1

From the Superior Evening Telegram

March 10, 1933

SIMPLE TOOLS USED TO

FASHION BOAT FROM

HUGE LOG Hoping that one of the unique

arts of the early frontier days of

Upper Wisconsin may not become extinct, George W.

Harmon, Sr., well known resident

of Upper Wisconsin and former mayor of Spooner, has created an

almost forgotten type of craft that

served as one of the earliest

means of transportation to the early settlers of this region – “The Chippewa River Dug-out.”

The rivers in the early days afforded the settler the

earliest means of reaching the unknown localities of a new land, this being particularly true of the Chippewa

River territory, and it was at Belilles Falls, about ten

miles south of the east fork of the Chippewa, according to Mr. Harmon, that the first “Chippewa River Dug-out”

was brought into being by a man named Walter

Hutchinson of the Kenebec River district, State of

Maine, in or about the year 1869. The “dug-out,” because of its durability, flexibility

and sea-worthiness, was so far superior to the boats then

in use on that river that they were quite widely used until the “wagon roads were put through” about ten years

later. Mr. Harmon was one of the first to acquire the

knowledge of designing and building these crafts and in

the course of the boat’s popularity, he created about 50 of these “dug-outs.”

Difficult Finding Tree

Mr. Harmon, in the building of his present boat, had some difficulty in securing a tree in this region that was

suitable and of the proper proportions. Through the aid

of Mr. Fink of the John E. Fink Lumber Company of Drummond, one was finally found in one of the

remaining forests located about 16 miles southwest of

Drummond.

The tree was cut about two feet from the ground and then topped about 12 feet below the lower branches.

The loaded tree as brought into Spooner measured 45

feet, one inch long with a 48 inch butt diameter and 28 inch top diameter. Because of a slight flaw in the base

of the tree, six feet were taken from the butt end and then

in order to get the correct width-to-length ratio about nine feet were taken off the top. To be correctly

proportioned, the craft should measure 30 feet long and

an average of 30 inches wide. It was securing this ratio

and in designing of the bow that Mr. Harmon and his assistant Andrew Powers, who is one of the few

remaining old-time lumbermen, encountered their

greatest difficulty.

Built Boat in 1878 Mr. Harmon’s last attempt at constructing one of

these boats was in the year 1878 or over 55 years ago,

but as he said, “Once the ratio became clear over the span of years, the trouble was cleared up.” A “dug-out”

so proportioned would have a capacity of 1,200 pounds

and two men. No modern tools were used by Mr. Harmon and his

assistant in the construction of his present craft, only the

old-fashioned instruments, some of which are over 55 years old. A number of pictures were taken showing the

various stages of construction in connection with the

present boat, all of which are very interesting.

If proper arrangements can be made, Mr. Harmon hopes to be able to exhibit the “dug-out” this summer at

the World’s Fair in Chicago.

***

Dug-Out Canoes

by Sharon Tarr, 2015

Dug-out canoes were, of course, a long-time style of travel and commerce to the Native American tribes, and

it is likely that Walter Hutchinson learned his craft from

them or from someone else taught by them.

From the internet – Indians.com “Most Indian canoes were lightweight, small, and fast

though the Iroquois built their canoes at lengths of 30

feet. These were used to hold up to 18 passengers or to help move merchandise. An advantage over a row boat

is while in a canoe, you face forward in the direction of

travel. Canoe designs varied from tribe to tribe but each

canoe took quite a bit of talent to produce. Some were sewn together while others used spruce gum for

caulking. Carving was essential, and some burned the

inside of the canoe to help it become waterproof.”

2

The Harmon Family

by Sharon Tarr, 2019

Information mainly from the Internet

The first Harmon of note in Spooner was George

Washington Harmon [1862-1942]

His father was Jonas William Harmon. The dates of

Susannah, G.W.’s mother, were 1840-1865. Jonas

William Harmon was born in 1839 in Ashland County,

Ohio, and died October 20, 1901, in Spooner. He is

buried in the Spooner Cemetery. His death date means

he was probably first buried in the cemetery on what is

now College Street and then was moved out to the

new/present cemetery about 1907 when it was opened.

This Jonas was married second to Jeanette, and they

were both age 60 and living at Long Lake, Washburn

County in 1900. He was dealing in real estate at that

time. His father was also Jonas William Harmon [1802-

1880]; his mother was Catherine Benninghoff [1811-

1877]. The Harmon surname can be seen back then as

Herman or Harmon.

1850 census – Beaver Dam, Dodge County, WI

Jonas Harmon, 42; Wife Catherine, 36;

Children: Catherine, 17; Jonas, 10; Elizabeth, 9; John,

4; George W., baby [uncle of George W. Harmon of

Spooner]

1860 census – Beaver Dam

Jonas Harmon, 54; Wife Catherine, 47

Children: Jonas, 20; Elizabeth, 18; John, 14; George W.,

10 [uncle of GWH of Spooner]

1860 census – Beaver Dam

William McDowell, 46

Wife Barbara Sides McDowell, 42

John, Susannah, 19; Robert, Sarah Jane, William,

Matilda, Mary, Samuel

William McDowell [1814-1880]; Barbara Sides

McDowell [1818-1892]

Susannah was born in Westmoreland, PA, in 1840 and

died in Beaver Dam in 1865.

She was the mother of George W., of Spooner.

1870 census – Friendship, Fond du Lac County, WI

Jonas, 31; Jeanette, 31; George W., 8 [Spooner citizen-

to-be]

1880 census – Chippewa County, WI

Jonas Harmon, 40

Wife Janet/Jeanette, 40

George W., 18 [Spooner’s George W.]

The Spooner Years

1900 Census – Jonas, 60; Jeanette, 60; married 1867;

living on Long Lake. He sold real estate.

George W. Harmon, 37, land agent; Charlotte Harmon,

36; they were married in 1881 in Iowa;

Children: Carl E., 17; Katie, 14; Alphonzo, 12; Jonas,10;

Matilda, 8; Charlotte, 6; George W., 3; Harry D., 1.

1910 Census – Living in Spooner, George W. Harmon,

49, real estate agent; Charlotte A., 46;

Children: Katherine M., 24; Fontie B., 20; Matilda J.,

18; Charlotte C., 16; George W., Jr., 13; Harry D.., 11;

Lacey L., 8; Susan Muriel, 6.

Mrs. Harmon was the former Charlotte Ann

Thompson who had been born in Maryland in 1863.

1920 Census – Jonas W. Harmon, 31, automobile

machinist; Sylvia, 28; sons George A., 9; Kenneth J., 7.

They were living on Balsam Street.

George Arthur Harmon [1910-1963] married

Phyllis Leavens. They had two daughters, Carole and

Susan. They lived on the 200 block, north side, of

Balsam Street. Their two-story gray-sided house is no

longer standing in 2018. It has been gone for many

years.

Kenneth John Harmon [1912-1962] married Evelyn

Falk of Spooner. Their children were Glennyce Jones,

Barbara Pettit, Richard, Kenneth William, and Thomas.

They lived on the corner of LaFollette and Franklin

streets in Spooner.

Obituary

Evelyn Valborg Harmon, 98, of Spooner, passed

away on July 28, 2010, at Spooner Health System.

She was born on March 13, 1912, to Andrew and

Matilda (Wallin) Falk in Spooner. Both of her parents

were born in Sweden, but did not meet until they came

to northern Wisconsin. She was very proud of her

Swedish heritage.

Evelyn was raised in Spooner and was a 1929

graduate of Spooner High School. After graduation, she

attended Superior College and received her teachers

certificate in 1930. She taught rural school at Blooming

Valley and also at Pine Knoll by Stone Lake. She

married Kenneth John Harmon on May 2, 1936,

Survivors include: daughters, Glenny (Gary) Jones of

Hibbing and Barb (Jim) Pettit of Solon Springs; sons,

Dick (Vicki) Harmon of Minong, Ken Harmon of

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Spooner and Tom Harmon of Eau Claire; 14

grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, eight great-great-

grandchildren; nephews, Bill Falk of Spooner, Lee Falk

of St. Charles, Roger Falk of Eau Claire, and Bill Falk of

Baltimore; nieces, Jeannine of Antigo, Beverly Reed of

Combined Locks and Patsy of St. Paul, Minn.; and many

other relatives and friends.

Evelyn was preceded in death by: her parents;

husband, Kenneth; brothers, Gustave Rudoph Falk,

Clarence Elmer Falk and Carl Theodore Falk; sister,

Gertrude Victoria Bauer; sister-in-law, Marie Falk;

daughter-in-law, Carleen Harmon; grandson, Charles

Harmon Pettit; and nephews Donald Bauer, John Falk

and Robert Bauer.

Jane E. “Betty” Spoolman, who was born to Irene and Font Harmon in Spooner in 1921, died in 2013. In 1944,

she married Arthur Spoolman of Ashland. They had five

children, Amy, Jean, John, Rick and Scott. Betty was preceded in death by her daughter, Jean; husband, Art;

sister, Ione; and brothers Gene and John. Art was the

superintendent of schools in Hayward. Betty was survived by her daughter, Amy (Mike) Lanphear of

McFarland; sons John (Rose) of Plymouth, Minn., Rick

(Nancy) of Rapid City, S.D., and Scott (Gail) of

Madison; six grandchildren, Liz (John) Beutel, Chad (Lindsey) Spoolman, Corey Spoolman, Kerry (Greg)

Bill, Will Martinelli-Spoolman and Katie Martinelli-

Spoolman; eight great-grandchildren, Brian, Andrew, McKenzie, Betty Mae, Koen, Joe, Charlie and Robbie;

sisters-in-law, Mabel Harmon and Ruth Stroshane.

1945 - S.Sgt. Gene Harmon arrived in Spooner on

Monday after serving 37 months overseas with the Ninth

Air Force to spend a furlough at the home of his parents,

Mr. and Mrs. Font Harmon.

Lacey Lemmer “Jake” Harmon was living in St. Paul

in 1930. He was a watch maker. He was 28 years old;

his wife Nina was 26.

They had a daughter Diana and a son Warren.

Lacey died in 1951 in Ramsey County, MN.

His wife was the former Nina Porter [1903-1992] of

Spooner.

George W. Harmon, Jr., [1897-1960] married Vera

Smith of the Town of Crystal. They had one daughter,

Georgene.

Harry Deffenbaugh Harmon [1899-1964] died in

Utah. August 7, 1930, Spooner Advocate - Harry

Harmon of Spooner, who taught school at Bainville,

Mont., during the past year, spent considerable time this

summer broadcasting music from a radio station at Wolf

Point, Mont. Harry is an accomplished pianist and singer

and is also winning recognition as a song writer and

composer. Kate Harmon [1886-1954] was married in 1910 to Dr.

Melvin Bennett. Corthell [1875-1945], a dentist. He was

a veteran of the Spanish-American War. No children.

Charlotte C. Harmon was married to Eugene J. Wall.

In the 1940 census, he was 45 years old, and she was 46.

