INDUSTRY

Milling
Brewing
Commercial Fishing

Most of the industrial base of Port Washington developed in two locations; either close to the shore of Lake Michigan around the city's inner harbor or along the railroad corridor that runs along what until the 1920s was the western edge of the city. Today, all the historic industrial buildings that once ringed the harbor have been demolished save for a single building associated with Port Washington's commercial fishing industry (see below). Likewise, all the historic buildings associated with the industries that evolved along the railroad corridor have either disappeared or their integrity has been so compromised by later additions and remodeling projects that they have lost their ability to represent their past significance and are thus ineligible for listing in the NRHP and were not surveyed.

Thus, only four buildings originally associated with Port Washington's industrial history were surveyed in the course of the intensive survey and these are discussed below. Nevertheless, this study of Port Washington's built history would be incomplete without some mention of the industries that played so large a part in the city's history. Consequently, two overviews of this history, one published in 1881 and the second in 1967, that together recapture the highlights of this aspect of Port Washington's history are reprinted below. Both have been amended to reflect subsequent events.

• The manufacturing interests of Port Washington were developed as early as 1847. During that year Harvey Moore and his brother, S. A. Moore, erected a saw-mill on the west bank of the Sauk Creek. Excellent power was obtained by damming the stream, from which a race was transferred to the mill. The enterprise proved a profitable one, their business increasing every year until the great flood of 1865 came and swept mill, improvements, and everything before it, after which the enterprise was abandoned. In 1856, Lyman Morgan & Co., engaged in the manufacture of smut and separating machines for elevators and breweries. They are constantly adding to their business, and employ regularly from eight to ten men. The buildings and machinery [both non-extant] were erected at a cost of $15,000.
• The early settlers soon discovered that a superior quality of clay could be obtained from the bluffs of the lake shore for the manufacture of brick, the clay being of the same nature as that found in the vicinity of Milwaukee. Woodruff & Richards were the first to embark in this enterprise, and started what was known as the North Brick-Yard [non-extant] in 1846. The North Brick-Yard is [now] under the management of Nicholas Wiltzius, who is doing a profitable business. The clay in the vicinity of Port Washington is easy of access, while an excellent quality of sand used for the manufacture of brick lies in abundance in close proximity to the clay. With the enlarged facilities afforded by the harbor for shipping, the brick manufacturing interests of Port Washington bid fair to rank second to none in the state.
• This enterprise [the Theodore Gilson Foundry] was started under the management of Theodore Gilson and John Maas in 1850. At the end of two years, Maas withdrew from the partnership, when C. Critzner took his place. Critsner was afterwards succeeded, first by Nicholas Martin in 1864, and then by John Tossault in 1866. Tossault remained in the firm until 1868, when Mr. Gilson bought out his interest, and started the business anew under the firm name of Gilson & Sons. The estimated cost of building and machinery [non-extant] is $15,000.
• There are three good lumber-yards in the village [all non-extant], the principal one being that of O. A. Bjorkquist & Co. This firm handles from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 feet of lumber annually, and employs on average about thirty men. E. R. Blake and R. C. Kann are also engaged in the lumber trade, and handle each about 2,000,000 feet every year. There is a large planing-mill [non-extant] in the town owned by N. G. Ellenbecker, which does a good business, and affords employment to quite a large number of men and boys.
• Paul Woolf built the first tannery in 1854. He was succeeded by Charles A. Mueller, the present proprietor, in 1872. In 1880, Mr. Mueller erected a new stone building [non-extant] at a cost of $12,000. He has in his employ fifteen men, and consumes annually 600 cords of bark, and does a business of $50,000 per annum.
• E. Schumacher, an enterprising Milwaukeean, visited Port Washington in 1872, to look up a site upon which to erect a foundry. The village people, anxious to encourage him in the undertaking, offered to subscribe $16,000 in money and lots free, provided Schumacher would agree to employ one hundred and forty men, and run the works for ten years before claiming a permanent title to the property, a proposition which he readily assented to, and immediately proceeded to execute his plans. The buildings [non-extant] were completed the following year at a cost of $20,000, and the business was started under the firm name of E. Schumacher & Sons, and styled the "Novelty Iron Works." The Schumachers, however, did not fulfill their part of the contract as to the number of men to be employed, claiming that the business did not warrant a force of over one hundred men. The people of Port Washington, not wishing to hamper them in any way, released them from their contract, and, at the end of three years, gave them a clear title to the buildings. In the spring of 1881, the Schumachers became embarrassed financially, when they turned over the works to James W. Vail, the banker, of Port Washington, who is now running them on a large scale. The establishment still bears the name of the "Novelty Iron Works," and is one of the finest of the kind in the west.(1)

