Time Machine Trip to March 1901

 

Kaukauna Times March 1901

By Lyle Hansen

March 1, 1901 

It is no unusual sight to see the drayman and iceman hauling a load of crystal thru the back doors of different residences these days. Many of the citizens in town have run dry and housewife’s cry for ice because she believes that cleanliness is next to Godliness.

 

Julius J. Martens Co. will commence erection of the 50 x 90 solid brick structure adjoining their present store. The front of the building will be red pressed brick and of the same design as the present building so that it will be one solid block.

 

Brakeman James Riley and James W. King were, badly, injured at Medina last week. The caboose in which they were riding jumped the track while the train was in motion and rolled over, tossing them around inside. King was brought to his home in this city, three ribs have been found broken and he is confined to bed. 

 

When Theodore Roosevelt was a little boy he and a playmate used to walk together to a private school. Their way took them past a public school. One-day little Teddy appeared in a new sailor suit. This was too much for the public-school boys. Teddy and his chum saw trouble ahead, came on with their fists clenched and the battle began. A few minutes later he and his companion where on their way somewhat less tidy than when they started, leaving behind them a tamed and lame bunch of surprised boys. For a week there were daily fights with the same results. One morning after an especially hard battle, Roosevelt said to his friend “Let’s go around the block and come back and fight ‘em again.”  

 

March 8, 1901

From present appearances it will be a case, this spring, of the office hunting the man and not the man the office. As to the mayoralty no one seems to want it. Mayor Kuehn says, "once is enough for me" and refuses to be counted in for a second nomination.

 

Ms. Emma Grignon, age 42, passed peacefully away in the presence of her brothers and sisters, Tuesday morning. She is the daughter of Charles and Mary Grignon. Her parents were pioneer settlers of Kaukauna, her father having been born here in 1808. The Grignon's are the oldest family in Kaukauna.

 

Signs of spring where apparently in evidence last Friday and Saturday but a sudden chill wave from the Arctic region came upon us Monday and Tuesday with the most disagreeable cold of the past winter. The thermometer indicated 2° below zero on Saturday.

The improvements which have been under way at the railroad Y. M. C. A. building or Thompson club on the west end of second street for several months were completed March 1. An open house was held music was furnished each evening by the Nugent-Chamberlain trio.

 

St. Mary’s Church, South Kaukauna. The four stained glass windows which were ordered in February of 1900 from Innsbruck, Austria, arrived here last week and have been set in place. Titles of the scenes represented are as follows: “The Ascension,” The Crucifixion,” “Christ Carrying the Cross” and “Christ Crowned with Thorns.” 

 

March 15, 1901

There was considerable excitement for a short time at the Hotel Faust fire Saturday morning when it became known that one of the boarders who occupied a room on the lower floor, Joe Coon, had not been aroused, and was still in the burning building. Learning of the predicament of his warm friend Will Hogan pulled his coat over his head and dashed into the burning building to save the life of his comrade.

 

March 22, 1901

There is some indefinite talk in Green Bay, of harnessing the waterpower at Wrightstown or Little Rapids and electricity transmitted to Green Bay for general use.

 

Ex-President Benjamin Harrison died Wednesday afternoon, March 13, 1901, at Indianapolis, aged 67 years, 7 months.

Indianapolis Ind., March 18 – Escorted by three regiments of infantry and a battalion of artillery, the remains of ex-president Benjamin Harrison Saturday were taken from his home in N. Delaware St. to the state capital to remain in state until Saturday night.

March 29, 1901

George West's saloon on Lawe Street was entered by thieves some time after closing last Sunday night, and what change there was in the till stolen. A slot machine was also pried open and about $8.00 in nickels taken. The thieves then helped themselves to a lunch, wine, and cigars, and left the same way they entered, through the rear door which was broken in.

Another evidence that Kaukauna is a convention city. The next meeting of the “Old Maids” convention will be held here. Our people may congratulate themselves on having this opportunity to welcome the delegates representing the large and popular and greatly beloved class of old maids.

Another disastrous wreck occurred on the Chicago Northwestern railroad at Little Rapids Wednesday afternoon. The north bound afternoon passenger train which passes through Kaukauna at 2:17 was running at about 50 miles an hour and struck the head end of a freight which had blocked the siding at Little Rapids to allow the passenger to pass, the switch having been left open. When engineer Jones saw the open switch, he shut off the steam and put on the brakes. He stayed at his post until the train collided and died in his cab. Ordinarily there were a few passengers on the train however, there were twenty members of the Lawrence University mandolin and Glee club of Appleton. They were aboard for a concert tour, many sustained injuries.