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Burlington Historian
June
2010
| Society
Looking for Two or Three New Members of the Board of Directors
Two of the more recently elected members of the Society's board of
directors have found it impossible for health or family reasons to
continue to serve on the board. Another director has asked to be
replaced but will continue to serve until a replacement is found.
That means that the Society is looking for two or three people who
would like to volunteer to become more active in the Historical
Society.
The Society appreciates the service of Dennis Boyle and Jeff
Kramer, who have found it necessary to resign as board members.
The board of directors is a twelve-member body which conducts the
affairs of the Society, including the approval and authorization of
the expenditures and the creation and implementation of policies for
the development, operation, and maintenance of facilities.
The directors are usually elected by the members of the Society
at the annual meeting. One third of the directorships become vacant
each year and elections to these vacancies are for a period of three
years. If vacancies occur before the expiration of a director’s
term, the vacancy is filled by election of the other members of the
board of directors and those so elected complete the term of the
director they replace.
The board of directors meets on the first Wednesday of each
month. Special meetings of the board may also be called by the
president or by any three members of the board.
As stated in the Society’s articles of incorporation, the
purposes of the Society are exclusively educational and are to
preserve, advance, and disseminate knowledge of the history of the
City of Burlington and the counties of Racine, Kenosha and Walworth.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the board of
directors, please contact a current member (see box at left), send
us a note or e-mail the Society at the addresses shown in the
masthead, or leave your name on the Museum’s answering machine -
262-767-2884.
Ice Cream Social to be held July 31
The Society’s annual Ice Cream Social is scheduled to be held on
Saturday, July 31, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., on the grounds near the
Pioneer Cabin in Wehmhoff Square.
The event is held annually in conjunction with the City’s Maxwell
Street Days. Ice cream cones and sundaes will be sold at very
reasonable prices. Soda and water will also be available.
Society members or others who would like to help out are always
welcome.
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| President’s Message
History is all around us and often overlooked. Drive down
some of the residential alleys in town and you will see some early "barns"
that are now used as garages. Entire blocks in the city were once small
farms and then subdivided into individual lots that were sold to agents for
home sales.
If you look at some of the foundations and exterior walls
of older buildings, especially in the downtown area, you will notice many
were "placed stone" construction. Since the razing of the buildings for the
new hotel complex on Dodge Street, you will notice (in the rear) many of the
original stone buildings of early merchants in that area.
If you look along the bank of the east side of the White
River just off Milwaukee Avenue, you will see the foundation remnants of the
rail bridge for the T.M.E.R.&L. electric line that crossed there from 1909
to 1938. There was no Milwaukee Avenue traffic bridge at that time. The only
way for traffic going north was the bridge at the foot of E. Chestnut Street
(near the Charcoal Grill and the old Burlington Cleaners).
As a reminder, we are always looking for older photos of
Burlington area "Street Scenes" that may be in your family albums. Contact
the museum and we will make arrangements to scan the photos of interest and
return them to you. Thanks and have a great summer.
Dennis Tully
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Scenes from the Summer of 1950
Participants in the City's afternoon
recreation program for children age 11 years or younger gather on the
merry-go-round at Echo Park in August 1950. The program got off to a late
start that summer because of an earlier polio outbreak.
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Summer recreation director Eugene
VanderBeke gives the older boys some batting tips at the start of the
morning program at Athletic Park in July 1950. Among the observers are
Wayne Schlitz, Bill Johnson, Wenzel Smetana, Jerry Schilz, Smitty Kerkhoff,
Ernie Shaw, Jim Vande Sand, Jerry Bauman, Dave Umnus, Duke Schneider, Dave
Bartholf, Dick Killen, and Don Boulden.
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The Mills Brothers Circus appeared at
Wereley Field on July 7 under the auspices of the Burlington Lions Club.
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The Richter & Frey Kraut Co. planted row
after row of cabbage on the John R.Wilson farm west of Burlington in June
1950 - about 9,000 plants to the acre. Positioning plants on the firm's
newly acquired automatic planter are, from left, Clarence Richter, John
Cramer, Paul Frey, and George Frey. Theodore Richter is driving the
tractor
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World War II Ended Cigar Making Industry
in Burlington
The following article is from the Standard Democrat of August 7, 1942,
less than a year after the United States was drawn into World War II by
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It discusses the demise of a small
town industry that had flourished in Burlington for many years.
Last of Local Cigar Makers Closes Shop and Ends Era
War Conditions Force Ted Huening & Co. Out of Business
Here
Vanishing like its own rich smoke, the era of the handmade cigar fades a
little farther from view this week with the passing of the only remaining
cigar manufacturing business in Burlington, operated by Ted Huening, Henry
Pfarrdrescher, George Rein and Charles Lightfield.
It was the first world war that started the decline of cigar making by
hand, and the second war that is forcing the Burlington concern from the
market. In 1917 and 1918, when all available man power had been inducted to
military service, manufacturers turned to machines to produce their cigars.
In the years following the war they continued to use the machines which were
faster and much too expensive to discard, with the result that few young
people learned the trade.
Now a second world war has raised tobacco costs 30 per cent, put a
ceiling on cigar prices, and made it virtually impossible to get tobacco
leaf "wrappers" from Sumatra or to obtain skilled workers. Mr. Huening, like
hundreds of cigar makers before him in recent years, is closing out.
He says that he will turn the second floor of his building on Pine street
into offices or a flat, and that he has no immediate plans for the future
for himself.
The closing, which is to take place Saturday, will mark the end of a
lifetime in the cigar making trade. Mr. Huening was born at Waterford, and
as a boy tried to get work stripping tobacco in a small Waterford cigar
factory for $1.15 a week. Failing, he came to Burlington and hired out
stripping tobacco and learning the trade from John Trier who operated a shop
at his home, now the Claire Buchan residence on Geneva street.
Retiring with Mr. Huening is Henry Pfarrdrescher, who started work with
Mr. Huening in 1916 and has been shop foreman since his return from the
world war in 1918. Mr. Pfarrdrescher has accepted a position with Leo
Cowley.
Ted Huening Cigar Factory, 1920.
Seated: Henry Pfarrdrescher (front), Ted Huening, John Trier, Fred
Krakofsky, Joe Hoffman, John Karcher, George Rein, John Wurms, and Louis
Wolf. Standing mid-way is Charles Lightfield. Man standing near back
thought to be Ren Yonk.
George Rein has been in the business about 40 years, starting with Ben
Holmes and going to the Huening factory when Mr. Huening purchased the
business. He has accepted a position with the Murphy Products Co. Mr.
Lightfield started the trade in the Al Huse factory and has followed it for
thirty years.
In 1913 Mr. Huening started in business for earnest at a shop located at
Washington and Dyer streets. There were then no less than seven cigar
manu-facturers in Burlington employing a total of 30 workers. In the past 29
years, Mr. Huening has bought out all six of the others, including Ben
Holmes, Al. Huse, Wolf & Moe, Tichlofen & Leber, Schuman & Amon, and Adolph
Richter.
The largest of the companies, belonging to Ben Holmes, was purchased in
1930, at which time Mr. Huening moved into his present location on Pine
street.
About 18 months ago Mr. Pfarrdrescher, Mr. Rein and Mr. Lightfield joined
in partnership with Mr. Huening. Since then the four men have done all of
their own work, hiring no new employees. As Mr. Huening puts it, there have
been no new employees to hire, although at one time there were as many as 14
workers in the shop.
Changes in the cigar industry in the past 30 years have come mostly in
packaging and wrapping, Mr. Huening says. The cigars themselves have
remained the same in size, design and blend, but he remembers the day when
they were peddled to taverns and stores in baskets by the manufacturer, and
counted out by hand for sale. He remembers, too, when the ordinary cigar box
that we know was an innovation, and when individual cellophane wrappers were
used by his own company for the first time in 1932.
Three kinds of cigars have been put out by the Voucher Co. One, the "Flor
de Anson," is a blend acquired in the business transaction with Ben Holmes,
and had been made for many years previously by Mr. Holmes’ company. It was
named for Cap Anson, a baseball hero of his day, who was a close personal
friend of Mr. Holmes, and is the oldest cigar on the market, manufactured
continuously since 1890. The other two brands are the popular "Voucher,"
originated by Mr. Huening and "Margona."
Raw materials have come to the cigar makers from far places: leaf
wrappers from Sumatra, domestic tobacco from Connecticut, Pennsylvania and
Puerto Rico, and Havana blend from Cuba. The finished product, however, has
been sold for the most part within the county, some through jobbers, but
largely by the manufacturers direct to retailers and consumers.
Mr. Huening believes strongly that in ten more years the making of cigars
by hand will be a lost art. "It takes three years to become a good cigar
maker," he explains. "A good man can make 400 cigars in a day, but no one
has time or the desire to learn the trade any more."
Within the last year, he has seen a cigar press hung up on the wall of a
tavern as a curiosity, labeled, "This is a Cigar Press." He plans to keep
one or two of his own, he says, if they are going to become rare museum
pieces like that.
It was around 1856 that the first cigar factory was established in
Burlington by a Mr. Ropers. It is in 1942 that the last factory is
discontinued. Mr. Huening says there will never be another cigar factory in
the city; and he is quite sure that the hand craft of cigar making will soon
have disappeared from the American scene.
