The Town of Fairbanks was a rough and rugged country back in 1885 when some of the settlers journeyed there to make a new home in that section of Shawano County.
 
Only tote roads connected the township with Shawano and Clintonville. The settlers were not even fortunate enough to have wagons, but used what were called jumpers". One early settler stated "after riding in one of them you deemed it a proper name for the contraption."
 
The activity of the settlement centered around the Aschinger sawmill. The mill was located on the Otto Krueger farm, and the place was referred to as Aschingerville. Besides a sawmill there was a shingle mill, planing mill, and two blacksmith shops. There were also several houses for the hired help, and a beer house where anyone could get a stein of beer for five cents. J.C. Luebke later operated a large hotel which was considered very modern for that time. Mr. Luebke served as town clerk for many years and was also a Notary Public.
 
Aschingerville, later known as Split Rock, was once a busy place. On Sunday, during the summer months, a picnic or celebration of some kind was always held which lasted well into Monday. People came from Marion, Caroline and Tigerton to join in the fun.

There were a lot of Indian summer camps in the vicinity. One of these camps was located on the F.H. Sabrowski farm. Split Rock got to be a thriving village. About a dozen coalkins were operated there by the Wisconsin Coal Company to burn their engines. These engines also burned wood and the settlers would cut the wood and pile it along the railway tracks and the train crews would pick it up whenever they needed fuel. Split Rock also had a stave and hub mill which was owned by Aderman and Gayhart.

The first store at Split Rock was operated by Mr. Fuller. He sold out to Worden and Wright of Menasha. They operated a large store for the Menasha Woodenware Company, and Charles Worden managed the timber interests for the company in that vicinity.
 
This store, in later years, came to be known as a leading general store of the county. It was supposed to be the second largest complete department store in Shawano County at that time. Later, it was known as the C.L. Brownell Company and that company did a tremendous amount of business in merchandizing and buying and shipping of timber products.

The Turner Brothers also operated a sawmill about one and one-half miles down the railroad track from Split Rock. This was known as Siding 170. Several coalkins were located there where Ernie Nero's farm buildings are now located.

The first settlers west of Split Rock were the Aschinger Brothers and their families, Henry Warringer and family, the three Sabrowskys and their families, Mike Schoenfell and his family, John Starr and his family, Wm. Grenz and family, Chas. Pringuitz and family, and Wm. Blum and family. There were also quite a number of Indians living near the settlement.

 Many of the old timers will remember the Brass Band made up mostly of members of the Aschinger families. They were all good musicians and would play weekday evenings during the summer months. The people of the settlement looked forward to this entertainment each evening, and would set outside their homes and listen to the music to help break the monotony of those long summer nights.

Information furnished by:
F.H. Sabrowsky,
Tigerton, Wis., Route 1