Kewaunee County Historical Society
Call us: 920-388-0369
KCHS History Center
The KCHS History Center is open during the months of February through December and closed in January.
Come and Visit Us and Enjoy the Legacy of Kewaunee County!
KCHS Jail Museum was organized in 1969 and opened to the public in 1970. The Museum is located on the south edge of Courthouse Square in Kewaunee in the 1876 National Register Jail and Sheriff's Quarters.
Unique displays throughout the museum showcasing eras of Kewaunee County such as period rooms, livingroom, and bedroom. The remainder of the building, including the jail cells and basement, is devoted to displaying various artifacts. The basic core of our display is from the Decker Collection, gifted to the County back in the early 1900s.
The Museum is open Memorial Day through Labor Day, Thursday – Saturday, Noon – 4:00 PM.
The History Center has a new fresh look with its many renovations made in 2020 including the burgundy awning which proudly makes people aware of the Kewaunee County Historical Society’s permanent home in downtown Kewaunee at 217 Ellis Street. Hours are 10 AM – 4 PM Thursday and Friday, 9am -Noon Saturday, also other times by appointment. Note: The History Center is closed during the month of January for cleaning and maintenance.
Phone: (920) 388-0369. Email: kchistory219@yahoo.com.
KCHS History Center is full of displays and items that make for a wonderful browsing experience! Museum displays have been added to the former living quarters on the second floor as well. It is home to over 20,000 photographs useful to genealogist, researchers, history buffs and families. The Center has thousands of documents such as tax records, indexes of deaths/ marriages/ births, early land ownership, school histories, veteran histories, maps, the Fresnel Lens from the Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse and much more.
Mission Statement:
The mission of the Kewaunee County Historical Society is to collect and preserve the history of Kewaunee County.
KCHS Jail Museum
This collection of articles and short stories are reprinted from the quarterly newsletters, which were published from 2015 through 2019 by the Kewaunee County Historical Society. During this timeframe, the newsletter was published under the title of Reflections in Time. River Land Journal – Volume II is being published as a fundraiser for the Kewaunee County Historical Society. All proceeds generated from the sale of this book will be used by the Historical Society to continue its programs to preserve the local history of Kewaunee County. This second volume, which contains a series of period pieces and short stories, represents a cross section of Kewaunee County’s history as researched and written by the Historical Society’s newsletter staff and contributing authors.
RIVER LAND JOURNAL VOLUME II
Introduction
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Scarboro Down in the Valley
By Arletta Bertrand
Scarboro Valley is located East of Luxemburg on County Highway C. In 1834, Joshua Hathaway, the lead surveyor of the major part of Kewaunee County named Scarboro after his chainman assistant surveyor, Charles Scarborough. Because of this honor, Scarboro is one of the oldest names associated with our county. Very little is left of what was a lively area in the 1800’s. As you drive through it you may wonder why it even has a name.
Between 1849 and 1859 The community of Scarboro began to grow. Immigrants from Bohemia, France, Germany, and Canada arrived.
A few of the early settlers were John, Simon and Maximum Thibaudeau, Felix and Nicholas Bunker, the Peot’s Michael, Peter, Nicolas, and John, Barney and Mike Wahl, John and Nickolas Salentine, John Lubeck, Wenzel Krchma, Louis Bastien, Frank Vanouse, Alex Trudell, John, Frank Charles and Joe Novak, Nicholas Larkin, Henry Fisher, Frank Spitzer, William Hafeman, Joe and Jacob Seidl, and Adolph Ebel
The first house in Scarboro was built by Felix Bunker Sr. Felix owned a few acres of land the house was later sold to Alex Trudell and followed by Martin Kumbra.
