[1855]

	
An Act Authorizing the errection of County buildings in the County 
of Manitowoc. The people of the State of Wisconsin represented in 
Senate and Assembly do enact as follows:
Sect. 1. The Board of Supervisors of the County of Manitowoc is 
hereby authorized and required to cause to be errected within two 
years from the first day of April A.D. 1855 at the County seat of 
said County and on that certain piece and parcel of Land known as 
the "Court House site" and further known and described as Lots 
numbered one (1) two (2) ten (10) eleven (11) and twelve (12) in 
Block numbered two hundred and seventy three (273) lying and being 
in the first ward of the village of Manitowoc and at an expense of 
not exceeding the sum of ten thousand Dollars including whatever 
sums may have been heretofore paid or expended in labor and material 
a suitable and convenient County building, suitable for a Court House, 
Jail, and County offices. Provided that the said Board of Supervisors 
shall have power do adopt or reject the plan and specifications and 
submitted by Francis Goetzler and approved by the Board of Supervisors 
in A.D. 1853, and Provided further that the said Board of Supervisors 
shall have power to remove and reconstruct the foundation for said 
Court House laid by said Goetzler on said court House site if on a 
careful examination the majority of said Board shall be of the opinion 
that said foundation is imperfect and insufficient. Section 2. The said 
Board of Supervisors is hereby authorized to draw orders on the County 
Treasury from time to time as the work progresses, to be paid out of 
any monies in the Treasury accrued or accruing from a certain tax levied 
by authority of the Board of Supervisors in A.D. 1853 for the purpose 
of 'Erecting County Buildings' and the said Treasurer is hereby 
authorized to pay said orders out of said fund and none other. 
This act shall take effect from and after the tenth day of April A.D. 
1855. C.C. Sholes, Speaker of the Assemby. Eleazer Wakely, President 
of the Sentate pro.tem. Approved March 29, 1855. W.A. Barstow.
Manitowoc Tribune, Apr. 12, 1855


[1859]


IMPROVEMENTS.-
We discover many new buildings in process of erection in different 
portions of the town, and we feel gratified that the village is 
advancing, notwithstanding the hard times.
Manitowoc Pilot, Friday, October 21, 1859 P.3


[1885]


Two Rivers news: 
Two Rivers is having a building boom. Houses are springing up in 
all parts of the town. Still houses to rent are scarce. This is 
certainly an indication that the town is growing.
Manitowoc Lake Shore Times, Tuesday, July 28, 1885 P.2


[1886]

	
OUR COUNTY ASYLUM.
The wisdon of those who so persistently urged the building of our 
County Insane Hospital has been amply vindicated by the increased 
care and comfort which the unfortunate inmates have received. As 
an economic measure it will be still further vindicated as the 
annexed letter received by Supt. Miller from the State Board of 
charities and Reform will show:
Madison, Jan. 7th. 1886.
Mr. G. Miller,
Dear Sir:-This board has approved the bills of Manitowoc Co. for the 
chronic insane and Feb. 1st. $2697.00 will be placed to your credit 
in the State Treasury.
Yours Respectuflly, A.O. Wright, Sec'y.
Manitowoc Lake Shore Times, Tuesday, January 12, 1886 P.2


The old farm building east of the National Hotel which is one of the 
"ancient land marks" of our city is not to be torn down after all but 
will be removed to another lot.
Manitowoc Lake Shore Times, Tuesday, April 27, 1886 P.4




[1894]

	
The old county building and the furniture of the offices which could 
not be used in the new offices was disposed of by auction on Saturday 
last. The county bid in the building for a $130 and sold it to the 
County Asylum for $150. This week Supt. Mueller has a gang of his 
inmates at work tearing down the building and removing the material. 
The old furniture sold brought to the county $53. The old building 
being removed is one of the landmarks of the city. It was built in 
1860 by Ben Jones. The contract price was $2,800, but with extra work 
the whole sum reached $5,000. Its removal will greatly improve the 
appearance of the court house square as shade trees are to be put in 
next season.
Manitowoc Pilot, Mar. 8, 1894


[1915]


