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

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!

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

An Abridged Timeline: The Infamous Life of T. Charles Kobella and his Notorious Polski Hotel: , Part 1

Blasphemy & Bicycles

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.

Stevens Point lost an interesting landmark this past month, a building that is said to have quite the sordid past. The Belke Manufacturing Company building was razed recently, and rumors have been floating around about its history beyond the lumber company for many years. But none that told much of the story behind the building, or maybe we should say the story ‘inside’ the building.

The Belke Manufacturer Company building circa 2018, Courtesy of Tammy and Chris Larson

Just as our work on Amelia Berg began with Wendell Nelson, so does on our research on the history of Kobella’s Polish Hotel. We are grateful to him, as always, for his work before us and hope we are able to expound on his considerable research overtime. We only wish we had the opportunity to speak with him about this notorious Stevens Point building, and so many others, before he passed. Alas, we pick up, hopefully near where he left off.

Please enjoy the beginning of our research on the infamous T. Charles Kobella and the history of his notorious disorderly house, The Polski Hotel.

Theophilus Charles Kobella was born in Poland around 1864 and arrived in the states with his family in 1882. He likely came to the Portage County with his parents, John and Rosalie Kobella shortly after arrival. According to genealogy records, by 1887 he had found a wife. Charles married Augusta (Augustina) Hintz/Hinca, on a cold day in January at a small Catholic church in Polonia, when he was 23 and she just 17. Together they had at least six children, three who survived to adulthood, Martha, born 6 months after the wedding, John, and Frank. Rose and Peter didn’t survive infancy. At some point after marrying, the Kobella family moved to 203 Portage Street (today 701 Portage Street) and began their, at first seemingly normal, but later, quite infamous and often difficult twenty years in Stevens Point.

The area circa 1896. Historic Stevens Point Collection

June 1894 first known Stevens Point Daily Journal entry, Chas Kobella, 28, reported as fireman. He was hurt and bruised after being dragged by a team of horses while on the job. Kobella attempted to claim damages of $78.30, ($2,490.73 today) but it was rejected and disallowed by the Finance and Claims Committee.

1895-96 City Directory, ‘Kobila’ Charles, fire dept No 1, 203 Portage. He does not appear in previous editions

St Peters Church, before the fire. 1876-1896, PCHS Archives

October 1896, And so it begins… Kobella remained a member of the fire dept likely until he was arrested for stealing $20 ($636.20 today) in beer and wine from St Peter’s Church during a horrible fire on October 18, 1896. The original church building and adjacent properties were a total loss and a crushing blow to the Polish community. Kobella and the other gentleman involved pleaded not guilty and posted $100 bail each, the witness eventually dropped the suit, but the damage to his reputation was already done.

Feb 1897 Kobella builds a “gun and bicycle repair shop on North Second Street” with plans to open May 1. Bicycles were extremely poplar at the end of the decade due to the invention of the Safety bike with chain. Over 150 bicycle manufactures existed across the nation at the time so a bicycle repair shop would not have been a bad business venture. “He is now engaged in erecting a two story frame building 18×26 feet, just north of the slough. The upper story is to be finished off for living rooms.”

1898 Sanbon Fire Insurance Map

June 1897 Ad for bicycle repair appears in SPDJ, Hans Nielson, in the basement of 245 N Second Street

June 1897, SPDJ

Nov 1897 Kobella family is living in a one story house at the corner of Portage and West Street, there was a small fire that began in the cellar of the property which was reported in the papers

701 Portage Street today. West Street can be seen to the right, which has been a dirt alley like road for decades. Clipped from Google Images 2021, circa 2019

Dec 1897, uh oh, Little Martha ‘Kobiela’ is first on the list for tardy first graders in the Fourth Ward, but manages to be “promoted to Second Grade, in June of 1898.

1900 City Directory, ‘Kobela’ T. Charles, bicycle repair, res 245 N 2^nd‘

1900 Census lists, Charles, 34, Gusta 30, Martha 12, John, 9, Frank 5, Peter 1, and servant Katie Worzela 17, notes that Gusta has birthed 6 children and only 4 are living. Peter died young and does not appear in 1905 records, nor the 1910 census.

April 1900 Ad in SPDJ for ‘Kobela & Raizner’ Bicycles, Hardware, Musical Instruments, 121 S Second Street, where The Cabin bar is located today.

April 1900, SPDJ

May 1900, Kobella wheel stolen by woman who said she was going to Plover, but went to Mosinee and did not return it!

Aug 1900 Kobella charged with assault, first known recorded incident. A drunk man had caused some issues in Kobella & Raizner’s bike shop on S Second Street. The man swore in front of Kobella’s wife and young daughter, as well as a female patron. Kobella asked him to leave several times eventually throwing him out by the shoulders. The man claimed he was kicked in the stomach, but no one could corroborate the story. Kobella pleaded not guilty, and the case was dismissed.

Sept 1900 Jas. Pusdrowski paid a $50 fine for a Sept 15th assault on Charles Kobella

Sept 23, 1900, Kobella placed ad in SPDJ that he “has removed [his business] from Bishop’s block to 233 N Second Street, first building north of the Slough bridge.” This is the only time this address is used.

Sept 23, 1900, SPDJ

Oct 1901, Another wheel stolen from Kobella, 245 N Second Street. He placed ad with a description of the bike hoping for its return.

Mar 1902, Kobella opens a bicycle livery and repair shop on Clark Street at the rear of Strong’s barber shop with Cychoz, likely John Cychoz, Clark Street near Third

March 1902, SPDJ

Nov 1902 Kobella begins an addition to his building on N Second Street

1903-04 City Directory, Kobela T. Charles (T. C Kobela & Co) bicycle repairs, 247 N 2^nd, Leon Kobela listed as barkeep at same residence.  

Aug 1903, Kobella announces that he will “embark in the hotel business and will cater especially to the Polish trade.” He had the “old Ciecholinski blacksmith shop moved from Portage Street” to the back of his building near the incline of the Slough to become a hotel stable.

Kobella’s new hotel at 245-247 N Second Street was soon to become a popular address, some would say, for all the wrong reasons…

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map 1904,

Note: Kobella is spelled a variety of ways, we chose to use this spelling for uniformity as it is most commonly used in records and in both Augusta’s and Charles’ obituaries.

Watch for Part 2 coming soon!