Huening cigar factory artifacts in Society collection include cigar
press (with handle), cigar cutter (lower left), Voucher cigar box (lower
center) two-piece cigar mold (lower right), and Flor de Anson certificate
(upper right).
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| "Old Soldiers Never
Die, They Just Fade Away"
Contributed by Priscilla Crowley
Spring is fast approaching and along with spring comes Memorial Day. With
everything that is happening in our world today, Memorial Day should have
more meaning than ever for us. The number of living World War II vets is
dropping drastically day by day. Over 90 crosses were added to their display
at Echo Park last year. When you watch these ladies and gentlemen who so
proudly served their country stand shoulder to shoulder with the young men
and women who are currently serving their country, it literally takes your
breath away. They share a bond we can only imagine. Even though the war our
older veterans fought is a different war from what is being fought in
today’s world, the common denominators are all the same.
Veterans' crosses in Echo Park, 1953
Our veterans make a number of stops on Memorial Day, including the
cemeteries, Mount Carmel Nursing Home, and Pine Brooke Pointe. Over the last
couple of years I was privileged to go with them as they visited each of
these locations. The stop we made at Pine Brook Pointe touched me very much
and brought home to me exactly what this day means to all of our veterans.
Waiting patiently in the lobby was an elderly gentleman wearing his full
dress uniform from World War II. One of the ladies told me he had been
waiting for over an hour – he wanted to make sure he didn’t miss the
veterans when they came to do the memorial service. The manager of the
facility introduced the visiting veterans to this gentleman and I watched as
he painfully pulled himself into an upright position, using his walker for
support. He proudly straightened his uniform and shook hands with everyone
and asked if he could be a part of their color guard. I watched as this
proud veteran made his way slowly outside with the color guard. The guys all
slowed their steps so he wouldn’t feel like he was out of step with the rest
of them. I can only imagine the physical effort this cost him. Even though
this ceremony doesn’t take a great deal of time – to someone like him who
has a hard time just getting up out of a chair this must have caused him a
great deal of discomfort. The look on his face was absolutely priceless –
there he stood with everyone else as straight and as tall as could be
proudly taking part in a ceremony that honored all of his fallen comrades
from days gone by. When you look upon the faces of these ladies and
gentlemen as they take part in these ceremonies, it’s easy to see why they
are known as "The Greatest Generation."
Veterans' crosses in Echo Park, 1963
Last year my Dad’s name was added to the list of those who are no longer
with us. Instead of seeing him stand so proudly with everyone else, a simple
white cross was his representative. Who will keep these memories alive after
they are all gone? I believe it is up to all of us as individuals to help
keep this day of remembrance alive and to let future generations know what
kinds of sacrifices have been made for them so they can enjoy the freedoms
we have in this country. We have young men and women who are still paying
the price for freedom. Freedom is not free – there is a price.
I remember listening to stories Mom and Dad told about what it was like
during those war years and right afterwards. Those war years changed the way
Americans lived and thought and influenced future generations. What we are
today is a direct product of what our parents, grandparents, and even
great-grandparents endured and sacrificed for all of us. My parents would
tell stories about black outs, Victory Gardens, meatless days, gasoline
rationing, scrap metal collections, war bonds, women who went to work in
factories in the place of men who enlisted and went off to war, and food
rationing. I am one of the Baby Boomers who came along after the war. I
didn’t live through what they did, by the time I came along, the men were
all home and things were changing again. We who came afterwards can only
marvel at how the people in this country pulled to together for the war
effort, the camaraderie they shared, the sacrifices they all made. If you
want a trip down memory lane just listen to the music that was popular in
their day. Big Band Era music is a musical history of that time. It’s all
there, stories of love, separation, sacrifice, hope, and that unquenchable
spirit that personifies America and what it stands for.
While it’s true that Memorial Day is primarily a day of remembering and
honoring our fallen soldiers, it is also a day to reflect on those who did
not march off to war but rather served at home. The anxiety women must have
felt as they watched their children, grandchildren, husbands, or sweethearts
leave for
places and adventures unknown must have been at times
overwhelming. Not hearing from them for weeks on end, not knowing if they
were alive or dead, wounded or perhaps taken prisoner must have been
horrendous – but somehow everyone on the homefront got through their lives
one day at a time. The people who lived these stories are not from the pages
of books; they are friends, neighbors, relatives, people we see every day.
Stories about their every day lives need to be heard and we need to hear
them. Don’t let this "Greatest Generation" fade into oblivion without
hearing what they have to say and passing their stories on to future
generations. On Memorial Day, please take a few moments to stop and truly
think about what these people have gone through, what they have done for all
of us, and let them talk to you about the "old days." What better way to
celebrate than sharing a good story? |
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