January 28, 2015 at 2:35 p.m.
Bringing in the new year with a look back at 1915
Bringing in the new year with a look back at 1915
By By Kyle Rogers-
A century ago, the new year was 1915 - and life was quite a bit different. A review of Rhinelander newspaper archives from that time show just how much things can change in only 100 years. For example, it would be easy to conclude then that the secret to good health was a formula of bowling and beer.
"The value of good beer as a tonic and health builder is beyond question," one early January advertisement from the Rhinelander Brewing Company stated. "If you have never tried Rhinelander beer, order a case sent home today. You will find it an invigorating, satisfying beverage, as well as a food tonic." The company's marketing campaign throughout 1915 didn't stray from the health theme.
Similar health benefits could be derived from bowling it seems. "Bowling is a stomach exerciser, a food digester, a blood maker and a brain recreator," an ad for Lawrence Bowling Alleys on Stevens Street exclaimed. "That's why appendicitis never gets bowlers."
Simply reviewing old newspaper advertisements provides some of the most telling insight into Rhinelander society circa 1915. They show that doctors were still running their practices out of office space in the downtown area. The Hildebrand Funeral Home was still under the ownership of its founder, F.A. Hildebrand - and still operating as a furniture store as well. For $200 you could purchase the new Edison Diamond Disc Phonograph, the latest in music-listening technology. The Brown Bros. Lumber Company was touting Sugar Camp as the ideal spot to build a summer home and strongly pushing for the development of an abundance of lots available in the area. Maxwell, at the time a major player in the automotive industry, was heavily promoting its five-passenger 1915 model priced at $695 with 17 new features. "The biggest automobile value ever offered for less than $1,000," said its ads. Hampered by a large amount of unsold product, the company found itself deeply in debt a decade later and its assets being absorbed by the newly formed Chrysler Corporation.
The stories that dominated the headlines in 1915 depict a city that, though more than three decades old already, still had opportunities for growth and was gradually making progress in that area. "Oneida County Farms Rapidly Developing Now" read one headline in late January for an article about how quickly timber was being cleared out, and how in just a few years the entirety of the county should be well settled and farmed.
Other stories early in the year focused on a housing shortage hindering Rhinelander's growth but by summer's end that issue was starting to be alleviated. "Rhinelander Real Estate Takes a Boom" a late August headline read. Two new additions to the city had been opened up on the north and east sides, and vacant lots were finding buyers. Nine new homes had recently been built with more to come.
A new hotel was also in the works, and Herman C. Zander was in the midst of an extensive addition and remodeling of the Majestic Theatre. One of the city's top manufacturing employers, Printpack, got its start in 1915 in the form of Daniels Manufacturing. The company began by making toweling, toilet paper and crepe napkins out of a Thayer Street building with 12 men.
Road infrastructure was also a hot topic of the time. Stories focused on the growing trend of automobile use and how important it would be for the northern part of Wisconsin to maintain good roads in order to be easily accessible for that traffic. In March, A.D. Campbell, manager of the Wisconsin Advancement Association, announced he was gathering maps of the various sections of the state and would soon prepare one showing all the roads leading from Milwaukee to the northern end of the state. Ease of travel is one particularly striking contrast when comparing 2015 to 1915. Another major headline for the year occurred in June when for the first time the railway began offering a new train that allowed residents in Three Lakes, Eagle River and other neighboring communities to make the trip to Rhinelander and back in a single day. The train arrived in Rhinelander at 11 a.m. and departed at 1 p.m., giving citizens a two-hour window to shop or conduct other business in the city and still return home the same day, a major convenience for 1915. Such a trip previously required two days.
On a national level, 1915 was most notable for what was yet to come in the subsequent years. Amidst the local headlines in the Rhinelander archives of 1915 are regular mentions of topics such as women's suffrage, prohibition, and the war in Europe, all of which would garner many more headlines in the following years.
But perhaps a good window into Rhinelander circa 1915 is simply a two-sentence brief under an "East Side News" heading in a Jan. 22 edition. It shows the tendency for newspapers of the time to be all-inclusive when it came to reporting the news, covering everything from major events to the minute details of everyday life. It also provides a glimpse of the types of rudimentary tools that were still heavily used at that time: "While shaving himself Thursday evening, Layton Shepard had the misfortune to cut a small piece off his nose. The damage was repaired at Hartley & Kincaid's barber shop."
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