Their children were Keith J. [1918-1995[, 21; Charlotte

Andretta [1924-2002]., 13; and Ferris Jean, 10. Ferris

married Floy Ashley.

Susan Muriel [1904-1980] married Herbert C. Fischer.

They lived in Billings, Montana.

1930 Census, Spooner, WI, Rusk Street

Font B. Harmon, 40, fireman on railroad;

Irene J., 37, wife;

Children: John L., 16; Eugene L., 14;

Jane E., 9; and Ione J., 3.

Font was born Alphonzo Brownell Harmon in 1889. His

wife was the former Irene Anderson..

By 1940 he had advanced to engineer. Font died in

1949.

From the Spooner Advocate:

1926 - Mayor George W. Harmon Sr. is relinquishing

his interests in the Spooner Garage, turning the business

over to his son, George. With his retirement, Washburn

County loses its pioneer auto dealer, for Harmon was the

first to embark in this business in the county.

4

George W. Harmon, the surveyor From ancestry.com

5

Harmon Buggy Ride

with English Cousins

1906

Spooner, Wisconsin

The photograph was taken in front of the George W. Harmon's second Spooner house. On the wooden

boardwalk, left to right: Matilda Jeanette Harmon, Jonas

W. "Jone" Harmon, George W. Harmon Jr. (the blur). Buggy front seat: Katherine Mae Harmon, Lacy Lemmer

"Jake" Harmon, Philip Arthur Ellis. Buggy back seat:

Charlotte Ann Harmon, Susan Muriel Harmon (in lap);

Marian Charlotte Harrison.

From ancestry.com

6

George W. Harmon predicted an attack by Bill Thornley, Spooner Advocate

Dec 6, 2012

His name was George W. Harmon – surveyor, real estate man, auto dealer, mayor. He came to the area

before Spooner was a tiny village and left a lasting

imprint. Today, his fingerprints still can be seen in the community. Harmon Street bears his name, as does

Harmon Lake.

And as an elderly man in the 1940s, he made an

incredible prediction that could have changed the course of history had anyone been paying attention …

When Harmon was a young man America fought

what, at the time, was called the World War. By early 1941 it was evident that it soon would be known as

World War I, because World War II was building,

though the United States had not yet entered. In Harmon’s younger days he had worked at an Eau

Claire lumber camp. A young Japanese boy fell into the

water and would have drowned had Harmon not pulled

him to safety. A friendship and bond was formed, and the two kept in touch, even though Harmon moved to

Spooner and the Japanese youth settled in Seattle,

Wash., where he became a successful businessman. In early November of 1941, a young Japanese man

arrived in Spooner with a letter. He was looking for

Spooner’s former mayor, George W. Harmon. It turned out the young man was the son of the man

Harmon had saved from drowning years earlier. He gave

Harmon the letter his father had sent because he thought

Harmon was a man of some influence. The letter contained information about a Japanese attack that was

being planned.

The young man told Harmon, “I will not get back home alive,” and apparently, according to Harmon, he

did not. A covert effort to silence the man? That remains

a mystery. No effort was ever made to silence Harmon,

however, and on November 28, 1941, nine days before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, George W. Harmon,

then 79, sent this hand-typed letter to White House Press

Secretary Stephan Early.

Spooner, Wisconsin

November 28, 1941 Secretary Stephan T. Early,

White House, Washington, D.C.

I hardly know how to open up the question. However

I am passing the information on to you for what it may be worth, as I believe it has come to me as a sincere

truth.

First … there is located some place in the South-South Pacific, two or possibly three ships carrying

Japanese planes, and not at any too great distance from

their object of planned attack … the Hawaiian Island.

Said planned attack is set for the very near future. Second … There is also some ships carrying small

size submarines … one or two, not any too far off the

west coast of North and South America, and so close in

the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands. Also many in and about the East Coast of Japan, especially near Tokyo,

waiting for any U.S.A. ships that may plan an attack in

their vicinity. Third … There are some other minor information,

which I have received during the past and since

September 11, and the last coming yesterday. But it seems the two mentioned above are the main ones to

need attention at once, or in the very near future. As

from the information I have received just yesterday, the

present Japan Apparent Peace Talk going on at Washington the past six months and most especially the

past two or three weeks, carried on by Ambassador

Nomura and Special Representative Kurusa have been nothing more than to gain a little time to complete their

planned attack. These two men well know what these

plans are and will continue their efforts up to the very last minute.

You will beyond a doubt say “Some More Crack

Brained Stuff” … however I am satisfied it is not such

and would be a long story to show why. However, undoubtedly the proper department has all

the necessary information OR CERTAINLY SHOULD

HAVE, to handle the situation, and not allow Uncle Sam to get caught with his pants down at the wrong time.

I have been requested to pass this information along to

someone where it will not be broadcast to the world. So

have decided if mailed at all, to get it directly into the hands of the President, if it is possible to do, so that it

may be checked on in the proper way.

Very respectfully, George W. Harmon, Sr.,

221 River Avenue, Spooner, Wis.

Harmon’s warning, of course, was accurate. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack took place. Could

his letter have changed the course of history if someone

would have listened?

And who-knew-what-when? Could it have been a complete surprise? Today, most historians say it was not.

America had broken a Japanese code known as The

Purple Code and knew at least as early as December 5, 1941, that the Japanese fleet was at sea and that some

kind of attack was going to take place. Still, Pearl

Harbor did happen, and the U.S. Navy was, as Harmon put it, “caught with their pants down.” His warning had

been ignored.

Harmon never saw the end of World War II. At 6:30

a.m., on November 9, 1942, George W. Harmon died.

7

“With confidence in our armed forces – with the

unbounding determination of our People – we will gain the inevitable triumph – so help us God,” declared

President Roosevelt in his speech to Congress,

December 8, 1941.

Friday, December 7, 2012, is the 71st anniversary of the attack that Harmon warned of. This account has

become something of a Spooner legend, and it should be

retold every so often so that it is not forgotten. Happy Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. And to

George W. Harmon, thanks … you almost changed

history

Also from the Spooner Advocate:

November 3, 1905 - George W. Harmon’s team ran

away from in front of his stable on Summit Street on Sunday. They turned east on Ash Street and collided

with the milk wagon of Albert Peterson, throwing Mr.

Peterson out and breaking his leg. Fontie Harmon was in the wagon and displayed remarkable horsemanship by

holding the team and finally bringing them to a stop at

the corner of Vine and River streets. Mr. Peterson was carried to the home of R.W. Kelting, where Dr. Stewart

set the broken limb.

November 24, 1905 - George W. Harmon and William Busch have purchased the old long-distance telephone

line from Shell Lake to Hayward. They will take the line

down, and Mr. Harmon will build a line to Long Lake. Mr. Busch will run a line to his farm from his market,

which will enable him to handle his business easier

August 19, 1910 - Dr. Melvin Corthell and Miss Katherine Harmon were wed on Thursday noon at the

home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George W. Harmon,

in this city.

February 2, 1912 - City Engineer George Harmon,

Alderman Cuddy, and C.A. Peasley were out to Spooner Lake on Monday and laid out the site for the new dam.

June 21, 1912 -Tillie Harmon graduated from the normal

at Superior on Wednesday. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George W. Harmon, attended the graduation exercises.

May 9, 1913 - George W. Harmon is erecting a garage on Front Street, a 30x60, solid brick, one-story structure.

May 9, 1924 - W.H. Cleary and George Harmon

presented petitions to the county board on Wednesday

for changing the county seat from Shell Lake to

Spooner. They were referred to a committee which will

check up on all the signatures and report to the county

board on June 3.

May 21, 1926 - Mayor George W. Harmon Sr. is

relinquishing his interests in the Spooner Garage,

turning the business over to his son, George. With

his retirement, Washburn County loses its pioneer

auto dealer, for Harmon was the first to embark in

this business in the county.

July 30, 1926 - Mayor George W. Harmon of

Spooner is truly a pioneer among resorters and

summer home owners in the Long Lake district.

“Beach” Pearson has just painted a sign for him

bearing the legend, “Harmon Place, 1896-1926,”

signifying that the Harmon summer home on Long

Lake was established some 30 years ago.

.August 23, 1928 - H.D. Harmon and Miss Merle

Harmon leave Thursday for Montana where they will

teach the coming year. Mr. Harmon is returning to Judith

Gap, Wheatland County, Mont., for his fourth year as

high school principal and athletic director, and Miss

Harmon will go to Great Falls as third grade teacher.

October 12, 1933 - George Harmon’s cottage at

Chittamo was destroyed by fire last Friday.

September 27, 1945 - S.Sgt. Gene Harmon arrived in

Spooner on Monday after serving 37 months overseas with the Ninth Air Force to spend a furlough at the home

of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Font Harmon.

November 8, 1945 - George A. Harmon arrived in the States on Wednesday and called his wife and parents on

Thursday. He has been in Europe for more than a year.

June 30, 1949 - The Bieloh Insurance Agency in

Spooner has purchased the insurance agency of J.W.

Harmon, who died a few weeks ago. The Harmon agency was conducted by the late George W. Harmon

for many years.

January 5, 1950 - Kenneth Harmon has disposed of the equipment and business of the Buick garage in Spooner

to L. James and Don Gillis of Hayward, the new owners

taking possession January 1. Gillis will manage the local garage and agency while James runs the Buick agency in

Hayward. Mr. Harmon will devote his entire time to

managing the Spooner Auto Supply business.

8

George W. Harmon

by Bill Thornley, 2003 Spooner Advocate

His name was George W. Harmon - surveyor, real

estate man, auto dealer, mayor. He came to the area

before Spooner was a tiny village and left a lasting

imprint.

Some old-timers still recall Harmon and remember

his landmark Spooner Garage on Front Street. But they

are becoming few. Harmon has been gone for awhile. He

died in 1942, but not before he warned about the

impending Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor - a warning

that went unheeded in Washington, D.C.

Back in time

His name appeared on the front page of the very first

issue of the Spooner Advocate, published Friday, June

28, 1901. He was listed as secretary of the Spooner A.F.

& A.M. Lodge No. 26.

He was also mentioned in a column called

"Spooner's Improvements," as one of Spooner's

"prominent citizens," a stock holder in and member of

the Board of Directors of the Spooner State Bank.

In fact, the story on the bank stated, "The building

has been leased for a term of 10 years and is a solid brick

structure recently built by Mr. Geo. W. Harmon for the

bank."

Harmon was a respected community leader. In 1886

he built the very first Spooner High School. And in the

Friday, Dec. 6, 1901, issue of the Advocate, the first

public notice for incorporation of the village of Spooner

was printed and the land described as "containing

1,411.15 acres as surveyed by Geo. W. Harmon,

surveyor."

In the early days of Spooner and Washburn County,

Harmon became known as a man who worked hard to

bring in settlers to homestead.

An item from the Jan. 3, 1902, issue: "Geo. W.

Harmon just returned from Madison where he has been

closing the deal for 2,291 acres of land in the Long Lake

district. It was sold to Madison parties and will be used

as a stock ranch. The consideration was $5.50 per acre."

At a time when Northern Wisconsin was considered

part of the Western frontier, Harmon pointed the

direction and people followed. Without his drive and

direction, Washburn County could be a very different

place today.

In 1893, he built a house in Spooner, and he and his

wife, Charlotte, lived in it for the rest of their lives. It sat

on the corner where the Shell Lake State Bank now

exists. The family moved in on Feb. 2, 1894.

In 1912, he switched direction. An incredible new

invention called the automobile was sweeping the

nation, and he wanted in. Some said the horseless

carriage was a fad that would never last. Harmon

thought otherwise. He brought the automobile to

Spooner, opening the Spooner Garage and Ford Agency.

The April 4, 1924, issue of the Spooner Advocate

reported: "Harmon elected mayor. The city election

Tuesday brought out the largest vote ever recorded in the

city. 804 votes were polled, exceeding by 62 votes the

record of last year which was the largest up to that time.

Although many were working hard for the various

candidates, there was no disorder."

Harmon succeeded the retiring William Bush, getting

553 votes to 245 for Emory. LaPage. He took his first

oath of office on April 15, 1924, at the city council

meeting, holding the position for the next eight years.

9

Harry’s picture and obituary from ancestry.com

Buried at Chippewa Falls

Picture from findagrave.com

Marriage Record

Name: Ferris J Wall Gender: Female

Marriage Date: 6 Jun 1951

Marriage Place: Highland Falls, New York, USA

Spouse: Floy L Ashley

Death [findagrave.com]

Floy I Ashley

BIRTH 9 Sep 1898 DEATH Jun 1979 (aged 80)

BURIAL

Prairie View Cemetery

Hallie, Chippewa County, Wisconsin

Buried at Chippewa Falls.

Eugene J. Wall [1893-1951]

Charlotte C. Harmon Wall [1893-1989] Picture from findagrave.com

10

Death [findagrave.com]

Joseph Keith Wall BIRTH 7 Aug 1918

DEATH 2 Oct 1995 (aged 77)

BURIAL Spooner Cemetery

Spooner, Washburn County, Wisconsin, USA

Obituary

Saralouise "Bim" Wall, 96, of Rantoul, IL, passed away at home on Monday (July 20, 2015).

She was born Oct. 22, 1918, in Milaca, Minnesota, a

daughter of Robert and Edna (Butterfield) Goebel. She married Joseph Keith Wall on Oct. 29, 1940 in Spooner,

Wisconsin. He preceded her in death on Oct. 2, 1995.

She was also preceded in death by a son, Craig S. Wall

and a grandson, Lucas Wall. She is survived by two sons, Keith Michael (Sandy)

Wall and Barry Wall; three sisters, Charlotte Killian,

Barbara Schullo and Bette Kallenback; three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Wall was a longtime member of the United

Methodist Church, Rantoul, where she chaired the Altar Committee for many years.

She was an accomplished artist and won many

awards for her paintings. She was also well known for

decorating at wedding receptions throughout the area. Published in the Champaign, Illinois News-Gazette.

July 21, 2015.

1900 Census

Name: Sylvia A Mc Cann

Age: 8

Birth Date: Jan 1892 Birthplace: Wisconsin

Home in 1900: Bloomer, Chippewa, Wisconsin

Relation to Head of House: Daughter Marital status: Single

Father's name: Jerold Mc Cann

Father's Birthplace: Wisconsin Mother's name: Maude B Mc Cann

Mother's Birthplace: Minnesota

Occupation: At School

Household Members:

Name Age

Jerold Mc Cann 37 Maude B Mc Cann 28

Maggy B Mc Cann 8

Sylvia A Mc Cann 8 Francis G Mc Cann 7

Mildred M Mc Cann 5

John A Mc Cann 4

Jerdy F Mc Cann 2 Maryon R Mc Cann 11/12

From the Spooner Advocate:

August 15, 1929

Song by Local Man Is Being Published H.D. Harmon, popular young Spooner man, is the

composer of a new popular song hit, “The Broken

Promise That You Gave to Me,” which is now on sale having recently been published for him by Sayner,

Dalheim & Co. of Chicago. Copies of same may be

found on sale at the Red Cross Pharmacy in this city, as well as elsewhere throughout the country.

Harry, as he is familiarly known, has our thanks for a

copy left at our desk, but we plead guilty to the fact that we have not heard the number played as yet.

Nevertheless, we feel certain that it is good and trust it

will be popularly received.

World War I Draft Registration In September 1918, Harry Harmon was a teacher at

Raynesford, Cascade County, Montana.

Antholz Gymnasium and old High School when the gym was new, early 1960’s

Spooner High School/Antholz Gym before the old high school was torn down, early

1960’s. Now our high school is the old one, and it is gone.

1

Do You Remember These Teachers?

by Sharon Tarr

In order to see who our grade school teachers were, I checked a few old Spooner

Advocates because each fall just before school started, the paper would publish a list of

who would be teaching that year. Here they are.

The teachers at Hammill School at the beginning of school year 1950-1951

Kindergarten: Gloria Bystrom, who became Mrs. Bill Fox

1st grade: Eileen Fairchild and Laurayne Schlief

1st & 2nd grade: Fern Spafford

2nd grade: Alice Senn and Virgil McGlinnen

3rd grade: Jane Madden and Mary Williams

4th grade: Marie Hess and Alice Augustine

5th grade: Norma Clawson and Lois Huerth

6th grade: Lillian Nelson and Janet McNabb

7th grade: Walter Handler, who was also the building principal.

For those who attended country schools, some of their teachers in 1950-1951 included:

Crystal Lake: Dorothy Meister

Dunn Lake: Irma Ferguson

Earl: 5-8, Grace Noggles; 1-4, Christine Titus

Edgewood: Nina Koch

Evergreen Valley: Dorothy Janssen

Hillside: Irene Hills

Julia: Ellen Chase

Lampson: Betty West

Lincoln: Blanche Weberg

Mackey Valley: Elizabeth Wakefield

Madge: Alyce Tangwall

Nobleton: Edna Mae Marquart

Pine Grove: Lucille Rappley

Pioneer: Julia Gilbertson

Rocky Ridge: Mabel Foss

Sarona: 5-6, Vitus Koel; 1-4 Pearl Barager

Springbrook: 6-8, Frank Masterjohn; 3-5, Olivia Johnson; 1-2, Mae Lester

Stanberry: LaQuita Bartles Thompson

Stinnett: Pearl Woodliff

Tadpole: Edith Frederick

Trego: 6-8, Gladys Livingston; 3-5, Hazel Ramsdell; 1-2, Helen Klawitter

Twin Lakes: 5-8, Anah Shellito; 1-4, Helen Willers

West Sarona: Meldora Surbook

Whittier: Beatrice Stock

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In 1941, some of our teachers were already at work at Hammill School, left to right, they

are Laurayne Schlief, Dorothy Connors, Mary Williams and Jane Madden.

The next year, 1951-52, at Hammill

Kindergarten: Cecelia Fitzgerald

1st Grade: Eileen Fairchild, Laurayne Schlief, and Alice Hassard

2nd Grade: Virgil McGlinnen, Jean Isabella

2nd & 3rd Grade: Alice Senn

3rd Grade: Jane Madden and Mary Williams

4th Grade: Marie Hess and Fern Spafford

5th Grade: Norma Clawson and Elaine Cronstrom

6th Grade: Lillian Nelson and Janet McNabb

At Hammill, 1952-1953

Kindergarten: Betty Allar and Cecelia Fitzgerald

1st Grade: Eileen Fairchild, Arlene Karis, and Laurayne Schlief

2nd Grade: Virgil McGlinnen, Alice Senn, and Mila Tukalek

3rd Grade: Mary Williams and Maxine Nelson

3rd & 4th Grade: Jane Madden

4th Grade: Marie Hess and Elaine Cronstrom

5th Grade: Fern Spafford and Norma Clawson

Special: Dorothy Connors

Music: Marilyn Hanson and June Peterson

1953-1954

Sharon Tarr’s teachers: When I was in fourth grade, my teacher was Virgil McGlinnen.

She had also been my second grade teacher. Marie Hess was my fifth grade teacher and

later also became my seventh grade teacher. My other teachers were, first, Laurayne

Schlief; third, Maxine Nelson; sixth, Lillian (Nellybelle) Nelson; and eighth, math,Bob

Morey; English, Jim (“Open the windows!”) Masterjohn; history, Ray Miller; Latin,

Mary Leahy; typing, Joanne Dow; phy. ed, Nancy Hickenbotham (who married Wally

Schaub from Spooner and moved to Spooner after she and Wally retired); art, Hope

Metcalfe, and science, Ole Jensen, who was later my high school geometry teacher.

Frank “Farmer” Masterjohn, who taught at the Springbrook School for many years, once

researched the many country schools that had been in Washburn County. He then

marked them on a county map so it could roughly be seen where each had been located.

Today a number of the school buildings still exist, some are community centers, town

halls, or business locations, while others have been hauled away or fallen down or burned

down.

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Frank Masterjohn’s School Map

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Some classmates and friends were in those combined-grades classes. Here are some

pictures of them that Ellen Jane Schak Oliver brought to show at the 2007 Class of ‘62

reunion.

“Kenny’s Classmates”

Front row: Mary Donatell, Marilyn Scalzo, Ellen Durand, Carol Stubfors,

Bobby Stafford, kneeling in front; Kenny Harmon;

back row, Linda Okonek, Marlys Hanson, Theckla Edwall, Larry Johnson, Bill Byrkit.

Front row: Bob Lehman, Marilyn Lewis, Ellen Jane Schak, Karen Hovey, Dave Schmitz,

Tim Erdman; back row, Patty Meacham, Barb Benson, Ellen Stella

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Spooner School District This list of Spooner teachers and other staff is taken from the Spooner Advocate,

August 22, 1957, with a few extra notes added. “H.J. Antholz was the Spooner School

System Superintendent. The big new gym that would soon be built would be named for

him. He served the school district for more than 40 years.

“New teachers for the school year 1957-1958 at Spooner were: Fred Moser, former

Cumberland Schools superintendent (Moser Field in Cumberland is named for him);

Eugene Bridges, a graduate of Eau Claire State College, taught and coached last year at

Augusta; a few years later, “Coach” would become Spooner High’s first driving

instructor; Eileen Bridges, Eau Claire State graduate, wife of “Coach”; Robert Fletcher,

graduate of La Crosse State; Etta Gilleland, University of Minnesota, Duluth; Eleanor

Johnson, Stout State graduate, taught at Rice Lake and did home agent work in Douglas,

St. Croix and Taylor counties;

“Luanne Lillie, Superior State graduate from Phillips; Raymond Miller, La Crosse

State graduate from Shell Lake; his sister, Wanda Miller Rohr, later Wanda Bengs, taught

at Spooner earlier; Robert Wanek, Superior State graduate; Greeta Fletcher, La Crosse

State graduate, taught at Summit School in La Crosse the past four years, wife of Robert

Fletcher; Joanne Dow, Whitewater State graduate, from Menomonie, taught at Bruce last

year; Nancy Hickenbotham, La Crosse State graduate; and Shirley Hickok Hile, Superior

State graduate from Shell Lake.

