SPECIAL 175TH ANNIVERSARY EXTRA
BEAVER DAM DAILY CITIZEN BEAVER DAM, WISCONSIN • Thursday, July 14, 2016 • SPECIAL SECTION
BEAVER DAM PARTY ROLLS ON PARADE, PICNIC HIGHLIGHT YEAR-LONG CELEBRATION Local businesses, UW Marching band to be featured Picnic to include music, games, dancers, children’s activities, historical displays, plus Brewers’ Racing Sausages DAILY CITIZEN
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Guadalupe Parish Dancers from St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Beaver Dam perform at the library’s Global Fair in 2011.
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Die Freistadt Alte Kameraden Band will perform at the Picnic in the Park in Beaver Dam on July 16.
Beaver Dam’s year-long party continues July 16 when a parade and a Picnic in the Park will be held. The city is observing it’s 175th anniversary with a wide variety of events including historical programs and displays, music, contests, demonstrations and the events will continue into the fall and early winter. The parade July 16 will kick off at 10 a.m. and run down Spring Street from North University to Front Street and end at Front and Center. It will include local businesses and organizations that have been a part of Beaver Dam’s history as well as marching bands including the University of Wisconsin Band, Beaver Dam High School Band, St. Katharine Drexel band and Lebanon Band. There also will be specialty entries and dignitaries including elected officials. When the parade is over, people are invited to a full day of activities at Swan City Park. Please see Party, Page A3
Swan legacy looms large in BD KEN THOMAS Assistant Editor
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Mayville Engineering Company presents a check to members of the 175th Anniversary Picnic Committee.
MEC celebrates with community he 175th Anniversary of T is a milestone for any community to reach. It’s a time to celebrate and showcase one’s heritage, business and industry, hometown heroes, the community’s best assets and unique character. Beaver Dam community members are celebrating that milestone together whether they were born and raised here or transplanted from another area. As Beaver Dam embarks upon this opportunity to strengthen community, special thanks goes to Mayville Engineering Company supporting the Picnic in the Park on July 16 from noon to 5 p.m. MEC has been a key employment player in the Dodge County are for over 70 years. It is a leading metal fabrication, engi-
Sponsored by
neering consulting, prototyping, coating, tube bending and contract manufacturing company. This manufacturing and fabricating company with employee shareholders is creating value and support every day for its customers and the communities where the employees live and work. MEC is an employee-owned company where employees use the acronym P.R.I.D.E. (Personal Responsibility In Daily Excellence) as a way of doing business and treating others. MEC actively supports the communities where its facilities are located. MEC excels at turnkey manufacturing and works closely with customers to design products and implement solutions in the manufacturing process.
Dr. George E. Swan may have died more than 110 years ago, but his impact is strongly felt in Beaver Dam to this day. Although some considered him to be a huckster, no one can deny that he was in many ways a man ahead of his time. Everything he did was to an exacting standard, and he hired the best of the best to complete the tasks that made him a wealthy man, and a respected pillar of the community Mary Cudnohfsky has been researching the Swan story for years, and marvels at what Dr. George and his wife Mary, his son George and his wife Mary, and their children, George and Mary, have accomplished. By far, however, Vita Park looms as Dr. Swan’s greatest adventure. “Vita Park was absolutely fantastic,” said Cudnohfsky. “There was nothing like it before or since. There are so many memories of it. People came from all over. There were guests from Paris and London, and from so many places around the nation and the world.” She continued, “It was always controversial. Some people denied that there were any health benefits
Dr. Swan at all. There was friction between the poorer people in the community who treated the resort like their own park, and Dr. Swan who wanted to preserve it for his paying guests. Still, economically it was a boon for everybody – the taverns, the boarding houses, the restaurants …. People could have the water delivered to their homes, and it was served to patrons at local taverns and restaurants.” Dr. Swan believed that the spring’s waters were better than those of countless other springs in the area. It was a difference he was willing to bank on. “The spring was something special. It was particularly deep and had a constant flow, which is why the
Beaver Dam 175th Anniversary Saturday, July 16, 2016
PICNIC IN SWAN PARK
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This view of the Vita Park Spring House shows how much what is now Swan City Park has changed over time. The Spring House is in the same location, although its “Healing Spring” has been blocked and capped. The lagoon next to the structure no longer exists, although another lagoon was constructed some distance away. The Spring House is the only building left from the glory days of Dr. George E. Swan’s renowned resort. Indians revered it. That was a ‘magic’ spring. Dr. Swan actually got the engineer from Saratoga Springs and he set it up for commercial production and for the resort. It took him a year to set up the spring, to landscape the grounds, to build the structures and to open to the public.” Swan arrived in Beaver Dam in 1876, taking over the practice of Dr. Thurber. He
Live Music Kid’s Activities Great Food And Much More!
