An Abridged Timeline: The Infamous Life of T. Charles Kobella and his Notorious Polski Hotel: Part 4

Bad Behavior & Burials

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 dies at 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

Exclusive Photos: St Joseph’s Convent Progress Photos

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.

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The Historic Stevens Point Project: Historic Recap of 2022

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!