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file part of www.watertownhistory.org
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Watertown Wisconsin History
1835 Town lines were run by John Mullet,
government surveyor
1836 The Founding of Watertown:
Timothy Johnson
arrival,
Through the eyes of Timothy Johnson's daughter
Luther
Cole arrival,
First mail arrives
First
deed to a land grant to James Rogan
First
hotel, a two room shanty, Rogan brothers
1837 John Richards arrival
First post office and postmaster
Brayton family,
early area (Aztalan) settlers, arrive in area
1841 St.
Bernard’s mission established, first Catholic Mass in Watertown
1842 Watertown
settlement, depiction of
1845 Uniontown,
Decem.27, 1945 / John Gamble letter
Daniel Jones arrives in Watertown,
merchant, banker
First
cemetery established
First Congregation Church
established
Military
regiments organized by residents of Wisconsin Territory
St. Bernard’s frame church
constructed
Mud
Tavern built (approx time)
Dr.
James Cody arrival
Edward
Evans arrival; blacksmith, wagon-making, livery stable operator
1847 St.
Paul’s Episcopal Church organized
1848 Year of Statehood
1849 Watertown incorporated as a village
Boomer Dam built
Kusel’s
established
St. Luke’s Lutheran
Church incorporated
1849-54 Cholera epidemic in Watertown
1850 Watertown’s Bohemian Settlement
1851 Watertown Rifle Company
formed.
Octagon House construction started
1852 St. John’s
Lutheran Church-WELS founded
Weltbuerger
Printing established, German newspaper
Plank Road Brewery established
William Voss settles in town
1853 Watertown incorporated as a city
Election of first city officers,
including first mayor
Ebenezer
Moravian Church established
Keck Furniture
established
Octagon
House construction started
Salick’s Jewelry
Store established
St.
Henry’s Catholic Church established
Watertown Artillery
formed
Watertown Plank Road completed
Wisconsin State Fair hosted by
Watertown
1853 impressions of Watertown
Gustav Eberle arrives, Eberle Drug
Sharpshooter Club organized
Chloera sweeps through city
Bank of
Watertown organized
Watertown
Moravian Church established
St.
Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church established
Justus Moak
moves to town
1855 Carl Schurz
arrives in Watertown
Railroad
(Milwaukee-Watertown) reaches city (est. 1853)
Railroad (C. M. & St. Paul
Railway) reaches city (begun 1851)
Fred Miller settles in town
1856 First
Kindergarten established
Wisconsin National Bank of
Watertown organized
Hardege family
moves to town
1857 Fire Department formed
1859 St.
Paul’s Episcopal Church, cornerstone laid
Gaebler
family moves to town
1860 Turner
movement was launched
Louis Cordes moves to town
1861 Watertown Rifles
organized for Civil War
1862 Concordia Society formed
1863 Theological
Seminary established
1864 Marshall
Woodard moves to city
1865 Civil War ends: Amand Gritzner
veteran bio
Assassination of
Abraham Lincoln, April 14
Northwestern College established
Oak
Hill Cemetery, started at present locationr
1866 Watertown
High School started
First Watertown
City Directory published
Area German
families migrate to Norfolk, Nebraska
1867 Saengerfest
celebration (first of three)
1868 City
served with writ of mandamus
(railroad bond issue)
1869 Exorcism performed at St. Henry’s Catholic
Church
Jesse Stone arrives in town
1871 Drought.
Great Peshtigo and Chicago fires
Diary note:
Watertown area of 1871: ..... Pigpens more conspicuous than
houses. Turkeys look nicer
than the inhabitants .... The city is neither
elegant nor beautiful. Rather filthy
looking ....
1872 Wisconsin Dairymen’s Assn’s Board of
Trade organized at Watertown
1873 Tornado
1874 Story of the
Borchardt Murder
Cady St Bridge constructed
1875 First
quintuplets in U.S., born to Edna Kanouse
1876 Phoenix
Fire Co organized
Otto’s
Inn founded
1878 Harger’s Times newspaper
1880 Prof
Charles Viebahn, Principal and Superintendent of School (1880-1904)
1881 Fierce snow
storm paralyzes city
Brick making business started
1883 Young
Married Ladies’ Ride event inaugurated
Plattdeutscher Verein established
Grube General Store established
1887 Fire
at Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway complex
Fire at Rough & Ready Mill,
upper dam
Emergency Hospital established
1888 Trachte
& Trayser established
St.
