THE WAUPACA COUNTY POST

February 6, 1992

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

            Two brothers, Horace “Ted” and Ira August Christoph, came to Waupaca in 1924 from Neenah in search of a location to start a dairy business.

            Ted Christoph was born in Neenah on October 17, 1900, and on July 27, 1925, he married Edna J. Hesselman.  They became the parents of two sons:  James C. and John W.

            Ira Christoph was also born in Neenah on June 10, 1892.  He was united in marriage in the Town of Vinland, Winnebago County, to Julia Smith on November 8, 1916.  They had one daughter, Doris.

            Their first location in Waupaca was a small vacant building located directly behind the former George James Furniture Store at 121 N. Main St.  Paul B. Bammel Sr. came to Waupaca in 1929, and purchased the furniture business from the George James estate.  At one time during Bammel’s ownership, the building directly behind the furniture store was Bammel’s Provincetown Shop.  This marks the location of the first business site of the Christoph Bros. Waupaca Dairy Products Company.

            Their business soon outgrew the building, and they made arrangements to rent the building at 111 W. Fulton St. that had been vacated earlier by Martha Trader’s “Model Garment Shoppe.”  In October 1929, the Christoph brothers told the local paper that their new home would be renovated and redecorated before they would move in around January 1, 1930.

            The six-ton refrigeration unit that held their milk, cream, butter and ice cream, a new boiler and pasteurizing equipment were installed in the new location.  The front part of the building was used as a retrial outlet.

            The Christoph Bros. Waupaca Dairy Products Company had been handicapped in the old location because the ice cream plant had to be in a separate building.  The name of the firm was changed to Christoph’s Dairy after they moved to 111 W. Fulton St. The Christoph brothers retired in August 1953.  They sold out to Adolph Ritter of Fond du Lac, after serving the people of the Waupaca area for 29 years.

            In one of the interviews with the Waupaca County Post, Ted Christoph spoke of the many changes in the dairy business.  The milk was first bottled in round glass bottles, then went into square glass bottles and finally into paper-plastic cartons.  There were home deliveries seven days a week by horse-drawn wagons in the summer and sleighs in the winter.  The change to truck delivery began in the early ‘40s.

            Originally, there was no refrigeration equipment so ice cream making required much ice and rock salt.  The busiest time in the Christoph Dairy was on Thursday nights during the band concert, where up until World War II the double dip ice cream cones were only a nickel.

            Horace “Ted” Christoph died in the River View Nursing Home on March 19, 1973 and Ira August Christoph died on April 13, 1975.  They are both buried with their wives in the Waupaca Lakeside Memorial Park Cemetery.  They left behind many friends and acquaintances through their association with the Christoph Dairy.

            Ritter operated the business for one year before selling out to Woody’s Cheese Company on August 1, 1954.  On January 1, 1956, Woody’s sold out to the Nelson Dairy Company, and by mid-June of 1956, Lund’s Music and TV shop occupied the building.  That ended the building’s use as the home of a dairy.

            The following is only a brief history of the building that Christoph’s Dairy occupied next to the alley on West Fulton Street.  Dating back to 1914, an ad appeared in the local paper for the A.A. Pappineau Saloon that read:  “We will start serving food in the fall.”

            By starting a lunch counter in the fall, when the farmers began to haul loads of potatoes to town by teams of horses, it provided another place where the farmer could get a hot meal while his horses were resting and being fed in the Colburn Barn, which was just around the corner where the old Armory stands today.

            At 1 a.m. Sunday, June 4, 1916, fire broke out in the building, then owned by Mrs. George Hanson. The east two-thirds of the building was formerly the saloon of A.A. Pappineau, but was vacant at the time.  The west one-third of the building was occupied by Ed Prink’s barber shop.

            Some trouble was experienced in getting the fire, owing to the fact that the fire had started in the partition and worked its way up to the lone attic where it continued to burn above the steel ceiling.  After the fire was thought to be out, the firemen went home, but left the fire fighting equipment at the scene.  The proved to have been a wise move, because at 4 a.m. a second fire run had to be made, as the fire had broken out again.

            The interior and the roof was a wreck.  The walls seemed to be unharmed, but there was some question as to whether the building could be repaired so that it would be fit for occupancy.  The furnishings in the barber shop were saved and only slightly damaged.

            The origin of the fire was a mystery.  The most plausible theory was that a match or a cigar stub had fallen through a hole in the floor.  It seems that there were several such holes in the floor in the passageway which connected the barber shop and a toilet in back of the vacant saloon building.

            Since Lund’s Music and TV shop took over the building in June 1956 the building ceased to be used as a dairy store.  There have been only two other occupants since.  Lund sold the music and television service to William “Bill” Ellingsworth in mid-June 1964.  It then became known as “Waupaca TV Sales and Service.”  Ellingsworth operated out of this building until in 1974, when it became the U.S. Army Recruiting Office.  That office recently moved to Stevens Point, and as of January 1, 1992, the building has stood vacant.

            Many of you remember Ted Girard and Howard Wilson making their early morning milk deliveries for the Christoph Dairy.

 

                                   

 

 

                                    Additional information in When Then Was Now, 03/12/1992