Boy hit by a train

Kaukauna, the oldest recorded settlement in Wisconsin, will soon be 230 years of age. There will be no formal birthday gathering due to the virus. Saturday June 13^th is the day of the celebration. You can celebrate with signs and balloon in your yard and go off for a drive thru the city between 1 and 3 in the afternoon to enjoy this great city.

In honor of the “Birthday of Kaukauna,” this is a story from the past. 

April 2, 1947

"My boy was hit by the train."

“Call the ambulance! My son, Vincent was hit by a train,” were the sobbing words of Mrs. John Gloudeman, Seventh Street. “Send an ambulance to LaFollette Park. A boy was hit by a train,” a man called out. Soon Mrs. Gloudeman and the neighbors were running to LaFollette Park telling others on the way. “Where is your son,” asked the policeman and ambulance driver. “I don’t know,” was her sobbing voice, “find him, quickly please,” The search began. The police and people searching the banks of the river where the incident happened to no avail. It then occurred to them that he may have been caught under the train and dragged with it. Sirens began to blow as the squad car sped on the way to the Combined Locks Depot where the train was switching. Police questioned the engineer about hitting a boy in Kaukauna. He didn’t know what they were talking about.  The underside of the train was checked for blood, no evidence was found. In the meanwhile, Vincent Gloudeman (the body), who was returning from taking his dad’s lunch to the Railroad Shops, noticed people running down the street. “Why is everyone going to the park?” “one of the Gloudeman boys was hit by a train.” “That’s my brother,” Vincent said almost crying. Vincent ran down the hill and saw his brother Howard in his boat along the bank of the river. “Who was hit by the train,” he asked a person near him. Vincent Gloudeman was the answer. “I’m Vincent,” he said. Here he is, he’s alive!” shouted the excited person. How did it all happen? Well I will tell you. Vincent was carrying his dad’s lunch to the railroad shops where he worked. He saw a train moving slowly toward him, so he slipped between two box cars to avoid the wait. In the park was a boy watching him. When the train had passed Vincent was gone, as Vincent was out of sight walking in the other direction.  

Written by Theodore Gloudeman as an entry for the Times Feature Story contest. 

Time Machine Trip to May 1970

Kaukauna Times 

May 1, 1970

Kaukauna City Planning Commission last Tuesday afternoon recommended the city take a serious look at plans to rezone the Thousand Islands area into a Conservancy Recreation Area.

May 6, 1970

Senator William Proxmire spoke before 250 persons at the opening dinner for State Representative William Rogers at the VFW clubhouse in Kaukauna. “I am opposed to the action of involvement of the United States in Cambodia.” “I’m sure the president acted in all sincerity,” “But we’re still in a neutral country without being invited…We are increasing our commitment in southeast Asia at a time when a large segment of the people are demanding withdrawal”.

May 13, 1970

Gerald S. Van Domelen, Kaukauna, has recently been promoted to Spec. 4 while serving with the armed forces in Vietnam. 

Spec. 4 David L. Hardy, Kaukauna, received the Army Commendation Medal for heroism in action wile engaged against hostile forces near Cu Chi on December 28, 1969.

Army Specialist Four John J. Wyngaard, 21, of Kaukauna, recently received the Air Medal near An Khe, Vietnam. He earned the award for meritorious service while participating in aerial flight in support of ground operations in Vietnam.

May 15, 1970

Dr. George A. Behnke, Kaukauna, was elected president-elect of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin at the group annual meeting in Milwaukee.  

A recent movement to draft State Representative William Rogers of Kaukauna to the post of Lieutenant governor has been declined by Rogers. Rogers stated that the reason for his decision is that the job pays less than the job he currently fills. “The jobs pay is less and I have a large family and it would be tough on that salary and I can do more in the legislative branch than the executive offices.”

May 20, 1970

Edward Lutzow, a former resident of Kaukauna, shot a hole-in-one at the West Branch Golf Club, West Branch, Iowa on April 17, 1970. The distance is 177 yards.

While Kaukauna’s manufacturing industries are not seriously hampered by the current truckers’ strike, the city’s small businessmen are “feeling the pinch.” Frank Napieralla of Frank’s Shoe Store said, “If this goes on much longer, I’ll be running out of some sizes and styles.” David Hartjes at Hartjes Electric reported “We’re not getting any appliances or parts.” Pete Berens of Berens Clothing Store was luckier. “We got all of our spring stuff in early but have a couple of shipments that haven’t appeared.”

May 27, 1970

A committee of concerned residents of the city have formed a group to “Save the Woods” that the city intends to use as a sanitary landfill site. The location of the woods is adjacent to the girl scout camp.