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None of the pioneer first generation buildings associated with the industries mentioned above are now standing, which is not terribly surprising. What is surprising is that so few of the buildings associated with the more mature industrial period that followed are extant or intact.

• There were at one time five foundries in town, but the earliest one was started by Theodore Gilson, a native of Luxembourg, in 1850 and for 112 years the Gilson family operated foundries here, spanning five generations. The first one stood on Pier St. directly east of the Schmitt Household and Electric Co. and was torn down in 1952. Nicholas Martin, also a native of Luxembourg, was associated with Gilson and together they took out the patent on their first plow. When Martin established his own foundry in 1866, he paid Gilson $500 for the rights to that plow, $3000 for the rights to another plow, and later $1.50 per plow manufactured, for still another. Gilson was the inventor of the plows. About 1866 the firm was called Theodore Gilson and Son, his son John having joined at an early age. They made early threshing machines and horse power machines and continued to improve their models of plows. In 1893, John Gilson invented the adjustable chair iron, the first ever produced [chair irons allow office chairs to tilt backwards and revolve]. He and his son J. E. organized the Gilson Manufacturing Co. to produce them with H. W. Bolens and Boerner Bros. (early merchants) as stock holders. John and J. E. Gilson, in 1905 and 1906, built several two-cylinder gasoline cars at their plant. John owned the first auto in the county, a Stanley Steamer, and J. E. owned the first gasoline car, an Oldsmobile. Later this company was known as the Gilson-Bolens Manufacturing Co., but in 1914, the Gilsons sold out to Bolens and in 1916 formed the J. E. Gilson Co. for the manufacture of gray iron castings and garden tools. In the early 1920s they suffered a serious fire at the plant but it was rebuilt. In 1962 another fire destroyed the plant and George I. Gilson decided not to rebuild.
• In the meantime, Nicholas Martin and his brother-in-law had started their foundry at 218 E. Washington St. known as the Port Washington Foundry, Martin and Wester, proprietors. Their first building was destroyed in the Chair Factory fire of 1899. Their second building (1900) still 1967] stands (Humble Oil Co.) and the property [now non-extant], 130 feet long and going through to Pier St. was bought from Barnum Blake and his wife Christine in 1866 for $375. John B. Martin and his brother, John Martin, succeeded their father in business. They operated the foundry until 1926.
• After the Gilsons, John and J. E., dissolved partnership with H. W. Bolens, Bolens became president and principal owner of the Bolens Manufacturing Co., which at the time of his death in 1944 had become the largest producer of office chair irons and the oldest and largest manufacturer of garden tractors in the world. Mr. Bolens himself was granted nearly 200 patents on chair and furniture fixtures and power garden tractors and lawn mowers.
• Another Port Washington industry which never attained the dignity of 100 years is nevertheless worth mentioning because of the large number of people employed and its remarkable record of continuous work throughout the depression of the 1930s. This was the Wisconsin Chair Company, organized in 1889. John Bostwick, a local jeweler and son-in-law of Barnum Blake, was one of the largest investors and eventually owned most of the shares and became president of the company.(2)

The first plant built by the Wisconsin Chair Co. "became the largest employer in the area, providing work for one-sixth of the Ozaukee County work force. Its presence was most likely the chief reason that the city's [Port Washington] population increased from 1659 in 1890 to more than 3000 by 1900. Surviving the financial crisis of 1893, the Chair company suffered its severest blow in 1899 when it was totally leveled by fire. The company showed its resiliency by immediately rebuilding, and for many years remained the backbone of Port Washington's economy. The incredible success story eventually ended as sales and profits became smaller and production slowed down."(3) By 1959, the company had closed its doors and its sprawling but inefficient 1900 plant, which, like the 1889 plant, was located behind and east of the N. Franklin Street business district, partially encircling the city's inner harbor, has now been completely demolished.(4)

