Name/Title
Newspaper, Waupun Sesquicentennial Edition, 150th Anniversary, The Reporter, June 25, 1989Scope and Content
Waupun Sesquicentennial Edition from The Fond du Lac Reporter of Sunday, June 25, 1989.
Waupun Sesquicentennial 1989
Front page is framed with red, white and blue design. Photo of Seymour and Lucy Wilcox, founding family portraits inset against an aerial photo of Waupun, taken around 1929.
Caption under picture:
Waupun founders Seymour and Lucy Wilcox would be surprised to see how Waupun has grown over the last 150 years. This Aerial photo, courtesy of Edna Gerritson, was probably taken about 60 years ago looking toward the west past the State Prison.
Four page special edition paper contains numerous articles and sponsors of the event. Atricles include:
1. Waupun Celebrated 100th Birthday with 4-day bash
2. 1ST batter in 1st Series played in Waupun
3. Sesqui schedule offers activities for young, old
4. Soldiers answered country's call: Local units saw action in war
Sponsors included:
Bentz Shell
Riel's Karpet Korner
Helen's Kitchen
Silica Appliance, TV and Hardware
The Waupun Lion's Club
Downtown Business Association members
Waupun Memorial Hospital
Hardee's
Ren's Nursery Retail
Pete's Auto Repair
W.W. Electric Motors Inc.
Westra Construction Inc.
Waupun Chamber of Commerce
Bluemkes
Waupun Supply Co., Inc.
Homan Auto Sales
Waupun Industrial Development Corporation
Maly Implement Inc.
Waupun Sesquicentennial Edition from The Reporter of Sunday, June 25, 1989.
Waupun Sesquicentennial Edition
Caption below photo:
Waupun founders Seymour and Lucy Wilcox (upper left and lower right) would be surprised to see how Waupun has grown over the last 150 years. This aerial photo, courtesy of Edna Gerritson, was probably taken about 60 years ago looking toward the west past the State Prison.
Waupun celebrated 100th birthday with 4-day bash
Fifty years ago, you probably couldn't have found a handful of people in Waupun who could have told you what the heck "sesqui" meant.
Late in June 1939, "centennial" was the byword as the city got ready to pop the cork on a four-day celebration of its 100th birthday.
And what a celebration it was.
Kicking off with the first of three performances of a historical pageant, the centennial included an outdoor, sunrise religious service and a 100-voice concert of sacred music, an Old Settlers Reunion, a mammoth parade, an exhibition baseball game, a dance and several stage acts.
Among the free attractions was the Russian bear act of one Captain Petroff, who "has twice appeared in the movies with his four-legged actors," according to a special, four-page centennial edition published by the Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter.
The Noble Trio, two men and a girl, promised tumbling, pyramid building and a parallel bar performance, "interspersed with clean-cut comedy."
Monahan and Morris, wizards of the xylophone, boasted the impressive talents of "Mr. Monahan, who plays the instruments with his feet."
The highlight of the centennial was, of course, the Fourth of July parade.
Estimates ranged from 30.000-45,000 spectators along the parade route along Main, Grove, Lincoln and Madison Streets.
The most impressive part of the parade was the series of 33 large rubber balloons in the shapes of animals, cartoon and storybook characters. The piece de resistance was Gulliver, at that time the world's largest compressed air balloon. Because he would have stood as tall as a five-story building, Gulliver had to be carried along the parade route in a prone position and required 40 handlers.
In fact, the parade started about 40 minutes late because organizers had trouble finding boys to help carry the large rubber figures. Those that helped out were rewarded with ball game passes.
During the 80 minutes it took the parade to pass by, spectators were entertained by a snowball contest between Peter Olson's Creamery and Harry H. Hoard's Frigid Locker Eskimos. As the Waupun Leader-News reported, "It was difficult to judge the winner, but anyway snow was flying thick and fast as the parade moved along."
The procession was also graced by a Landaal Brothers float showing the progress in harvesting machinery and a Waupun State Prison float made of binder twine. The Waupun Chapter of the National Aeronautical Association sponsored an appearance by the "speed plane" of Oshkosh's Steve Wittman and Abe Lincoln was a central figure in a float entered by the Auxiliary of the Sons of Union Veterans.
The weatherman smiled on Waupun's 100th birthday, delivering sunny skies throughout the celebration, except for a short shower during the ball game between the Sheboygan Chairs and the Chicago Colored All-Stars.
According to published reports, the centennial celebrants were a pretty well-behaved lot.
