Name/Title
Chester Was Some PlaceScope and Content
Poor photocopy of newspaper article, Chester Was Some Place, Back in the Days of Many Ducks, Tails, Ladies, Etc., taken from unknown source or date.
With the passing of the Chicago and North Western railroad station at Chester one of te oldest landmarks in this section of the country has disappeared, and with it the reminder of one of the most glamorous periods in this section's history.
The history of Chester stretches as far back as 1853 when the Rock River Valley Union railway was built out from Fond du Lac. A group of Irish settles came out with the railroad and settled in the vicinity, at that time having great hopes that the settlement at Waupun would be moved to Chester.
In 1858 the railroad was completed to Janesville, connecting Waupun with Chicago, and thus becoming one of the largest shipping centers of the vicinity.
The rise and the fall of Chester as, a trading and railroad center paralles the history of the Horicon Lake and marsh as a hunting and fishing paradise.
Great Duck Hunting Spot
Back in the days when the Horicon Marsh or lake, as it was called prior to 1868, was known throughout the United States as one of the best duck hunting spots, sportsmen from Chicago, New York, St. Louis, and other distant and not so distant places, came to Chester, remaining at the hotel there, and spending several days or weeks on a hunting trip. Some brought their ladies with them, thus adding to the social color.
Tales of the good hunting are still being told by some of Waupun's oldest residents. Oscar Hanisch, who was one of the better hunters during his boyhood years, speaks longingly of the times when ducks were shot by the hundreds and shipped out to Chicago and New York by the barrel.
Reminiscing, Mr. Hanisch spoke of the time when he, then only a school boy, made his way into the marsh to the point where his elder brother and some others had a hunting camp. Tired and nearly famished by the walk, in which he waded through mud and water up to his waist, Mr. Hanisch still recalls his dismay at learning that his brother was completely out of provisions with nothing to eat at the camp.
His brother took him over to the Indian camp on Fieldstadt island, where the Indians gave him some of their cakes to eat. "They also offered me some fried muskrat," Mr. Hanisch said, "but I wasn't quite hungry enough to eat that."
All the hunters brought their hunting and fishing skiffs with them in those days, sailing down the Rock river into the heart of the marsh from Chester. Steamboats docked at Chester in those days.
Hotel Run by McEwan
The hotel at Chester in those days was a prosperous affair, and at certain seasons of the year was filled to capacity. Mr. McEwan, grandfather of Dr. H. E. McEwan of Fond du Lac, ran the hotel back in the I870's when the hunting was reported at its best. Later McEwan sold the hotel to Mike Hall, father of Frank Hall of Waupun, who ran the hotel until his death when the hotel was discontinued, about 50 years ago.
Mr. Hall was also section foreman at the Chester station, and Frank Hall remembers, that there was hardly a night that he was not called out to repair the old iron rails. A contrast to present day labor standards was cited by Mr. Hall who remembers that his father once asked for extra pay for the night work, receiving the reply that he was paid by the month and the company could work him as many hours as they pleased.
Tried to Move the Hotel
At the time the Halls were, living at the hotel in Chester, William Flag was operating a grain elevator and lumber yard, and a Mr. Treadwell then was running a general store there.
Mr. Hall recalled that once his father and mother were offered a considerable amount of money if they would move their hotel to Waupun, since the Waupun business men felt that too many travelers were staying at Chester, where the food was excellent and the service good.
The hotel, which cost MeEwan $5,208 to build, burned to the ground many years ago.
Besides, being a stopping off place for the many hunters the hotel was apparently a social center for many Waupun residents. Ned Lindsley remembers that many times during the winter months a party of people would make the trip to Chester by sleigh, would have an oyster supper at the hotel and spend the evening dancing. Only those in formal dress were allowed in the dining room at times, Ed Haueisen reports.
Before the days of the automobile, Waupun residents wishing to spend the day in Fond du Lac or other points north went to Chester where they boarded the Chicago and North Western train. Bus or stage coach service was provided to and from Chester from the earliest times, until the 1920's.Acquisition
Accession
2015.0014Source or Donor
Waupun Historical SocietyAcquisition Method
Found in Collection