When I began researching “The Big Cheese” in 1998, scrolling microfilm was the only way to do a newspaper search. You then printed from the reader, sometimes printing in sections to later piece together. As the internet grew I was able to add a few additional articles to the story, but one detail eluded me – WHERE in Appleton, Outagamie, Wisconsin was this massive cheese built?
This past weekend, a comment on my post, The Largest Cheese in the World! prompted me to take another look. And much to my dismay, the answer was right there all along. To be fair, the new articles I was finding repeated the location over and over, hitting me in the head with the fact.
I now know that the cheese was manufactured at the Charles Clack warehouse. The warehouse located at 715 Clark Street (pre-1925 address number change), was “a brick and concrete cabbage store house” built in 1910 and measured “30 by 80 feet, one and one-half stories high. The walls are of concrete, brick-lined, and the floor of cement.”1
Clark Street
January 1911 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map detail of p. 16. The ware house is shown in blue.The same section, October 2024. Google Map
The Sanborn map tells us that there were six buildings on this block of Clark Street, four dwellings, and an office with a lumber shed behind it. The cabbage warehouse was right at the railroad sidetrack, making it the perfect place to create, store and then load a massive cheese.
In the upper left corner of the photograph is a home with a very distinctive roofline, while the home visible in the upper right-hand corner has a more traditional roofline. The home visible on Division Street is the home that Charles Clack, his wife Anna, and their daughter Edith were living in when the 1920 U.S. Federal Census was enumerated on 3 Jan 1920. This home, now numbered 414 North Division Street, still stands, and while the treeline has changed over the past 100+ years, the house is still visible from the warehouse site. According to the Property Search Report at appleton.org, the home was built in 1900 and has a total living area of 2,234 sq. ft. It does look as though a dormer has been added to the south side of the attic as it is not visible in the 1911 photograph.
In the map, you can clearly see what was once four lots moving south down Clark from Packard. The southernmost house was built in 1870. The house next to it was built in 1879. Then a vacant lot just before the home fronting on West Packard, which was built in 1885. The home has a wrapped porch as shown in the Sanborn map.
One item has now been removed from my to-do list! The question remaining is, how many times did I park at the Post Office or drive through to drop a letter in the mailboxes visible below? So many days as I wondered where the cheese had been built, I was right across the street.
Google Earth view, October 2024
SOURCES:
“Two New Buildings Nearing Completion,” Appleton Evening Crescent, 11 Oct 1910, Tuesday Evening, p. 1, col. 5; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 10 Oct 2024). ↩︎
The Cook family provides me with an unending supply of stories to tell. In 2015, I wrote a post about the Cook family and the members who had served as a Wisconsin Postmaster. It still amazes me that my great-grandfather, Lewis, his father, Alfred, and his uncles, Jacob and Samuel, all served as postmasters in Marathon County, Wisconsin.
Lewis was 46 years old when President Calvin Coolidge appointed him postmaster for the city of Wausau on 30 June 1923. He served the city until his death on 4 September 1934, at the age of 57.
We have a family flag, which according to my father, measures 5’ x 9’6.” On 11 Nov 2001, my mother wrote a note sharing my father’s memory of how the flag came to be in the family. “As Bob (Robert D. Sternitzky) remembers his mother telling him: The flag was flying at the Wausau Post Office the day he (Lewis) died. (They might have run up a new one, then took it down). It (the flag) was given to his wife Effie at a service — funeral, memorial service; Bob isn’t sure.”
The flag just before being archivally boxed in 2024.
Years ago, I scrolled microfilm at the Wisconsin Historical Society library and found no reference to the flag, but now I can sit at home and search online as the paper has been made part of an online newspaper collection. While I have not found any reference to the presentation of a flag, I have amassed a lot of information about Lewis and his career as a Postmaster.