The Leader-News reported that "Despite the largest crowds that Waupun has ever seen at any celebration, the centennial passed without any auto accident or serious mishap of any kind."
Anticipating some of the problems usually associated with large crowds, the city's regular, four-man police force was beefed up with seven extra officers and 10 members of the National Guard. They were joined on the Fourth of July by detectives from Fond du Lac and Milwaukee.
But trouble was minimal, as police listed only three people who burned their hands while holding firecrackers, one boy who had his hand cut on a pop bottle and a pair of drunks who sobered up in the local hoosegow on Saturday night. There were "several small children lost in the throng on Main Street" during the parade, but they were successfully returned to the appropriate parents.
Two slot machines were also confiscated over the centennial weekend.
As far as sheer numbers go, Waupun was bursting at the seams, as over 1,000 former residents returned home for the big party. The historcal pageant itself had a cast of 500 and an audience that averaged nearly 1,400 over three nights.
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Second Article:
1st batter in 1st Series played in Waupun
Once upon a time, in the early days of baseball before most of us were born, there was no World Series.
Then, in 1903, Pittsburgh of the National League met Boston of the upstart American circuit in the first Fall Classic.
And when the umpire called for the first batter to face the great Cy Young, the player who answered the call was a red-haired 27-year-old who once spent his summer afternoons shagging flies for Waupun's hometown nine.
Young lost that first game, but Boston went on to win the eight-game Series. Clarence "Ginger" Beaumont, who was on the receiving end of Young's historic first pitch, batted only .235 in the Series, but led his team with nine hits and six runs.
Being a statistical leader was something Beaumont would get used to. He led the league once with a .357 batting average and was a leader in several other categories during his major league career.
Some of the skills that the Rochester, Wis., native displayed in his 12 years with the Pirates, Braves and Cubs may have been honed on sunny afternoons on a diamond just south of the present Jefferson Elementary School.
There, ringed by farm fields, stood a wooden grandstand where the legendary Connie Mack once dropped by to play a few innings.
The north-facing diamond, bordered by a wooden grandstand, was known as the Fletcher ball field. It was built by, and sat on land owned by, Erv Fletcher's grandfather.
Erv was only six when his family moved into "the city" in 1922, but he still remembers the grandstand where his brother once sought asylum from an angry bull that had escaped from its pen.
Erv's dad, Del Fletcher, played on that field and passed along some of his memories to his son.
"Dad played third and he said Connie Mack played in our field when my Dad was 17 years old," he said.
That would have been about 1897, after Mack stepped down as manager of the Pirates but before he began his 50-year stint as skipper of the Philadelphia Athletics. Mack, who managed in the majors until he was 88, was a member of the first group of inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.
Although there is some uncertainty about the dates of Mack's visit and Beaumont's playing days here, it's possible that Mack came to Waupun scouting talent for Pittsburgh, where Beaumont broke into the majors in 1899.
In those days, most ballplayers had nicknames and it was only natural that Beaumont's hair would earn him names like "Red" and "Ginger."
Erv Fletcher recalled that "Dad said he was a big burly fellow (listed as 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 190 pounds). He said Beaumont dragged the bat up to the plate like he could hardly get it up there. But as soon as the ball came in, it went right back out again."
It became obvious to most observers that Beaumont's talents would be wasted playing at the local level.
In his third year in the National League, he had the top batting average and led the league with 194 hits. He led with 613 at-bats, 209 hits and 137 runs scored in 1903 and with 615 at-bats and 185 hits in 1904.
Beaumont missed about half of the 1906 season with a knee injury and was never quite able to regain his form after that.
He did lead the league with 187 hits in 1907, the year he was traded to the Boston Braves, but played only a reserve role when he reached the Cubs in 1910.
He saw limited action in the 1910 World Series, won by Mr. Mack's Athletics. Beaumont went to the plate twice, striking out and drawing a walk that led to a run.
The 1906 knee injury may have cut short a promising career, but while he was healthy, Beaumont's play was on a par with many of the future Hall of Famers he played with and against.
His teammates in Pittsburgh included Honus Wagner. "The Flying Dutchman" was the only member of the Pirates to outshine Beaumont. With the Cubs, he shared a dressing room with "Three Finger" Mordecai Brown and the classic double play combination of Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance.
But Beaumont wasn't the only good ballplayer to sink his spikes into the turf at Fletcher field.