“Clifford Leonard, assist. superintendent; Arthur R. Golden, high school principal;

Fern Spafford, elem. supervisor; Robert G. Morey, elem. principal.

“High School staff included: Norman Aderhold, agriculture; Lloyd Anderson, band,

instrumental; Beatrice Antholz (Mrs. H.J.), English; Edward M. Bardill, Jr., photography,

printing, his father had once owned the Spooner Advocate; Eileen Bridges, English;

Eugene Bridges, boys phy. ed.; June Dorkey, commercial; Joanne Dow, girls phy. ed.;

Robert Fletcher, American history, speech and drama; Etta Gilleland, orchestra, strings;

Gerald M. Gossen, world history, coach; Aileen Jenson, geography; O.J. Jenson,

mathematics; Eleanor Johnson, home economics; Kenneth Kling, social problems; Mary

Leahy, Latin, American history; Clifford Leonard, industrial arts; Luanne Lillie, English;

Hope Metcalfe, art; Raymond Miller, American history, English; Lillian Olson, librarian;

June Peterson, chorus, vocal; Robert Wanek, science; Donald White, biology.

“Elementary and Junior High staff included: Gloria Fox, kindergarten; Betty Allar,

Laurayne Schlief, Helen Johnson, Shirley Hile, first grade; Esther Nelson, Dorothy Neste,

Alice Senn, second grade; Jane Madden, Marion Fallis, Naomi Beardsley, third grade;

Esther Dalton, Marjorie Celentano, Greeta Fletcher, fourth grade; Dorothy Janssen, Ellen

Chase, fifth grade; Marie Hess, fifth and sixth grades; Lillian Nelson, Anne Ankley, sixth

grade; Janet McNabb, Harold Gramberg, Don Minore, seventh grade; Roxanne Emerson,

library; Charles “Skip” Shireman, boys phy. ed.; Harriet Swan (June Peterson’s sister,

they were from the talented Toftness family from Shell Lake) piano and vocal; Hope

Metcalfe, art; Nancy Hickenbotham, girls phy. ed.

“Eighth grade: Robert Morey, math; James Masterjohn, English; Edward Bardill, Jr.,

and Aileen Jenson, social studies; Joanne Dow, typing; Mary Leahy, Latin; Harold

Gramberg, shop; Robert Fletcher, drama and speech; Raymond Miller, American

History; Ole Jenson, science.”

SPOONER TEACHERS These pictures are from the 1940 Pine Bough, At right is Beatrice Casperson,

from Frederic, a graduate of Superior State

Teachers College. Her responsibilities in 1940

were English composition, dramatics, and library.

Some time later she married the boss and became

Beatrice Antholz.

Below are some of the teachers that I, Sharon Tarr

remember from Hammill School: Mary Williams,

Janet McNabb, Marie Scheper Hess,

Laurayne Lynch Schlief, Dorothy Connors,

and Jane Madden.

Sharon Tarr said, “I’m not certain that any of us in the Class of ’62 ever had Janet

McNabb as a teacher, but I was asked to represent my class when

the school held a 50-year celebration for her.”

Arthur Golden, from Ashland,

Clifford Leonard, Spooner native, Instrumental Music, picture from 1940,

Industrial Arts, picture from 1940, High School Principal and French teacher

also Assistant Administrator during our school years

during our school years

SPOONER SCHOOLS

ADMINISTRATORS

Picture from the 1923 Jack Pine,

before the yearbook was called the Pine Bough.

H.J. (Henry James) Antholz came to Spooner in 1921.

He was born in Manitowoc in

1892, retired as Spooner’s Superintendent of Schools

in 1961, and died in Minneapolis

in 1964.

Ken Kling Art Golden LaVera Yarish Bob Morey Jim McShane Don White

Batman!! Batman!!

Sharon Tarr said, “Yikes! The last time I ever saw him he still scared the heck out of

me. It was about 1966. I was on my way to class at UW-Eau Claire from my apartment

a few blocks away from campus. I heard someone walking fast coming up behind me.

Even though it was daytime, I was ready to run, especially when I heard the person

calling my name. It turned out to be Batman (Christ Huber, our SHS principal for one

scary year – about 1960). I don’t remember anymore, but I suppose he told me what he

was doing in Eau Claire – I would guess that he must have been principal at one of the

high schools there or nearby. Anyway I was glad when I was once again alone and back

on my way to class.”

Arthur Golden was a talented musician and song writer, and a sweet man when he wasn’t

being a stern high school principal, however, when it came to making announcements he

became, as teacher James McShane used to describe him, “a man of a few thousand well

chosen words.” Below are some words that I think he chose very well.

Franklin Street Area Neighbors – Front Row: _________________,

_____________________, ___________________, Karen Hovey, Mickey Perkins, Mary

Ann Hovey, Mary Ellen Omernik; Back Row: Patty Meacham, Bill Dan Hovey, Mary

Ann Perkins, Nancy Stone. Thank you to Linda Trust Puchalski for bringing this picture

to the ’62 reunion and sharing it.

Linda died in 2005.

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Carl's Corner - How Cold is Ice?

by Carl Antholz

(For many years Carl worked as a chef, food expert, cooking tour guide for Kitchen

Window, a business in Minneapolis. He also writes for Kitchen Window’s newsletter

that can be found on the Internet at www.kitchenwindow.com.)

Here are a couple of his stories copied from their newsletters:

I remember looking forward to very cold winter days when I was a kid. My dad was the

superintendent of the high school, and would call school off when the temperature was

20º below zero or colder. That meant that we could go outside and ski or skate for the

day. The Spooner consolidated school district ran 36 bus routes in a 25-mile radius from

the school and he didn't want to risk having old buses breaking down in cold weather. On

the other hand, each day called off in the winter had to be made up with an additional day

in June. So he was rather strict about the 20-below rule. He would place a National

Weather Service certified thermometer on the cast iron railing outside our front door on

nights when cold weather was predicted. He'd check it just before 6 a.m. in order to call

the radio stations in Duluth and Minneapolis with his decision before their 7 a.m. listings

of school closings were broadcast. Even though I knew when our school was to be

closed, it was always a thrill to turn on WCCO and hear it officially announced.

On one such cold morning, I sneaked downstairs and tried to read the thermometer by

shining a flashlight through the front door windows. No luck, so I quietly pried the doors

open and went outside. The temperature was 17 below. Damn! Not cold enough! I had a

plan, though, and I quietly sneaked back upstairs and put on some socks and a bathrobe. I

then sneaked into the kitchen and grabbed a tray of ice cubes out of the freezer. I almost

pulled the lever on the aluminum tray right there, but I decided that it would make too

much noise. I took the tray out onto the front porch before cracking it open. I

immediately placed an ice cube on the bulb of the thermometer to bring the temperature

down those last 3 degrees. Imagine my surprise when the indicator went from 17 below

to 10 below in less than a minute. It didn't dawn on me that this home-frozen ice cube

was not nearly cold enough to do its job. It seemed as though all was lost, but I waited

and watched. The indicator started dropping again, but very slowly. Where was instant-

read technology in 1960? It was nearing 6 a.m. and the light went on in my dad's

bedroom, so I had to get out of there. Unfortunately, my socks were frozen to the porch. I

quickly stepped out of them, and ripped them out of their footprints, grabbed the ice tray

and sneaked back upstairs. We had school that day, and I've felt guilty ever since.

Later that month, we had an official school closing. The temperature was 36 below, so I

could go outside and play. Since the warming houses at the ice-skating rinks would be

also be closed, I laced up my skates at home and walked on my skate guards four blocks

to the big rink. I sat on the 3-foot high, bank of crusty snow that encircled the rink, re-

tightened my laces, and launched myself out onto the ice. It was like the ice reached up

and grabbed me! I was expecting to glide. Instead, I glid! About 3 feet! It was like

skating on sandpaper and the surface felt just as abrasive when I pitched forward and did

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a sideways head plant. My left cheekbone, (face cheekbone), was scraped raw. Clearly, I

needed to learn more about the physics and chemistry of ice in general, and ice skating in

particular. Thankfully, the basic skating issue was relatively easy to deduce; while

skating, the colder the ice, the slower the surface. Or is it?

When it comes to food, ice temperature is also important. With smoothies and similar

iced beverages, the warmer the ice, the easier it is to create a puree. When pouring a

carbonated beverage over ice, the greater the contrast in temperature, the more extreme

the fizzing action. Warm Coke or Pepsi will react quite violently with very cold ice

cubes. However when it comes to iced drinks, my favorite probably has the greatest

contrast in temperature and is decidedly non-violent in its preparation. It’s called Café

sua da, Vietnamese Iced-Coffee.

Carl's Corner Do Knives Really Have Feathers?

by Carl Antholz

I loved going to the barbershop as a kid for at least three great reasons: One was kind of

sneaky, one was sensual, and one was curiosity about sharp and shiny razors, and the

leather stropping procedure. Spooner's two-chair barbershop was manned by Dom and

Nick. I assume that Dom's full first name was Dominic, and I know that Nick's last name

was Masterjohn. He later opened a root beer stand, which evolved into a restaurant that

you could visit today.

Reason 1 - I could read comic books. The front window bench was littered with them.

Reason 2 - I got a fabulous scalp massage. Trying it by myself at home just wasn't the

same.

Reason 3 - I could watch in wonder at the stropping of the straight razor used to trim

around my ears. Both Dom and Nick had a couple of stropping leathers attached to their

barber chairs.

If I was lucky, the barbershop would be jammed. That meant additional time to read

comics. But eventually, Dom or Nick would call me from my comic book reverie,

arrange me in the chair, and proceed to do the deed. I don't remember who regularly gave

the better haircut - and as anyone who knows me or has seen me can confirm, I still don't

have a clue about getting good haircuts! I still am fascinated, however, with the leather

strops and shiny blades. Dom told me that the business edge of the razor was comprised

of metal feathers that needed to be stropped. I thought he was working me from both ends

- cutting my hair while pulling my leg. But he was right!

All cutlery has these fragile feathery teeth and it is these that do the cutting. How well

you maintain your knife’s edge will determine how well it performs. The best thing that

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you can do for a knife is hone it regularly with a steel. If honed properly and often

enough, sharpening only needs to happen every six months to a year. And, it is important

to the longevity of a knife to not sharpen it too often, as you remove steel each time.

What exactly is honing? It’s what keeps the knife’s feathers straight. And, if its feathers

are in alignment, the blade is sharp and will slide through almost anything. Watch your

fingers! It is important that a steel be harder than the knife it is honing. By running both

sides of the blade across the steel at the proper angle (this depends on the knife –

anywhere from 10º - 20º) you are putting the knife’s feathers back in alignment.

Along with proper honing, sharpening and cutting techniques, the best thing you can do

for your knife’s edge is to use proper cutting boards. Selecting cutting boards can be

daunting. Kitchen Window alone offers 15 plastic, 14 wood and 4 bamboo boards, as

well as one hybrid. In trying to make sense of this array of choices, I'd like to approach it

from two angles: food safety, and knife protection.

Let's start with knife protection. Very hard work surfaceslike glass, marble, granite, etc.

can be quickly eliminated as a cutting board choice, since the feathers could be

immediately bent and broken. Pebbled plastic, while not very hard, does damage by

making the blade run a slalom course (zigzag) through the plastic bumps. Very soft

surfaces like those found on most plastic cutting boards, should also be eliminated

because they allow the blade to be grabbed and twisted during each slice or chop. For

your knife's sake, very hard plastic or hardwood should be your surfaces of choice.

The size of your board is also important. Plastic boards should be able to fit inside your

dishwasher, or at least into your sink for quick cleaning. Wooden boards, like pot racks,

are more likely to fit into your kitchen if you consider their place before buying them.

There's little joy in bringing home a beautiful end-cut butcher block board and finding

out that it overhangs your counter by two inches, and you bang your hip on it every time

you rush into the kitchen to shush your tea kettle.

Let's examine food safety. Both wood and plastic boards can be made bacteria safe.

While it's true that wooden boards are naturally antibiotic and can also be further purified

in a microwave, it's also true that hard plastic/rubber boards are required for use in almost

every restaurant, because they can be "sterilized" in the dishwasher.

Choosing the perfect cutting board came down to this for me: I own two wooden, one

bamboo, and four color-coded plastic cutting boards. Thus, the answer to choosing the

perfect cutting board is, well . . . 7! Now, ask me about my favorite knife(s)!

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Showing when Oh Fudge candy shop was in where a bar – Johnny Vos, Calvin Burkard, Myrt Skriver,

Sam’s Silver Dollar – had been. Johnny Vos in the 1950s? Was it Riplingers before that? Oh Fudge was

run by Linda Marquardt, wife of Dwight Marquardt. He is from that bank where the Standard station

was across from Kronlund Motors.

Main Street from the west end. Notice that this is before the Palace Theatre moved across the street

next to Dahl’s. At the time it was in where Super Valu and/or National Tea were later.

2

I guess the cars might be the biggest clue as to when this was. I am guessing it was in the 1940s.

1

Talking with Dom Scalzo and Don White by Sharon Tarr, 1992 [Sharon’s Note, 2015: If I remember correctly, Dom Scalzo had called about buying some of my earlier history booklets, especially the ones that had the Italian families in them. I hadn’t had much

information about his family when I did them, so he asked me to come to his house on the corner of Rusk

and Franklin streets in Spooner, so we could talk more about his family. He also invited Don White

whom he referred to as Donnie. My mother always called Don White “Donnie”, too, because she had been in school with him

[teachers’ training] at Spooner in 1928. The other members of their class were Eva Scalzo, Dorothy

Hillman, Taletta Jensen, Marie Biver, Folman Rich, Gladys Coombs, Charlotte Edwards, Dorothy Webb, Viola Peterson, Lawrence Margraf, Anna Hoecherl, William Waggoner, and Harry Stouffer.

As we were leaving Dom’s house that night, Donnie told me he wasn’t sure why Dom had asked him

to be there because Dom had done most of the talking.]

RECALLING EARLIER TIMES Their talk that night was just an undirected conversation, and Donnie began it, saying that the school

basketball team used to play in the upstairs of the old town hall (in 1992 that space was the location of the

Northwest Regional Planning Commission; for the past several years now it was the dorm for the now defunct civic center; the location of the building is the northwest corner of Walnut and Summit Streets,

downtown.) Dom remembered playing basketball upstairs in the Trego Town Hall, too. One of the two

said something about that building being a potato warehouse in downtown Trego (east of what is now The Prime). I noticed that when Dom talked about people, like his family, who had come from Italy, he called

them “EYE-talians.” Most often, among Italians, that is not considered to be the proper pronunciation of

that word.

Dom: “We can start out with a combined 170 years of history – I just had my 86th birthday, and Donnie will be 84 in February.

“I worked on the railroad for nearly 10 years and was waiting to get my annual pass, when I got laid

off. I went to work on the railroad in 1924 and was there until 1933. I transferred freight from one car to another. The way they used to do it years ago, they would have, like Shell Lake, Comstock, Cumberland,

Barronett; you would separate freight into a car and drop it off when you got there; I worked all the way

to Hudson. It was called a way freight.” Donnie: “The Hudson way freight? Who was it that nearly died from carbon monoxide?”

Dom: “That was me. That was in 1928. How it happened to me – cold weather was coming up, and

they had to put another heater in the car – a refrigerator car – and the heater they used threw off heat with

carbon monoxide. I crawled down in the bottom of the car. The other heater was going, and I didn’t know it. When I tried to get out, I was reaching like this, and down on the floor I went. The conductor, Cyr was

his last name, was from Rice Lake, and he said, ‘I see something suspicious. Maybe Dom has put the

heater in, maybe he is in the car.’ So he went and old Johnny Sinclear, too. And they drug me out of there, and I didn’t come to until 7:00 the next morning. They took me up to Doc Knowles. He had some

whiskey there. I took a swig of that, and I started breathing.”

Dom picked up a picture of the old high school, and they started talking about going to school there.

Donnie: “One thing I remember about the old high school was the bathrooms downstairs. They weren’t “automatic” – so every once in a while, they would burn them out. There was an opening down

below, and I suppose they put some gasoline or kerosene on them and burned the ‘organic material.’ In

later years they remodeled and modernized them [made them flushable]. The “swimming pool” or “swimming hole” in Spooner was just to the left as you went over the bridge

to Shell Lake [either what was called the Wagon Bridge, on south Front St., which handled the auto

traffic; or the railroad bridge, now the Wild Rivers Trail]. Dom: “We used to break the ice to go in. Then they had a swimming pool [swimming hole] down

below the dam. You remember that, Donnie?”

Donnie: “Just east of the swimming pool, where we used to swim, used to be the hobo camp.”

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Talking about slot machines, Donnie said: “Every tavern in town used to have slot machines. They

used to pay the rent with those.” Dom: “One of those guys from out north of town, his feet would be sticking out of his shoes, and he

would be pulling away on the slot machines. He’d get the jackpot and put them all back in, get another

jackpot and put them all back in. He was a fiend for them.

“I went down to that casino in Turtle Lake. The first time I won $195 playing blackjack. The next time I won $125. The next time I left my pocketbook with the balance of my money home, and it’s a good

thing I did. I lost my $105 I had with me in cash. That’s the last time I went there.

“One good business I passed up was a video store. A relative in Chicago tried to talk me into going into it about 8-10 years ago, but I couldn’t see it. A small town like this, I thought it would never go.” He

chuckled.

Dom was 30 when he and his wife, Julia, married. She died in 1984. He said, “She was a good looking girl; she could cook, sew, knit, crochet, make socks, sweaters and bedspreads.” [Mrs. George Andrea was

Julia’s sister.]

[Sharon’s Note - Dom took Donnie and me on a tour of his home – the living room, three bedrooms,

bathroom, kitchen/dining room, TV room, and a finished basement. Bill Perkins built the house for Dom. In 1959, Bill Perkins also built the house I live in on Balsam Street. Around the area, he also built many

others, including his own which is on the bank of the Yellow River near the DNR headquarters. In the

early 1960s, Bill and family moved to Coeur d’Alene, ID. Bill’s brother, Jared, was a near neighbor of Donnie White; they lived about one block apart on Franklin Street. Jared, a railroad engineer, lived next

door to the apartment house that is located at the corner of Smith and Franklin streets.]

Getting back to working on the railroad, Donnie said: My dad, Earl White, was first a freight conductor and then a passenger conductor. My brother, Ken, was in charge of parts at the roundhouse; he

worked at Hudson.

“My dad worked for 50 years. My brother worked to age 64. He went up and got a health check and

three days later died of a massive heart attack. He would have retired the next year.” Dom: “Donnie’s brother, Ken, and I played football together. Some of the others on the team were

Earl Costello, Kenny Christopherson, Hank Donatell, Harold Cuthbert, and Wesley Hendrickson. Our

coach was Harold Steele.” Dom played in 1924, he said. Donnie said that he himself played in 1926.

Donnie never worked on the railroad. He went from high school to teacher training. “I taught at the

Cable Lake School for two years. Then I went to Superior and got my degree in four years, and I taught

43 years altogether [mostly at Spooner High School where he was the biology teacher]. Dom’s sister, Carmel, was next to him in age, “She taught out to Evergreen out to Long Lake and

stayed with the Gruenhagens. They had that old White Pine School back in there. She got $75 a month

[His tone said ‘Can you imagine that?’] I had to drive her out there every Sunday and go and pick her up every Friday. That got monotonous. Then she married my brother-in-law and moved to Canada. She

taught in a Catholic school there. She gets a $1,000 a month pension now (1992). That’s beautiful wages.

“I moved up to Canada in 1932 or 1933, after I got laid off here. My father-in-law wanted me to get up there. So I got up there, and I got a job with the Ontario Department of Labor, doing highway work,

blasting with dynamite. We dug up foxholes. You dig way back in there with a long shovel and dig out a

room, and you blow your dynamite and move all the sand and store it for the winter.

“And when you came to a big rock cut, you did the blasting. Electric igniter, maybe 20 feet deep – and every time you had a hole 20 feet deep, you would put a little stick of dynamite in it with a fuse on it.

Drop one in. It would go ‘bing’. Drop another one, ‘bing’, then ‘bong’, then ‘boom’. Then you know you

got plenty of room for dynamite. “Then I worked at the shipyard up there [Dom was at Port Arthur, which in 1970, merged with the

nearby city of Fort William to become Thunder Bay]. And then the paper mill, and then I worked for the

city where I had not much of a paying job. I was up there around three years. Then I decided to move back here. Some people up there resented my being an American and taking their jobs.

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“My father-in-law was the foreman up there. He said, ‘You are old enough. You know what you want

to do. You can stay here, you got a home here.’ “But it caused hard feelings (with the other workers), so why I should stay there? Then I came back

here and was on WPA, $40 a month.

“After that I got into the fur business and made a few thousand dollars. Then I built the building in

1945. I started having dry ice. Joe Poppe had it for carbonation, and I knew what it could do after I saw it – the dry ice. I used to buy it for four cents a pound and sell it for 15 to 20 cents a pound. Made a

beautiful profit.

“I put a small sign on the highway, had the dry ice at the locker plant [corner of River and Maple Streets, where McDonald’s is in 2015]. People would go by and see the sign, “Dry Ice – Spooner.”

Eventually, I would have to get a ton of dry ice a week – and sell it at 20 cents a pound. We would have

to pay for it and then go down and pick it up, half a ton at a time. We would get it from Minneapolis or St. Paul. It got to be a nice side line, mostly from people buying it to wrap their fish in for the trip home.

“Then I got into the fish business. [He showed a 3-cent postcard that had fish prices on it.] “Northern

pike, single frozen fillets, 35 cents a pound; walleye pike, single frozen, 75 cents a pound.” Dom flashed a

big smile and said, “They cost me 40 cents.” He continued: “Pan ready Wisconsin bullheads, 25 cents a pound, ready to fry; herring, 35 cents a pound, 2 ½ to 3 lbs. pkgs.; lake trout, 3-4 lbs., 70 cents; and

ground herring, 5 8-lb. bags, 20 cents a pound.”

Donnie: “Where did you get the fish?” Dom: “I used to get that at Duluth. And I sent my son Gary up to Thunder Bay a few times and

Nipigon where they have that big lake up there. Used to send carloads of fish on the 9:00 train from

Spooner to Duluth or Chicago, you remember?” Donnie: “Yeah, my dad used to be on that train.”

Dom (reading again) “Wild rice, 3-lbs., $6 delivered. $1.75 with fish order. Scalzo Enterprises, 106

River St., telephone 115. [Prices may be from the 1950s]

Dom: “I sold tons and tons of wild rice. I made a lot of money on that.” Donnie: “You sent big barrels full.”

Dom: “I used to buy the green rice from the Indians and resell it. I couldn’t use it all. It used to cost me

20-25 cents a pound to buy the green rice. It takes two pounds to make one pound. If you pay 50 cents for two pounds, you had the price of the rice. So I always had a good margin to work on. I used to sell a

couple of thousand pounds a year.

“A big mail order – There was a guy in Indianapolis, IN, who used to work for a newspaper there, the

Indianapolis Times. He came here, and we got acquainted, and he gave me a big splash in the Indianapolis paper, and that got all these people to write for wild rice orders and fish. We got a heck of a

nice business from that.

“We sold lobster tails for $2.25 a pound. When I got the fish from Chicago, the walleye fillets used to come on the Soo Line; they’d drop them off at Stone Lake, and I would drive over to pick them up. It was

only about 20 miles – one way. I bought walleye fillets from Bodines in Ashland and a lot of other fish,

too. “We worked up quite a chunk of money. I got up at 6 a.m. and worked until 10-11 p.m. Sometimes

they’d get you up two to three times a night to sell them dry ice to take their fish home. They would come

from northern Minnesota. Then pretty soon they started handling dry ice in Canada, northern Minnesota

and all over, and that business kind of caught it there for a while, but we still had a heck of a business when we quit it. I used to get fishermen from Webster, Hayward and Ashland.

Dom was still working out of his building in 1992, doing recycling which didn’t bring in much money,

he said, “Aluminum cans, brass, copper, radiators and batteries. All metals, aluminum, like cans, pots and pans, siding, there ain’t no money in it. There’s too much work to it. You have to sort glass, etc., and get

barrels to put it in. How in the heck can you make money selling glass for 1½ cents a pound? And you got

to do all the work, breaking it up and everything.” Also he was still handling a couple of thousand deer hides and making a few thousand doing that. “But

that ain’t enough.”

4

In the old days, he also sold antiques, bone china, etc. On a trip to Florida in 1950, he saw some

bedspreads in Tennessee. He said he brought a guy up here to make them with Indian head decorations and sold some to Howard Schmitz for the cabins at Koller’s Resort on Spooner Lake. He sold a few

others, and “had a heck of a nice business, then the Red Cross got in some Indian souvenirs, so did the

dime stores, then the hardwares got souvenirs, too, so I quit that.”

COMING TO AMERICA Dom’s father came to Spooner in the 1890s. Dom was born here in 1906. His brother, Jim, was born in

Italy in October 1898, served in the U.S Armed Forces in World War I, and died March 6, 1970.

In 1920, Dom made a trip to New York City. He was 14 years old and traveled with his father, Angelo (1879-1954), and uncle, Alphonse Cariolano(1883-1974). Since Angelo worked on the railroad, he got

passes for Dom and himself. Uncle Alphonse also worked on the railroad at the roundhouse as a

stationary engineer and got his own pass, so they were able to travel on the train for free. They went to New York to bring home to Spooner Uncle Alphonse’s wife, Rosina, and the couple’s

son, Johnny, who were just arriving in America from Italy for the first time.

Dom: “So they had them on Ellis Island where they checked them over for disease and stuff. We had

been gone for a week, and we couldn’t find where the heck Aunt Rosina and Johnny was at. We looked from one immigration office to another, and one day someone lifted Uncle Alphonse’s pocketbook out of

his pocket. So then he was broke.

“But there happened to be this ‘Eyetalian’ banker, and when we went over and told him what had happened, he just asked, ‘How much money you need?’ Well, Uncle Alphonse said, ‘Fifty dollars will get

me through, you know.’ We didn’t need any extra money. The rooms were cheap.”

Finally they found Rosina and Johnny. It was an especially happy reunion because the family had been separated for seven years. Rosina and Johnny had had to wait in Italy until Alphonse could earn enough

money to pay to have them come over, too. Alphonse had come over in 1913. Rosina Cariolano was a

sister of Dom’s mother, Katherine Scalzo. Their [maiden] surname was Folino.

In Dom’s own family, his father came over first, then his mother and their son, Jim, later. There were other Scalzos here in Spooner. There was another Dom Scalzo, who was Donnie White’s age. Those two

Dom Scalzos were known as Dom I and Dom II. [The Dom telling the story did not indicate if he was I or

II.] The other Dom went to Montana. The father of that other Dom was also Dom, and he was Angelo’s brother, the uncle of Dom who was telling the story. Actually, all three of them were Dominic, since

“Dom” was only a nickname.

Uncle Dom had other sons, Tony, Frank, and Nick Scalzo, also daughters, Angelina, Josephine who

married Sam Bruno; and Rosina who married Joe Andrea. Dom said Rosie was in the nursing home at the time of our interview. She died March 17, 1995. She was the mother of George, Gene, Arthur, Raymond,

Florence, William and Charles Joseph “JoJo.” JoJo, the baby of the family died first in 1977 at about age

37. Bill died in 2009, the last of his generation in that branch of the Andrea family. Dom: “My parents came from Conflenti, Italy, and my mother and Jim left there in 1905. The other

Scalzos came over in 1901.

“My cousin, Tony, my brother, Jim, Mike Borelli, and I went out to Washington State in 1925. I got a job but didn’t like working around that darn railroad, the logging trains. It rained all the time out there.

“The foreman said, ‘You either go to work or go to town.’ So I stayed in the bunk car there in Idaho,

and we fixed the track, the logging track. They moved some guy in there with this great big growth on the

side of his head, and I just couldn’t look at him, eating dinner, so I told my brother Jim, ‘I’m getting the heck out of here,’ and took off.

“So I grabbed a freight train, and I got picked up by a railroad detective in Montana coming home. He

asked me, ‘Where you from? What are you doing out here?’ I had this little satchel. See, my brother did electrical work. He wired the Tom Devine house in Spooner (northeast corner of River and Poplar streets)

which became Billy and Florence Rand’s house.

[William R. Rand died in 1996. Florence died in 2012 and was a mainstay of the volunteer staff at Railroad Memories Museum and the local Special Olympics program until her death. Following his

retirement from the railroad, both Billy and Florence had volunteered at the railroad museum.]

5

Dom continued: “I told the detective I was from Spooner. He was checking me over and said, ‘Do you

happen to know a guy by the name of Bud Bannister?’ Bannister happened to run a restaurant here in Spooner, so I said, ‘Yeah.’ And the detective knew I wasn’t lying.

“He said to me, “If I was you, I would probably ship them tools. They could get you into a lot of

trouble if they catch you with electric drills and saws, etc.’

[Some bank was broken into nearby, so that’s why they were suspicious of Dom to begin with.] Donnie: “You got around a lot more than I did.”

Dom: “Then I went to Thunder Bay (Port Arthur) in 1927-28. The roads were narrow as the dickens. I

took my mother up there in 1929, and who did she meet up there? She met my wife’s (to-be) mother. They were neighbors in Conflenti. Quite a coincidence! They talked, and my mother asked me if I wanted

to marry their daughter.

“I said, ‘S-u-ure.’ I was going with a couple of girls here. So then I went up there in 1930 and got married.

“Then when I worked there in the shipyards or at the papermill, I used to take this bicycle my father-

in-law had and let me ride. One morning I was going to the papermill on the bike and came to a place

where the streetcar turns around, I hit that darn rail and went head over heels; my bucket of lunch went all over.”

MAKING A LIVING IN SPOONER Dom: “I bought so many bears, maybe 40-50 bears some seasons for 25 cents a pound and sold them for a dollar a pound. A guy in Chicago took all the bear meat I could get for him. That was legal. You

could do it then. Now his restaurant is out of business, but I made a lot of money from bears. Then pretty

soon they had a – a guy who was in the Assembly down there in Madison – he was the only competitor I had in bears. I bought them from Ashland, Hayward, Grandview, Drummond, Park Falls. I got bears from

all over – maybe 50 a year.

“Ted Haag [who owned the Sarona House, a bar and restaurant] had a bunch of guys come up here.

They pulled a trick on the railroad porter of their Pullman car. Ted came to me and said, ‘I’ll tell you – I want you to give me a bear, but I want it sitting up (kind of in an attack-looking position’).

“So they put it on the Pullman, and the porter was coming along the aisle, and when he saw the bear,

he ran the other way. Down in Chicago they put the bear on a car and took it down a busy street to scare people.”

Dom: “When my father came to Spooner, he got a job in the coal shed, shoveling coal for passenger

trains. He shoveled it into chutes that held from 5 to 10 tons. He was paid 20 cents per ton. A 50-ton car,

it was $10 to load that. That was murder, wasn’t it? “Then my father got a job on the section with Christ Olson as foreman, and Joe Masterjohn, Ralph

Mazzo, Jim Bianco and others on the crew.”

Donnie: “They all had big gardens.” Dom: “Oh, my mother sold tomatoes, cabbage and pepper plants – three dozen for 25 cents. Now they

get probably $2-3 per dozen. And she saved up money. She called up Father Pius and wanted to talk to

him, in her not very good English. Father told me, ‘She wants to give $1,000 to buy an altar for the church.’

“I said, ‘If that’s the way she wants it, that’s the way she wants it, Father.’ So she gave them $1,000

and bought that back part inside the church. That was a lot of money in those days.”

Donnie: “I remember where you lived on Ash Street. About where the old Super Valu is now.” [That was in 1992. Spooner Ace Hardware is there in 2015.]

Dom: “Oh, yeah. We lived across the tracks before that. I was born across the tracks, across the street

from Talaricos where Donnie Scalzo lives now in 1992. We had an upstairs and downstairs home there. “Then we sold the house to Alphonse Cariolano, and we bought the house uptown in 1918. Lininger

had the Green Spot popworks on the corner (River and Ash streets), then a little house where Frank

Marotta lived years and years ago, then ours which was a stucco house, and then D.B. Masterjohn on the corner. D.B. Masterjohn was from the old country.

