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

Eulogy for the Beloved: Saying Good Bye to 1700 Strongs Avenue

‘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.

Documenting History Before it Disappears : Creating a Virtual Tour of the Trinity Lutheran Church Building

On a cold day in December, a few weeks back, Historic Stevens Point made a special visit to the abandoned church building awaiting its imminent demise at 1700 Strongs Avenue on the corner of Brawley Street. As soon as we noted that the city was looking for demolition bids on the neglected and abandoned Trinity Lutheran Church building we made special arrangements to gain access so that we could take the opportunity to document the beauty of not only the outside, but the inside of the church, as it stands today, before it is razed and forever removed from the landscape, but not the memories, of Stevens Point.

We made sure to bring along our new friend, Barry Calnan of the Calnan Design Group.

Calnan creates 360 degree walk through interactive virtual tours using Matterport cameras and services by capturing thousands of photos of a space in just moments. Anyone can hire him for any kind of idea where you may need or want a virtual tour like a real estate walk through, insurance claim, restoration project, construction build, or facilities management. He can capture the entire building as it stands at the moment to create a fully immersive interactive virtual reality 360 3d tour. It’s quite amazing. People, the future is now!

Calnan, who is a Texas to Stevens Point transplant and has lived as far away as Dubai, says he loved Stevens Point from his first day in town. Stevens Point seems to have that affect on people. And it clearly shows that he does love the town. He recently began a project called Virtual Point where he has created a number of free to view virtual reality 3d tours of places and spaces in Stevens Point like the now razed Belke Building and the new Cultural Commons at Pfiffner Pioneer Park.

Our day at the church was a cold one with a temperature of 12 degrees outside, but Calnan was able to get his cameras and equipment working to collect the thousands of photos it takes to create the virtual reality scans. During the hour or so that Barry was busy with his equipment capturing images, we took the time to video some of the property as well. You can see that raw footage with commentary of the interior and exterior of the building currently on our Historic Stevens Point Facebook page as well as a recent recorded live presentation about the unfinished research we are doing on the building. We will eventually edit and embed those videos into a blog post for non Facebook users.

Calnan is also available for 3D Design, and 3D printing in the Central Wisconsin area and was the main 3d printing volunteer during a collaboration with CREATE Portage County printing protective face shields for the local medical community at the start of the COVID pandemic. With a background in engineering design and 3d printing, Calnan says the move to 3d data capture and virtual reality tours came quickly. He explained that he has been interested in creating these virtual reality tours on a volunteer basis as examples of what he can create to help promote the technology to the public and its endless possibilities.

The scans that Calnan creates can be used in a multitude of manners. As historians with a mind for preservation, we instantly saw the use of this technology as not only a manner to document historic buildings in the Stevens Point area, but also as a continuing way to engage the community in historic preservation, advocacy, and appreciation. There is so much that can be done with the scans that Calnan creates combined with the historic information we can provide. Together we can not only virtually preserve history, but make history at the same time. And by doing so we can save history for future generations, which is really one of the basis of historic preservation on whatever level.

“Historic preservation is not about the past, it is about building a better future together.” —Katherine Malone-France, chief preservation officer of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

You can find the Calnan Design Group’s full set of virtual reality tours and more information about his services at Virtual Point, Virtual Reality Tours and Calnan Design Group.

Click the blue text to take a virtual step into history with these select virtual reality historical tours from Calnan Design Group including the Trinity Lutheran Church Building, The Historic Fire House on Strongs, PCHS’s headquarters the Historic Beth Israel Synagogue and the now razed Belke Lumber Company Building of which we have written a timeline on it’s infamous past.

Historic Stevens Point would like to extend our gratitude to Mayor Mike Wiza for not only allowing us access to the building but also connecting us to Calnan. Without that connection we would not have been able to put this collaboration together to be able to give the public access to this incredible beautiful Gothic Renaissance church building and to document its last days for future researchers, historians, and history lovers alike.

We look forward to our next collaboration together! If you have ideas for scans of a historic property in the Stevens Point or Portage County area, please let us know!

Email contact@historicstevenspoint.com

Trinity Lutheran Church Building

John Anderson Postcard Collection circa 1910

An Abridged Timeline: The Infamous Life of T. Charles Kobella and his Notorious Polski Hotel: Part 3

BAR BRAWL?! BUSTED!

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.

The Brawlers by EJ Pfiffner located in Whiting Place, painted circa 1946. Post card from Pfiffner Family Collection

Thus far Kobella’s Polski Hotel does not disappoint and certainly lives up to its description as a “disorderly house!” Enjoy this next selection from our timeline as Charles Kobella and his sordid hotel infamy continues!.

January 1910 Wojik & Glisiczynski applied for a liquor license and was approved, stating that “it was their purpose to run a clean, orderly saloon business,” and would be run entirely separate form the Kobella Hotel.

Feb 1910, Paulina Werhowski sues for $500 in personal injuries, saying she slipped and fell on an alleged ice covered sidewalk in front of Kobella’s

Mar 1910, Augusta Kobella, taken to the Northern Asylum, second commitment, “She has been suffering from epilepsy and on Sunday when examined by Drs Walters and Rogers, was very violent. It required the service of three attendants to take her to the asylum,” obviously against her will.

By James E. Heg, compiler of the 1885 Wisconsin Blue Book(Life time: 1980) – Original publication: 1885 Wisconsin Blue Book. Immediate source: Page 160, of the 1885 edition of the Wisconsin Blue Book., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33529091

1910 Census lists Augusta Kobella as Musgusta Kabele, 40,  an inmate at Oshkosh, Winnebego, Wisconsin. Charles is listed as Tharles Kobiela 46, hotel keeper of a mortgaged property. John,18, and Frank, 15, are listed as well as three boarders, one being named JF Fake, along with 28 year old servant Mary Lipinkski

May 4, 1910 FIGHT! Kobella Polski Hotel, fourth Ward Joint Raided at 1am! Someone called the police to report a “rough house going on” at “one of the most obscene places in the city.” “A place of character run by Kobela, where young women are harbored until a late hour, for the purpose of gaining patronage through the presence of these people should be put out of business at once.” Kobela fined $34.25 or “sixty days in jail at hard labor.” Wojik & Glisiczynski declared they had “no further interest in the place,” taking their license with them and once again leaving Kobella without one, shutting him down. Kobella assured the mayor he wouldn’t try to open the place as a saloon again. Uh huh. Sure.

SPDJ May 4, 1910

May 11, 1910 Kobella’s raided AGAIN! Kobella, a woman, and two men were arrested around midnight at the hotel, the same night another “joint” was raided on the south side which was said to be “equally as bad and for a long time has been a stench in the nostrils of the respectable people of the south side.” Kobella was charged with “maintaining a house of ill fame.”

May 18, 1910 Kobella produces bail of $1,000, a whopping $31,087.16 today. The newspaper reports that he will be defended by Sicklesteel & Pfiffner, who also did not come cheap.

The Gazette, May 18, 1910

June 1910 Joseph and Martha Kobella Mattice, who had been living in Milwaukee, applied, and were granted a liquor license for 245 N Second Street with conditions that, “he must conduct the place better than most any other saloon in the city, must keep sober himself and allow no nonsense of any kind in his saloon; [and that] he must at once discard any music boxes or other musical instruments that he might have…” The fact that Mattice was a Spanish War Vet helped his cause considerably. Kobella himself was reported to have been ordered out of the city.

SPDJ June 16, 1910

Aug 1910, Kobella Found Insane! Drs C Von Nuepert and FA Walters diagnosed him as suffering from chronic alcoholism. Committed to the Northern Asylum in Oshkosh.

SPDJ Aug 1910

Dec 1910 Kobella “paroled” from the asylum

Feb 1911 Anna Mattice, mother of Joseph Mattice, petitioned the Common council to revoke the license of Charles Kobella, but likely in her son’s name. The council moved that “Mr. Kobella and Mattice be summoned to appear,” but the chief of police said the place had already been closed.

Feb 1911 Augusta Kobella paroled from asylum. She returns home to the Polski Hotel.

April 1911, Scandal! Joseph and Martha Mattice divorce!

SPDJ April 17, 1911

Nov 1911 Martha Kobella Mattice, Charles and Augusta’s only living daughter, dies at the age of 25 after a lengthy illness, leaving behind her husband and a 1.5 year old daughter. Martha is buried at St. Peter’s Cemetery along with her siblings, Rosa, 6 months, and Peter, 1 year.

SPDJ Nov, 20, 1911

Watch for Part 4 coming soon!

Read Part 1 here , Read Part 2 here

An Abridged Timeline: The Infamous Life of T. Charles Kobella and his Notorious Polski Hotel: , Part 2

Booze & Boarders

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.

The view looking north on N Second Street across from where Kobella’s Polski Hotel stood. The hotel building would be just to the low right in this photo. The “new” Ciecholinski Blacksmith building in the center (west corner of N Second and Portage Street) and CL Servis paint shop to the left. Circa 1900. June 1958 SPDJ clipping courtesy of Frankie Jurgella owner of Frank and Ernie’s at 925 N Second Street.

