HISTORY OF MANITOWOC COUNTY


on purchased by Cooper & Jones, they being the last owners before its
destruction.
"There were no schools here up to this time but during the summer of
i85I,
Mrs. Diantha Hamilton, then Miss Diantha Smith, and a daughter of H. H.
Smith, opened a private school in a house on the site where the residence
of
W. Ollendorf now stands. It was attended by about twenty pupils. The popula-
tion of the settlement, including the town of Two Rivers in i850, is given
in
the first issue of the Manitowoc Herald, which was printed in that year,
as 924
souls.
"Among the first settlers here of course were the Canadian French, who
came here attracted by the good fishing and selected Two Rivers on account
of
its proximity to the fishing banks. Then came New Englanders, attracted by
the natural resources of the country, and in turn the Germans, who came to
work at various occupations, or go on farms. Besides these, people of all
other
nationalities came but the Germans predominated and today they or their de-
scendants probably constitute a majority of the residents."
REMINISCENT
In 1907 Arthur H. Lohman read a valuable and interesting paper, prepared
for the purpose, before the Manitowoc County Historical Society, at Manitowoc,
which was published in a neatly printed and illustrated volume under the
aus-
pices of the Congregational church of Two Rivers. Among other things worthy
of preservation, Mr. Lohman gave space to the following reminiscences contribu-
ted by G. H. Albee, who came to Two Rivers in I857, to build and superintend
the pail and tub factory, and who is now a resident of Neenah, Wisconsin:
"Some incidents which occurred fifty years ago may be of interest to
the
present generation. In I856, or a little earlier, the Manitowoc & Mississippi
rail-
road was started, it' running from Manitowoc to Menasha, a distance of about
forty miles. Considerable grading was done, some of which has since been
util-
ized by the St. Paul road, they using several miles of the old grade from
Mani-
towoc west as far as Brillion and probably in other places. The grading was
in
progress in the summer of 1857, but the approaching stringency in financial
circles
being felt severely by those who were promoting the road, some of those in
Mani-
towoc who were interested in the enterprise endeavored to boost the road
along by
means of a mass meeting, a parade with a band of music, public speaking,
etc., to
which the people of Two Rivers were invited. The invitation was accepted
by
some of the more jovial element, and the late Robert Suettinger, who conducted
a hardware store at the corner of Main and Washington streets for many years,
was chosen as chief engineer, to manage Two Rivers' part in the parade. One
of Aldrich, Smith & Company's teams was procured, a long reach put into
the
wagon, and a long platform built upon it, a' cabin built upon the platform
near its
end to represent the engineer's cab, and the tender, a piece of an old smoke
stack,
mounted upon the platform and extending horizontally forward for the engi-
neer's 'cab,' the bell being, I think, a large cow bell, with rope ringing
it, running
to the cab. Fred Arndt, then an employe of the Aldrich & Smith &
Company
(who later enlisted, went through the war of i862 to i865, and soon after
the
war bought a farm four miles west of Neenah, which he farmed for many years
in connection with his trade of butcher, buying and selling cattle, etc.,
but two


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