website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
Watertown
Historical Society
Notes
of Interest
1941
08 12 NOTZ PAINTING DONATED TO WATERTOWN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A
painting by the late Dr. F. A. Notz, professor of
Greek at Northwestern College and a
painter of note, has been donated to the Watertown Historical Society by the
daughters of Dr. Notz, it was announced by Dr. E. C. Kiessling of Northwestern College.
The picture arrived Sunday morning and the announcement of its arrival
was made during the Pioneer Day program at the Octagon House by Dr. Kiessling. It was he
who suggested to the daughters that they contribute one of their father’s works
to the society. This suggestion was made some months ago during the exhibit of
paintings by Watertown artists which was held at the Elks Club.
The daughters at that time agreed to the suggestion and made a special
effort to get it here on Sunday. The
painting is entitled "Rock River at Watertown." It is a water color and is to be placed
permanently in the Octagon House.
Dr. Notz and his family used to live in
Western Avenue. Dr. Notz,
who is still remembered here by a great many people, taught at the college more
than 40 years and painted numerous Watertown scenes.
The 3 daughters now reside in Washington where one of them, Mrs. Cornelia, is
one of the head departmental librarians of the Congressional library. Getting this painting by the man who
distinguished himself in the field of education here is something every member
of the historical society will appreciate, and it is certainly worth preserving
in the permanent collection of objects at the Octagon House.
1959
10 08 The
Watertown Historical Society received an award of merit from the American
Association for State and Local History today for the successful restoration of
Wisconsin's famous Octagon House and the Schurz kindergarten building and for
opening these buildings to the public.
Designed to pay tribute to those people who promote a better
understanding of America's heritage at the local level, these awards are given
annually to individuals and groups deemed worthy by reason of outstanding
achievement or significant new project in the field of state and local
history. WDT
1960 SOCIETY ANNUAL MEETING
02 01 Assemblyman Byron F.
Wackett last night was re-elected president of
the Watertown Historical Society at the annual meeting. Others elected are: P. E. Burkhalter, first
vice president; Miss Jane Lord, second vice president; Miss Myrtle Roberts,
third vice president; Miss Marcella Killian, secretary; J. V. Anderson,
treasurer; Miss Gladys Mollart, curator.
12 15 The board of directors of the Watertown
Historical Society today announced that Mr. and Mrs. Donovan L. Mabie, Fort Atkinson, will be the new custodians at the
Octagon House and First Kindergarten building.
They are moving into the recently renovated living quarters at the
Octagon House. Mr. and Mrs. Mabie are former residents of Watertown. Mr. Mabie is a tool
maker and is now employed at the Moe Brothers plant in Fort Atkinson. While in Watertown he was
connected with Village Blacksmith. Mrs. Mabie is known
for her cultural and professional interests here. WDT
1965
10 02 REUBEN GOLD THWAITES AWARD
The Watertown Historical Society, which owns and operates the famed
Octagon House and the First American Kindergarten on
the Octagon House grounds, is one of five local historical societies in the
state to be honored by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. The coveted Reuben Gold Thwaites cup, which
goes annually to the outstanding local society of the year, will be presented
to the Watertown Historical Society. The
award will be in recognition of the society’s restoration and operation of the
Octagon House historical complex, and its promotion off an active local history
program.
1966
01 19 BYRON WACKETT REELECTED PRESIDENT
Byron F. Wackett, Jefferson County
assemblyman, last night was reelected president of the Watertown Historical
Society at the annual meeting of the organization held in the Watertown
Municipal Building. Other officers named
are Lee Block and Dr. E. C. Kiessling, first and
second vice presidents respectively, Miss Catherine Jean Quirk, secretary, and
R. J. Hoge, treasurer.
1967
01 20 LEE BLOCK ELECTED PRESIDENT
Lee Block was elected president of the Watertown Historical Society at
the board meeting which followed the society’s annual meeting in the Municipal
building last night. Elected with Mr.
Block were Byron F. Wackett, vice-president, Mrs.
Harold Peterson, newly elected board member, secretary, Mrs. Harold Schumann, re-elected
secretary, and R. J. Hoge, re-elected treasurer. A vote of appreciation was given to Mr. Wackett, who has served as the society’s president for the
past 15 years; to Miss Catherine Quirk, who submitted her resignation as
secretary but will continue as an active board member, and to Miss Jane Lord.