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Today, the Bolens Corporation (215 S. Park St.) and the Simplicity Manufacturing Co. (500 N. Spring St.) carry on the industrial heritage of Port Washington. Both of these companies are located within the railroad corridor and both manufacture garden tractors and lawn mowers and other types of outdoor-oriented power equipment. The Bolens Corp. moved to its present site in 1894 from its original location on E. Pier St. and the Simplicity Mfg. Co. moved from its original downtown location to its present location after Worl War II. Both were founded well before World War II and have had and continue to have a marked influence of the history of the city. Unfortunately, the older buildings within the factory complexes associated with these companies have now been so altered by later additions and remodeling activities that they do not meet NRHP standards for integrity and have therefore not been surveyed as part of this study.(5)

Only four extant resources associated with Port Washington's industrial heritage have sufficient integrity to warrant being surveyed. Fortunately, one of these is also one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city and is one of its most historically important buildings as well; the Tomlinson/Stelling grist mill on S. Milwaukee St. Also extant is the old Wittman Brewery Building and a now almost unrecognizable portion of the old Port Washington Brewing Co. The last industrial building surveyed is the Smith Bros. Fish Net House, which is now the only surviving remnant of the original buildings associated with Port Washington's commercial fishing heritage. These four buildings and their histories are more fully described below.

Milling

One of the earliest and most important industries in Port Washington was the grist mill established in 1848 by the Tomlinsons. Grist mills were an essential component in the growth of most early Wisconsin cities because their services were essential to farmers wishing to transform their crops into salable commodities. Prior to the creation of efficient methods of transportation such as railroads, newly harvested grain crops could not survive long enough for them to be processed very far from the place they were raised. Thus, the local mill became an important focal point for an area's farmers and was thus a natural place around which other types of commerce such as general stores, banks, post offices and hotels developed. Since such mills were gradually rendered obsolete by changes in agricultural practices and other changes in the economy it is especially important that Port Washington's historic grist mill has not only survived but survived in a largely intact state.

• In 1848, George and Julius Tomlinson erected the first grist mill, which was run for a number of years by water power obtained from Sauk Creek. The mill is now [1881] owned by R. Stelling, who has made several improvements. Steam power was attached in 1858. The building is a substantial stone structure [extant], and has a capacity for 12,000 barrels of flour per annum, besides the home and custom work.(6)

Stelling ran the mill, which is three-stories in height and has cream brick walls founded on a rubble stone basement story, until 1905, when the mill was sold to the firm of Aggen & Son, who operated it as the City Roller Mills with a capacity of 125 barrels a day.(7) Aggen & Son operated the mill until at least 1935, but it is now vacant and its still intact six-over-six-light windows are now boarded over.

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Brewing

Given the fact that written and spoken German was even more common then English in Port Washington it should come as no surprise to learn that the brewing industry made an early appearance in the village. The first beer brewed in the city was a homespun operation done by an old Englishman named J. Arnet who built a log cabin in the village and brewed the city's first beer in iron kettles outside.(8) The first commercially made beer, however, was produced by a brewer named Wittman, who built his brewery on N. Harrison St. some time between 1850 and 1883. This nearly square plan building (539 N. Harrison St.) is still extant and it is two-stories in height and has cream brick walls that are founded on a stone basement story. Wittman built this building next to the Front Gable form cream brick building (551 N. Wisconsin St.) that he built about the same time as a saloon with family living quarters above. Wittman's brewery stayed in operation until at least the early 1880s, but Sanborn-Perris maps show that this usage was discontinued by the turn-of-the-century and the brewery building was eventually converted into apartments.(9)

Other related enterprises also existed by the beginning of the 1880s.

