Waupaca

By Kim J. Heltemes

In 1849, the Native American lands of central Wisconsin were opened, by way of treaty, for land claims by settlers. The area of eastcentral Wisconsin was a favorite to men from Vermont. Vermont men had settled the wild country from Poy Sippi to Waupaca--a stretch of about 15 miles. That year, the county's earliest pioneers set out from Sheboygan to stake a claim for their homesteads. Told of a place called "the Falls," now known as Waupaca, they mapped out three 80-acre plots after their arrival. As more settlers came to the area, Waupaca was formed into a village and incorporated in 1857. The accumulation of vintage photographs that appear in Waupaca depict the town's old way of life in a vivid manner.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439632925

Kim J. Heltemes

Kim J. Heltemes, primarily a Civil War researcher, is a member of the Waupaca Historical Society, the American Civil War Skirmish Association, the National Muzzle Loading Association, King Civil War Round Table, Manitowoc Civil War Round Table, and the Iron Brigade Association. Heltemes is also the author of the Images of America series books Wisconsin Veterans Home at King and Poy Sippi and Eastern Waushara County.

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INTRODUCTION

As the lands of east-central Wisconsin opened up with the move to statehood in 1848, it drew a number of settlers with the goal to make a new start. These men were Vermonters, and the small hilled country reminded them of their old homes. As the settlers arrived in 1849, it must be remembered that in most cases the Native Americans remained friendly to the invaders and helped as needed. Such was the case of Dewey Ware, one of the first to settle in Waupaca Falls, as it was first known. Waupaca is the English version of the Native American words Way-pay-kay, meaning white earth or pale or clear water.

E. C. Sessions, Martin Burnham, William Hibbard, Joseph Hibbard, and a Mr. Pratt, Hibbard’s brother-in-law, traveled from Plymouth and Sheboygan, Wisconsin, to make new claims in the Indian land made available through a treaty. Having stopped in Mukwa, now known as Weyauwega, they heard from the Native Americans of a place not too far away called the Falls. It was on the Waupaca River where there were four small falls. Once they reached this wonderful spot, they staked claims in the form of three 80-acre surveyed plats of land where Waupaca remains today. Burnham went on to find his fortune in the West, and Pratt went on to a more settled area. An election in 1855 decided that Waupaca would be the county seat, defeating Mukwa.

Men like Capt. Thomas Spencer, a veteran of the War of 1812, along with his son, Ira, made their way to settle just south of Waupaca in an area now called the town of Lind. Ira fought in the Civil War with the 42nd Wisconsin Infantry, Company A. He would become a charter member of the Waupaca Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Post and a member of the Masons. Capt. David Scott, Samuel Ware, Dana Dewey, W. G. Cooper, J. M. Vaughn, T. M. Paine, D. Williams, F. B. Young, James Thomas, and A. H. Chandler soon followed in 1849. Cooper became the first country lawyer. His wife followed him and was the first white woman to enter the settlement in Waupaca. Vaughn was the first to make an overland trip with a wagon to Waupaca. The trail made by Vaughn was followed as more people came to settle. Soon people with names like Mieklejohn, Townsend, Mumbrue, Lord, Hicks, Chandler, Chamberlain, Browne, Van Epps, House, Woodnorth, Waterman, and Jardine made Waupaca their home. These and many more made a name for themselves in the history of Waupaca.

By 1870, the business district had been established, and commerce took on a daily endeavor. The four-block strip of Main Street with the boardwalks looked modern. In 1872, that changed with a fire that took out a city block along Main Street. Wooden structures began to be replaced with brick and mortar with the bricks made from area clay. The town started to take on a newer look that has last throughout the years.

Waupaca had some fine doctors, like Dr. Cutting Marsh, Dr. Linus B. Brainerd, Dr. Darwin Manchester, and Dr. George H. Calkins. Dr. Marsh practiced medicine from his arrival in 1852 until his death in 1872. Linus B. Brainerd was the assistant surgeon in the 7th Wisconsin of the famed Iron Brigade. He died in 1865, so he did not practice medicine too long after his service in the Civil War. Manchester recruited Company G, of the 21st Wisconsin Infantry, out of Waupaca but was wounded in the Battle of Perryville (Chaplin Hills) in Kentucky and returned home to recover. Darwin Manchester recovered and went to New Hampshire to study medicine so he could come back to Waupaca as a doctor. When the Grand Army Home (Wisconsin Veterans Home) at King was started, he was asked to become the first doctor at the Home. He did so until his death in 1895. Calkins also served in the Civil War, but strangely the roster said that he was in the service for only for four days. He was the assistant surgeon for the 37th Wisconsin Infantry. The 37th was famous for the Battle of Petersburg, or later called the crater. The Union Army had dug a tunnel that went under the Confederate lines and then blew it up with black powder, causing a crater. Many area soldiers fought in the Battle of the Crater, as it was also known. Calkins returned to Waupaca and practiced medicine. Mainly due to the Civil War, Waupaca had some qualified doctors that took them into the 1890s.

With the start of the Grand Army Home in 1887, Waupaca started to see the influx of visitors and the need to update traveling conditions. The Waupaca Electric Trolley became the answer until the automobile was introduced. The Grand Army Home brought people out to the (Chain O’) Lakes and the vacant land that surrounded the crystal clear waters. Soon the visitors were part of Waupaca, as they bought land and built homes and cottages.

The relationship of the Home to Waupaca may be confusing to the reader. The Grand Army Home is about two