Del Fletcher himself and Joe Wilkes were also tabbed to go to the big leagues, but as Erv Fletcher recalled, "Grandfather wouldn't let Dad go to the majors because it was too tough, the lifestyle and the people."
It was only natural that young Fletcher and Beaumont, four years his senior, became friends during their playing days in Waupun.
"My Dad was very fond of him," Erv Fletcher said. He noted that Del Fletcher and Pete Hanisch used to visit Beaumont from time to time at Wood Veterans Hospital in Milwaukee before Beaumont's death in 1956.
Those early Waupun teams had several promising players, but there's no doubt in Erv Fletcher's mind as to who was the real star.
Noting that the old Exchange Hotel, built by Seymour Wilcox in 1845, was rechristened The Beaumont, Fletcher observed that "He was pretty damned good, or they wouldn't have named the hotel after him."
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Waupun Sesquicentennial, 3rd article
Sesqui schedule offers activities for young, old
Wednesday's sesquicentennial includes: 6:30 p.m., informal bike ride, Community Center; coronation of Waupun's "First Lady," 7:30 p.m., followed by historical pageant, "Waupun, 'Tis of Thee We Sing," City Hall auditorium.
Events on Thursday include: 6 p.m., parade of homes at 126 S. Madison St., 300 Carrington St. and 228 S. Watertown St.; 6 p.m., display of miniature airplanes and flying exhibition, Waupun High School soccer field; 7 p.m., Pete Runde's Dixieland Band concert, National Bank lawn; 7:30 p.m.. Whisker Mania Contest, followed by historical pageant, City Hall.
Events on Friday will include: 7:30 p.m., summer school class presentation of "Frankly Franklin, followed by historical pageant, City Hall; 7:30 p.m., car smash Community Center: 8 p.m.. teen dance, Community Center.
Saturday's events begin at 10 a.m., 7 1/2-mile bike race, Community Center; 1 p.m., 35-mile tour around Waupun; 1-2:30 p.m., old-time children's activities, Community Center; 2-4 p.m., Holy Trinity Church; 3 p.m., canoe races from Fond du Lac County Park to Community Center; 3-4:30 p.m., prison inmate quartet concert, Waupun Correctional Institution: 5 p.m., Fond du Lac Symphonic Band Through the Bars Concert, WCI; 8 p.m., '50's-'60's dance, with music by the Right Combination, Community Center; 8:30 p.m., square dancing show by the Prison City Squares, City Hall.
Sunday begins with 6:30 a.m. Ecumenical Sunrise Service, Juniper Hill; 7:30 a.m., Lions Pancake Breakfast, Community Center; 1:30 p.m., gospel quartets concert, Juniper Hill; 3:30 p.m.,Waupun Community Singers performance, Trinity Reformed Church. Day-long events at the Community Center Sunday include a car show and an art show with art by prison inmates and wildlife art sponsored by Marsh Haven Nature Center.
Monday will be Farmer's Day and will include a day-long exhibit of antique and modern farm equipment at the Community Center.
Other Monday events are 12:30 p.m., skydiving exhibition, Juniper Hill; 1 p.m., horse pull at 1 p.m., Community Center; 2 p.m., ceremonies marking the grave of the daughter of a Revolutionary War soldier, Forest Mound Cemetery; 3 p.m., grave-marking reception, Congregational Church; 8 p.m., local talent show, City Hall; 8 p.m., country-western dance with music by Whiskey River, Community Center.
Fourth of July events will include a 1-2 p.m. concert by the Waupun Community Band, National Bank parking lot; 2 p.m., "Town Portrait," in front of City Hall; 3 p.m., Happy Birthday Parade, Main Street; 7 p.m., Kids from Wisconsin concert, Waupun High School; 9:30 p.m., fireworks display near the Community Center.
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Waupun Sesquicentennial, 4th article
Soldiers answered country's call; Local units saw action in war
Back in the 1860's, when a trip to Milwaukee could he a once-in-a-lifetime experience, a group of Waupun lads took an extended tour of many states east of the Mississippi.
Some of them even came back alive.
The young soldiers that were Waupun's contribution to the Civil War effort performed gallantly in the Union cause, seeing action at Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Siege of Atlanta and in Sherman's famous March to the Sea.
Most Waupun men served in either Company K of the 10th Wisconsin Regiment or in Company D of the 3rd Wisconsin Infantry.
Company D began its life as the Waupun Light Guard, an independent military company that had arms for 40 and uniforms for 20 when FortSumter was fired upon by Southern - forces, touching off the "War of Rebellion."
While awaiting the call to rendezvous with other units in Fond du Lac, the Waupun soldiers "boarded at the best hotels in the village," according to Julian Wisner Hinkley, who began the war as a 23-year-old first sergeant and emerged as a seasoned veteran and acting regimental major at the time of Lee's surrender at Appomatox.
Hinkley's published account of t the 3rd Wisconsin's experiences during the war notes that the unit drilled for several hours each day "and prepared for the work in store for us by the study of tactics and army regulations."
When the company arrived in Fond du Lac, uniforms of "light grey trousers, mixed-grey blouse and light-coloured hat" were issued to the men. The uniforms proved to be of such poor quality, Hinkley wrote, "that within 10 days it was necessary to furnish the entire regiment with common blue workingmen's overalls, in order that we might with decency be seen upon the streets."
The company received its baptism of fire in a skirmish on Bolivar Heights near Harper's Ferry. Hinkley's account states that "a large force of the enemy" was routed and that the 3rd Wisconsin captured a Confederate fieldpiece as a trophy.
The Waupun boys got a taste of fighting in earnest when they saw action during the bloody Battle of Antietam.
"Our position was in a stubble-field," Hinkley recalled. "The previous day, that field had contained a luxuriant growth of ripening corn; now it was cut by bullets and trampled by men and horses, until scarce a vestige of the crop remained.
"For a time, the enemy came on rapidly, without firing a shot....They were as gallant fellows as ever moved to an assault. One could but admire the steady courage with which they approached us: great gaps being made in their lines at every discharge of our grape and canister-laden twelve-pounders, and our bullets also wore them away at every stop. A portion of these stern fighters reached the fence; none came farther. They there stopped and opened fire on our lines. From our higher ground we could see the steady stream of their wounded being helped to the rear. Still they held on, returning fire for fire; and we too were suffering terrible. At length, the Confederates had been reduced to a mere handful; it was hopeless to hold on any longer, and they fell back toward the woods."
Civil War historian Bruce Catton is more succinct in "Mr. Lincoln's Army," the first book in his "Army of the Potomac" trilogy.
"The 3rd Wisconsin took a beating when it got up to the fence,' he says briefly in his description of the fighting at Antietam.
Catton also mentions the 3rd Wisconsin in "Glory Road," his second installment in the trilogy.
He quotes Col. Silas Cosgrove of the 27th Indiana, who called the 3rd and two other regiments "the best three regiments I have ever seen in action" following fierce, hand-to-hand combat at Chancellorsville.
Hinkley's old Waupun comrades distinguished themselves shortly before the Battle of Gettysburg by capturing over 100 prisoners that were part of a North Carolina regiment.
After participating in the Siege of Atlanta, the 3rd spent a week it that fair city "tearing up railroad tracks and destroying everything of value in the city. By the time we were ready to leave, Atlanta was worth little more to the Confederates than any other piece of ground of similar size." During Sherman's destructive March to the Sea, the 3rd helped destroy the Augusta Railroad by "burning the ties and twisting the heated rails."
Hinkley's narrative also recounts the tedium of the countless marches and countermarches and the relative calm and boredom of camp life.
"The best camp that we occupied on our return to Stafford Court House was one of the best we ever had," he wrote.
"It was an old orchard, with a vacant field near by for a drill and parade ground. Our friends, the 2nd Massachusetts, occupied one end of the orchard and we the other. Between us was a good baseball ground, where we amused ourselves at playing ball or pitching quoits. Every night after supper, the officers of the two regiments would get together for a big game, while the rank and file would follow suit, and our drill ground would present an animated sight. Thus we whiled away the time with considerable comfort, often speculating on the possibility of the enemy coming across the river to attack us."
Because the Waupun Light Guard did not bring its company to full strength quite as quickly as other Wisconsin units, it did not fall within the state's quota for 90-day enlistments. Its members were undaunted and "determined by vote to tender service for the entire war, however long that might be."
Interestingly, it wasn't any patriotic fervor or abolitionist zeal that led Hinkley to join the Light Guard in the first place.
Sixth in order of descent from Gov. Thomas Hinkley of Plymouth Colony, he candidly wrote that "I cannot say that I was very strongly animated by a love for the Union in the abstract, or that I considered the abolition of slavery worth fighting for; but I felt that the dismemberment of the Union by armed force, submitted to without a struggle, would be a disgrace to the whole North."Acquisition
Accession
2015.0037Source or Donor
Mrs. Vivian GraunkeAcquisition Method
Donation