 

Time Machine Trip to May 1960

Kaukauna Times - May 1960

May 4, 1960

The latest survey made by the Veterans Administration indicates there are 479,000 veterans residing in Wisconsin. 3000 Spanish-American War and Indians War’s - 69,000 World War I – 101,000 Korean Conflicts – 306,000 World War II

May 11, 1960

The rains and snow swelled the Fox River to near record levels this week. The water is lapping over the bridge on Elm Street and the railroad trestle extending to Thilmany. The mill parked eight gondolas of freight cars filled with pulpwood on the railroad bridge to hold it down in case the river became more turbulent. 

May 13, 1960

Four residents of the Soviet Union were visitors in Kaukauna this week. They had come to tour the Badger Northland plant and see the equipment that their country had purchased. They are currently touring America for 31 days looking at farm equipment.

May 25, 1960

Vince Lombardi general manager and head coach of the Green Bay Packers announced today the Packers have set a record in tickets sales for the fourth straight year. He says that as many as 30,000 of the 32,000 seats may be sold as season tickets this year.

May 27, 1960

The Kaukauna High School Baseball team captured its third Mid-Eastern co-championship on Tuesday afternoon as they defeated Neenah, 4-3 in a make-up match which was the season's finale.

May 30, 1960

Memorial Day featured a parade up the Lawe Street Bridge to the Veterans Park across from Park School. Captain Robert Niesen of the Air Force was the officer of the day. Mayor Joseph Bayorgeon made the opening remarks of the service. The Kaukauna High School band played under the direction of Elwood Bleick following the opening remarks. Miss Paula Koch read Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. Miss Janet Spice recited the poem “Flanders Field” and Miss Sharon Spice recited ‘Reply to Flanders Field”. Members of the VFW fired a salute to the fallen comrades.

Memorial Day Parade - 1960

Reigning royalty at the Junior Prom are Queen Donna Biese and King Neil Weyenberg both members of the junior class.

The 1960 Galloping Ghost cinder crew. Front row, left to right, are Pat McCormick, Mike Nagan, Jim Zuelzke, Roger Nussbaum, Dennis Priebe, Bruce Ludke, Bill Jirikowic, Jim Koepke, and manager Steve Blair. Second row, Ed Keberlein, Dale Buchberger, Dan Van Able, Ted Eiting, Tom Haen, Norm Eppinger, Dave Barribeau, Dale Van Dyke, Gary MacFarlain, Dave Schommer and Doug Ludvigsen. In the back row, head coach Ralph Karst, manager Pat Campbell, Merle Hammond, Chuck Dorn, Milo Straus, Mark Asman, Paul Ozburn, Jerry Jakl, Bob Lace, Tom Wolf, and assistant coach Bruce Warner.  

 

A NEW LOOK in the Kaukauna industrial scene this spring is the front of Kaukauna’s Badger Northland company. When completed the sign will read Badger Northland, Inc., in large white scrip lettering on a salmon background, with dark blue trim.

1960 Fords

Sunliner

Thunderbird

Kaukauna Birthday #5

Kaukauna is the oldest recorded settlement in Wisconsin and will soon be 230 years of age. There will be no formal birthday gathering due to the virus. Saturday June 13^th is the day of the celebration. You can celebrate in your yard with signs and balloons and go off for a drive thru the city between 1 and 3 in the afternoon and enjoy this great city.

In honor of the “Birthday of Kaukauna,” This is story number five from the past. 

Electa Quinney: Stockbridge-Munsee Schoolteacher

Electa Quinney is generally recognized as Wisconsin’s first ‘public school’ teacher. The school she opened in Kaukauna in 1828 was the first in the state where students did not have to pay to be enrolled. Naturally, this meant that many of her pupils were Native Americans and poor whites who had never been able to afford the luxury of schooling.  

Quinney was a Stockbridge-Munsee Indian herself and was particularly interested in teaching the children of the Stockbridge- Munsee settlement of Statesburg around South Kaukauna. She had come with her tribe to the Fox River Valley from New York in the massive Indian removal of 1827. The Quinney family was prominent in the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe and must have been prosperous in New York for daughter Electa was educated at primary school in Clinton and at a female seminary in Connecticut - unusual opportunities for an Indian woman at that time.

Before coming to Wisconsin, Quinney put her education to use teaching Indian children in New York. When she arrived in Kaukauna, she was determined to continue her work by establishing a ‘free school’ in the nearby Presbyterian mission. Within a few months, the school opened its doors. According to one former pupil’s recollection, written in 1893, “Miss Quinney was a better teacher than the average teacher today . . . She rarely whipped us; opened her school with a prayer. It was modeled after the best public schools of New England at the time.”

