History of Clark County included in the "History of Northern Wisconsin:" An Account of It's Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources; An Extensive Sketch of Its Counties, Cities, Towns and Villages. Publ. 1881

Cities, Towns and Villages

ABBOTSFORD

   This is in Clark County, at the junction of the Chippewa Falls Railroad with the Wisconsin central, which was completed in the Fall of 1880. It is 3 miles north of Colby, 218 miles from Milwaukee, and 132 from Ashland, the norther terminus of the Central.
    It is in the midst of a dense forest, with a wide variety of timber. Several hundred achres at this point have been cleared, and a village laid out on the east of the railroad, to the Marathon County line, a few blocks away. the streets, at right angles with the railroad, are named, beginning at the north, Pine, Maple, Cedar, Oak, birch, Spruce; parallel with the railroad, the streets are called, First, Second, Third and Division streets.
    One year old, the village has a depot, with an eating house seating 136, and with twenty-one sleeping rooms, and about twenty other buildings.
    William Livingston has a good hotel on Second street nearly opposite the depot. S.A. Cook has a store with general merchandise. Then there are three saloons and one restaurant. John Johnson keeps the railroad hotel, called the Abbot Hotel. Charles Partridge is Postmaster. Roads are constructing, and a lumber yard is already located here, and when the line from Wausau reaches the place, as is contemplated, it must become the center of an active hardwood manufacturing interest, and ultimately of a farming one.

DORCHESTER

This is one of the towns springing up the line of the Wisconsin Cental railway. It is three miles north of Abbotsford, in the midst of a dense hard-wood region, interspersed with pine, which is rapidly disappearing. The region is good farming land, a clayey loam.
   The Eau Pleine river is three miles east, and the Poplar three miles west; the one running into the Wisconsin, the other into the Black River. there are at present, perhaps, 400 people in the village.
   B.G.Miltmore is Postmaster, with john Miltmore as assistant; $70 a month is received for stamps.
   R.P.Ruling is station agent. Amount of receipts for freight forwarded, per month, $1,394; freight received, $500; passenger fares, $220.
   The American Express Company and the Western Union Telegraph Company have offices here.
   The place was first settled in 1874.
   Sumner Hugaboom started to build a hotel right in the wilderness. Hosea Hugaboom, Silas and George Shepard, Peter Ruben, L.N. Robbins, were among the earliest comers.
   In the future, however, all those who are here now and are mentioned as in business, will be considered as the pioneers of Dorchester.
   The saw-mill was built by R.C.Evans. It afterwards was in the hands of the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company. Its cost was $50,000, and was for a time in charge of E.L.Swarthout. It was burned and rebuilt in the winter of 1880-1, and in the first season cut six million feet into lumber, shingle and lath. The mill has a double rotary, with planer and other dressing machinery.
   General Merchandise Dealers.--Miltimore Bros., H.Laborris, Pomplitz Bros., A.F.Sumner, Larson & ulnen, O.D. Vandurn & Co.
   Shoe Shop--N. Reddig
   Butcher--A. Mezier
   Land-Agent--E.L. Swarthout
   Two hotels, Central House, Sumner Hugaboom, proprietor; Donnelly House, Michael Donnelly, proprietor.
   Religious.--There are as yet no church buildings but the Catholics, German Lutheran, Methodists and Presbyterians have adherents and the place is considered missionary ground, to be supplied from the neighboring towns.
   Schools.--The educational interests of the town are well provided for. The school-house was built in 1876. Their are 100 enrolled pupils. W.C.Mason is the principal, and Mrs. Florence May, assistant.
   A lodge of Good Templars is in town, and a division of the Sons of Temperance.
   Logs have to be hauled from two to five miles, that is the pine; the hard-wood is hardly encroached upon at all.
   The village is well laid out, and certainly has a promising future.

Transcribed and Contributed to this site by Judy Groh

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Floral Bouquet © Copyright: All files on this site are copyrighted by their creator and/or contributor. They may be linked to but may not be reproduced on another site without specific permission from Clark County Coordinator Judy Groh, the State Coordinator, Tina Vickery and/or their contributor. My very special thanks to Holly Timm for the creation of the WIGenWeb Clark County graphic. The use of the Penny Postcard in the title graphic is used with permission of the Penny Post Cards a USGenWeb Archives Web Site.


This page was last updated on -- Thursday, 11-Apr-2019 09:01:27 CDT

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