website
watertownhistory.org
ebook
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin
Watertown’s Bohemian Settlement
Wisconsin was a new state and
Watertown, Wis., was considered a place of great potential in the mid
1800’s. Literally thousands of Europeans
were headed this way to establish homes and businesses and raise their families
in America, a free land. Usually these
newcomers gathered in little settlements with their kinsmen or others with a
common language.
In Watertown pioneers from the
New England states scattered throughout the area. The Irish settled on the west side, Germans
selected the central city and area to the north, there was a Welsh settlement
north of the city. East of Richards hill, in the area around Oconomowoc and
Concord avenues and East Water Street, the Bohemians formed a thriving and
bustling settlement. Most of the people
who settled here were from Bohemia, a one time
province of Czechoslovakia, and most spoke the Czech language.
Business was booming. A furniture factory specialized in cherry
wood products, since a supply of cherry wood was ample in the nearby
woods. There was a distillery, two
mills, a home cigar business, a smithy, a spinning wheel factory, and two
hotels. One, the Boston House, was a
popular place for traders, salesmen and travelers with a large dancing
hall. A son of Prussian nobility, Baron
von Bredow, presided over Boston House
activities. He appeared to be an
excellent host, according to history, and there was no lack of
entertainment. Once source says
“customers had a high old time there, even a shooting or two on occasion”. Boston House was located at the intersection
of Concord and Oconomowoc avenues. North
of Oconomowoc Avenue was the other hotel, the Wisconsin House.
The Bohemian settlement was the
site of the Toll road [Watertown Plank Road]
western terminal before the road extended to Madison. Farmers who drove their cattle from west of
Watertown to the Milwaukee markets stayed overnight north of Oconomowoc Avenue,
near the barns and grazing areas which were designated by law at intervals
along the Toll road. Some even bedded
down in the haymow of the adjacent barn to keep watch over their horses and
other livestock.
Wenzel Quis,
Alsatian gardener, owned a Toll road barn which now stands on the Octagon House
grounds.
Many of the Bohemian settlement
businesses were run by other nationality owners. John Richards, from New England, owned and
operated two mills on the Rock River. J.
J. Toussaint, a Frenchman, was listed as a distiller. He ran a saloon in the home now owned by
James B. Quirk on Concord Avenue.
The Bohemians were great
gardeners and delivered their products in the city.
THE BOHEMIAN GARDEN is one
of the useful institutions of our city.
Early in the Spring it is the first to supply the market with such
vegetables as can be grown here. It is
cultivated with the utmost care and great pains are taken to procure the best
varieties of whatever is raised. We are
indebted to it for a lot of the finest pie-plant we have seen this year. WD 05 26 1859
Some were adept at making baskets
for sale. Leopold Kadish
ran a general store. He was the man who
introduced fair day, the Viehmarket, to Watertown on the
second Tuesday of the month as it remains today. Edward Racek was a
Bohemian who lived “in the city”. He was
a merchant, a banker, and ran a construction business. He built[?] the [Richard] Thauer home at 214 South
Washington Street and one at 1009 North Fourth Street, where he lived for some
time, as well as other houses. He did
his business, according to what we read, “with most pleasing and profitable
success”.
Once every summer the natives of
Bohemia had a picnic at Tivoli Island for their
friends and relatives in Milwaukee and Racine.
The train would let the travelers off at Humboldt Street. They then walked down Concord Avenue for
about three blocks, down the hill and crossed the river at a narrow place where
planks had been laid to the island.
After a day of merry making the visitors returned the same way to board
the train for home. The trains came to
Watertown in the year 1855.
Most of the people in the
Bohemian settlement attended St. Henry’s Church.
As often happens early pioneers
gave their full names to sons and grandsons.
Even a check of the years fails to determine exactly the proper
generation. We won’t try to guess at it
but will mention some names of men active in the Bohemian settlement, names
that popped up again later in history.
The same man or perhaps a son?
Edward Racek was mayor of Watertown in
1896-97. A Bohemian name, Lutovsky, appeared again as Charles Lutovsky,
mayor Watertown in 1930-34 and 1934-35, the latter date to fill out another
man’s term. The Czechs were tanners and
tavern keepers.
A Bohemian soldier by the last
name of Griep was called Peg-leg, not in derision but
because of his record in the Civil War.
He was recruited for the Union army shortly after he arrived in New York
city. He lost a leg at Gettysburg. An army surgeon sawed it off without
anesthetic except for “good strong moonshine whiskey”. Many newcomers to this country during Civil
War years responded immediately to a call of duty and served their adopted
country during the Civil War.
Prochazka House, Wenzel
Mr. and Mrs. Wenzel Prochazka lived in a home now part of Lindbergs
by the River [1413 Oconomowoc Ave], owned and operated by the George Lindbergs. The Prochazka’s ran a grocery store and were gardeners. Their sons, Wenzel and Charles, carried
on a successful seeding business. As
flower growers they always felt they wanted to help beautify Watertown.
Wenzel died at age 81, the last
surviving member of his immediate family.
He left a bequest in the amount of $23,600 to the city of Watertown for
beautifying the park. At this time many
cities were discarding the old fashioned bandstands of early days and
substituting bandshells. Local groups
started a movement for construction of a bandshell
for concerts, church services and pageants.
Riverside Park presented the most appropriate setting. Relatives protested the will, which held up
the matter for some time until the court decided the matter with the city of
Watertown as the beneficiary.
The council felt a several months
delay in construction of the bandshell would be good so it could be dedicated
as a feature of the Watertown Centennial, scheduled for 1954. The contract was awarded to Wilbur Wollin. The
bandshell was finished and was dedicated during the Centennial celebration in
late June 1954. The new bandshell was
located just south of where the park’s old bandstand stood.
How many of us, after a concert
or program of any kind at the Riverside Park bandshell, have walked up close to
the bandshell and read the plaque: “To the Memory of Wenzel Prochazka”? For today’s enjoyment we must appreciate the
past.
___________________
c.1920
VIEW TO THE EAST FROM OCTAGON HOUSE
Oconomowoc Ave bridge
Richards Grove School, built by
John Richards in the late 1840s
Watertown Plank Road came into
town along Oconomowoc and Concord avenues
Boston House Hotel
Little Bohemia area of Watertown
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin