John Nagle Monument Dedicated in 1930
The John Nagle Monument, designed by Alfred C. Clas, was dedicated on July 26, 1930.
On the unusually hot afternoon of Saturday, July 26, 1930, friends, teachers and former students of John Nagle gathered on the grass and under trees on the grounds of the Manitowoc County Normal School (today’s Heritage Center) on Michigan Avenue in Manitowoc to dedicate a stone monument with the inscription “To John Nagle, Educator, Philosopher, Editor, 1848-1900.”
John Nagle was a prominent educator, philosopher and newspaper editor in Manitowoc during the late nineteenth century.
The monument and dedication were organized by a special Nagle Memorial Committee. Members included Emil Baensch, chairman; John G. Johnson, secretary; Ralph G. Plumb, treasurer; John Chloupek, Fred Christiansen and E. S. Mueller. Funds for the monument came from former pupils, teachers, friends and hundreds of county school children.
John Nagle (1848-1900) was born in Canada and came at an early age to America with his Irish parents, who settled on a farm in the Town of Meeme, where he received his early education at the Osman School. During the 1860s and 1870s, Nagle taught in county rural schools and at Sauk City. In 1875-1877, he was principal of the Two Rivers public school. He was a member of the State Teachers’ Association and served as its president for two years. From 1880-1891, he served as Manitowoc County Superintendent of Schools.
For a brief time, after leaving the Two Rivers public school, Nagle studied law with Turner & Turner in Manitowoc, expecting to make law his profession. His primary interest, however, became journalism, and it was here that he made his greatest mark.
In 1878, he was induced to take charge of The Manitowoc Pilot, a weekly Democrat newspaper, and was its editor for 22 years until his death in 1900. As a publisher, he was described as incorruptible, outspoken and occasionally vigorous, but with kindness and consideration for the weak and unfortunate, always bound by his own conviction. In 1895, he served as president of the Wisconsin Editorial Association.
Nagle was a noted writer and philosopher and his editorials attracted widespread attention throughout the state. A collection of his writings John Nagle’s Philosophy was published posthumously in 1902.
Plans for the Nagle Memorial were drawn by the Milwaukee architectural firm of Clas, Shepherd & Clas. Alfred C. Clas was a former student of Mr. Nagle when he taught school at Sauk City. Frank Hronek, a local mason, was awarded the general contract. John Koutnik, a monument dealer, furnished the cut stone.
The 1:30pm program was presided by Judge Baensch and opened with a community singing of “America,” led by Henry Detjen.
While the Aluminum Goods Co. Marine Band played “On Wisconsin,” the memorial was unveiled by six county rural school girls – Gladys Cherney of Branch; Hilda Rodewald, Newton; Catherine Windus and Ida May Erdstrom, Manitowoc Rapids; and Jean and Eva Krumdick, Town of Manitowoc.
F. C. Baugniet, president of the County Normal School Board, accepted the memorial on behalf of the county. He extolled John Nagle’s life and memory as an inspiration to the youth of Manitowoc County and Wisconsin.
Sen. Thomas Walsh of Montana, a former teacher in county rural schools from Two Rivers, delivered the dedicatory address, eulogizing Nagle as a man of distinction locally and statewide.
The ceremonies closed with the band playing the “Star Spangled Banner.”
As subscriptions for the monument exceeded its cost of $850, the balance of funds was given to the American Red Cross for the relief of drought sufferers in the Dust Bowl of the Southwest.
