Thank you for joining us for a journey through history!
I have a keen natural curiosity which often sends me down a path with many forks, some would say a rabbit hole. I love to travel the road less followed and visit the small towns along the way. I often research them from their beginnings to present day on my phone before I even leave town. Sometimes I stop in a local tavern or cafe and look for an old timer to sit with and chat for a bit. You’d be surprised what you can learn over a cup of coffee or a bourbon neat.
The late 19th and early 20th century are my favorite time periods. I enjoy learning about the day to day person, the working class, and company towns. I want to know why a town exists, what kept it going, and what was its downfall if any. I am interested in their industries, their downtowns, their early merchants, and people. I want to know who owned the buildings, who built them, who tore them down if they are gone, and why. Through my natural curiosity I began to do work for others and started a small freelance historical research business.
Recently I became very interested in not only my own family history, but my hometown history. Using my professional research skills I started searching and working on my own family story. Something I had never considered before. Not genealogy, but following family stories through sources, not to verify them so much as to enhance them. Through that research I have uncovered many Stevens Point stories that would not normally be known. I am incredibly lucky to have deep pioneering family roots and a mostly complete genealogy record which has given me a bit of an advantage in my hometown research. From my curiosity came the Facebook page, an Instagram account, and now the blog. You may have seen my articles in the Portage County Gazette as well. I forever collect information and rarely share it in print format for many to enjoy. I am pleased to have a place to put down not only my words, but my process of research as I find bits of colorful threads to weave into a full picture of not just early Stevens Point history, but of it’s many interesting residents lost to time.
Please join me as I explore multiple primary sources, newspapers, and local stories to follow families, individuals, and businesses of Stevens Point through time.
Chelsey S Pfiffner, proprietor, Primary Source Investigations
UWSP Archives, Stevens Point Daily Journal, May 17, 1949
Plover’s Highway 51 Outdoor Theater opened at time where drive in theaters were becoming increasingly popular across the country. The story of what was originally known as a “Park-In” theater, starts in 1933 Camden, New Jersey with the opening of the nation’s first open air theater. The drive in theater idea is said to have been inspired by entrepreneur, Richard Hollingshead, who wanted to make movies more enjoyable for his mother who had difficulty sitting in typical folding theater seats. After much experimentation, Hollingshead introduced his idea of the outdoor, open air theater where customers could watch movies from the familiarity and convenience of their own front seat.
Bringing Hollywood to the masses in the most accessible way, drive in theaters instantly cemented their space within American pop culture and quickly become an iconic piece of our past.
Wisconsin’s first drive in opened in Brookfield in June of 1940. It remained the state’s only open air theater until the 41 Twin Outdoor opened in Franklin during the summer of 1948. Within the next six years, the number of drive-ins theaters in the Milwaukee area would quickly increase from 2 to 20 by 1954, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. State wide it has been reported that there were at least 54 outdoor drive in theaters across the Wisconsin. Some of them even running year round by offering in car heaters for rent during the coldest of cold months.
The Highway 51 Outdoor Theater opened in May of 1949 at the now forgotten area known as Cooper’s Corners near the corner of today’s Tommy’s Turnpike and Post Road. The theater could fit up to 450 cars and cue up at least 300 more waiting for the next feature. The Stevens Point Daily Journal wrote that police reported significant traffic issues on the gala opening night, commenting on how citizens needed to remember that Paper Mill Road (Tommy’s Turnpike) was a single lane road and not a double lane highway.
UWSP Archives, SPDJ May 16, 1949
As the way American’s watched and enjoyed movies changed over the decades thanks to the popularity of the multiplex theaters, by the 1970s, open air theaters began to lose their appeal. With the introduction of the home based VCR and the easily rented video home system cassette, drive in theater grounds soon became more valuable as real estate than as outdoor theaters. Many owners eventually sold to commercial and housing developers.
Wisconsin’s first outdoor theater, the Bluemound Drive-In, closed in 1981 and was quickly developed into commercial and office space. The 41 Twin Outdoor, the Milwaukee area’s last traditional drive-in, closed after the 2001 season. Today the Franklin Northwestern Mutual Insurance campus stands on the property. The 41 Twin’s screens and speakers may be gone, but the memories have not been forgotten. Drive in enthusiast and historian, Charles Bruss, spent countless hours researching and doing the work to have a Milwaukee County Historical Society plaque placed at the site. Today, it is one of few historical markers memorializing a drive in theater in the country.
For many years, locals will remember The Highway 51 Outdoor Theater’s marquee standing strong on Post Road well after the reels playing. The theater closed in the early 90s, and the five story screen remained until it eventually collapsed. The land was later developed and a grocery store built, but soon abandoned. Today the building is used as a warehouse.
SPDJ 1956
Please enjoy these theater ads from the Stevens Point Daily Journal and 1979 photos taken by John W Vomvoris.
Malibu High circa 1979, entrance off Highway 51, click photo for gallery viewParking Lights Please!
click photos for gallery view
SPDJ Sept 1956Projection Room SPDJ July 1965SPDJ Aug 1979SPDJ Aug 1979
What are your favorite Highway 51 Drive In memories? Let us know by commenting here, messaging us on Facebook, or emailing contact@historicstevenspoint.com
Note that this work is incomplete.The timelines we write are meant to be fluid and changing. That is one of the reasons they are described as abridged. Not only do we not include all the details in them, but there is always more to find, and always more to write. Overtime more sources are found, more stories are heard, and more tips are followed until a full article is ready to be written.
It has indeed been a moment since we had a chance to check in with Mr. Kobella, but it is quite apparent things aren’t going all that well for the Kobella family by this point. They had lost their only daughter, Augusta had been in and out of the asylum, Charles had been declared an alcoholic and insane, and the Polski Hotel still lacked a license!
Business Directory, City of Stevens Point 1912
1912 City Directory, Kobella, Chas, bicycle shop, 245 N Second Street, res same; Kobella John, apprentice, res 245 N Second Street
Feb 1912 License requested for the Kobella Building by Carl Hansen and James Leonard, Mayor Walters said, “that he would not allow a saloon in that building, the Kobella building, which has given the police and the mayor so much trouble, so long as he was mayor…”
SPDJ March 14, 1912
Mar 1912, Augusta Kobella taken back to asylum by a “lady attendant.” She “had been out on parole for several months.”
April 1912 Augusta Kobella recommitted “and later sent to Weyauwega, having been judged incurable.” It isn’t clear from what dear Augusta was not curable, earlier there are mentions of epilepsy, but nothing has been verified.
Waupaca County Insane Asylum, Circa 1907, This is what Augusta saw when she arrived.
Waupaca County Insane Asylum, Weyauwega, Wisconsin circa 1930s, www.wigenweb.org
Sept 11, 1913, The Last Known Raid: Kobella Hotel, Notorious Resort is Raided Again! Four arrested. Mrs. Mary Cychosz, Mrs Georgia Halverson, Miss RA Burns who claimed to be from Marquette, Michigan., and Mr. Glen Sawyer of Fond du Lac. Cychosz paid fine of $54.59 for selling liquor without a license and “was given a sharp lecture in which she was warned that if ever charged with the same offense that she would get a state prison sentence as well as a fine.” Mary Cychosz was married to John Cychosz, presumably who Kobella ran his bike shop with in 1900. They were reported to be living on Portage Street in 1915.
SPDJ Sept 11, 1913
Nov 1913 Kobella and Mattice have a vicious argument, enough so that Kobella took him to court and had him charged with abusive language.
SPDJ Nov 19,1913
Feb 17, 1914 Mrs. Kobella Dead! Local lady passes away at Weyauwega Asylum, Augusta was brought home to Stevens Point and buried in St Peters Cemetery
SPDJ, Feb 17, 1914
CHARLES KOBELLA DEAD!
April 4, 1914, Charles Kobella diesat 58 years old, “death was the result of liver trouble and general physical breakdown,” ending the
SPDJ April 4, 1914
Joe Mattice ended up blacklisted, drunk, and destitute or “Posted, Pickled, and Pinched,” as a headline said. By 1916 he had been arrested numerous times for a variety of offenses in the five years since his wife had died. Their only daughter, Florence, was adopted by his sister around 1917 after he began to neglect her. He remarried in 1921 and had two more children. He died in 1927 of what was likely congestive heart failure at the Soldier’s Home in Milwaukee but was brought home to be buried at St. Peter’s. He was 46 years old. Florence, later married and began a life of her own, far away from her grandfather’s notorious house of ill repute.