In 1929, the Wausau Daily Record-Herald reported, “a job that carries with a heavy responsibility and a great deal of work, is that of Lewis H. Cook postmaster of Wausau.” “Wausau’s postmaster must have tireless energy, patience and executive ability and Mr. Cook is well-suited to the position.”1
The Wausau Post Office
The post office had a twelve percent increase in the sale of postage, money orders, and parcel post over 1927. The post office employed 45 people, which included 14 mail carriers in the city and seven rural carriers, distributing 400 sacks of outgoing mail and the same number of sacks of incoming mail. What surprised me the most was what people sent through the mail at that time. “The wholesale grocers and farmers send much of their food parcel post as it gets to its destination more quickly than when it is sent by express. Mr. Cook said that often there are as many as half a dozen roasted chickens in the postoffice, which are to be sent to friends and relatives in other parts of the state.” Live baby chicks were also sent through the mail, and Lewis told the newspaper that “the recipients are notified at once of their arrival, and if they are unable to call for the chicks, the postoffice makes every effort to deliver them.” 2Roasted chickens and live baby chicks!
Also, in 1929, Lewis strongly encouraged the use of a “return card” on each piece of first-class mail. Up to this point, a return address was not standard, and if the letters and packages were undeliverable, they went to the dead letter office. During the 1929 Christmas season, the amount of mail that did not reach its destination due to the removal of an address or the use of an improper address was “enormous.” “Assistant Postmaster Becker believes that a million dollars in postage could have been saved patrons throughout the United States for the holiday season alone if more care had been used in addressing this mail or if a return card had been used.”3
I imagine Lewis felt that dealing with roasted chickens, live baby chicks, and the dead letter office was just part of the day-to-day job. I can also imagine the excitement in 1927 when the post office was placed “on the federal building program.” Then, frustration as the project experienced “postponements, rejection, revisions of plans and a host of other obstacles.”4 It wasn’t until March 1931 that he was given the go-ahead to procure the property needed to construct the new building. The land was secured, and the buildings were demolished, yet delays continued. In June 1934, he recommended the property be “turned over to the Chamber of Commerce to be fitted up as a parking place” to ease traffic on the main streets during shopping hours.5 The new post office would not be constructed until 1937.
On July 16, 1931, Lewis was interviewed by the Wausau Daily Record-Herald, explaining a new program he was putting into place, where “Veteran’s Caskets To Be Draped With Government Flags.6 The seventy-first congress had passed an act that stated: “Where a veteran of any war, including those women who served as army nurses under the contracts between April 21, 1898, and February 2, 1901, who was not dishonorably discharged, dies after discharge or resignation from the service, the director shall furnish a flag to drape the casket of such veteran and afterwards to be given to his next of kin, regardless of the cause of the death of such veteran.” “Regulation burial flags, size 5 feet by 9 feet 6 inches, may be secured upon application at any county seat postoffice, or at the nearest U. S. Veterans’ hospital, regional office, national home or other field station of the veterans’ administration. For use in Wausau and vicinity flags may be procured from Postmaster Cook.” The article goes on to state: “The term ‘veteran of any war’ shall mean any person, who is not dishonorably discharged and who served ‘in the military or naval forces of the United States during any period of the Mexican war, Civil war, Spanish-American wark, the World war, those women who served as army nurses during the Spanish-American war, the World war, and also those women citizens of the United States who were taken from the United States by the United States government and who served in base hospitals overseas’ and also all other wars, disturbances, insurrections, battles, expeditions, etc., in which the United States forces were called into duty.”
Finding this article has me asking this question: Is the flag we have in our family one of these flags? The size is correct. Lewis did serve in World War I, albeit on the home front, as part of Company C, 10th Infantry, Wisconsin State Guard (see the blog post: Company C, 10th Infantry, Wisconsin State Guard). If I were to guess, I would say yes, this is a government flag and not one that flew over the post office at the time of his death.
Hotel Wausau
The 32nd annual convention of the Wisconsin Association of Postmasters was held in Wausau on June 19, 20, and 21, 1934. Postmaster Lewis H. Cook served as the convention planner and host. “…the local committee has made arrangements for one of the greatest conventions the men in charge of Wisconsin’s mail have ever had. The city streets are decorated with American flags and welcome signs,” and the Hotel Wausau was ready to welcome the “Postmasters of Wisconsin’s cities, villages, towns and hamlets” who “were converging on Wausau.”7
Activities for the convention included “a tour of inspection of Rib Mountain. A dance at Rothschild park,8 and an “added attraction will be the presentation of moving pictures showing the Fromm Brothers fur ranch in the town of Hamburg. A trip to the ranch is slated for Thursday afternoon.”9
Lewis at the Fromm Brothers Fur Ranch
The convention was a huge success, but the planning and hosting of the event had taken its toll on Lewis’ fragile health. He had been suffering from diabetes for the past ten years, and the disease had slowly taken away his eyesight. So much so that he relied heavily on Effie to be his eyes, and his daughter, Anola, had left high school without graduating so that she could assist him at the post office. Family lore states: “His vision was severely impaired by the diabetes, to the point that he needed his daughter, Anola, to drive, and work as his personal secretary during his later years as Post Master. His wife Effie, would let him know who was approaching them during a social situation so that he could greet them by name.”