The city's new chapel at Evergreen cemetery has been completed and is
ready for use according to report made to the council last night by
Chairman Nienaber of the cemetery and parks committee. The chapel was
erected at a cost of about $2,500. The original bids on the building
were way up but on second advertising were cut.
Manitowoc Daily Herald, Tuesday, January 5, 1915 P. 3

	
The first funeral services at the new chapel at Evergreen cemetery 
were held yesterday when the body of the late Joseph Marshek was laid 
to rest, following the services. Rev. Axtell officiated the services. 
The chapel was recently erected by the city at a cost of $2,000. 
Manitowoc Daily Herald, Thursday, Mar. 04, 1915


[1920]

	
City Hall Back To Its Old Site After 60 Years"-
The child returneth to its mother." 
This old saying was again verified when one of the old safes of the 
city clerk's office was moved to the new city hall on Friday. The old 
safe was purchased for the use of the village treasurer in the early 
sixties when the village office and meeting place of the trustees were 
in the vacated store room of the Oscar Koch building which occupied 
the site of the present new city hall, and Carl Hottelman was the 
village treasurer. It was here that the meeting of the village trustees 
was abruptly broken up one night and the board sought safety in flight 
through the rear windows when the Southside fire department appeared 
en masse to protest against the order of the board to disband. The 
village record reveals that in consequence the regular meetings of the 
board were dicontinued for several months owing to "no quorum being 
present, etc." This incident occurred just before the outbreak of the 
civil war when political partisanship ran rampant. The village board 
had a Republican majority and charged the then volunteer fire department 
with furthering Democratic propaganda.The old Koch building now stands 
at the corner of Tenth and Green streets, having been moved there to 
make room for the enlargement of the Victoria hotel, which has been 
purchased for city hall purposes.
Manitowoc Herald News, Nov. 22, 1920


[1923]

	

Old Landmark to be Removed
Like a "castle by the sea", the old Half Way House has stood for sixty 
years half way between Manitowoc and Two Rivers. It is now to be wrecked 
and it is reported that a modern garage will be erected on the site.
Into the history of the Half Way House are woven noble ambitions and 
deep tragedy. Many years ago after falling into new hands, the old 
building became notorious as a rendezvous of bad characters and it was 
the scene of a desperate murder during a midnight orgie. Its projector, 
Charles Kuehn, was a man of culture and education as well as great 
physical strength. He was born in Germany and came to Two Rivers about 
1842. It was his fond ambition to found here a great landed estate on 
which the old mansion should be like the English Manor House or the 
German "Schloss". In 1858, while yet serving as the state of Treasurer 
of Wisconsin, he began the erection of the house with which his name is 
still, sometimes associated, as Kuehn's farm. When his term of office 
expired, he came back to Two Rivers where he wound up the affairs of his 
general store and engaged in the banking business thus founding the 
first bank here and he named it the Bank of Two Rivers, This was in 1859.
While engaged in this business he resided in his big new house by the 
lake. He loved work on the farm and spent all his leisure hours there. 
But the aristocratic dreams and ambitions which he cherished about the 
place were destined never to be fulfilled. In 1861 he moved his bank to 
Manitowoc. Those were the days of the so-called "Wild Cat currency" when 
every bank issued its own currency which was redeemable in gold. Gold 
rose enormously in value making it necessary for Kuehn to redeem his 
currency with two or three times its value in gold. Being a man of 
sturdy honor, Mr. Kuehn continued to meet his obligations although it 
made him penniless and shortly thereafter, he died.
Thus cherished hopes of the projector of the lakeside landed estate were 
dashed in the rocks of fate. The old building which is now to be 
dismantled has stood for years, a monument to the ruined hopes and 
ambitions of its builder.
The Reporter, Fri., Feb. 23, 1923


[1928]