6

“My mother had diabetes, and Helen Rich, who lived across the street at 110 Ash St., used to come

over and give her insulin shot to her every day. And I stayed in that Brickley house, that double right across from where we lived.

“D.B. Masterjohn was a musician. He would get all the players and …”

Donnie: “There was a big band stand in the park.”

Dom: “They played there every Sunday. They built that for special events. “D.B. used to cut my hair and never charged me for it. If he had a few customers, I would have to wait,

but he never charged me. Most ‘Eyetalian’ boys, it was like that. He was awfully good. He died while I

was in the hospital, when I got burned that time, in 1958.” Donnie: “D.B. Masterjohn started the high school band. The old city band, too. I remember Guy

Paulson, Paul Marotta, Jack Marino, Curt Emerson, most got their start with D.B., too.”

Back to basketball in the town hall: Dom: “Louie Villella’s wife, Flora, she was a devil, she was a scrapper on the girls’ team.” [See a

picture of the girls’ team in the Janet McNabb story in Volume V of the Historical Collections of

Washburn County.]

Donnie: “My second sister, Lorraine, played on the team with Flora. “When they tore down the old wooden school, before Hammill was built, then they scattered us all over

town. I remember I was in school up above the town hall.”

Dom & Donnie together, each contributing whatever came to mind: Donald Irwin had a garage over where Sears was in 1992 [across River Street from River Street Restaurant]. Louis Isabella had a store

there, too. There was also a feed mill there and the Dreamland Theater. Across from that, where the

restaurant is now, was a livery stable. On the corner was that Cunningham Hotel. The old Scanlon Hotel is still where it was then [it has been torn down now, was next door to what is now Johnson Bank in

2015.] Northern Auto Supply was another livery stable in the old days.

[More recently, O’Reilley’s auto parts, until that moved to the north end of town on River & Poplar about

2009; Northwest Electronics moved in there after Radio Shack, on Vine Street by Nick’s, closed in 2015. The old Northern Auto building, 111 Elm Street, most lately has been an arcade and miscellaneous

business.].

Referring back to Donald Irwin who had the garage, they remembered the others, his brothers Harry, Barney and Darrell Irwin. Harry was the oldest. There was also a sister, Helen, and another younger brother,

Fred. Another sister, Hazel, had died as a young child. The four younger brothers were all fliers in World

War II. Harry joined and served in the Merchant Marine. [See Volume V of the Historical Collections of

Washburn County.] Talking about Hank Gardner’s garage on the alley behind Elia’s tavern, they said that Harvey Fache built

those two buildings. Irwin and O’Roark had the garage before Hank Gardner. Old Tony Rich used to work

for Louis Isabella at his store. Dom remembered that because that was where he used to go into every month to pay the $1 per month due on his parents’ insurance policy. “That was a lot of money then,” Dom said

Back to basketball, school games were played in the old town hall upstairs, Dom said.

Donnie: “I never played up there. Later we played in the old armory which was originally a roller skating rink.”

Dom: “Dom Marotta used to own that.”

Donnie: “We used to take our showers in the Hammill School and then run across.”

Dom: “I remember we used to go that old Hammill School (when it was new) and get on those stair railings and slide right down there.”

Donnie (chuckle): “Oh, yeah. Then they put the bolts in them. I remember Spooner played one

basketball game down in that gym. You remember the [concrete] pillars that were in the center of the floor, kind of. That was all for that place, we only played one game there. I think we got beat by Hayward

that night.”

Dom: “You know that city football team we had here. Jimmy Rich, and I – we went over to Ladysmith and played them. Then I tried to get the team to go up to Thunder Bay and play, but they couldn’t afford

it.” [Probably about 1925.]

7

Donnie: “I told Dom the other day that when he was young, in high school, he could throw a football

as good as, if not better than, some of these professionals today.” Dom: “I wish it were now. I could throw that ball 50 yards, no trouble. I was quite a passer.”

Donnie: “Great!”

Dom: “Hank Donatell was on that team, and Rich. I guess most of the guys are gone now. We played a

couple of years is about all. There weren’t too many teams around here then.” “On the bus we went to a game in Ashland, Kenny Christopherson, Earl Costello, Harold Cuthbert,

Hank Donatell and I, and Goose Giese, They all stole a bunch of helmets and sweaters and came back

with the whole darned bunch of stuff.” Donnie: “That used to happen pretty often.”

Dom: “And we were coming back, we got to Drummond, and the bus broke down, the transmission,

and we had to wait till morning to get home. There was a dance there that night, Saturday night, and the one girl, she lived out – after she told how far out – nobody wanted to take her home.

“We had special trains to take people to city baseball games, like at Hayward and at Rice Lake.”

Donnie: “For football games or track doings we always went on the train.”

Dom: “Kenny Christopherson was fast.” Donnie: “When we all went to Camp Douglas, it was always a special train. I was there in 1927.”

Dom: “Martha Morton (Dahl) was the one who took the pictures of the football team for the

yearbook.” Spooner had a good baseball team, Dom said. Tom Devine was the head of it (earlier when talking

about sports there had been some mention that Tom Devine and Dom Marotta did not get along). Players

were Ray Lampman, Clarence Short, Cook Rene, Bud Wittek, and Jimmy Rich who also played for the Superior Blues and would be gone all summer. Dom remembered going up to visit Jimmy one Sunday,

driving an old Essex touring car he had bought from the foreman at the roundhouse. He let Jimmy drive.

When they met another car on the narrow road they were on, they didn’t know whether to holler “stop” or

go ahead, and they smashed the car up, and he had to stay about a week to get it fixed. Donnie: “Remember when they used to blow the old whistles at noon and at night; holidays, 4th of

July, New Year’s Eve, and for fires.”

Dom: “I used to stop there going home for dinner around 12 o’clock. Paul Schullo would ring that and scare the daylights right out of me. I used to get all of my coal there at the round house.”

FROM SHARON’S RESEARCH The school building before Hammill was a two-story wooden structure, with a brick addition on the south end. That addition was incorporated into the east end of the Hammill building when it was built in

1922-23. You had to go down some steps to get into the classrooms in that addition.

Donnie’s class was the last one to be in the old building. Donnie was born in 1909. On the west end of the schoolyard was an old building; that was the kindergarten room when Donnie was in school. It was

used as the library for a time, was moved to over by the fire hall on the alley where it was the VFW hall,

and now (still in 2015) is on the corner of Oak and Front Streets. Dom and Donnie remembered that on Walnut Street, Meyers had a grocery and candy store, with slot

machines, a whole counter of nice chocolates, then kids’ penny candies down further. It was a wooden

building that burned. There was a popcorn stand back in the 1950s in what had been a narrow walkway

between the buildings earlier, east of Sather’s Jewelry. From the Spooner Advocate: May 1926, track team coached by Coach Wallace O’Neill had a track

meet at River Falls, the St. Croix Valley track meet, Spooner versus seven other schools. Spooner’s team

took first place by 50.5 points and won a silver loving cup and ribbons. Don White took first in the mile run. His friend, Milton ‘Bud’ Garland, took second.

About two weeks after the River Falls meet: Spooner High School took first in the state at a Class B

meet at Madison; 20 schools took part. Don and Bud finished third and fifth respectively in the mile run. Don White died in 1995. He was married to the former Ethel Thompson. They had three children,

Barbara, Donald “Donnie Bill,” and Sharon.

8

Dom Scalzo died in 1996. He was married to the former Julia Walters. They had two sons, James and

Gary. Jim was a boxer when he was young and took part in the Golden Gloves program. He married Florence “Bunny” Wilson Carson. She was the daughter of Harry Wilson, owner of the Blue Cross

Pharmacy downtown. Her first husband was George Carson, and they had two children, George and

Valerie. Valerie and her son died in a fire in her home on Super Bowl Sunday 1980. Her husband, James

“Nates” Marx and daughter Angela survived the fire. George and Bunny Carson had Carson’s Resort on Middle McKenzie Lake. Jim and Bunny Scalzo were the owners of Scalzo’s Riverside Tavern on

Spooner’s south side for many years.

The Old Spooner Elementary School downtown

Dom’s Family

Parents: Angelo Scalzo [1879-1954]; his wife, the former Katherine Folino [1877-1967]

The last of their children to die was Bob [1922-2013]. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife,

the former Marianne Rand, brothers Victor, Jim, Dom, Mike, and sisters Carmel, Emma, and Marge,

Donnie’s Family

Parents: Earl White [1885-1967]; his wife, the former T. Sena Johnson [1883-1976]

Children: Beatrice, Kenneth, Donald, Lorraine, Randolph, and Jeanette.

Beatrice was H.J. Antholz’s first wife. After she died, he married again, and his second wife was also

named Beatrice [Casperson]. H.J. was the Spooner schools superintendent from about 1920 to 1961.

Donnie married Ethel Thompson. Jeanette married Wilbur Chapman. After Jeanette died, Wilbur later

married Dick Wallace’s first wife, Roberta.

   126  Walnut  -­‐  Sather’s  Jewelry      The  second  

brick  building  built  in  Spooner  and  one  of  the  oldest  continuous  operating  business  buildings.  The  building  has  its  original  tin  ceiling,  original  tile  floor,  oak  cabinets,  brass  National  Cash  Register  made  in  1906,  original  clock  from  1920,  and  the  original  walk-­‐in  vault.    In  1902  Spooner  State  Bank  moved  in  and  the  Masonic  Lodge  was  upstairs.    In  1910  Arthur  Sather  started  his  jewelry  store  across  the  street  and  then  in  1916,  he  moved  into  this  location.    The  jewelry  store  was  operated  by  three  generations  of  Sather’s  and  it  now  has  its  second  non-­‐family  owner.        

110  Walnut  -­‐  Spooner  Market  &  Grill                  The  building  has  housed  a  billiards  hall,  a  plumbing  store,  the  WK  Appliance  store  and  even  a  toy  store.    In  2002  the  building  was  refurbished  into  a  café.    The  orange  tin  ceiling  has  a  square  with  subtle  flower  design.    The  same  tin  design  is  shared  with  121  Walnut.      

106  Walnut  -­‐  The  Cobblestone  Custom  Framing  &  Christian  Gifts    Former  businesses  include  a  grocery  store,  the  Chatterbox  Laundromat,  a  pool  hall,  the  Black  Iris  Gallery,  an  ice  cream  parlor,  and  a  golf  supply  store  before  the  Cobblestone  located  here  in  2011.    Painted  green,  the  tin  ceiling  has  a  merging  torch  design  with  convex  edge  molding.        