A sawmill was built by a firm known as Slauson, Grimmer, and Company. In 1871 a new dam was built to hold the waters of Scarboro Mill Pond, which furnished the needed power. The sawmill was making shingles. In the 1880’s log cabins near the mills housed the workers. The log cabins gave way to framed houses. One of these houses was a resident of Alex Trudell. South of the Trudell home was a house occupied by Charles Kalhoefer, next was Henry Veeser home. In 1882 Grimmer sold the mill to Alex Trudell and Charles Kalhoefer. The houses all disappeared and today the Herman Heurkens Family home is located across the road from the former sawmill site.
Alex Trudell built a grist mill in 1884, The power provided by the dam ran both the sawmill and the grist mill. A pipe brought water from the lake to furnish power, but the grist mill was also equipped with boilers to operate with steam. Flour was ground there.
Bernard Duescher had a blacksmith shop just north of the grist mill, he served not only the mills but also the neighboring farmers. In the 1870’s Martin Kumbra moved into the Scarboro area and engaged in cigar making. On May 9, 1900, Martin bought a building on the south side of the road and converted it into a tavern and dance hall. In a low wing on the east side of the building was a store.
The land for a school was donated by John Novak selling it for $1. Because the state did not allow a donation of land for this purpose. The first school was a red frame building named the Hawthorne School. Stories related were that sawdust was placed around the school so that the children wouldn’t freeze. There were so many cracks in the walls that mice would appear while the children were working. In 1897 a brick building replaced the old red frame school. John Miller was the first teacher in this school. Disaster struck this school in the winter of 1939. Fire destroyed the school during the night. At a special meeting the people were to decide if they should rebuild or send the children to a nearby school. A vote was taken, and it was decided to build the new school. From January until May school classes were held in Victor Krchma’s old house. By fall classes were held in the new white building which was built on the same plot as the two previous schools. Hawthorne school closed when the new Luxemburg Casco School was built in 1968, and the one room schools consolidated. The school was sold to Ray Ferrien Jr. of Green Bay for the price of $1,750. In 1969. Nick and Agnes Salentine later purchased the school as their residence. After the Salentine’s passed away the residence was sold, and the building was taken down and replaced with a new home.
The Rev. Edward Daems, who served as an early mission priest was instrumental in getting the community to build their own mission Sacred Heart Church , which he blessed in 1875. There were four deeds registered with the Diocese of Green Bay. These deeds, although not totally clear, indicate Simon (Seymour) Thibaudeau donated the land for the church and Felix Verbonceur (Bunker) donated land for the cemetery.
A church of wood was erected on the donated land and was about 45 feet by 50 feet and was located across the road from the Michael Peot home. The cemetery, which lies a half mile away from where the church property was located is called the Scared Heart Cemetery. Although it is sometimes referred to as the Bunker Hill Cemetery. It contains seventy-six graves.
The Sacred Heart Church was closed in 1910, and the building was sold to Michael Pankratz, who salvaged the lumber. No pictures of this church have ever come to light. The cemetery remains today as the lonely witness to the existence of this community. Today the cemetery is under the care and maintenance of St. Mary’s Congregation, Luxemburg. To identify the cemetery a sign was recently donated by the Thibaudeau Family and a cross donated by the Zimmer Family.
Scarboro was a center for horse racing enthusiasts. Frank Novak had made a track east of Scarboro to the right side of the road. Harness racing attracted men and their horses from all over the state. The Racing Association advertised Scarboro races as “speed to go”. Sometimes the purses ranged from $50 up to $250. In 1916 a new track was rebuilt and a large barn divided into stalls for the horses. Admission for the events was twenty-five cents. In winter Scarboro Lake was scraped off for racing on the ice. The racetrack ran until the racetrack was opened in Luxemburg; the track was turned over into a farmer’s field.
The Casco Gravel Company was located along the Ahnapee and Western Railroad not far from Casco Junction. The company was organized by George Shackett with about 20 stockholders, began in 1918. William Clark operated the business which employed about 8 or 10 men. Cars were pulled by a gasoline engine over a mile of narrow railroad track that brought the rock to the crushers. The pit run gravel was crushed, washed and then loaded into railroad cars of the Ahnapee and Western Railroad. You can now see the remains of the gravel pit in Veeser’s Subdivision, known to many as Veeser’s Pond.
