THE WAUPACA COUNTY POST

September 20, 1990

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

            These bits and pieces were gleaned from either the Waupaca Record, the Waupaca Post or the Waupaca Republican Post dating back to 1904-1909.  I thought our readers might enjoy these nostalgic glimpses of our past.

            A. J. HOLLY & SONS PUT IN A MORGUE – “Excellently fitted up for cases of emergen-cy which often arise.  A morgue is a new thing in this city and is something that people have many times felt the want of. AJ Holly & Sons have fitted up a room beneath the store for such cases, putting in water works and other conveniences.  They have recently purchased an excellent lowering device.”

            SCOTT HOTEL – This was run by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Scott.  It had three levels.  The main floor had a tavern, the upper floor was the hotel rooms, and in the basement it has been said that some gambling took place.  Robert Scott was a Negro and bought cattle as a side line.  This building was located on the corner of Main and Sessions Streets.  It was struck by lightning around 1912, and burned to the ground.  This was replaced as the Whittington Building in 1913.  Kay’s Gift Shop was in this building.

            GLOVE FACTORY – “Just opened in the city.  We manufacture first class canvass gloves and mittens.  Place orders now for the fall trade.  B. H. Edmunds, 116 Water Street.

            ELECTRIC THEATER – “We always appreciate your attendance and are never so busy that we can not give our entire attention.  We carry fourteen reels of film each week, and we select the six best subjects for our own use.  We have installed a $60 Edison Triumph Phonograph for the musical programme.  We admit the little ones free when accompanied by parents.  We do not take up your time with announcing break-downs, or have long waits.  We giveyou twice the amount of pleasure you get elsewhere.  We do business to please the people, not ourselves.  Give your mind a rest and give us your patronage.  Bert Quimby.”

            WAUPACA CITY OF GOOD SIDEWALKS – “30,000 square feet built in the past year (1904) at the expense of nearly $4,000.  Waupaca has more fine cement walks than any other city its size in the state.  Up to four years ago a cement sidewalk in our neat little city was a rarity, now we have a trifle more than five miles of walks ten and twelve feet wide with a cement curb combined.”

            THE LIBERTY MOVING PICTURE CO. – “The Liberty Moving Picture Co. will open in this city Saturday night, May 29, 1909, under canvas on the lot back of J. E. Christy’s store, W. F. Peterson, a well-known and popular Waupaca boy, is the manager.  The Company carries its own electric light plant and will travel by wagon and show under canvas, making a large number of towns in the northern part of the state and in Minnesota.  Duke, the world’s champion high diving dog, that makes a leap from the top of a 40-foot ladder, is one of the features in the free exhibition on the outside at 7:30, just before the opening of the show.  Admission, 15¢ and 25¢.”

            OPERA HOUSE AND CHURCH BURNED – Fire wipes out Waupaca’s modern play house, St. Mark’s Church and several small buildings.  The church bell rang its own doom.  Waupaca’s model opera house is no more.  What promised to be the most serious conflagration in this city’s history was narrowly averted, but not before some of the landmarks, as well as more modern structures had vanished in smoke and ashes.  Shortly after three o’clock Tuesday morning, night clerk Ed Pipe, who was sitting in the office of the Gordinier, saw a red light reflected in one of the upper stories of the Roberts Block.  Thinking that the block was afire he ran out to give the alarm and saw the red glow in the eastern sky.  He ran to St. Mark’s Church and sounded the alarm that was the doom of that edifice.  Earl Gurley, who was with Mr. Pipe, ran to the City Hall and sounded the second alarm. The fire company responded promptly, but the opera house was a mass of flames which quickly spread to St. Mark’s Church, the Park Hotel barn, the Curtis barn and the Chandler residence and barn.  The worse difficulty was the lack of water which only came in jerks with no pressure.

            “Supt. I. C. Nelson was called as soon as possible and he directed the operation on trying to save the other places of business and residence in the area.  To add to the ordeal two of ht water hoses broke.

            “Since the opera  house and the church fire was out of control the stand was directed to the office of the Citizen’s Telephone Exchange, which caused several blistered faces.  The firemen done themselves proud, and just how they managed to save the day was hard to under-stand.  The heat was terrific and as the Park Hotel began to sizzle as well as the Sam P. Godfrey storage building, the Randall bicycle and machine shop, the Curtis residence and the Citizen’s Telephone Exchange, there seemed to be no possibility of saving the eastern part of the city. However, the deed was accomplished.

            “After viewing the smouldering remains they could see how the fire had burned right up to the buildings and had lapped at the overheated shingles and siding.  It was now that they first realized what a terrific job that the firemen had accomplished.

            “During the course of the fire goods were being removed from the office of E. E. Brown, the Sam Godfrey, M.R. Randall, the Curtis residence, which was the only residence that suffered more than cracked windows and burned shingles.  William Bruley, the Park Hotel and Mrs. Brown were ready to move out at a moment’s notice.  Burning flying shingles were carried high into the air and deposited as far north as the depot.  Many residents in the third ward were not able to leave their homes for fear of the flying burning shingles.  Only the lack of a high wind saved a terrible disaster.

            “The opera house was a great loss to the community.  It had just been remodeled under the direction of G. H. Slater, by the late Richard Lea.  Mr. Slater took his ideas from St. Peter, a Minnesota opera house, which burned about a year before.

            “Many that witnessed the destruction of St. Mark’s Church has assisted in its building.  Regardless of the fact that water was kept on the church, the bell melted down and the Baptismal font crumbled into dust.  Most of the furniture was removed by willing hands before the fire drove them away.”

            St. Mark’s Church as located approximately on the same location where Stiebs Jeep Eagle Inc. is today, at 219 Jefferson.

            The night operator at the Citizen’s Telephone Exchange stuck to her post answering calls as to the fire, but when it seemed as if no human could stay any longer, she received her orders from the Weyauwega office to vacate the building.

            The full story can be found in the old Waupaca Record in the April 7, 1904, edition.