Lewis passed away at his home at 125 Sturgeon Eddy Road, on September 4th at 8:15 p.m.
His obituary includes this biography of his public life: “Mr. Cook, a leading Republican for about thirty-five years was a former Marathon county clerk, state assemblyman and member of the county board of supervisors from Unity…Mr. Cook entered politics when twenty-one years of age, his first office being that of justice of the peace at Unity. Later he served in various official capacities in that village and in 1903, to promote the interests of the Republican party and agriculture, established the Marathon County Register, a weekly newspaper of which he was the owner and editor until 1910 when he came to Wausau after disposing of the weekly. He was a member of the county board of supervisors during the time he published his weekly at Unity. In 1912 he was elected Marathon county clerk, a position he held for three terms, serving until the end of 1918. In 1920 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the state assembly from the second county district. While at Madison he served on the legislature’s finance committee.” He also served as president of the Marathon County Agricultural society, and was a director of the society for 25 years. During World War I he was secretary of the local exemption board, served on the local school board.”
September 9, 1934. L-R: Lois Jean Cook, Hattie Cook, Effie DuCate Cook, and Amanda Blood CookL-R: Lois Jean Cook, Russell Cook, Effie DuCate Cook, and Amanda Blood Cook
His funeral was held at his home on Tuesday, September 6th. He was buried in nearby Pine Grove Cemetery, and the “local mail carriers marched in uniform from the Cook residence to the cemetery.”10
Today is my dad’s birthday. He was born September 18, 1934, 14 days after the death of his grandfather, 90 years ago.
It was not a long walk from the residence to the cemetery.
SOURCES:
“One Man’s Job,” Lewis H. Cook, Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 16 Mar 1929, Saturday Evening, p. 6, col. 5; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 2 May 2024). ↩︎
“Wausau Postoffice Completes a Most Outstanding Year,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 31 Dec 1929, Tuesday Evening, p. 6, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 2 May 2024). ↩︎
“Contractors Asked To Enter Bids on Wausau Postoffice,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 16 Mar 1929, Sunday Evening, p. 1, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 May 2024). ↩︎
“Parking Space,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 11 Jun 1934, Monday Evening, p. 2, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 27 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Veteran’s Caskets To Be Draped With Government Flags,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 16 Jul 1931, Thusday Evening, p. 1, col. 4; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 30 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“State Postmasters Arrive for Annual Convention in City,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 19 Jun 1934, Tuesday Evening, p. 1, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 27 Apr 2024). ↩︎
Last week, I was in Indianapolis, Indiana, with my daughter, for the 10th Annual Eucharistic Congress. Indianapolis is a one-hour drive from Alexandria, Madison, Indiana. Alexandria, the home of the Alexandria Paper Company, the Cook House on South Park, and the portrait of Jennie Cook.
Samuel A. Cook, 1896
I have known about the portrait of Jennie since 2001, when my mom contacted the Alexandria-Monroe Township Historical Society via email. I do not have a copy of Mom’s email to the society, but she kept a copy of the response. The response states: “We have a large picture of Mrs. S. H. Cook [sic], painted in 1917.”1 In 2016, a cousin visited Alexandria and took a photo of the portrait that she shared with me, telling me that she had been told that the portrait had been saved from the dump and was then donated to the historical society’s museum.2 “The back of the 1917 painting indicates the portrait was created from a photograph.”3
Other than comparing the image to the only known image we have of her daughter, Maud. I filed the electronic image for later consideration.
The time for further consideration has come. On Wednesday, 17 Jul 2024, we traveled to Alexandria to see the portrait that now hangs in the Alexandria-Monroe Public Library.