Joseph Mattice, dod 1927, Find a Grave.com
Is there more to the story? Absolutely! As mentioned, our timelines are fluid and ever changing. We want to note that we never found any hard connections to prove that the establishment was ever run as a true brothel like the over 100 years of rumors suggest. There are a few sources that have not been fully researched as of yet (Like The Wendell Nelson Papers), but none of the newspaper articles regarding any one associated with the Kobellas mentioned any of the usual names used in the media to describe “houses of ill repute.”
We’ll let you know if we make any significant discoveries about our friend, Mr. Kobella or dear Augusta. But for the moment, here ends our timeline of the infamous times and trials of T Charles Kobella and his Polski Hotel.
However, this isn’t the end of the story of the building itself. Where there are endings, there are often new beginnings, as there was with the property on N Seconds Street…
Stevens Point Sanborn Fire Insurance Map 1912
March 1916, Emil Belke starts making plans to build a new wood working factory at 247 N Second Street
SPDJ March 4, 1916
Watch for the next installment, “Belke & the Building“ Coming Soon
Last October we were invited on a tour of the progress on St Joseph’s Convent buildings on the north side of town. A special thank you to Stevens Point Director of Community Development, Ryan Kernosky, for the invitation and to Dan Broton, long time convent employee, for his priceless stories and memories of the building over the years.
For a little more on the history and plans for the convent buildings read the seven part series New Era, by Kris Leonhardt for the Stevens Point News. Part 1, Part 2,Part 3,Part 4,Part 5, Part 6,Part 7
We are sure the buildings have come a long way since October 2022, but we are still happy to finally share these exclusive photos with you.
Our followers have certainly noticed the lack of new content on our website over the past year, as well as have seen our social media quiet down. But that doesn’t mean things weren’t happening in the background.
In fact, 2022 was a big year for our little project. Here’s an update of what was going on off line…
Last February, Historic Stevens Point held a public funeral and procession in honor of 1700 Strongs Avenue, which was demolished shortly after. Founder, Chelsey Pfiffner, arranged for a service to be held at the location, coordinated a “funeral” procession march to the Rose House, and followed it by a reception with short talks from Portage County Historical Society, Executive Director, John Harry and others. You can read about it in our February 2022 blog post. And here in this WPR article, Chanel 9 News clip, and Stevens Point Journal article. A Live Facebook talk was also produced earlier in that month that showcased the 3d Matterport scan made the previous December.
Shortly after the building memorial, Pfiffner took time away from the Historic Stevens Point project publicly, and continued to research Stevens Point history in the background. During that time, she spent many hours at the archives going through numerous documents including the Ameila Berg trial papers from her infamous final jaunt in Stevens Point as well as the Hotel Whiting/ Kingston Hotels files.
UWSP Archives
Solidifying her place as a Stevens Point historian, Pfiffner was awarded with the Winn Rothman Award from the Portage County Historical Society at their annual meeting in April of 2022 for her research on the city’s history.
In June, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Portage County Library System, Pfiffner presented on the history of past Stevens Point Library buildings to a crowd of about 70 people at the downtown Portage County Library. This was the first talk sponsored by the historical society for their Talking Points, Historical Education Programming series made possible through a grant from the Community Foundation of Central Wisconsin.
Pfiffner was invited to tour the St Joseph’s Convent construction project in October where she took numerous exclusive photos that will be posted here in an upcoming blog post.
Then in December, Pfiffner spoke to a full house at the Sunset Point Winery for the well publicized presentation, Stevens Point Holiday Traditions, again sponsored by PCHS and CFCW. Wine was drank, memories flowed, laughs were had, and history was told!
PCHS Photo
And just this past month Pfiffner was noted in the popular OnMilwaukee.com column, Urban Spelunking, regarding her research on the Hotel Whiting and her family’s connections.
Our website has been quiet, but Pfiffner certainly has not! We hope you had a chance to attend one of our events over last year, and if not we hope to see you at a future event!
As 2023 moves forward, please continue to follow our blog and Facebook page for more events like future presentations sponsored by the Portage County Historical Society, Facebook updates on current research, collaborations with other local historians, as well as fresh blog posts, and possibly a few live Facebook talks!
As always, a special thank you to those who have continued to follow our work and have supported the project along the way. You are most appreciated!