102  Walnut  -­‐  Corner  House  Pub  There  has  been  a  bar  at  this  location  for  a  majority  of  the  building’s  life.  At  one  time  there  was  a  barbershop  housed  in  the  basement  with  an  outside  entrance.  In  the  mid  60’s  the  Sportsman’s  Bar  held  free  fish  fries  on  Friday  nights  with  fish  from  the  Yellow  River.    It  was  refurbished  into  the  Corner  House  Pub  in  2016.    The  current  back  bar  was  installed  in  the  1930’s.    The  building  has  the  original  floor  and  a  very  unusual  raised  pattern  design  tin  ceiling.    Tin  is  also  used  as  a  wainscoting  in  the  pub.    Make  sure  to  checkout  the  mural  in  the  courtyard.    Special  thanks  to  Sharon  Tarr,  Emily  Vanda,  Mary  Benson,  

Washburn  County  Tourism,  and  BID  (Spooner  Business  Improvement  District)  Sources:    Sharon  Tarr’s  “Spooner  

Heritage  Tour,”  and  “Spooner:  Then  &  Now”      

 

214  Walnut  -­‐  Wobblin  Duck  Saloon  This  location  has  been  a  bar  under  a  number  of  owners  since  the  1950’s.    For  many  years  it  was  Northwoods  Bar.    The  current  owners  have  been  operating  the  Wobblin  Duck  since  2011.    The  black,    shiny  tin  ceiling  with  its  raised  squares  within  squares,  raised  dot  design,  provides  a  nice  glow  in  the  evening.      

212  Walnut  -­‐ The  Original  Skin  Tattoo  ParlorThe  building  has  housed  many  different  businesses.    It  has  been  part  of  an  A&P  store,  a  hair  salon,  a  novelty  business,  a  shoe  store,  a  music  shop,  Spooner  TV  Sales  and  Service  and  a  bookstore.    The  upstairs  was  once  used  as  a  boarding  house  for  railroad  workers.      The  tin  ceiling  design  is  the  same  as  214  Walnut.      

210  Walnut  -­‐  Arts  in  Hand  Gallery    The  Bank  of  Spooner  was  housed  in  the  building  from  approximately  1904    to  1931  at  which  time  it  moved  across  the  street  to  203  Walnut  Street.  In  1937  the  E.J.  Walls  tavern  took  over  and  one  tavern  after  another  occupied  the  building  until  2015  when  the  building  was  remodeled  for  the  Arts  in  Hand  Gallery.    The  copper  colored  tin  ceiling  is  very  ornate  and  delicate  with  five  different  designs.                            134  Walnut  -­‐  Staupe  Computers  The  building  was  home  to  several  businesses,  including  Arrow  Appliances,  Coast  to  Coast  Hardware  Store,  and  Montgomery  Ward’s.    The  second  story  of  the  building  once  was  home  to  a  dentist  office  and  Dr.  Augustus  Edmund  Costello.        A  hand  powered  freight  elevator  still  exists  in  the  building.  The  tin  ceiling  has  been  restored  with  a  shiny  tin  paint.      

FYI:    Unless  otherwise  noted,  most  of  the  two  story  brick  buildings  in  Spooner  

were  built  in  either  late  1904  or  1905  after  a  fire  in  the  summer  of  1904  

destroyed  most  of  the  business  buildings  on  the  south  east  side  of  Walnut  Street.      

 

     in  ceilingsin ceilingsceilings  became  a  popular  trend  in  the  late  1800’s  and  early  1900’s.    Businesses  used  them  as  an  inexpensive  substitute  for  the  more  labor-­‐intensive  fancy  plaster.    The  tin  was  also  a  fire  barrier  between  the  first  floor  businesses  and  the  second  floor  apartments.    At  one  time  there  were  about  45  companies  in  America  making  tin  ceiling  tiles.  The  tiles  became  obsolete  during  the  depression.    

Cobblestone  located  here  in  20the  tin  convex  edge  molding.  

102  Walnut  102  Walnut  There  has  been  a  bar  at  this  location  for  a  majority  of  the  building’s  life.  At  one  time  there  was  a  barbershop  housed  in  the  basement  with  an  outside  entrance.  In  the  mid  60’s  the  Sportsman’s  Bar  held  free  fish  fries  on  Friday  nights  with  fish  from  the  YeHouse  Pub  in  2016.    The  current  back  bar  was  installed  in  the  1930’s.    The  building  has  the  

134  Walnut  -­‐ Staupe  ComputersThe  building  was  home  to  several  businesses,   FYI:    Unless  otherwise  noted,  most  of  the  

two  story  brick  buildings  in  Spooner  

obsolete  during  the  depression.

             inintrend  in  the  late  1800’s  and  early  1900’s.    trend  in  the  late  1800’s  and  early  1900’s.    trend  in  the  late  1800’s  and  early  1900’s.    Businesses  used  them  

A  Brief  History  of  the  Walnut  Street  

Tin  Ceiling  Buildings  

SPOONER,  WI  Eat   •  Shop   •  Play  

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133  Walnut  -­‐  The  Wandering  Dog  Emporium    In  1901  this  location  was  the  home  to  a  drug  store  named  The  Pharmacy.    In  1935  Harry  Wilson  took  ownership  and  changed  the  name  to  Wilson’s  Blue  Cross  Drug.    Wilson,  aka  “Wiggy”  always  wanted  to  have  the  store  stocked  with  anything  you  could  ask  for.    Rumor  has  it  that  if  he  didn’t  have  what  you  wanted,  he  would  ask  you  to  hold  on  a  second,  run  out  the  backdoor,  purchase  the  item  from  another  business  so  that  he  could  sell  it  to  you.    In  the  90’s  the  building  housed  a  pet  store  and  later  the  Vitamin  Source.      In  2014  the  original  tin  ceiling  was  restored  and  painted  a  tiffany  blue  to  highlight  the  ornate  cornice,  border  and  center  field  tiles.        

       145  Walnut  -­‐  Spooner  Mercantile    The  original  building  located  at  this  spot  survived  the  1904  fire  only  to  burn  down  in  1914.  Guy  Benson  moved  his  mercantile  business  into  the  rebuilt  building  in  1915.  In  1972  the  Mercantile  acquired  the  adjoining  building  which  had  previously  housed  a  shoe  store  and  before  that  a  meat  market.    The  Mercantile  is  now  a  fourth-­‐generation  enterprise.  Both  sides  of  The  Mercantile  building  have  tin  ceilings,    see  if  you  can  locate  all  six  different  patterns.          

205  Walnut  -­‐  Northwind  Book  &  Fiber  Built  in  1915,  the  Masonic  Lodge,  a  doctor  and  attorney  offices  were  located  upstairs.  The  Spooner  State  Bank  held  the  corner  location  with  a  hardware  store  filling  the  rest  of  the  building.    In  1931  the  Bank  of  Spooner  took  over  the  location  of  the  failed  Spooner  State  Bank.    In  1968,  the  Bank  of  Spooner  moved  out  and  an  insurance  agency  took  over  the  space.  In  2000,  the  Northwind  Book  and  Fiber  took  over.  Symbols  of  the  Freemasons  decorate  the  exterior  of  the  building.      A  burnt-­‐orange,  tin  ceiling  with  four  different  patterns  graces  the  front  portion  of  the  store.      A  matching,  smaller  scale  tin  ceiling  is  in  the  restroom  toward  the  back  of  the  building.    

105  Walnut  -­‐  Buckhorn  Bar  During  prohibition  the  building’s  main  floor  served  as  a  “card  room.”  The  story  goes  that  near  beer  (less  than  1%  ABV)  was  still  legal  so  there  were  several  tap  handles  and  which  one  you  were  served  from  was  dependent  on  whether  the  tender  knew  you  or  not.    The  building  has  housed  a  bar  since  the  end  of  the  Prohibition  in  1933.    The  Buckhorn  name  has  held  through  various  owners,  Trudell’s  Buckhorn,  Lloyd’s  Buckhorn,  Johnson’s  Buckhorn  and  since  2003  Big  Dick’s  Buckhorn.    Look  for  the  ceiling’s  ornate  center  medallions.     113  Walnut  -­‐  Copper  Horse  

A  general  store  operated  here  between  1897  and  1902.  It  housed  a  dry  goods  store  in  1904.    After  the  fire,  the  rebuilt  building  housed  a  grocery  store  in  1909.    It  then  housed  the  Rex  Movie  Theater  and  has  been  a  bowling  alley.    The  red  ceiling  tile  provides  a  dynamic  presence  in  the  building.    

121  Walnut  -­‐  Antiques  Associates      One  of  the  earliest  businesses  housed  here  was  E.  L.  Gankse’s  clothing  store.    In  1933,  the  Costello  family  opened  the  Spooner  Liquor  Store  here  just  as  prohibition  was  repealed.    The  liquor  store  operated  until  roughly  1999  when  the  building  was  transformed  into  the  current  antique  shop.  The  pale  yellow  tin  ceiling  is  the  same  design  as  the  Spooner  Market  and  Grill.    

125  Walnut  -­‐  Rusty  Bucket  Built  in  1914.  This  building  housed  Mike  Rich’s  Smoke  Shop  in  the  1930’s.    Mike  also  sold  ice  cream  and  had  a  billiards  parlor.    This  building  was  also  home  to  Ken’s  Carpets  and  then  Mike’s  Bar.  This  location  became  the  home  of  the  Railroad  Memories  Bar.    The  bar  had  an  expansive  collection  of  unique  Railroad  memorabilia.    In  the  summer  of  1990  the  collection  went  on  display  in  the  Depot  of  the    Railroad  Memories  Museum  in  Spooner.    A  rustic  shabby-­‐chic  silver  tin  ceiling  enhances  the  Rusty  Bucket’s  atmosphere.    

129  Walnut  -­‐  Hedlund  HVAC  For  many  years  the  building  served  as  a  bar,  eventually  becoming  Sam’s  Silver  Dollar  Saloon  with  go-­‐go  dancers.    It  has  been  the  home  to  the  Main  Street  Café  and  the  Sweet  Dreams  Ice  Cream  Shop.    For  a  few  years  it  was  a  Mexican  Restaurant  that  featured  live  Jazz,  and  in  the  early  2000’s  it  was  a  youth  center  and  coffee  shop  named  Zeke’s.    129  and  133  Walnut  have  the  same  tin  ceiling  design.  

cornice,  border  and  center  field  tiles.

       The  original  building  located  at  this  spot  survived  the  1904  fire  only  to  burn  down  in  1914.  Guy  Benson  The  original  building  located  at  this  spot  survived  the  1904  fire  only  to  burn  down  in  1914.  Guy  Benson  

137  Walnut  -­‐  Purple  Pelican  Gallery    For  over  40  years,  the  building  housed  the  Topper  Café;  after  that  it  was  a  toys  and  games  store.    In  2005,  it  was  renovated  to  expose  the  original  tin  ceiling  and  restore  the  1904  maple  floor.  

Buckhorn,  Johnson’s  Buckhorn  and  since  2003  Big  Dick’s  Buckhorn.medallions.

Photos  courtesy                                            of  Bill  LaPorte,  owner                                        

The  Cobblestone  Custom  Framing  &  Christian  Gifts