At this time Scarboro had grown to a small settlement with a grist mill, sawmill, blacksmith shop, cheese factory, school, church, store, tavern and dance hall, and workers homes, gravel company, and racetrack. The one thing never added was a post office, mail came from nearby post offices.
Several tragedies erased most of the buildings. By 1910 Trudell had sold his interest in the mills to John Novak Jr. and the business was operated as Novak-Kalhoefer Milling Co. In 1911 Kalhoefer left the company and in October of that year the flume went out due to pressure on weakened parts. While the flume was being repaired the mill operated by steam. That was only the beginning. On Friday, July 12, 1912, the grist mill was struck by lightning, destroying the building. On July 26th of the same year, heavy rains destroyed much land in Kewaunee County, the dam could not hold all the water. The dam broke, spilling the water from Scarboro Mill Pond in the valley below. Swirling waters, almost waist deep, filled the roadway between the tavern and the cheese factory and store. People helped each other as they climbed to higher ground.
Martin Kumbera built his new residence, store and cheese factory on the north side of the road and his son in law Henry Veeser took over the tavern on the south side of the road. Henry sold the tavern to Frank Novak. Frank enlarged the building and added more living space on the west end and a dance hall on the east end. His grand opening was held on June 17, 1912. Frank’s Place became a popular place for dances. Frank sold the tavern to William H. Miller on May 25, 1945. Later owners were Hector Debauche, Harold DeKeyser and Ruben Lemerond. Ruben ran the tavern under the name of Scarboro Valley Inn. More tragedy on March 27, 1952, the tavern was destroyed by fire and never rebuilt.
The cheese factory and store went through a series of owners. Martin Kumbra sold the factory and store to Fred Gaedke, then in 1914 being sold to Edward Sticka. John Hrabik purchased the Scarboro Vallery Cheese Factory in March 1915 from Edward Stika for $6,500. His sons Otto and Roy helped in the factory. Roy became owner of the factory and store in the 1920’s. In 1941 Roy sold the factory to Oscar Peronto, who had been a cheesemaker in Alaska for 14 years. The factory had about 35 patrons at that time. Oscar operated the factory from 1941 to 1946. His helpers during this time were Stanley Swoboda, Roy Meyer and Norbert Seidl. The cheese factory was later turned into a tavern operated by Tom Kinjerski. He sold it to Irma Drew and the tavern was known as Drew’s Hideaway Bar. Irma’s nephew ran the business after Irma’s death. The bar closed in 1997. The store was run by Oscar Peronto and used later as a family residence.
Several other businesses are associated with Scarboro. The Scarboro area was maple syrup country. The early settlers found sugar maples in their woods; they boiled syrup for their own families. A large syrup operation was developed by the Minahan family of Green Bay which had in 1911 built a summer home in a wooded area along the Kewaunee River. The Minahan place was later purchased by Milton Thibaudeau who modernized the operation and developed a seasonal business under the name “Four Seasons Camp”. In 1968 he sold the camp to Luxemburg teachers Mike Schoenhofer and William Ehren III. The camp is no longer in operation.
Through the years Scarboro has had “oil fever”. In 1907 Henry Veeser, digging a sewer, discovered some shiny particles on water that proved to be oil. He was made an offer by John D. Rockefeller, and nothing came of it. In 1973 the talk of oil once again broke into the news and as in previous ventures, nothing materialized.
Not growing up in the Luxemburg area if it were not for the remains of the dam, store and tavern, I find it very hard to vision all that was in the vicinity of the Scarboro area.
References Information from KCHS files
NEW DISPLAY
Do you have some old children’s toys just gathering dust? We are looking for old children’s toys for a display. Do you remember coming to the Evens Store as a child and going downstairs to the Toy Area? We are planning on setting up a display in the area that once was the Evans Store Toy Department downstairs at the History Center.
If you have any old toys, please contact us at the History Center 920-388-0369.
