County Celebrates 150th Birthday

By Tim Damos

Star-Times

 Rose Clark, of the Juneau County Historical Society, has spent many hours sorting and organizing historical records. Now, she'll use all that information to help illuminate the rich history of Juneau County and tell the stories that otherwise would have been forgotten.

January 1 marked the 150th anniversary of the creation of Juneau County, which officially separated itself from Adams County on January 1, 1857.  With a special sesquicentennial committee established to oversee events in 2007, there are big plans in store for the county throughout the year.

 Some things have changed.

Juneau County was named after Solomon Juneau, a French trader who later became the first Mayor of Milwaukee. Juneau also founded a newspaper, the Milwaukee Sentinel, which is now part of the combined Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Clark said the natural resources of the county were the mainstay of early inhabitants and partially served as a catalyst for early development.  The rivers, where the life blood of the early inhabitants, Native Americans, who were long before the first settlers.

 For many of the settlers, farming was a way of life and the first major source of wealth in the county was the harvesting of hops. "In those days, if you weren't a hops farmer you wanted to be," she said.

 In the northern parts of the county, cranberry farms were also prominent. In Necedah, large numbers of cranberry field workers would live together in what were called cranberry houses. "The floors of those places wore out quick," she said. "They're legs would get cold from being in the water all day so they would dance at night to warm them up."

Today, agriculture remains as a staple of the community, but many other things have changed. In the days of Juneau County's beginnings, Clark said, one way to tell if someone had wealth or not was if they had a musical instrument or a buggy.

 The same year Juneau County came into existence, Clark said, the first railroad tracks were established in the county, which provided another valuable resource in those days.

Because of the railroads, people were a lot more mobile than many today would assume. "If people from Mauston wanted to go to a sporting event in New Lisbon, the railroad would add extra cars and make a few extra runs that day," Clark said. "You would have half the City of Mauston in New Lisbon for the game."

Clark will use stories like these to bring the county's history to life throughout the year.

Big plans for 2007

Clark, a member of the Juneau County Sesquicentennial Committee, and Star-Times designer H.S. Leverenz created the Juneau County Sesquicentennial logo, which will be used throughout the year.

This year also marks the 150th anniversary of the Juneau County Star-Times, originally the Mauston Star, which was established by David McBride in June of 1857.

 Throughout the year, the Star-Times will also be featuring various stories focusing on the county's and the newspaper's histories.

 Rhonda Siebecker Rothe, editor of the Star-Times, sits on the Sesquicentennial Committee as well. She said she is looking forward to the year's events. "It is so exciting to celebrate our birthday right along with the county," she said.

 Barb Baker, founder of the Sesquicentennial Committee, has also written and received a grant (for almost $11,000) for a new event, Flavor Fest, which will be held in Mauston in August.

 "We decided to bring a little bit of the 150th birthday celebration into the events that are already planned for the county," Rothe said. "There are festivals throughout the year in all of our municipalities, such as the Juneau County Fair and Wa Du Shuda Days in New Lisbon, so it just made sense to expand those events

 Rothe said the committee is also spearheading a plan for a county quilt, which will feature a square from each area.

 Carol Gross, of Mauston, will coordinate the project and the quilt will be donated to the Juneau County Historical Society at the September quilt show at the Boorman House, Rothe said.

The committee meets the 1st & 3rd Monday monthly and Rothe encourages community members to get involved.