‘The more decrepit I look, the more you’ll love me, as this reminds you that I’ll be gone before you.’ – Don Paterson’s summation in Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnet
Photo provided by Dana Jurgella Tuszke
On the afternoon of February 20, 2022, Historic Stevens Point held a funeral and memorial service in honor of the soon to be demolished historic Gothic Renaissance church building at the corner of Strongs Avenue and Brawley Street near downtown Stevens Point. About 60 people gathered for a short service held on the steps of the building which included a eulogy written and read by our founder, Chelsey Pfiffner, and blessing from the current pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, as well as beautiful renditions of Amazing Grace and Taps played on trumpet by members of The Grenadiers. The service was immediately followed by a funeral procession in the style of a New Orleans Jazz second line procession complete with prerecorded amplified music, walking a route down Brawley towards Water, and then Clark Streets, leading to the Rose House Venue, where a reception was held with presentations from speakers John Harry, Executive Director of the Portage County Historical Society and Pastor Clay Schmidt from Trinity Lutheran Church, as well as remarks from Pfiffner.
Special thanks to Betsy Heimlich and Ken Camlek of The Grenadiers, The Rose House LLC, Zest Bakery and Coffee House, The Opera House, Trinity Lutheran Church, CREATE Portage County, The Portage County Historical Society, and The City of Stevens Point. And extra special thanks to Nerissa Nelson.
Broadcasts recorded live along with photos of the event and a timeline of the building history will be posted separately.
Eulogy for 1700 Strongs Avenue By Chelsey Pfiffner
The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life. – Frank Lloyd Wright
Architect Norman Foster said that “As an architect you design for the present, with an awareness of the past, for a future which is essentially unknown.” We can only imagine if the 19th century architect, JH Jeffers, felt the same, and wonder if he would have ever expected that this would be the fate of his creation.
Trinity Lutheran Evangelical Church… Church of Christ… Turning Point Dance Academy… Dance Dynamics… Home.
She went by many names, but no matter her name, her space gave everyone that knew her… comfort and a sense of belonging.
Born in 1898 of stone, lumber, colored glass, sweat, and steel (to accentuate her inner beauty) she soon became the jewel of the neighborhood.
Beloved by so very many, she has graced us with her glory for almost 125 years, her ceaseless commitment to the very community that loved and adored her never truly going unnoticed.
Knowing both English and Norwegian, our dear gentlewoman, as many with immigrant heritage did, sometimes struggled with her identity and place in the community. She changed her name several times over the years, never quite comfortable with her choice. By 1905 she had started writing solely in English and by 1913 she stopped speaking Norse altogether.
Our lady survived the infamous cyclone of 1908, while others around her were not so lucky. The terrifying incident destroyed the lives of many, but she came out strong unscathed, standing tall, ready to wrap her love around her community and those who needed her most.
Over the years while she was known as Trinity, she over saw numerous weddings, baptisms, and confirmations, she became like family to so very many. A sister, mother, friend… on some of the most important day of their lives.
Change came to her in the form of worship when she became part of the Church of Christ during the 50s, but the 1960s, as for many, gave her a new outlook on life, and by the end of the decade she was ready to make another identity shift, settling down and making space and time for family.
She made new close friends in those years like the The Glodowskis and The Starks. Delighted, she watched their daughters dance and play in the space and light she provided through her inner beauty.
Architect, Louis Kahn once said, “The Sun does not realize how wonderful it is until after a room is made.”
Life began anew in the late 80s when love came to her doors in the form of dance. She was given new color, new life, new love, and with delight, she once again watched on as, this time, 100s of local children, over the span of 25 years, learned to love dance and music while surrounded by her love and beauty.
When the children moved on, and the love eventually followed them, our gentle lady was for the first time, left alone. All alone. As more time passed, the years began to weigh on her, and the loneliness set in, she quietly began to slip into desperation in hopes that she would be noticed, that someone might save her, but in the end her space in the community was forgotten, and her future overlooked.
Today we give gratitude to our old friend, today we let her know there are plenty who did not forget her space in the community, in history, or her place in our hearts.
“Great buildings that move the spirit have always been rare. In every case they are unique, poetic, products of the heart.” Arthur Erickson
She will take a piece of our hearts with her when she goes, but know, that she will live on in our memories forever more.
“That time of year thou mayst in me behold, When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hangs, Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou see’st the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west; Which by and by black night doth take away, Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest”
-Shakespeare
Thank you to Louis Molepske Jr. for use of the header photo.
Historic Stevens Point 