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

Posted on January 14, 2022 by stevenspointhistorian

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

Posted on October 27, 2021 by stevenspointhistorian

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Posted on October 10, 2021 by stevenspointhistorian

Booze & Boarders

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…

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Posted on October 5, 2021 by stevenspointhistorian

Blasphemy & Bicycles

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.”

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

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.

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.

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

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…

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!

Stevens Point’s Lost Carnegie Library: The Final Chapter

Posted on August 21, 2021 by stevenspointhistorian

Courtesy of the Portage County Library, circa 1950/60s

By the early 1960s complaints about overcrowding at the library dominated public discussion. The rotunda once a lovely sight, now called a “bothersome frill” was filled with stacks of bound magazines only reachable through a padlocked gate and the winding old staircase. “Originally, there was an opening in the first-floor ceiling and from the main desk you could look up into the dome. Later the opening was sealed,” and the beautiful special ordered green art glass was covered. Everywhere “book stacks standing where book stacks aren’t supposed to be.” Library officials declared that “the brick structure has outlived its usefulness as a library.”

Photos from the Stevens Point Daily Journal, January 24, 1964 showing how crowded the library had become. Stark difference than the 1914 photos posted in Part 4

Complaints of odd angles and no space for growth tabled talk about expanding the original structure. There was a preference to sell the old building and build a new modern library, but funding remained an issue. Then at the end of 1963, Charles M. White died and left $140,000 to the city. His intention was that it be used for a “project or building that will be beneficial” to the people of Stevens Point. Almost immediately it was decided that money would go towards the building of a new modern public library leaving the fate of the Carnegie Library in the hands of whoever purchased the building and land.

In April of 1966 construction began on the new Charles M White library at the corner of Church and Clark Streets, a historic corner where the city’s first church was built in 1853. It was also, ironically, next to where the high school burned in 1892 when the library lost half of its original collection. The new library would be built in the Brutalism style, a steep contrast to the Neo-Classical Revival styling of its Carnegie Library sibling just down the road.

At the end of December 1967, Stevens Points Free Public Carnegie Library closed its heavy ornate doors and prepared for the move. Once again, the immense collection of books moved to a new home just down the block and once again, they found a new home on new shelving leaving the dusty old worn varnished shelves behind to meet their fate.

The Beginning of the End, Circa 1968, Photo courtesy of Cathy Scipior Duggan

The building was sold to the First National Bank and sat empty for a few years. Then in April of 1969, the bank decided to demolish the building citing worries about vandalism. With that quick decision, one of the most important beautiful buildings to ever grace Stevens Point met its end nearly 65 years to the day of when Dr. Southwick received official word from Andrew Carnegie’s secretary. Nothing would be built on the land again, and today the site is covered in concrete and blacktop.

Open to All, yet forever lost to time
Mike Dominowki photo, UWSP / PCHS Archives

Mostly memories and photos remain, but you can still imagine a bit what it would have been like to walk through the enormous beautiful ornate brass doors of the original entrance. The doors and lamp posts were thoughtfully salvaged by those who realized their importance. Saved by local historian John Anderson and stored in the basement of the Old Main Building at the University, the doors safely sat and collected dust for a few decades. The lamp posts continued to be used and were moved to the front of the new Charles M White Library. Later, the lamp post silhouette was incorporated into the library logo. When the third and present library was built in 1992, the brass doors were dusted off and finally brought out of storage and given a new home. The lamp posts were reunited with the doors over a decade later completing a “new” library entrance and once again, “Open to All.”

The entrance to the Pinery Room meeting space, specifically designed to hold the doors, gave the library a beautiful grand entrance once again. Unfortunately, the transom that hangs above the doors is not original and it is a fabricated replicate based on the door design. Today the original hangs in the home of a private citizen, and at the time was not available for public display. The replica is slightly different than the first transom, but one would not know without seeing the original. Regardless of the differences, the current transom beautifully helps to complete the imagery of literally walking through the doors of another time. You can almost smell the books and hear the creaky floors.

The Original Carnegie Library Transom, Photo courtesy of David Schwerbel

The Stevens Point Carnegie Library is a more than a memory from the past, it was more than a building to many, it was an ideal, open to all, that brought a community together and gave its citizens a beautiful place to grow and learn. Locals today fondly reminisce about the smell of ancient books, the sound of the creaking wood floors and the dark varnished wood. Many do not remember the Carnegie Library, nor know it even existed at all. With only stories and artifacts to share, it is important to keep the memory alive of this lost nearly forgotten building of historic Stevens Point.

The only other known remnant of the library is the top of one the interior columns which is used as a display table base today at the current Portage County Library building. UWSP /PCHS Archives .

Photo Courtesy of Diane Casselberry of the Portage County Library

We would like to extend our gratitude to Diane Casselberry, Linda Kappel, Bruce Barnes, and the late Wendell Nelson for their gift of information and photos while we worked on this piece about Stevens Point’s Lost Carnegie Library. Without their contribution this article could not have been possible.

Read Part 1 here / Read part 2 here Read Part 3 here / Read Part 4 here/ Read Part 5 here

Framed postcard and souvenir spoon displayed in the Portage County Library, photo courtesy of Diane Casselberry

Circa 1953, photo source unknown at time of publishing

Post card with view from Clark Street looking west towards Strongs Avenue, circa 1908,
UWSP/ PCHS Archives

This early post card image shows a good example of the original doors and transom before the Weeks donation. Pre 1910, UWSP PCHS Archives

Post card looking north on Strongs Avenue towards Clark Street, circa 1910,
Historic Stevens Point Collection

Circa 1914, Wisconsin Historical Society

Note the lamp posts and the car parked at the right, Circa 1920, UWSP PCHS Arcives

Stevens Point Daily Journal, April 30, 1969

Sources used over the entirety of this piece:
Stevens Point Daily Journal
The Portage County Gazette
Wendell Nelson Papers
Portage County Library Archives
Wisconsin Historical Society Archives
UWSP / PCHS Archives
Sandborn Fire Insurance Maps

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Blasphemy & Bicycles

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