1968
03 19 LEE BLOCK RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT
Lee Block was reelected president of the Watertown Historical Society at
the annual board meeting Monday night at Cole Memorial Hall. Officers who will serve with Mr. Block are
Dr. E. C. Kiessling, vice president, Mrs. Harold
Peterson, secretary, Mrs. Harold Schumann, second secretary, Robert Bauch, treasurer and Miss Gladys Mollart, curator.
The board discussed the April membership drive and plans for the May
opening of the Octagon House. Mrs. A. S.
Christensen will head a new member campaign, and will meet Wednesday morning
with Mrs. Harold Schumann, board secretary, and Mrs. Dean Lawrence and Mrs. Ray
Rose, advisory board members, to complete a mailing to all former members of
the Watertown Historical Society as well as other interested persons. A goal of 1,000 members in 1968 has been set
by the Society. These memberships will help
greatly to publicize and support the work of the Society and to maintain the
units on the Octagon House grounds.
04 18 DECORATIVE MOUNTAIN ASH TREE DONATED
The Watertown Historical
Society has been presented with a decorative mountain ash tree for planting on
the Octagon House grounds by the Watertown Kiwanis Club
which is currently engaged in its “beautification through trees” project. The presentation was made for Miss Gladys Mollart, curator for the society, by Stanley Gronert, Kiwanis Club president, and James Glaser, club
treasurer. Mr. Gronert
explained that the mountain ash was selected because of the great beauty of its
clusters of white blossoms in the spring and the attractive large clusters of
orange-red berries each fall which will help brighten the grounds of the
historical society. Kiwanis Club members
have been contacting city residents, urging them to plant decorative trees such
as red, white or pink flowering crabs, Black Hills
spruce and mountain ash, all of which are available through the Kiwanis club or
President Gronert, at 201 Mary Street. Phone Number 261 4993. Proceeds from sales are used for various club
projects. WDT
12 22 MOUNTED NOODLED GOOSE
DONATED
The Watertown Historical Society will learn for the
first time by reading it here that the wheels were set in motion last week to
present it with a unique Christmas gift to be ready for display in its historic
Octagon House barn at its reopening in May.
This gift is a huge genuine noodled goose being mounted by taxidermist,
Walter Pelzer of the Milwaukee Museum, to elucidate and perpetuate the history
of a highly specialized industry originated two centuries ago in Alsace and
brought exclusively to the Watertown community by German farm immigrants a
century ago. About 150,000 pounds of
Watertown Stuffed Goose, made extremely large especially in the liver for the
choice delicacy of pate de foie gras, were shipped out at Christmas time for
the eastern gourmet restaurants at the height of the industry’s activity
here. Fred Rumler,
727 North Church Street, is the sole remaining producer today.
1969
01 23 LEE BLOCK RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT
Lee Block was re-elected president of the Watertown Historical
Society at the annual meeting in the Municipal building Monday
evening. Also re-elected were
Richard Hoge, first vice-president, Dr. E. C. Kiessling,
second vice-president, Mrs. Harold Peterson, secretary, Mrs.
Harold Schumann, corresponding secretary, Robert Bauch, treasurer,
and Miss Gladys Mollart, curator. Miss Mollart
presented the annual report. Board
members re-elected to new terms were Block, Charles Yeomans,
Catherine Quirk, Myra MacInnis
and Mrs. S. J. Luchsinger. Three members of the Euterpe Club,
Mrs. Robert Franz, Mrs. Eugene Kirst and
Mrs. Kenneth Nygaard, presented several selections of old songs. A film, “Wisconsin’s Trail of Nations,” was
shown.
11 21 HISTORICAL SOCIETY HONORS MISS LORD
The Watertown
Historical Society, at its quarterly meeting this week at the Merchants State
Bank, passed a resolution in honor of the late Miss Jane Lord, an honorary life
member and one of the original signers of the Historical Society articles of
incorporation.
Text of the resolution follows:
"It was with deep feelings of loss that the members of the
Watertown Historical Society received the news of the death of its honorary
member, Jane Lord. Until several years
ago Miss Lord was active as vice-president of the Society. She contributed much to its growth with her
efforts and enthusiasm. With John
Clifford she was an original signer of the articles of incorporation in 1933, and was especially influential with the Richards
family at the time of their decision to transfer the Octagon House to the
Society.
“Miss
Lord herself was a 'history natural' in that she was a descendent of a
Revolutionary war serviceman. She was a
member of the DAR and two lines in her background were prominent in American
history. Miss Lord was known widely
throughout Watertown and vicinity. She
spent a busy life in the service of the community, and
was a friendly and genial person who loved Watertown, and Watertown loved her. We shall miss her."
Cross reference
note: Miss Jane Lord included in c.1940
photo
1983
09 07 Richard Hoge [1894-1983], director Emeritus of
Watertown Historical Society; chairman of building and grounds committee for a
number of years.
1987
06 08 Gladys
Mollart, [1895–1987] a founder of the Watertown
Historical Society and leader in the efforts to preserve Watertown's history.
2000
12 02 2000 REUBEN GOLD THWAITES TROPHY
The Watertown Historical Society was recently presented with the top
state award for excellence when it was given the 2000 Reuben Gold Thwaites
trophy by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin at the annual conference of
historical societies. Local historical
societies are eligible to win the award only once every 25 years. The Watertown group last won the award in
1965 when the society was under the direction of the late Gladys Mollert, who was well known for her diligence in
maintaining and promoting the Octagon House and First Kindergarten. The Watertown Historical Society is only the
third group to win a double award since the inception of the award 41 years ago. WDT
2008
07 10 KLINGBEIL FAMILY COLLECTION
The Watertown Historical Society became the caretakers of the Klingbeil family
collection when Lores Klingbeil
of Albuquerque, N.M., recently visited the Watertown area. Klingbeil is the
daughter of the late Herbert F. and Nora (Fehrmann) Klingbeil, who lived on East River Road. Klingbeil brought
12 boxes loaded with family memorabilia which has become a part of the
historical society's collections. Also
included in the collection are materials relating to the life of Josephine
(Henschel) Fehrmann, mother of Nora Klingbeil. Herbert Klingbeil was a plumber in Watertown and passed away in
1999. The items in the collection range
from vintage clothing, including puttees, a full bridesmaids
outfit from 1929, a 100-year-old child's dress belonging to the late Nora Klingbeil, blouses made in the latter half of the 1890s to
Watertown memorabilia.
2015
09 05 90TH BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR SON OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOUNDER
The
Watertown Historical Society hosted a very special 90th birthday party for the
son of its founder on Saturday, September 5.
The honoree was Ralph Gaebler, of Milwaukee, a former owner of a chain
of gas and oil stations in the Milwaukee area.
The event was held in the famed Octagon House Museum.
About
15 family members and friends of the family gathered to honor the spry 90 year
old who regaled the company with stories of his youth in Watertown. Also on hand were: William F. Jannke, former
president of the society who delivered a talk on the importance of the Gaebler
family in the founding of the Watertown Historical Society, Melissa Lampe,
current president, who welcomed the guests, David Hertel, himself a former
president of the society, who gave a special tour of the museum to the
assembled guests, and Ken Riedl, who is not only a member of the board of
directors of the historical society but also serves as the society’s webmaster.
Following
a toast to the health of Mr. Gaebler and the museum tour, the party retired to
Donny’s Girl supper club in nearby Pipersville for a birthday supper to honor
Mr. Gaebler, who wryly remarked, “I didn’t mind turning 80, but 90 is sort of
hard to take.”
The
Gaebler family has a long history in Watertown. Mr. Gaebler’s great grandfather
was Emil C. Gaebler, who came to the city in the
1850s and owned and operated an organ and melodeon store on N. Fourth Street,
in the former WEPCO Printing building.
He also founded the Concordia Opera Society here, one of the finest
musical societies in Wisconsin in the nineteenth century. Ralph’s grandfather
was Max Henry Gaebler, who was one of the founders of the Watertown Table Slide
Co., one of the leading industries in Watertown for many years. Mr. Gaebler’s
father was Hans D. Gaebler, who at various points in his life was a school
teacher, a law librarian, an official with the Watertown Table Slide Co., and
an astronomer.
Hans
Gaebler founded the Watertown Historical Society in the front room of his
former Tudor-style home on Thomas Avenue in 1933. He went on to serve as the
society’s president from 1936 to 1938 and during his tenure as president he
oversaw the acquisition of the famed Octagon House and in 1941 started the
movement to acquire the famed First Kindergarten building.
Cross References:
H D Gaebler, one of
founders of historical society
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin