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    Kenosha
    Kenosha
    Kenosha
    Ebook187 pages1 hour

    Kenosha

    By John J. Hosmanek

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    About this ebook


    Looking from the decks of schooners toward the western shore of Lake Michigan, early explorers quickly saw the potential of the prairie wilderness that was to become Kenosha. The vintage postcards in this book show a community that has evolved through rapid growth due to immigration, employment opportunities, and eras of educational leadership, patriotism, and a phoenixlike revival following devastating economic depression. From its beginning, the people of the area have demonstrated a strong work ethic, religious and civic spirit, and the ability to triumph over adversity.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateMar 1, 2006
    ISBN9781439616734
    Kenosha
    Author

    John J. Hosmanek

    Author John J. Hosmanek is a retired educator who spent 30 years of his career in Kenosha, the last 10 as the superintendent of schools. He earned a bachelor's degree in history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and master's and doctoral degrees from Marquette University in Milwaukee. Dr. Hosmanek has been recognized by the Wisconsin State Historical Society for his involvement in local history activities. His experiences also include service as a World War II Marine, a Ford Foundation Fellow, an editor of a historical quarterly, a stock car driver, and an avid collector of Kenosha postcards.

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      Book preview

      Kenosha - John J. Hosmanek

      am.

      INTRODUCTION

      Long before the days of cellular phones or e-mail, the postcard served as a common mode of communication. A medium that was written and visual, private and public, postcards were an inexpensive way to communicate, especially during the early 1900s. The message was presented on both sides of the card. A meaningful photograph or illustration was featured on one side, and a handwritten message was included on the back, or sometimes on both sides. At one time, the post office forbade writing except in the prescribed area of the card. Postcards have become a treasured source of history, as they feature rare photographs, and at times, the cards recorded little bits of family and community history.

      It is amazing that such historical treasures are kept in attics, boxes, and albums, stored away and sometimes forgotten. Local historians and history buffs feed on such materials, and it is fortunate that local history is not exclusively the province of professional historians. Local history is everyone’s scholarly pursuit, from family history to organizational history to community history.

      The local history contained on postcards and their messages complement or synthesize that which is contained in local newspapers, documents, photographs and books.

      There is little to supplant the value of postcards in reminding townspeople of what the old high school building, known by many as the Annex, looked like. Historic cards also help to conjure up recollections of what the sprawling Simmons Company area looked like prior to demolition of the plant and the development of the Harbor Park residential area. Indirectly, they are a reminder of how well government turns lemons into lemonade through the renewal of neighborhoods and commercial areas in the community.

      Postcards are also a record of the huge transport ships involved in international trade that were common in the harbor not too many years ago; the importance of the railroads; the change that has taken place in retail business; and the importance of our schools, churches, libraries, hospitals, and medical facilities in our community.

      Also recorded on postcards is the industrial era that some people labeled paternalistic, when the place where one worked sponsored baseball, basketball, soccer, and bowling teams, as well as a company marching band. Similarly, the transition from animal power to internal combustion engine power can be seen, as well as the evolution of automobiles and other modes of transportation.

      Ah, memories are made of this. Hopefully, this book will help readers recall pleasant memories of old Kenosha and serve as a conversation piece. Perhaps it will even entice readers to dig out those old cards that have been stored away.

      One

      KENOSHA’S LAKEFRONT

      Kenosha’s history began at the lakefront, harbor, and Simmons Island area.

      A preeminent Kenosha historian, Carrie Cropley, identified the island as one site of a Native American village. Present-day Kenosha was the site of villages in which the Potawatomi tribe, a part of the Algonquin nation, lived.

      Prior to 1833, as Cropley relates, one of the villages was located on Simmons Island, and it was called Kenozia (pike) by Native Americans and trappers. Another village was located north of the present Chrysler plant in the Rice Park subdivision, and yet another was further south, near the lakeshore.

      Pike Creek extended from the present harbor to the Washington Bowl and westward to the present-day Municipal Golf Course. Another branch, flowing from the area that is now Bradford High School, joined the Fiftieth Street branch at the golf course.

      Wallace Mygatt, an early pioneer, stated that the chief Native American village was established north of what is now Fiftieth Street and west of Sheridan Road. He also wrote of the evidence of Native American homes on what is now Simmons Island.

      In the 1830s, the government’s doctrine of Manifest Destiny was accepted as the justification for pushing the Native Americans further westward, and in 1835, the prairie wilderness on the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan was settled and named Pike, but soon after it was renamed Southport.

      Although some early settlers came over land, most came to this area by way of the Great Lakes. Either method of travel in the early to mid-1800s was hazardous and difficult.

      Only the speculation for land and the desire for independence and adventure prevailed over the concern for one’s safety and well-being.

      Col. Michael Frank’s recording regarding the settlement of this area is based on the accounts he heard from the actual participants. It begins with the dinner meeting in Hannibal, New York, in December 1834 to discuss settlement in the West. Frank described the formation of an emigration company. At a subsequent meeting, held in February 1835, the organization was perfected under the name of the Western Emigration Company.

      By the spring of 1835, the company appointed a small advance party to explore the little-known regions on the western shores of Lake Michigan.

      MICHAEL FRANK. A genuine moral and political leader, Michael Frank was the first Southport Village president, first mayor of Kenosha, territorial representative, and school superintendent and editor of the Southport Telegraph. He earned the title, father of the free public schools in Wisconsin. (Courtesy of the Kenosha School District Archives.)

      HARBOR ENTRANCE VIEW. The old North Pier had a catwalk that enabled the lighthouse keeper to replenish the kerosene fueling the light at the harbor entrance during all kinds of weather. Shown to the left is the old harbor light. (Author’s collection.)

      THE 1866 LIGHT STATION. Rising above the island is the 1866 lighthouse, which was built on the foundation of an earlier lighthouse. Next to the lighthouse stands the keeper’s dwelling, which was built in 1867. The card was postmarked in 1910. (Author’s collection.)

      THE 1866 LIGHT STATION AND GROUNDS. Although the lighthouse has

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