If you look up at the ceiling, you will see a window from the original courthouse. If we look out the room’s window to the east, we see the current courthouse that was built in 1908. The first Court House was a wood framed building and that's where this window came from. When they decided to build the new courthouse, as we refer to it yet, they moved the old building one block to the east and it was used as the Oneida County Normal School. This was where ladies were trained to become teachers in the rural schools. Probably equivalent to today’s Associate Degree, a two-year program that would train ladies to become teachers. The rural schools allowed ladies to teach with this certification, however the city of Rhinelander required a degree from a teachers college like Stevens point. At first you might think this was somehow discriminatory, treating country children different from city children. Actually it was up to the governing Board to make that decision as there wasn't a School District at that point. The City Council or the Town Board also oversaw the schools and so it was just a matter of the City Council had one opinion on what should be required and the county Town Boards had a different opinion. Later on when it became a Unified School District then it all became the same rules.
Other pictures of businesses, Rhinelander Refrigerator Company, Cleary's Milk Company. One of our favorite things in this room is a Thank You letter from Dwight Eisenhower when he was here on one of his fishing trips. He was here three different times and once the Taylors gave him eight cases of Coke to enjoy while he was here. We thought it was very nice and speaks to his character that he would remember to send a thank you note when he got back to Washington after his vacation.
Medical equipment Note what little the doctors had to work with back then. Note for $7.50 in 1908 that you could get pretty complete medical treatment for the year. Photo of Dr. Daniels, who was the first surgeon here. You can only imagine what that man must of been the faced with considering all of the logging and things that were going on. There must've been some pretty gruesome the injuries that he had to take care of.
Courthouse Medical Room Highlights
Listed below are a few of the items in this room that you may be interested in learning more about.
Oneida County Court House
The current Court House started construction in 1908 and was finished in 1910. It was the second court house building on the site and was built to replace a wooden structure. A 1905 fire devastated the north side of Rhinelander, destroying one school, three churches and 100 homes. Concern about the threat of important documents prompted the move to a more fire resistant building.
Oneida Normal School
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One Room School Locations
The white dots represent where One Room School Houses were located around Rhinelander.
Taylor Bottling
I mentioned downstairs about the Taylor family and their Coke Franchise. One of my favorite things in this room is a Thank You letter from Dwight Eisenhower when he was here on one of his fishing trips. He was here three different times and once the Taylors gave him eight cases of Coke to enjoy while he was here. I thought it was very nice and speaks to his character that he would remember to send a thank you note when he got back to Washington after his vacation.
The Cleary Family
James Cleary, founder of Cleary’s Milk and Ice Cream company. Later on, his family established the Claridge Motor Inn in 1961, Rhinelander’s first true motel.