It is currently used to highlight early businesses in the area. Communities had to be self sufficient due to challenges with transportation. That is why there were three dairies here, because dairy products would spoil if not consumed quickly. Most communities had their own brewery, their own soda bottler, cigar manufactures (we had three). We have examples from the Wabash Screen Door Company that made screen doors here, a drum from the Paper Mill Band, calendars from grocery stores all of those kinds of items that you see here and in this particular room.
Exhibit Room Highlights
Listed below are a few of the items in this room that you may be interested in learning more about.
Rhinelander Time Line
So much was happening in the early day that a Time Line is necessary to keep things in perspective. Note how the population of Rhinelander was doubling every five years from 1883 to 1895.
Rhinelander Paper Company
Original Ledges from the Rhinelander Paper Company record the early history. From the original investors making their payments to the first check being written to the Beloit Iron Works for $2,000 as a deposit on Paper Machines One & Two, the history is recorded here. We also have Payroll Journals from 1918 & 1919 that show wage amounts that include tenths of a cent. For instance a person might have received 36.4 cents per hour.
Wabash Screen Doors
Examples of screen doors manufactured at the Wabash Screen Door Company facility on Kemp Street. From 1891 to 1901 this factory built quality doors in Rhinelander. A fire destroyed the plant in 1901 and the owners were lured by tax incentives to rebuild their operations in Minnesota.
Older Businesses
This cabinet in the Exhibit Room contains remnants from early Rhinelander Businesses. Rhinelander, like most villages and cities in the northwoods had to be self sufficient in the early days due to poor travel conditions. Until the Railroads allowed for better transportation of goods, communities had to rely on local businesses for their goods and services. Located within this cabinet are cigar boxes from three local cigar manufactures. Each community also most likely had their own brewery and soda bottler as well, and Rhinelander was no exception.
