City Hall Indian Cemetry01
Waupaca
Archeological study halts
city hall library projects
By Arnie
Tucker, Post Staff Writer
When the Waupaca Library Building
Committee applied for a $125,000 federal grant to fund part of the library
construction project, there was the realistic view that the application could
be turned down. The only way to fid out
was to apply.
In a letter dated
But an unusual and unforeseen
development occurred as the result of the application. Since the project was
requesting federal funding, it automatically was reviewed by the State
Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Consequently, the project is being halted, but not because of a lack of
funding. The proposed building site may
actually be on the location of a “very large recorded Chippewa and Menominee
Indian village and cemetery site … known as Niyatawapomis.
The discovery took a number of city
officials by surprise. City Clerk
Beverly Sather said that she had never expected this kind of development to
happen, despite trying to think of every possible problem which could surface
in the project.
The area in question by the state
historical society not only takes in a crescent shaped area of land which
follows the Waupaca River through much of downtown Waupaca but it also involves
several sites around Mirror and Shadow lakes.
This includes part of an area which is currently the site of
With the potential
existence of the Indian village and cemetery, the impact on construction
projects not only affects the city hall and library project, it affects private
businesses and industry as well. But
there is a distinction between the rules which apply to public projects and
those which affect private projects.
With public projects, such as the
city hall and library building, the potential for such an archeological site
requires that the site be examined by a qualified archeologist before any works
begins. According to Diane Holliday, of
the Wisconsin State Historical Society, the key to the city hall and library
project is locating and evaluating undisturbed remains o the village or graves.
The new building’s “footprint”, or floor plan outline
will help to determine this. If the new building follows the footprint of the
former courthouse building, there may not be much of a delay, since the
building will sit on already disturbed soil. The former courthouse stood on
that site for nearly 100 years.
If the footprint is considerably
different, delays could put off construction almost indefinitely. Again, it would also depend upon the
archeologist’s findings.
Private business and industry
follows a somewhat different approach.
There is nothing to prevent a private business or corporation from
starting an excavation for an addition or new building. Btu if there are remains of any archeological
importance found, construction must immediately stop,
and the state historical society notified.
Gretchen Block, also of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, said
that it would be best for the contractor involved in the development of a
project, which may be in an area estimated to have buried artifacts, to call
the historical society before beginning the project to avoid unnecessary
delays.
According to Holliday, if a site is
discovered, and it is relatively small, her department can handle the situation
within one to two weeks. If it is a
large find, the project developer must contract an archeologist to handle the
task, and to relocate all graves found on the site under the direction of the
state historical society.
The matter was reviewed by the
Waupaca Common Council at its Tuesday evening meeting. It was forwarded to the