• The brewing interests [in Port Washington] are taken care of by Mrs. Wittman and [by] Messrs. Dix and Kemp and the Port Washington Malt Company. The last named company have erected a new malt-house [non-extant] near the depot, 100x120 feet, two stories high. The building is built of brick manufactures in the village, and was completed October 1, 1881, at a cost of $16,000.(10)

The Port Washington Malt Co. was an impressive enterprise for a village of Port Washington's size, but it has now been completely demolished. An even larger enterprise was the brewery built at the foot of the north bluff fronting Lake Michigan on what is today the west side of the 400 block of N. Lake St. Today, only a single greatly altered building from this brewery still exists and it is now used as the American Legion Memorial Post No. 82's meeting hall (435 N. Lake St.). The exact date when this brewery was begun has not yet been identified but by 1883 it was known as the Lakeside Brewery and was owned by G. Biedermann, proprietors.(11) Biedermann still controlled it as late as 1900, but in 1903, the company changed hands and was renamed the Port Washington Brewing Co., makers of Premo beer, sold under the slogan "the beer that made Milwaukee furious." The new proprietors of the firm, Louis and C. F. Labahn and George Blessing, rebuilt and enlarged the brewery in 1909. The firm managed to survive Prohibition and was again producing beer in 1935 and was known as The Old Port Brewing Corporation. Since then, however, all but one of its buildings have been demolished and this sole survivor has now been greatly altered.(12)

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Commercial Fishing

Commercial fishing for the once boundless resources of Lake Michigan has occurred off of Port Washington since the early history of the city. The early fishing was by pound nets set near shore, which began in 1856.(13) Writing a quarter century later in 1881, the authors of the county history published in that year noted that:

• Fish are caught in great quantities by Port Washington fishermen. Fine specimens of trout, whitefish, and perch are shipped to other markets, the revenue amounting to from $15,000 to $20,000 annually.(14)

Fishing did not become a really significant industry in the city, however, until the 1890s, when commercial fishing families began to base their operations Smiths, and there. Commercial fishing in Port Washington was dominated by families , the most important of whom were: the Ewigs, who came to Milwaukee from Germany in 1882 and to Port Washington in 1896 (15); the Smith brothers, who came to Port Washington in 1899; the Van Ellis family; and the Bossler family. The advent of new technology for both the catching of fish and preparing them for market, fast rail transportation to get them to market, and better and bigger fishing boats all combined to make commercial fishing an increasingly profitable, if risky way to make a living. By 1935, the peak year in terms of quantity of fish caught, as many as eight fishing tugs were based in Port Washington and their associated fishing shanties and smoke houses lined the harbor that portion of the harbor where Sauk Creek enters it just south of E. Grand Ave.

Today, however, all but one (120 1/7 S. Wisconsin St.) of the historic buildings associated with these families have been demolished, including two (of the last remaining three) that were demolished in 1998 shortly after being recorded for this survey (120 1/2 and 120 1/5 S. Wisconsin St.). The sole survivor is the Fish Net Building built by the Smith Brothers between 1922 and 1938. The Smith Brothers and their descendants have probably been the best known of Port Washington's commercial fishing families over the years, thanks in part to the very well known restaurants they have operated in conjunction with their other operations.

• Smith Bros. Fisheries is over 100 years old. These fisheries were begun in 1848 by Gilbert Smith and his father, William, who had been farmer-fishermen in Oswego County, N. Y. They started their business with one small seine net dragged behind a row boat at the little settlement of Amsterdam [Wisconsin] where Barnum Blake [of Port Washington] had built one of this piers. It was two sons of Gilbert, Delos and Herbert, who began fishing in Ozaukee County and eventually in Port Washington. They weathered two disastrous fires [1899 and 1954] and a flood [1924] but always managed to come out on top. Now [1967] in their 120th year, they have three restaurants and two fish markets and sell their own smoked fish, caviar, pickled herring and a number of other delicatessen items.(16)

