website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown,
Wisconsin
AND THAT’S THE WAY IT WAS:
WATERTOWN IN 1848
by
W. F. Jannke III
I thought it might be interesting to recap the year 1848, the year of
statehood, and see what was happening in Watertown at that time.
In 1848 Jefferson County had a total population of 11,464. Watertown had
2,362 hearty souls living here at that time. Though the plank road was in the
future and the roads leading into and out of the village were often impassable
in rough weather John Frink managed to run a tri-weekly stage line through
Watertown. Mail service was being conducted at this time by postmaster Patrick
Rogan. Interestingly enough, the post office was open seven day a week, even on
Sundays! Does anyone even remember Sunday deliveries? Usually this only
happened during the Christmas season.
The first telegraph line was set up between Milwaukee and Chicago and
the first messages were being sent over the "magnetic lines" as they
were called by the spring of 1848. By the summer newspaper reports were telling
people it was easier to stay at home and wire their needs to neighboring cities
rather than traveling to them. It was proposed to run a telegraph line through
Watertown, but since the residents here would have had to put up money to pay
for it the frugal Yankees passed on it. A telegraph line wouldn’t arrive here
until the 1850s.
Agitation over the deplorable state of our roads was in the air. There
were seemingly endless letters to the editor of the local newspaper, The Watertown
Chronicle, regarding the pros and cons of building a plank road, or failing
that, to finish the construction of the Milwaukee-Rock River Canal. An article
in the
There were also reports at this time of the desire to run a rail line
through the state, with Watertown being a prime stopping spot. But this was in
the future. The railroad wouldn’t reach us until 1855.
The biggest news was the coverage of the constitutional convention going
on at the territorial capital in Madison. There, men from all over Wisconsin
(including several from Watertown) were hammering out a state constitution that
would be agreeable to everyone. In February, they finished and the results were
published on the front pages of all the newspapers in the territory. This
constitution was adopted and in May the United States formally welcomed
Wisconsin into the union. The editor of the Watertown Chronicle, Jonathan A.
Hadley, applauded this by saying that Wisconsin had finally thrown off her
chains of "territorial vassalage" and could take her rightful place
as a state.
The health of the village was upper-most in everyone’s mind. Cholera
would make its first dreaded appearance in 1849 and would come back like the
plague every summer until 1854, but things weren’t too bad in 1848. Still,
villagers took precautions by patronizing not one but three drug stores: Dr.
Edward Johnson’s drug store on
People were also concerned about their food. Was it pure and
unadulterated? Maximilian Averbeck, a farmer and
distiller in the town of Emmet, ran an ad for his milk business that read,
"The subscriber purposes to furnish the citizens of this place with an
article of pure milk which never saw the inside of a water bucket and come from
his own, not his neighbor’s cows." As if that was not a sufficient warning
or assurance of purity, witness this remark from an ad for Watertown cider:
"Chemists allow this to be a very healthy beverage, being entirely free,
as it is, of all deleterious drugs."
Watertown citizens have always liked a good joke and the Chronicle ran quite
a few "knee slappers" at this time. For example: "A dentist,
who, having labored in vain to extract a decayed tooth from a lady’s mouth gave
up the task, with this felicitous apology: ‘The fact is, madam, it is
impossible for anything bad to come from your mouth!’" Or how about this
one: "Why is dancing like new milk? Because it strengthens the
"calves" to be sure." Ahem!
A new form of artistic expression was making its presence felt here:
photography. Everyone, it seems, were having their pictures taken. Traveling daugerrean artists were hard pressed to out-do each other
and the papers were filled with colorful and imaginative inducements to the
public. One photographer. J. Covell by name, ran the
following poem as part of his ad: "What consolation this will be, when
friends are dead we still can see; or gone to climes afar, we still can see
them as they are!"
The Mexican War was entering its final stages and weekly reports from
the front were appearing in the local press. By the summer of 1848 peace was
declared and the men began to return. But once peace was declared in Mexico new
troubles were being reported from Europe: a revolution had broken out in both
France and Germany.
Emigrants began to pour into the United States and many found their way
to Watertown. This class of emigrants were quite unlike any seen here before,
however. These were intellectuals, college professors and scholars, Many were revolutionaries who narrowly escaped imprisonment.
Once here they went into businesses that they were totally unsuited for.
Nevertheless, these "48ers" made their mark here and gave Watertown
it unusual and colorful heritage and reputation.
When news of the revolution reached Watertown there was much rejoicing
amongst the German settlers and the newly formed German singing society, known
as "Der Liedertafel", held a grand concert at the Methodist Church,
followed by a torch-light procession which ended at the Buena Vista House on
Lest you think that there were only Germans living here at this time it
may be of interest to note that the Irish and Yankees still held most political
offices. There were many Irish settlers here and they took a keen interest in
the plight of their fellow sons and daughters of old Erin back home who were
starving and suffering as a result of the great potato famine. In the latter
half of the year a fund was established by the Irish citizens of Watertown to
send much needed relief to the poor and destitute in Ireland. Besides the Irish
there was a Scandinavian Reading Society here as well. Stores on
Our merchants weren’t at all stingy when it came to advertising their
stores. A piece of sage business advise appeared in
the Chronicle on
Religion was not over-looked here. In 1848 there was one Catholic church
here, St. Bernard’s , as well as a Congregational Church , a Methodist church
and a Bible Society. The first Lutheran Church wouldn’t be founded until 1852
when St. John’s opened its doors, and the Baptist and Moravian churches were
many years away from being founded.
Wooden buildings were rapidly being replaced by brick blocks, many of
which still stand in the city. One newspaper account stated that "it will
be but a few years before the wonder is, not that brick dwellings are erected,
but that wood is used at all." Despite this growing preference for brick,
our sawmills were still doing a thriving business and would continue to do so
for years to come.
Breweries and distilleries here were doing a "spirited"
business and hotels and inns were filled almost every day with new arrivals.
There were 40 weekly newspapers being published in Wisconsin at this time,
three in German and 1 in Norwegian. Watertown had two papers here, The
Watertown Chronicle and The Rock River Pilot.
Towards the end of the year it was announced that gold had been
discovered in California. At first the news was met here with little interest,
but by 1849 men and boys would be streaming out to the gold fields hoping to
strike it rich. Zachary Taylor won the election for president, narrowly beating
Gen. Lewis Cass. In the midst of all of this a small church body was organized
which would later become known as St. Luke’s Church. This church body was
founded by the German 48ers or Free-Thinkers. The Town of Milford was created
in 1848 and the first amputation with the aid of chloroform was performed in
nearby Lake Mills.
Taken altogether, 1848 was one very busy year!
As you can see, there were a lot of things happening here and in the
area in 1848. It could also be argued that 1848 was the last year that
Watertown could be classed as a pioneer settlement. The next ten years would
bring great changes to this area. Things would never be this simple again.
History
of Watertown, Wisconsin