In a tribute to Quinney in the Wisconsin Journal of Education in the 1890’s, it was said that “Miss Quinney was highly respected by the whites and moved in their best society at Fort Howard.” It was also said that she refused to marry the sheriff of Brown County because “she was too proud to marry a white man.”  Instead she married Daniel Adams, a Mohawk, who was a Methodist missionary to the Oneidas. With him she moved to Missouri where he was the pastor for a tribe of Senecas. After his death, she married a Cherokee newspaper editor and eventually returned to her farm at Stockbridge, Wisconsin where she died in 1885.

Time Machine Trip to May 1950

Kaukauna Times 

May 3, 1950

The only straight A Kaukauna High School senior is Ruth Van De Loo.

The former city dump between 10^th and 11^th streets is now closed as a public dumping grounds, according to Police Chief Harold Engerson. A new public dump has been established by the city along the Konkapot Creek near Dodge and Island streets.

The three children of the Francis Jansen family, Kaukauna, who celebrate their birthdays on the same day. Born almost exactly one year apart to the day they are: Sandra Jean 3, Patricia Ann 1 and Donald Bruno 2.

May 5, 1950

An automobile containing four employees of the Kaukauna Times swerved into a tree on the Sanatorium Road Wednesday night injuring three of the four passengers and demolishing the car.  Melvin Verhagen and William Weber, Kaukauna, and Mr. and Mrs. Louis McCormick, Little Chute were in the Ford driven by Verhagen. 

May 10, 1950

Willard Van Handel of Little Chute was named vice commander of the Ninth Distract of the American Legion at a meeting in Little Chute Sunday. Van Handel joined the Legion’s Jacob Coppus post Little Chute in 1945 after a three-year hitch with the Seabees in the South Pacific at the rank of chief petty officer.

City mail deliveries were slashed almost in half this week by order of Postmaster Robert Grogan to conform with directives issued by the federal post office department. The government ordered a drastic reduction a few weeks ago when Congress refused to accept a request for additional operating funds.

Jerry Klarer, Kaukauna High School shortstop topped his team in batting with a lofty .429 average during the 1950 season. Roy Vandenberg finished second in hitting for the Ghosts with a .303 average.

May 12, 1950

The Eagle scout award was presented to John Bachhuber at the Court of Honor held by St. Mary’s Boy Scout Troop No. 27 Wednesday evening. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Alphons Bachhuber.

These boy scouts of St. Mary’s Troop 27 received the “Ad Altare Deum” awards in recognition of religious activity. Left to right are John Bachhuber, Dan Glasheen, Gerald Nytes and Boniface Mitchell.  

May 17, 1950

“The city of Kaukauna has no additional low-cost electrical energy for sale”, said Dr. W. C. Sullivan utility commissioner in a statement to the Times yesterday. “Back in 1912, our people went to the polls and voted to acquire and operate their own electric utility. There is now a need for expansion to increase output.”

May 19, 1950

Pvt. Robert Agen, Kaukauna, has been assigned to the Service Battery 61st Field Artillery Battalion at Camp Drew, Koizumi, Japan. Agen has been in the army since January 1949.

Wage increases of five percent for Thilmany employees were agreed upon following union negotiations effective May 29, 1950. The new female base rate will be $1.09 per hour and the male base rate will be $1.24 per hour.

May 24, 1950

Ed Matchett of Electric City post 3319, VFW Kaukauna was elected post commander of the eighth district VFW at a meeting held Sunday at Sturgeon Bay. Ray Plzak of Kaukauna was named quartermaster and adjutant.

May 26, 1950

Carl J. Chopin was elected president of the Lions club for 1950-51 at their meeting Tuesday at the Elks hall.

May 31, 1950

Kaukauna's only entrant at the WIAA state track meet, Mark Hoegh, suffered his worst day of the year, but still managed a fourth, place finish in the discus and fifth in the shot put.

Larry Verhagen has been appointed as the chairman of the Green Bay Packer stock drive here in Kaukauna.

Memorial Day 2020

Memorial Day 2020 - “Love Eileen”

Eileen Courtney Biersteker of Kaukauna was a remarkable woman and great mother. After graduating Kaukauna High School in 1934. She went on to obtain her nursing degree then joined the Women’s Army Medical Corps during WWII. She was assigned to General George Patton’s Third Army in Germany. General Patton was known for moving fast and keeping the enemy on the run. One of the problems with moving fast was that it left the Medical Corps far behind. Patton changed the policy by having the doctors and nurses near the front lines. This being the first MASH units. This is where the newly commissioned Lt. Eileen Courtney from Kaukauna found herself. She said there were long hours and little rest treating the injured. The medical unit she was assigned treated newly freed POWS from the German camps.   After the war she married Neil Biersteker and they raised eight children together. She was a nurse all her life. Her war experiences were remembered in her letters home which were kept by her parents. She closed each letter home with “Love Eileen”. Her children have placed the letters in a book named “Love Eileen” keeping her war year memories alive. 

Most of the soldiers she treated are no longer living, but their decedent’s number in the thousands. A few years ago, “60 minutes” did a story about soldiers from WWII. The show was listed to be about the POWS. Eileen invited family members over to watch the broadcast at her home in Kaukauna. The reporter interviewed a man who was captured and held prisoner by the Germans. The old Russian soldier talked about being taken to a field hospital once he was freed. He talked of the care he received and especially the wonderful nurses. He remembered one nurse, “She was like an angel”. He talked about making a bracelet while he was in the prison camp from small pieces of metal and wire. He said he had given it to that wonderful nurse that cared for him. Eileen left the room when she returned, she set a bracelet on the table, the bracelet the prisoner had mentioned.

My Aunt Eileen Courtney Biersteker died in 2013. 

MSG Lyle J. Hansen US Army Retired.     

Time Machine Trip to May 1940

Kaukauna Times  

May 1, 1940

Mel Burkart, Kaukauna, completed 44 years of service with the Combined Locks Paper company. Mr. Burkart started to work when he was 13 years of age having been employed by the Union Bag and Paper Corp. in Kaukauna working 12 hours for the sum of .66 a night. He then was employed in the old Badger Mill in Kaukauna until it burned down. He started with the Combined Locks Paper company in 1897.

Last Saturday Kaukauna High School concluded one of the most successful forensic seasons in the history of the school when three of its students participated in the state forensic association in Madison. Clarence DeBruin received an A rating. Mary Lu Vanevenhoven received a B rating. Maurice Rosenblatt received a C rating.

May 3, 1940

Six inches of snow fell Wednesday evening covering Kaukauna with a blanket of snow. Most of the snow melted by morning. 

May 8, 1940

Wisconsin passenger car licenses for 1939 total more than 721,800, according to the state motor vehicle department. On this basis there is one car for every four persons living in the Badger state. Wisconsin priding herself on being “America’s Dairyland” on its auto plates.

The Kaukauna High School band will be part of more than 4000 high school competitors who will come to Kaukauna from more than 40 schools in the district.

May 10, 1940

Ivan Schatzka was selected king of the junior prom in an election held this week by members of the junior class. Lillian Vande Yacht has been chosen by Ivan Schatzka to be his partner at the junior promenade. The prom will be held Friday May 24. 

May 15, 1940

Donald Keil was named captain of the 1941 boxing squad. Keil in finishing his third year with the mittmen and is considered one of the best fighters on the squad. Probably his wicked left-hand accounts for the fact that he has lost only one fight in three years. This year’s squad went through the season undefeated.

 

Outagamie county authorities are continuing their investigation into the deaths of Mrs. Samuel Van Camp and son, William, who were found murdered in their farm home on route 1 Kaukauna early Sunday morning. A shotgun was used by the murderer.

May 22, 1940

The population of Kaukauna during the last ten years has increased 802 according the 1940 census which has just been completed. The new population total is now 7383.

Arthur Hoolihan of Kaukauna announced in the Times yesterday that he would be candidate for the office of assemblyman in the second district on the Progressive ticket in the fall election.

May 24, 1940

The army has announced that the five recruiting stations in Wisconsin are open for new recruits. Men enlisting now will be able to benefit by faster promotion and higher pay. Rates of pay for enlisted men extend from $21 to $157.50 a month with clothing, medical care, food and quarters furnished by the government.

Top row: Assistant Manager J. Winn, J. Velte, R. Johnson, C. Giordana, D. Nelson, N. Lambie, Manager, C. Domro, Coach C. H. Kemp. Second row:  W. Alger, R. Doering, H. Stuiber, L. Cooper, H. Vandenberg, T. McCarty, F. Muthing, A. Meitner, R. Helf. First Row: R. Danner, N. Otte, R. Knapp, K. Reinholz, C. Spice, E. Peters, W. Steffens, R. Derus, A. Otte. 

Coach Clifford Kemp’s school track team defeated the Kimberly track team in a meet Wednesday afternoon by a score of 88 to 25. Kaukauna took first place in every event except for the 440-yard dash.

May 29, 1940

Two hundred fifty couples attended the junior prom Friday evening and danced to the music of Don Strickland and his orchestra. A huge crystal ball in the center of the floor rotated and cast colored reflections on the floor.

Mayor Gantter ordered the superintendent of public works to turn on the water at the water fountains. He criticized the city on its economy program as far as drinking fountains are concerned, stating that only $25 a year can be saved by discontinuing the use of the fountains.

J. W. Weyenberg was elected president of the Kaukauna Lions club for the 1940-41 fiscal year. He succeeds Mike Klein as head of the club.

1940 Chrysler New Yorker Convertible