I'.. \la\soii, \.mo Bailey for two years; Rev. Oliver 1'. Hull. Cyrus Church, Howell \\ . Randolph for three years. 'Ibis board made Mr. Douglass its

Bailey, Henry Hall and Ephraim B. Swinney are also named among these earlier movers toward the object desired. Amos Bailey and Mr. Randolph were made a building committee, but some delay was inevitable. The needful fund was not to be collected on instant demand, and the sum required was large for a yet small community whose wealth was in land rather than in money lying in ancient Herrick safes at Geneva or Delavan. Air. and Mrs. Henry C. Coon were teaching in a select school at the village in 1856, and they presented the matter to their patrons and others so well that largeminded farmers and villagers and clear-seeing and capable women were convinced that the time was ripe for instant action. The needful sum, about six thousand dollars, was soon subscribed or secured, and Amos Bailey gave a fine piece of ground in the heart of the village. A substantial and sightly brick building was ready for its use at the fall term of 1857.

In 1861 Charles H. Gilbert bought this building with its site and in the same year sold it to the Seventh-day Baptist society, but the academy continued its work until 1882, when it was closed, the property was sold to the village school district, and the academic functions were thereafter performed by the high school which was then ready to carry forward its general purpose. A larger new building was afterward placed in front of the old one, with but a foot-passage between. In a little more time further floor space and better inner arrangement were needed, and early in 1912 workmen were pulling away the now historic building of 1857 in order to double the capacity of the newer building and meet this century's requirement for high schools. A souvenir pamphlet was lately printed at the instance of living teachers, pupils, and patrons of the academy. These twenty-eight pages contain a fair picture of the academy, thirty-six portraits, and a pupil-list of six hundred and eleven names, of which eighty-six are starred to denote deaths. These are prefaced with a short account of the school and its teachers. Its list of principals, as slightly corrected by a teacher living at the village, was: Daniel 1'.. .\la\son, 1857; Joseph A. Badger, 1858-9; Adoniram J. Kingman, [860; William Alarriner, 1863 ; Ambrose C. Spicer, 1864; Samuel I'. Ballard, 1865-8; Albert R. Crandall. 1868-9; Inez Childs, acting, [869; James J. Mclntyre, 1S70-1 ; Leander Elliott Livermore, [871-5 ; Joseph S. Badger. Jr., [875; Wardner < Titsworth, 1876; Jacob Sheffield Maxson, [877; Frank \V. Place, [878-9; O. Eugene Larkin, 1879-80; Frank O. Burdick, [880-1; Mazzini G. Stillman, 1881-2. Their assistants are well and kindly remembered; Dr. Edward G. Huse. Mrs. Henry ( '. Coon and \V. II. Lewis, [857-8; Elisha I!. Coon, [859; Pamelia Cronkhite, i860: Hannah McPherson, [863; Mrs. Spicer, 1864; Jennie Ballard. [867-8; Inez Childs. 1869-70; Phoebe S. Coon and Alan \

Cuckow, [870-1 : Alary Wicks, 1871-5: Emma Glaspey, 1876; Mrs. Jacob S. Maxson, 1877; Mrs. Alice D. Place and Olive M. Ewing, 1878-9; Minnie Douglass, 1879-80; Mary Whitford, 18801. These teachers were known and esteemed in their profession and from its opening to its closing the academy sustained its high reputation, which drew for it many pupils from abroad.

Pupilage so increased with the coming of a twentieth-century Walworth that a large new building, of good red brick, was placed squarely in front of the old one, masking it wholly as seen from across the park. The two structures, with their three acres of ground, are valued at fifteen thousand dollars. In 191 1 demolition of the older building and construction of a new one to meet present and prospective need of the district was decreed, and the workbegan with the spring of 1912. The estimated cost of the new building is also fifteen thousand dollars. This school employs nine teachers, and is on the list at Madison of what in official language are called "accredited schools." as is also the high school at Sharon.

The village of Walworth was platted by Carlos L. Douglass and grew until the business check of 1857. Its first tavern was at the house of Christopher Douglass, and was kept a few years later by Carlos L. Douglass, who presently engaged in larger affairs. At some time not recorded nor clearly remembered the Red Lion tavern was built and served its purpose until the new order of village life came in, when a handsome little three-storied house. built of brick, well finished and furnished within and well managed, supplied the later needs. It is named the Wayside Inn. Between it and the school lli 'ii e lies a little park, around three sides of which part of the stores and shops arc ranged. As the town grants no licenses for sale of liquor, the school and hotel are not too near together.