When we last left Mr. Charles Kobella, he was just embarking in the hotel business and starting on his true path to notoriety…

Aug 19, 1903

Apr 1905, Kobella arrested for drunk and disorderly, had been out with friends in the country and came back into town drunk, paid his $5 fine ($159.05 today)

June 1905 Wisconsin Census lists, Charles Kobella 44, Gusta 39, Martha 17, John 12, Frank 10, 4 male boarders, and 86 year old female servant, Mary Yarjeski.

June 1905 Wisconsin Census

July 1905 Kobella and Volenty Witczek REFUSED by the committee for a liquor license

Aug 1905, license refused again, tried to put it in an employee’s name, N. Wolosik, “an irresponsible young man in Kobela’s employ.” The newspaper called it “an institution that has caused the police department and the fathers and mothers of the Fourth ward much anxiety and trouble for some time.” The police chief reported that Kobella laughed in his face when they tried to regulate the “hotel of questionable character.” The Polski Hotel had been open just two years at this point!

Sept 1905 Kobella arrested for selling liquor without a license and “fined $50 and costs, a total of $53.50, or the price of 10,700 glasses of beer.” $53.50 would be $1,663.16 or 10,700 15 cent beers today

Sept 19, 1905 SPDJ

Oct 1905 License denied for the third time in the year!!  The newspaper called the hotel “an institution of unsavory reputation.”

Nov 1905  License applied for in Mike Strelavag’s name, refused again. AGAIN!

In Dec 1905  Frank Kluck was successful in getting a license for the Kobella Hotel, but wanted out by February of the following year. Kluck quit and took his license, as well as any profits, also leaving Kobella with a hefty bank note according to reports. “Saloon licenses are not transferable either as to location or proprietorship.” Which meant Kobella couldn’t legally operate and Kluck couldn’t move his license to another building.

SPDJ, Feb 1907

Feb 1907, A young woman known as “Black Rose” attempts suicide the street by drinking carbolic acid but survives! She had worked at the Kobella hotel until August of 1906, but “was taken in hand by Chief Leahy and advised to leave the city.” She went to Fond du Lac but had returned and attempted suicide on the street in front of Worzella’s dry goods store. She was “without funds and was despondent and had been advised a certain party to end it all with carbolic acid and had been furnished with money to buy it with.” Horribly, carbolic acid was a common way to commit suicide at the time, and easily available. Note this is the first actual account of possible prostitution at the Polski Hotel noted in the newspapers as far as we know.

July 1907 Kobella arrested for assault and battery of Mary Witczek at the hotel property. “Alleges that the defendant severely beat and bruised her…After the alleged assault, the woman had a fit at engine house No. 1 and was placed in the calaboose.” Very likely the wife of Volenty or Valentine Witczek, mentioned before as one the names for the first known license that was refused. They lived on the south side of town on Patch Street. Was Mary “working” at Kobella’s?

Nov 1907, The state picked up the Witczek case but DISMISSED it in the end. Kobella paid a fine of $37.95.

Dec 1907 Kobella arrested AGAIN for an assault that took place at his saloon at 2am. AB Klestinski, brought warrant, but eventually settled out of court in January.  This is the fourth assault he is involved with for those of you keeping track.

1908 City Directory, Kobella, T.C. & Co, hotel and saloon, 245 N. Second Street, Kobella T. Charles; Kobella, Martha, domestic, 245 N. Second Street

1908 City Directory

March 1908 Kobella denied license again after the testimony of Judge Murat and Police chief Leahy. That same month his application for citizenship was denied while three others were immediately approved. “Judge JA Murat, Sheriff Frank Guyant, and Chief of police John Lehy were called as witnesses for the government…” Kobella didn’t even wait in court to find out if his application was approved. He left before they even finished the proceedings.

April 1908, A false engagement of Martha Kobella and Walter Bernklau was announced in the SPDJ, but was publicly denied the next day by Martha.

May 1909, Kobella bought the old Curran house “bus” and had it “repainted and relettered, ‘Hotel Polski.’”

The Sellers Hotel’s Omnibus as an example (This building was also known as the Denver Hotel) SPDJ June 1958

July 1909, Kobella denied again! Fifty-one applicants and two brewers’ license. The committee recommended licensing them all except for “Kobella’s Hotel Polski.”

Oct 1909, Surprise! Liquor license denied for the property again. Peter Broski applied this round.

Oct 1909 Martha Kobella and well-known local Spanish war hero, Joe Mattice are married, ironically, by Judge Murat at the Hotel Denver, where they are both employed and living. They soon move to Milwaukee where Joe takes a job “in a factory at Milwaukee’s big suburb.” You can read a bit about the Hotel Denver building, also known as Hotel Sellers as well as a few other names, here.

The Denver Hotel, UWSP/PCHS

Watch for Part 3 coming soon!

Read Part 1 here