Mark’s Lutheran Church established
1889 Watertown
Table Slide Company organized
Milwaukee St Bridge (iron)
opened
Electrical plant franchise given L
Cordes by city,
Electrical
lighting system installed
1895
Hartwig veterinary hospital established
Laying of sewer line on
Public Health report
on small pox, consumption, need for hospital
Watertown Daily Times founded
1896 Euterpe Music Club formed
1897 Wisconsin Bible Training School
established
Watertown Squab Co and Watertown Pigeon
Club origins
1898 Major snow
storm hits city
Water lines and utilities laid on
Lewis
fountain,
Farmer’s
Picnic, Fourth of July celebration,
1901 Watertown
stuffed geese industry established (approx date); Watertown Goslings
Watertown Elks Lodge #666
1902 Homecoming
Day, first one
1903 First
Hospital
Watertown Public
Library established
Turkish baths open,
July 4th, Hazardous holiday
C M & St Paul Railroad
bridge (stone arch) opened
1904 Bethesda
Lutheran Home established
Beal & Torrey Shoe factory built
Globe Mill, concrete dam built
1905 Inter County
Fair began (ran until 1927)
Baseball is a
favorite pastime
Homecoming Day, 1905
1906 First
hospital established
1907 Children’s Day,
last day of school; on way to Tivoli Island for picnic
1908 Interurban
service started
Fred Merkle makes a name for himself
Auto manufacturing facility
proposed
Homecoming Day, 1908
1909 G B Lewis
fire, June
President
Taft, train stops in Watertown, 1909
1912 Post office
constructed, Second and Madison
1913 Spring weather note, new
high school
1914 Tornado
hits city
1915 Ringling Brothers Circus parade
on Main Street
Tuberculosis
Sanitarium proposed for city
1916 Masonic
Temple fire
Trinity
Lutheran Church founded
1917 Webster
School, fall, 4th Grade, Bernice Krueger, teacher
Company E, WI National
Guard, activated, World War I
1918 Spanish influenza
1919 Watertown
American Legion began
1920 Watertown
Chamber of Commerce formed
Troop
G, First Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment formed
Watertown man, age 70, daddy of twins
1921 105th Cavalry Regiment
formed
1923 Memorial
Bridge dedicated
1924 Death of Colonel Albert A. Solliday,
1841-1924
1928 Turner
Opera House fire
1930 Milwaukee St Bridge (concrete
arch) opened
First funeral home: Nowack’s
1932 Mullen’s founded
1933 Watertown Historical Society
formed
1936 Centennial of city founding:
Celebration (1836-1936)
1937 Rogan
Home remodeled into Boyle Funeral Home
1940 32nd Division mobilized
for World War II
1941 First city church
census
1942 Turkey
Gehrke’s death
1945 I L
Henry Box Factory fire
1946 Fleischmann
Malting fire
1947 Bittner
and Tetzlaff fire
Pearl
Harbor, December 7
1950 Savoy
Theater fire
1953
Centennial
of incorporation celebration postponed
until 1954 due to lack of planning
1954
Watertown
“Centennial” observed in grand style (see 1936 entry)
Riverside Park Band Shell dedicated
1955
Sacred Heart Military Academy opens
Watertown Gosling Baseball wins State
Championship
1956 Death of Charles A Kading
1960 St. Luke’s
Lutheran Church demolished (
1961 Company C activated,
32nd Infantry Div, Berlin Crisis
1962 Post office constructed,
1968 Maranatha
Baptist Bible College opens
1969 Marquardt
Manor opened
1983 Carl Schurz U.S. stamp issued
1986 Sesquicentennial of founding
postponed until 1987
1987 “Sesquicentennial’ observed
2003 Sesquicentennial of incorporation
as city not observed
2007 Watertown
Fire Department 150th anniversary
2008 The Flood
of June, ‘08
Index: Watertown on the Internet
Related Link: Archives at the Dodge/Jefferson Counties Genealogical Society Web Site.