Walworth remained little more than a hamlet until the electric railway was built from Harvard in 1899, followed in 1901 by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St, Paul railway line from Chicago to Janesville. In the latter year it was in orporated as a village, and it is now one of the handsomest of four such municipalities in the county. The street-ways are raised with good gravel forever out of the fertile mud and the walks are generally of cement. It has been lighted with gasoline since 1905 and its water works began service in on 1 It is nut too far from Geneva lake to receive some benefits from summer sojourners) For the electric line reaches the lake shore at Fontana, a ride of two and one half miles.

The Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Walworth was incorporated in January, 1878, for business in that town. Its risks in force at the end of 1910 were 461, amounting to $788,990. Losses paid since 1878 amount to $16,496. Its present officers are Carlos S. Douglass, of Fontana. president; Martin F. Schacht, of Walworth, secertary.

The Walworth State Bank was incorporated in 1903. Its capital is $15,000, and deposits $190,000. Carlos S. Douglass is president and Frank E. Lawson. cashier.

The highlands which bound and overlook Geneva lake are at its headcontinued in wanton curvatures for about a mile southwestward in section 1 5 of Walworth. Recession of the water by some prehistoric bursting of the eastern wall left a very uneven bottom about a half-mile wide, whose numerous springs suggest the probable character of the whole lake Boor. In or near this basin-like part of section 14 James Van Slyke built his cabin in 1836 and marked claims wheresoever he listed. In July. 1840, he sold part of his domain to John Cumming. who, in January, 1845, s°ld it to Richard Montague, from whom Carlos L. Douglass bought in 1856.

It is not now known at Walworth when or where James Van Slyke went from that town or from this earth. Tradition preserves an impression that . his wife was in most ways his superior. This may do him much less than justice As Mr. Payne's friend in 1836 he was in small favor with the Brink party. At Fontana he may not have stood as high as his half-heroic wife in Bigfoot's esteem, but the noble red man's standards of measurement are his own. From the scanty record of the family as landowners it is learned that in March, 1845, Charlotte Van Slyke bought for twenty-five dollars, of R. Wells Warren, lot 8 in block 19 (next west of the park), in the village of Geneva; and that in March, T859, Dolphus S. Van Slyke and l.ovina, his wife, Fernando D. Joy and Mary S., his wife, James S. Chambers and Rosalie \\'., his wife, and D. J. Van Slyke, as "sole heirs of Charlotte Van Slyke, of Walworth, deceased," sold the same lot to Dan Wright. Also, that in 1851, Catharine Van Slyke received a deed of real estate in Walworth from Elizabeth < 'ummings. and that in one or more papers Catharine's name is joined, her name placed first, with that of Dolphus S. Van Slyke. The child born at Geneva in 1836 died in [856, but it is thought not at the home of her parents.

It is told that in 1837 James Van Slyke sold a part of his claim or claims to Amos Bailey, Dr. Henry Clark and Matthias Mohr. These three men planned rather than platted a village near the lake in 1838. but its building was postponed indefinitely. Air. Mohr. however, named the locality Fontana. Near the water's edge, on the north side of the basin, was a grove of large trees standing on not too uneven ground and here, about 1871. Gurdon Montague and Doric C. Porter set apart a place for picnic and large out-ofdoor meetings. Some part of this ground was included in George M. Reid's park, deeded or dedicated "to the public" in 1890.

Richard Montague built a saw-mill in 1845, which became a grist-mill in i860. In 1857-8 Carlos S. Douglass built a grist-mill lower down the fountain-born rill, equipped it, improved it, and for thirty years his Hour was of the best in the county. Stores and dwellings gradually surrounded the mill. and Fontana became a village and summer resort, accessible by railway and steamer from all parts of the world, - half-hidden, as it is, in the ancient bay. Near the lake is a fish hatchery, well stocked with young trout. Behind the village a gravel crusher faces the northern bank of the basin, and its product is largely used at home and within the county, as well as shipped out of the state by the electric line. Mr. Douglass platted the village in 1895, but village life had begun there much earlier. In 1891 the women of the Congregational A ill Society built a union church, and the pastors at Walworth perform dutv here. The postofnce remains a local convenience. James B. Davis and Oscar E. Davis have been postmasters since its establishment, about 1884. The village school has four departments.