“She was first a theater and then a motion picture house. The joys and sorrows of the City of Manitowoc were reflected in her owlish windows.”

“They signed the contract one day. On the very next day the wrecking crews moved in and in no time at all an ancient landmark of the City of Elevators was reduced to rubble and dust.”

Like the Wisconsin Leather Company’s tannery at Two Rivers, nothing remains of the Pfister & Vogel tannery at Two Creeks. The tannery burned in 1885 and a devastating fire in 1918 destroyed much of what remained of the once prosperous village of Two Creeks. Today, part of the site of the early tannery settlement is a town park.

When the tannery opened in May of 1851, it was one of the largest in Wisconsin and the Midwest, with 134 vats for tanning 100 hides daily for harness and light stock on the ground floor and extensive drying and storage rooms on the second floor. In 1861, a second, larger tannery, 315 × 50 feet, was constructed south of  the earlier one, with 150 double vats for tanning 75 hides daily into sole leather. Bricks used for its construction came from Milwaukee.

In Chloupek’s first year as Superintendent in 1920, Manitowoc County had 110 school districts and 142 teachers.  The total enrollment of all schools, both public and private, was 4,161 students.  Most schools had enrollments of 25 to 35 students, while 2 had over 56 children in attendance.  She was reelected for another 2 terms as County Superintendent.

On March 29, 1976, the Herald-Times-Reporter printed a brief news story ‘Carter to Visit Area’ on page 3 of the Monday edition. The former Georgia Governor was expected to reach the city on Wednesday, March 31, at 1:15 p.m., coming by car from Appleton.

In May of 2021, a surprise package of photos arrived at the Mishicot Historical Museum. Upon closer inspection, the photos are believed to be the best collection of early (turn of the twentieth century) Mishicot photos found so far. The photos may have been lost if not for Laurel G. Brandt, 78, of Sparta WI who discovered his grandpa’s scrapbook and donated it to the museum.

Built in 1878 for $700, the Sexton’s house is located on the original five acres purchased by the village of Manitowoc as a burial ground in 1852. Prior to that, the village owned a small burying ground at the corner of North Eighth and Park Streets.

The Green Bay Road bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. It is of statewide significance in engineering as one of the oldest remaining Pratt truss bridges from the pre-1890 period still on its original site in Wisconsin.

The steeple of Saint Boniface Catholic Church, at South 10th and Marshall streets in Manitowoc, has been a familiar Manitowoc landmark since 1886, when the current Gothic brick church was built. Saint Boniface Parish was founded in 1853 as a mission of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church at Manitowoc Rapids. When Father H. J. Nuyts noticed the population trend was veering away from Manitowoc Rapids and towards the village of Manitowoc, he proposed the organization of the parish in the bustling new village.

The development of these 36 acres of land mirrors the changes in our community.  It tells the story of our early settlement, the rise and fall of the railroads, the importance of shipbuilding to Manitowoc County, the resolve of our nation during war time, and a commitment to hard work and innovation that has followed us throughout our history.

Fred and Edwards’ story intersect with the deadliest theater fire in American history. The Iroquois Theater fire killed more than 600 people, but Manitowoc’s Bahr family survived to grow their lives in our community.

When the war ended in 1865, Charles Rieck, who had served nearly three years, received an honorable discharge and returned home. Finding it difficult to settle down to farm life, he went to work in the coal mines of Pennsylvania and the lumber mills at Menominee, Michigan. Upon his return, he worked as a carpenter and cabinet maker.

The closed bridge prevented students living west of the river in School District No. 2 from reaching the Tannery School, east of the river, except by a distant route – a tremendous inconvenience for rural residents. The bridge, near the northern limits of the city of Two Rivers, was in the west half of Section 25, Township 20 North, Range 24 East.

It all started at a barber shop at the corner of Eighth and Franklin streets in Manitowoc. In between the snips of his scissors, barber John Hoyer spread the news about the upcoming doomsday; October 13th, 1899. As townsman Fred Rouelle expressed, some folks were saying “we are all about to be blown to smithereens-right off the Earth.”

The White House Milk Company, once located at 102 Revere Drive in Manitowoc was once among the largest producers of evaporated milk in the country. The plant was reported to be able to process a million pounds of milk in a day and crank out 500 cans of evaporated milk per minute.

“We were not long strangers here. The prevalence of our German element and our language, the hearty reception from upright countrymen, allowed us to feel no longer strange, but calmer and more content. We had finally found a place for our fireside.”

Now called the Hika Bay Tavern, the building was bought by Hugo Schurrer in 1899. Schurrer immigrated to America in 1885 from Germany at the age of 18. He was involved in the banking profession in his homeland but upon settling in the Cleveland area, Schurrer began to work for the Lake Shore Railway, earning eighty cents a day. He then decided to go into a different occupation and went to work in a tavern in the nearby community of St. Wendel.

One of the lesser known but significant aluminum pioneers was German immigrant Conrad Werra who in 1896 founded the Two Rivers Iron Works and made castings from iron, brass, bronze and eventually aluminum.

Besides being one of Manitowoc’s most prominent and successful businessmen, Henry Vits served as Manitowoc postmaster (1894-1898) and a member of the state legislature, county board of supervisors, city council, school board, park commission and county asylum board of trustees. He helped organize the Manitowoc Gas Co. and Manitowoc Mutual Fire Insurance Co. He was an active member of the Odd Fellows and Concordia Singing Society.

M. Fellows, the President of the Jones Library Association stated, “In this age, books and newspapers are the great teachers. They bring us face to face with the best and wisest minds of the present and the past; we live again in their days, and thus a double live is given us – one of the present, and one of the past.”