EXTANT RESOURCES SURVEYED

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NOTES ON SOURCES

Good overviews of milling, the brewing industry, and the commercial fishing industry in Wisconsin are contained in Vol. 2 of the CRMP (Industry: pp. 8-1 – 8-16, 9-1 – 9-12, and 18.1 – 18.6, respectively). The best sources of information on Port Washington's industries are: History of Washington & Ozaukee Counties, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1881; The Port Washington Star. July 4, 1898. Semi-Centennial Issue; The Jobber & Retailer Magazine. Milwaukee: June, 1910; the Ozaukee Press: July 28, 1960 (Port Washington 125th Anniversary Issue); and the Ozaukee Press: September 5, 1985 (Port Washington Sesquicentennial Issue). The several plat maps depicting Port Washington, the 1883 and 1893 Bird's Eye Views, and the Sanborn-Perris Maps (1885 -1955) are all sources that are useful in determining the placement and general appearance of the resources in the two building complexes described above. In addition, The Port Washington Star. July 4, 1898. Semi-Centennial Issue; Port Washington: The Little City of Seven Hills. Port Washington, 1908; The Jobber & Retailer Magazine. Milwaukee: June, 1910; and Port Washington: 1835-1935. Port Washington, 1935, are all excellent sources of historic illustrations of Port Washington industries. The best sources of information on the commercial fishing industry in Port Washington are the "Out of the Past series published in Port Washington and written by Linda Nenn and Richard Smith, especially Recollections of Port Washington's Maritime History, published in 1998.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

History of Washington & Ozaukee Counties, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1881.

Early Ozaukee County Historical Sketches. Ozaukee County Historical Society, 1967.

The Jobber & Retailer Magazine. Milwaukee: June, 1910.

Ozaukee Press: July 28, 1960 (Port Washington 125th Anniversary Issue).

Ozaukee Press: September 5, 1985 (Port Washington Sesquicentennial Issue).

Port Washington; 1835-1985. Port Washington; 1985.

Port Washington: The Little City of Seven Hills. Port Washington: 1908.

The Port Washington Star. July 4, 1898. (Semi-Centennial Issue).

FOOTNOTES

1. History of Washington & Ozaukee Counties, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1881, pp. 513-514.

2. Early Ozaukee County Historical Sketches. Ozaukee County Historical Society, 1967, pp. 27-29..

3. Port Washington; 1835-1985. Port Washington; 1985, pp. 12-13.

4 See also: See also: Ozaukee Press: July 28, 1960, Part 5, p. 7; August 17, 1967, p. 3; September 5, 1985, Part 5. pp. 1-2. A separate building complex associated with the Chair Co. known as the Chair Factory No. 2 (a veneer-producing plant) was located on the north side of the railroad corridor at ca.500 N. Spring St. and several of the buildings associated with this complex were later incorporated into the P & H Harnischfeger Factory complex built in 1946 and may still be part of the present Simplicity Manufacturing Co. plant that has since taken over and expanded and modernized the complex. If they are, though, they have been so completely enclosed by modern construction as to be all but invisible; only the south-facing elevation of a single building that is visible from Moore Rd. still shows any evidence if the earlier industrial history of this site.

5. Port Washington Pilot, January 18, 1940, p. 1. See also: Port Washington: 1835-1935. Port Washington, 1935, pp. 22-23 (photos).

6. History of Washington & Ozaukee Counties, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1881, p. 514.

7. The Jobber & Retailer Magazine. Milwaukee: June, 1910, p. 11 (photo). See also: The Port Washington Star. July 4, 1898 ( The Illustrated Supplement Section of this Semi-Centennial Issue also has a photo of the mill).

8. History of Washington & Ozaukee Counties, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1881, p. 513.

9. Port Washington Star, May 20, 1927, p. 1.

10. History of Washington & Ozaukee Counties, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1881, p. 514.

11 Bird's Eye View of Port Washington. Madison: J. J. Stoner, 1883. See also: Port Washington Star. July 4, 1898. (Semi-Centennial Issue). Contains a photo of the brewery.

12. Other good photos of the brewery can be found in: Port Washington: The Little City of Seven Hills. Port Washington: 1908, p. 2; . The Jobber & Retailer Magazine. Milwaukee: June, 1910; and Ozaukee Press: September 5, 1985, Part 5. p. 20.

13. Ozaukee Press: September 5, 1985, Part 6. p. 5.

14. History of Washington & Ozaukee Counties, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1881, p. 514.

15. The Jobber & Retailer Magazine. Milwaukee: June, 1910, p. 16.

16. Early Ozaukee County Historical Sketches. Ozaukee County Historical Society, 1967, p. 28. See also: Ozaukee Press: September 5, 1985, Part 5, pp. 12-13, Part Six, pp. 5 and 21.

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