THE WAUPACA COUNTY POST

January 23, 1992

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

            Back in the early years of the 1900s, before the days of the professional baseball, football, basketball and hockey, horse racing was the entertainment of the day in the Waupaca area.

            I don’t believe that there were many young men out for a Sunday ride with their special girl, who did not pass another buggy and challenge the driver to a race, just to impress the lady fair.

            In the February 10, 1910 Waupaca Republican Post, was an item about horse racing on the ice:

            “Last Sunday the owners of fast driving and racing horses again enjoyed the fine sport on the ice track on the lake.  Hundreds of spectators are said to have been present.  H. Habersaat, Will Ware, F.E. Paronto, Fred Brown, Dr. G.H. Atkinson, A.A. Papineau, and R.P. Hanson were among those who parti-cipated in the sport.”

            Just a little about Dr. George Atkinson … He had his veterinary office in a building on the east side of the McLean feed barn on the southeast corner of Washington and West Union.  Dr. Atkinson’s advertisements in the local paper read like this:  “Dr. G.H. Atkinson Veterinary Surgeon and Dentist.”

            Harry Edmund “Beans” Atkinson was a son of George H. and Katherine (Schneider) Atkinson, and as he was growing up, he too was interested in horses, and he spent many hours around the office of his father.

            Young “Beans” Atkinson met with an accident, when a horse that he was riding pinned him against a pole, which resulted in the loss of a leg.

            It was in the winter time, and some boy threw a snowball that spooked the horse, which caused Mr. Atkinson’s leg to be pinned against the pole.

            Both father and son loved horses and both were instrumental in the promotion of horse racing.  In his younger years “Beans” Atkinson also drove in harness races.  He also helped to care for some show horses for Mr. and Mrs. Miles S. Loberg at their Mi-Lo-Way stable just west of Waupaca.

            The old McLean feed barn became the Farm Market of Jay “Kelley” Ware, before it was razed to make room for a machinery lot, on the corner of West Union and South Washington streets.

            When I was first married, and lived in Waupaca County, I would often cull out a few of the laying hens to take down to Kelley Ware’s to sell to get a little money so we could go to the movies.

            There was this hen that was really light in weight, and he would pick it out for me to take home.  After my trying for about the third time to get this hen through, Kelley said, “You can’t fool me with that chicken, so take it home and kill it.”

            F. E. Paronto was a barber in Waupaca for many years and also served as mayor.

            R.P. Hanson owned the bakery that became known as the Star Bakery.

            A.A. Papineau operated a saloon in the building that was, until the end of 1991, the Army Recruiting office on West Fulton Street.

            Will Ware was Waupaca’s chief of police.

            Another man who competed in sports was Asa W. Hollenbeck, who came to Waupaca in 1887 and established the Crystal Springs Bottling Works on Churchill Street.

            Mr. Hollenbeck was a member of the Chandler rink, which in January of 1895 captured first place from competitors at the National Curling Bonspiel held in Milwaukee, which included leading curlers from the United States and Canada.