Parade begins at t 10:00 a.m. | Celebr Celebration tion immediately immediately ffollowing parade
followed his obsession with “homeopathy,” believing that clean water and fresh air were the answers for most medical complaints. That being said, he also believed that sickness was due to chemical imbalance, and concocted his own formulas and cures. In fact, he made the bulk of his fortune selling his “Pastilles Please see Swan, Page A4
A2 | Thursday, July 14, 2016
Special Section
BDACT to present ‘Town Hall Tonight’ in November When vaudeville was in its hey day in the “Elegant Eighteen Eighties” and early 90s, many of the entertainment greats came to Beaver Dam’s Town Hall, located on Front Street above what is now William and Dawn Gergen’s law office. To celebrate Beaver Dam’s 175th anniversary as well as its long history of theater from those early years to the presence of the Beaver Dam Area Community Theatre since 1964, BDACT will bring back the vaudeville spirit with its production of “Town Hall Tonight – When Theater Came to Beaver Dam.” Shows will be held Nov. 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20 at Beaver Dam Area Community The-
atre, 219 N. Spring St. During the first two weekends in November 2016, audiences will enjoy the hissing and booing of melodrama, old song and dance routines, and all the excitement and fun that pulsated the local stage shortly after Beaver Dam was founded. With this show, based upon the book, “Town Hall Tonight,” by Harold Hoyt Jr., BDACT will take on the aura of the days when famous performers like Mark Twain, Tom Thumb, P. T. Barnum, and Lillian Russell brought the best of entertainment to Beaver Dam. The first act of the anniversary show will feature an original script by actor and playwright Peter
Cocuzza, discovered by local historian Roger Noll. Cocuzza’s script embraces the character of Harold Hoyt Jr. as he dramatizes his memories of the town hall, owned and managed by his grandfather Dr. Joseph Babcock. The second act, a script by Wisconsin Idea Theater founder David Peterson, is a representation of the vaudeville touring companies that came to Beaver Dam. Annette Kamps, BDACT co-founder and director of “Town Hall Tonight – When Theater Came to Beaver Dam,” said, “This anniversary show will reflect the love of theater and its culture that came to Beaver Dam so many years ago and continues to thrive today.”
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Beaver Dam makes history How Spring Street & Beaver Dam were named? Beside the very first cabin in Beaver Dam, constructed by Thomas Mackie and his son-in-law Joseph Goetschius, was a little spring. It was from this spring two names were given. The stream flowed southward until it joined the Beaver Dam River. At times it flowed in the same direction as the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad tracks near Hotel Rogers. This little stream was the home of beavers….there they built their dams. And because of this, the name Beaver Dam was given to the city. And because this stream originated from a spring, Spring Street was named. Wayland Academy In the spring of 1854, the Wisconsin Baptist Education Society started planning for a college for young men in Beaver Dam to be called Wayland University. On July 4th, 1855, the cornerstone of the first building of Wayland University was laid. That building is now known as Wayland Hall. The First Brewery The brewery was built by Mr. Michael Biersack in 1853; for the purpose of making his native brew. The brewery changed hands over the years, and during the Civil War, whiskey was produced. The ingredients included wild cherries, wild plums and other fruits that could be gathered. After many years of aging, it was considered “good stuff”. Beaver Dam Argus The Beaver Dam Argus is the oldest newspaper in Dodge County. It was founded in 1856 by Mark M. Pomeroy, a noted writer of the Civil war period. The first issue was printed in Horicon under the name of Horicon Argus. Then in 1860, the paper was moved to Beaver Dam, and renamed Beaver Dam Argus.
Bundled in fur coats while shopping in downtown Beaver Dam. Cigar Factory In 1874, Mr. Jacob Martin, Jr. started a cigar factory. The factory employed 8 to 10 skilled cigar makers. The best selling brands were “Martin’s Own,” a 10 cent cigar and “Havana Bouquet,” a 5 cent cigar. Monarch Range Malleable Iron Range Company produced kitchen ranges made of malleable iron from 1896 until they filed for bankruptcy in 1985. Malleable, a type of iron that would bend without breaking. The company’s primary trademark was Monarch. In 1927-28, Fred Rogers, who was the current president of the company, built a five story hotel to cater to the salesmen that visited the area. This building was Hotel Rogers. Simplex Inc. and Kirsh Foundry Inc. This corporation manufactured grey iron castings, malleable iron castings and barn equipment. Some time in February of 1939, the company sold its barn equipment division and expanded its foundry. The name was changed to Kirsh Foundry, Incorporated. Gould Nursery In the 1890s, Beaver Dam was a city of beautiful lawns, many gardens, and fine shade trees. These shade trees were grown in the nursery of Ingram Gould. The Gould Nursery
was one of the largest and most successful nurseries west of Rochester, New York. Mr. Gould had very strong opinions on city planning, and if a property owner would not, or could not afford to buy trees for their property, he would buy and plant them himself. Weyenberg Shoe In the fall of 1914, local business men persuaded the Weyenberg Show Manufacturing Company of Milwaukee to open a plant in Beaver Dam. Immediate steps were taken to recondition the Upper Woolen Mill to meet requirements for that operation. Then in March of 1915 with a small and inexperienced workforce, Weyenberg Shoe Manufacturing of Beaver Dam began. Crystal Lake East of Beaver Dam, a resort had been fixed up by Dr. G. E. Swan on the land formerly known as Drake’s Pond. Dr. Swan changed the name to Crystal Lake. On this land, roads, paths, a boathouse, and a grand pavilion were built. Dr. Swan added 10,000 rainbow trout and 100,000 wall-eye pike. Vinegar Factory Rev. Moore started a vinegar factory in 1866. The plant had the capacity of making about 500 to 600 barrels of vinegar a year. Rev. Moore claimed his vinegar to be very vastly superior to any other.
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Thursday, July 14, 2016 | A3
Special Section
Storybook parade returning for BD anniversary TERRI PEDERSON Daily Citizen
Beaver Dam Community Library is bringing back the “Storybook Parade” for the city’s 175th Anniversary. The parade was held in Beaver Dam from 1971 to 1995 as the finale of the library’s summer reading program. Anita Streich, Beaver Dam Community Library information and community services librarian, said the parade will be held at Swan City Park during the city’s 175th Anniversary Picnic in the Park July 16 at 1 p.m. People of all ages will receive a small prize for participating in the parade. They are asked to show up at the library booth, on the east side of the park, at 12:45 p.m. They are asked to dress up as their favorite storybook characters.
“It can be for all ages or parents who want to dress up like their kids,” Streich said. “Everyone will get a small prize.” The library booth will also have face painting, games including bean bag toss and prizes and those attending can meet the Minions. Minions will also be leading the parade. The first storybook parade took place on Aug. 16, 1971. There were 130 children who participated during the first parade that took place on Front Street in downtown Beaver Dam. The parade was downtown from 1971 through 1986 with the children gathering in the Tower Parking Lot and marching down Front Street before ending up on the lawn of the William’s Free Library, now the Dodge County Historical
Society. The current library, Beaver Dam Community Library, was opened in March of 1985. The parade was moved to its rain site in the Beaver Dam Mall, now the Heritage Village Shops and Professional Center, in 1987. The parade was held at the mall from then to its end on Aug. 1, 1995. During the early years of the parade, children’s librarian Lila Schultz dressed up and lead the parade. In later years Ronald McDonald was the grand marshall and performed a magic show for the children after the parade. Amy Lammers took over the roll of dressing up for the parade after she was named the children’s librarian. A lack of participation led to the parade’s demise, but this year seemed like a good
time to renew it. The parade is not connected to the reading pro=gram, which Streich said is
going strong. The reading program is for children, adults and teens and is a seven-week program that began
on June 13. (People are still welcome to stop in the library and sign up for the program, which will end July 30).
ing t ra b le er v
Party
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There will be music, games, dancers, children’s activities and historical displays. Park visitors should be on the lookout for the Milwaukee Brewer’s Racing Sausages, Abe and Mary Lincoln, horse and carriages, the Antique Power Club, vintage stock cars, alpacas, minions and many other attractions. Food will include a pig roast, cowboy beans, brats, burgers, hot dogs, pie and ice cream and beverages, including a saloon. See the map for locations. Below is the schedule: Band Shell (No. 1 on the map) Noon – Welcome from Beaver Dam Mayor Tom Kennedy 12:15—12:30 p.m. – UW Marching Band 12:45—2 p.m. – Beaver Dam Community Band 3—6 p.m. – Alte Kameraden German Band Basketball Court (No. 2 on the map)
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The Storybook Parade goes down Front Street on Aug. 4, 1980. The parade was held from 1971 to 1995 and will be brought back during the Beaver Dam 175th anniversary picnic on July 16 at 1 p.m. Those wishing to participate should dress up as storybook characters and meet at the library booth in the park at 12:45 p.m.
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The UW Marching Band, shown in this file photo, will be part of the parade and picnic on July 16 in Beaver Dam 12:30—1 p.m. – Swingin Beaver’s Square Dancers 1 -1:20 p.m. – Gloria Wahlen Dance Group 1:30 –2:15 p.m. – Dance Now Studio 2:15 -3 p.m. – St. Katharine’s Hispanic Dancers 3 -4 p.m. – Elite Dance Studio Next to Swan Shelter (No. 3 on the map) 12:30 -1:15 p.m. – Local Musicians 2 -4 p.m. – Elwood Lee On the Bridge (No. 4 on
the map) 2-3 p.m. – For Our Generation singers Near the playground (No. 5 on the map) 1-3 p.m. – Jay Schroeder, guitar player Kids Activity Area (No. 6 on the map) 2 p.m. – Mr. Steve, family entertainer and author Noon – 5 p.m. Storybook parade, Minions, bounce houses, kids crafts, face painting, yard games, petting zoo
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A4 | Thursday, July 14, 2016
Special Section
From A1
for Women’s Weakness,” with female representatives in every state of the Union. Another invention, the Swan Elastic Heel, provided an elastic rubber insert. According to his ad, “There are thousands of people living in paved cities, who are constantly complaining of some ailment brought on by the perpetual jar received in walking on the hard and uneven stones. These heels prevent all this and make the step so elastic that walking becomes a luxury.” The cost was $1 each. Fortunes were also being made at spas touting the benefits of their artesian spring waters. Such resorts were springing up across the nation. Dr. Swan was seeking such a source, and soon found one close to his home in Beaver Dam. Beaver Dam was rich in springs, and one on property once owned by a city founder, Abraham Ackerman, filled the bill. A legend, either true
or manufactured, surrounded the spring. Swan said that he discovered the spring while looking for a plot of land to pasture the family’s milk cow. (Others say that he was looking for such a spring to exploit, and one in present day Swan City Park was just what the doctor ordered, so to speak.) The spring is said to have been renowned by Native Americans and that “The Healing Spring” had qualities that promoted health and long life. The area was covered in lush forest, and Swan claimed that wild game migrated there seeking water from a spring that never ran dry, due to its deep source and the “magical” qualities of its water. Swan reportedly tasted the water, loved it, and in 1879 bought the spring and two surrounding acres of land from Abram Shipman. Adjacent land was purchased until the park reached its present size of 12 acres. The resort opened to the public in 1880. Swan then developed his resort, which included an elaborate spring house, a bottling plant, a bath-
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The hotel at Vita Park was a massive four-story structure, providing accommodation for about 100 people on the west side of what is now Swan City Park. The resort lasted for a mere 13 years, but had a lasting impact on the community. Lumber from the hotel was used to build a number of houses on West Mill Street. It is hard to imagine what was where, as the landscape has severely changed over time. The vast lake that is shown is now a small lagoon with a center island. house for patrons to soak in tubs of the healing waters, a bandstand, roads, lagoons for fishing and boating, shelters, “Castles in the Air” with observation platforms in the treetops, strolling paths and en-
Enjoy the Picnic in the Park Saturday July 16th as Beaver Dam celebrates their 175th Anniversary.
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tertainment. He built a hotel with room for about 100 guests. Visitors came mostly from Milwaukee and Chicago, and from southern cities such as St. Louis, New Orleans and Louisville. Rail service brought
them to a small depot in the heart of the city, and a wagon carried them to nearby Vita Park. The waters were bottled and shipped as far away as England. The fad for healing waters did not last long, however. Dr. Swan’s son, attorney George B. Swan, recalled that the venture was not particularly successful, and that the hotel was not opened after the 1893 season. Eventually most of the buildings were razed, and lumber from the building was used to construct homes on West Mill Street (known as High Street when the Beaver Dam River separated one side from the other). In addition to the Spring House, Dr. Swan’s Queen Anne mansion also remains up the block on the corner of Vita and Park avenues (not a coincidence). Cudnohfsky and other Dodge County Historical Society members will conduct a lecture and tour of Vita Park in August, and will welcome the public to learn more about the amazing Sr. Swan. The date and time will be announced closer to the event.
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