The History of Heineman, WI
The History of Heineman, WI
The history of Heinemen begins with a story in the May 29, 1900 Merrill newspaper. The story reported that a man named Mr. Thomas (who was a Merrill logging contractor and timber owner) proposed to build a saw mill, store, blacksmith shop, houses, and other structures needed for the residents of a village at a place where his logging camps were recently built. Mr. Thomas also promised to put in telephone lines and build good roads!
His plan began with the construction of the sawmill in the middle of a timber stand which he believed would support his business for more than twenty years. The settlement began to grow with already 100 men working. In July of 1900, it acquired the name Trout City because Mr. Thomas caught more trout there than anyone else. The mill was constructed and running by October 1 of that year.
By January 1901, there were twenty-two houses, a boarding house, a rooming house, a blacksmith shop, and other structures. Horse teams would haul lumber to nearby Merrill, and they would haul hay, grain, and other supplies back to Trout City. Fifty to seventy-five farmers visited Trout City daily to sell their produce. By February, a two-story building with a basement was built, In it there was a store, apartments, and a storehouse where people could get anything to eat, drink, or wear. Keep in mind that just ten months ago this had been a thickly forested area.
Mr. Thomas continually tried to improve life in the village. There was talk of building a railroad into town. Plans for a schoolhouse were organized for the fifty children who lived in town, too. A drug store opened in mid-March of 1901 and plans were created for anew hotel.
The growing population at Trout City soon expected regular mail service. A petition with two hundred signatures was sent to Washington, D.C. requesting a post office. In the spring, the government did establish a post office at Trout City in the general store. It was about this time that the name of the town changed to Earling to avoid confusion with other towns also called Trout City. The name honored the superintendent of the Saint Paul Railroad Company.
By fall, the railroad company had begun building a line into Earling. The town was described as the “busiest burg in the country” and there were still new houses being built! In December of 1901, it was announced that Mr. Heineman had purchased the lumber mill and all the buildings at Earling. In 1902, a petition was sent to Washington requesting that the post office name be changed from Earling to Heineman and that daily mail service to the town be established. These requests were granted in June.
1902 was a very successful year for the lumber company that produced lath (narrow strips of wood), shingles, cedar poles, and railroad ties. By 1903, Heineman had a railroad depot and daily passenger train service. A large, modern store, a new dance hall, two hotels, and a large barn to replace the horse stables were soon built. By 1905, the population of Heineman reached 300 and growth continued. An amusement hall, an opera house, and a meat market were added by 1910.
Just when operations at Heineman seemed to be reaching a peak, disaster struck. As the Merrill newspaper wrote, “Last Monday, during the noon hour, fire was discovered in the Heineman sawmill at Heineman, and although the local fire department and all the residents turned out promptly, the building was burned to the ground.” The company swiftly rebuilt, but disaster soon struck again. The Merrill newspaper wrote, “The village of Heineman was totally destroyed by forest fires Wednesday evening. There were about twenty-five families living there, and all men, women, and children were driven from their homes by the flames, leaving behind everything they possessed to be devoured by the fire-head.”
Since the company still had timber which had not been destroyed by the fire, it moved its operations to Merrill and continued in the lumber business for approximately twenty years. Today, little remains at Heineman. One of the company houses still stands, and the road that passes through the site is known as Heineman Road. It is hard to imagine, though, that just 100 years ago it was a busy mill town with 400 people living there.
The Heineman Forest Fire By Dorothy Taylor
When I was born on October 7, 1907, Dr. Byers arrived by horse and buggy at our home to attend my mother. We lived in Heineman, a small lumbering town in Wisconsin My father was a skilled saw filer who cared for large circular saws and band saws. The success of a lumber mill depended on the skill of the filer. When a job was finished my father would move on to another mill, often going to Canada to line up mills.
| was three years old when he went to look at a job in Baraga, Michigan, taking my mother and two of the children with him. Rosella, my next older sister, and I were left with my grandmother. She had recently given up her own home, and brought her possessions with her, to live with us in Heineman.
Suddenly a forest fire came. One train car could be loaded for evacuation. Each family was allowed one basket of belongings. Valuables were buried in basements, with the hope of protecting them from the heat.
We were fortunate. A friend who had an automobile agency in a nearby community, Mr. Norman Chilson, came with his Buick to rescue us. The fire was all around us and was very scary. As we drove we saw the fire jump across the road.
The next day a group of men went back and discovered that valuables had already been dug up by vandals.
THE MILWAUKEE SENTINEL---JULY 22, 1910
Merrill - Having lost their homes when the
village of Heineman was destroyed by forest
fires, the inhabitants are now quartered here
and in Gleason.
Although I was only three, the scary memories of that fire stayed with me. When we had fire drills at school, I would head for home as fast as I could go!
A little additional information from Dorothy's daughters, Mary Hurst, Barbara Anderson, and Diana Isenring.
1) ABOUT THE COFFEE AND TEA POTS:
This very light-weight set of coffee and tea pots came from Dorothy Taylor's Rhinelander home when she moved to Minneapolis in the mid 1990's. Previously they had come from the Rhinelander home of her parents, Margaret and Robert Craig. Margaret and Robert Craig obtained this set some time after all their belongings were destroyed or looted in the 1910 Heineman forest fire near Merrill. (Dorothy's memories of the fire, which occurred when she was three years old, are included with this information.)
The family's prior "silver service” was among the casualties of the fire and the subsequent looting. However, as Dorothy later told the story, hospitality was still important, and the family wanted to be able to treat their guests well, even if they could only afford serving pieces of lower quality than they might have preferred.
2) WHO WAS THE GRANDMOTHER?
We think the grandmother who escaped from the fire with Dorothy and her sibling must have been Dorothy's maternal grandmother Charlotte Chase Dunn, who had been widowed in Merrill in 1906. Charlotte Dunn died in 1912 in Baraga, Michigan, so it seems that Dorothy's father Robert Craig must have taken the sawmill job in Baraga and moved the family there subsequent to the Heineman fire.