	
Razing of Manitowoc's First "Sky Scraper" Recalls Pioneer History 
of Eighty Years Ago (By Old Timer)
Again has another old landmark of the city been relegated to the past. 
After having served its various purposes for almost eighty years, the 
Dusold building, corner Seventh and Jay streets, known at one time as 
Manitowoc's "sky-scraper," will be razed to make way to modern 
improvement and with its passing will be left a memory of one of the 
oldest buildings in this section. Its going will also bring a memory 
of Manitowoc's pioneer days such as only the oldest of our citizens 
will remember. The building, now owned by the Manitowoc Cereal Products 
Co., is giving way to other plans of the concern. Probably no other 
building in the city served such varied purposes as this old structure 
or saw so much of Manitowoc in the making. Erected in 1850 by the late 
George Dusold, it was Manitowoc's tallest building and was provided 
with a double store front. The first floor was occupied as a saloon 
and a shoe shop, the second floor was partitioned off for lodging 
purposes and the third floor served as a hall for shows and dances. 
The House of a Hundred Candles. In those days of course there were 
no electric lights. Kerosene lamps were almost unknown so that the 
only mode of illumination was candles. Thus the building became known 
as "The house of a hundred candles." Being so pretentious, it bore the 
proud name of "Jefferson Hall," thus proclaiming the proprietor to be 
a sturdy democrat. 

The building served for social gatherings and 
"grand balls" of which there were not a few, in those pioneer days. 
There was little class distinction, all ages congregating to step the 
light fantastic in the good old fashioned square dances, schottlaches 
and money musks. Recalling these dances, the writer remembers there 
was but one young man in town who sported a "biled" shirt. He was a 
clerk in the post office to which place the mail came only semi-
occasionally so he had lots of time to be dressed up. Many a hot 
political battle was staged within the walls of the landmark. It 
was the scene of community gatherings some of which waxed exceedingly 
warm in those days of hectic political atmosphere. This was especially 
true in national and local affairs in the stirring times preceding the 
war of the rebellion. After the fire which destroyed the court house 
and jail at Rapids, the county seat was transferred to the village of 
Manitowoc and of course it was only fitting that the offices be located 
in the pretentious three story edifice which the village boasted. 
Jefferson Hall served as a court house from 1853 to 1857, when the 
building now providing an armory for Company E was completed for that 
purpose. The second story of the Dusold building served as a school 
room for many years and Mrs. Shove, mother of Mrs. J.E. Hamilton, Two 
Rivers, presided there as teacher and wielder of the rod with which she 
exacted discipline of no mean order. Some of her former pupils will 
remember that she opened the exercise of the day with prayer, and 
discouraged tardiness and truancy by promptly locking the door after 
school was called. 

Taxes on Three Lots: 24 Cents! Mr. Dusold, the builder of the Jefferson 
Hall was a shoemaker by trade, emigrating from Bavaria in 1846, first 
locating in the village of Rapids and a few years later removing to 
Manitowoc, where he enjoyed the distinction of being the first German 
settler to locate on the south side of the river. He purchased the three 
lots on the corner of Jay and Seventh streets, and a receipt is still in 
existence to show that in 1847 the taxes on these three lots amounts to 
24c-8c for each. The timber for Jefferson Hall was cut on the site of the 
building and was cut on the site of the building and was intended for the 
construction of Manitowoc's first Catholic church, which a few years later 
was erected at the corner of 10th and Marshall streets. The builders of 
the church who had undertaken to cut the timber for the same consisted of 
two shoemakers and a saddler, George Dusold, Michael Ripplinger and Michael 
Kuhl, respectively. These would be carpenters had cut the timber too short. 
"Theirs not to reason why." Financial difficulties also presented themselves 
and thus the logs and boards appeared to be doomed to waste. Since the logs 
had been cut from trees on the Dusold property a new idea presented itself 
that of the erection of a hotel, and this was done. In the course of time, 
the building lost its public character. Three flights of stairs were too much 
for pioneers, so the upper floor was eliminated and the building reduced to 
two stories. In later years it served as a tenement for many of our pioneer 
families. Harry Blumenstein, a member of the North Side fire station has now 
acquired the old building and is taking it down to make use of the material, 
most of which, strange to say, after eighty years, is still in very good 
condition. And so-"Sic transit Gloria mundi."
Manitowoc Herald News, Wednesday, June 20, 1928 Page 1