The following are my thoughts, musings, speculations, my considerations.
Samuel Andrew Cook, the husband of Jennie Christie Cook, a serial businessman, had his first taste of politics in 1889 when he was elected the mayor of Neenah, Winnebago, Wisconsin. He went on to serve in the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1891 and 1892 before being elected on the Republican ticket to the Fifty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1897). In other words, we have many images of S.A. taken through the years but no image of Jennie or their children, Henry Harold (Harry) and Maud Cook Lancaster.
Walking into the library, we were met by board members Vickie and Jenny and were led upstairs to where the portrait was hung. There she was—Jennie Cook, or as she is labeled, Mrs. S. A. Cook. The portrait is large, about 3 feet wide by 4ish feet long. She stares out at you with a bit of a side-eye. The artist has chosen to color her dress black; her face glows out from her black dress and background. The frame is beautiful. Elaborate in a refined sort of way.
I am speculating that the original photograph was taken in 1895, possibly in Aurora, Ontario, Canada, while she was visiting Yule relatives.4 It was during this trip that she fell ill and passed away on 19 Sep 1895 at the age of 46. Her body was brought back to Neenah, Winnebago County, where she was buried on 23 Sep 1895 in Oak Hill Cemetery. She left behind her husband, Samuel, age 46, daughter, Maud, age 17, and son, Harry, age 14.
Maud Cook Lancaster, 1924 Passport photo, age 46Jennie Christie Cook, ca 1896, approximately 46 years old
If the painting was made from a photograph in 1917, this date coincides with Harry’s marriage to Martha Wheeler Paine on 30 Jun 1917. While the couple had grand plans to enlarge the house beyond the expanded footprint that was achieved through the remodel that Edwin Yule had done at the time of his marriage to Georgina Lemon, the current living room at 28’x 15’5 was large enough for entertaining, and to support a large portrait.
If Harry had commissioned a portrait of his mother for his home, then it stands to reason that he would also have commissioned a portrait of his father – the founder and head of the Alexandria Paper Company. I imagine the two portraits hung side by side in the living room.
Harry contracted sleeping sickness in January 1920 and never returned to Alexandria to live full-time. The house sat empty for almost a decade. In early 1925, it was broken into, and “every room had been entered, and the contents of all drawers, wardrobes, closets, pantries and even the attic had been rummaged.”6 In 1928, Harry and Martha divorced, and Martha received a “portion of the furnishings.”7
There is no record that Harry returned to the house. He passed away on 25 Jan 1931 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. We know that at some point, the house was cleared of its contents, as in June 1934, the home opened as the Colonnade Inn.
I would like to add one additional speculation. It is just a thought. In September 1931, Maud presented “a large and beautifully done oil portrait” to the S. A. Cook Armory board. The portrait was hung in the main hall of the armory.8 No image of the portrait was included in any of the newspaper accounts telling of the donation. Could this have been the companion piece to the portrait of Jennie? Had Maud removed both portraits, hanging her mother’s likeness in the Ed Yule home and donating her father’s to the Armory? Was it at the time of Ed’s death in December 1970 that the portrait made its way to the dump? We may never know.
While the portrait of Jennie now hangs safely in the library, her husband’s portrait is missing. In 1970, the S. A. Cook Armory was sold and became a mini-mall known as The Armory Shops. The portrait stayed with the building “mounted on the main floor…near the North Commercial Street entrance.” About 18 Aug 1982, the portrait was stolen. I find the following statement odd. The “Cook portrait was taken about a week ago. The theft was reported to police on Wednesday.” This newspaper report was dated Thursday, 26 Aug 1982. Why did they wait a week to report the painting stolen? The portrait was described as being 3’ x 5’, believed to date from the early 1900s. No image of the portrait was included in the report of the theft. The frame was estimated as weighing 25 to 35 pounds and was “constructed of heavy ornately carved wood painted over gold. The carving includes scrolls and other designs familiar to the early 1900s period.” “Despite intense efforts…the Cook portraitist has never been identified.”9 The portrait was never recovered.
I am grateful to the Alexandria-Monroe Township Historical Society for their care and consideration of Jennie Cook’s portrait. It would have been so easy to set her aside. Rightly asking why they should care about this large image of a woman who never lived in Alexandria and whose family’s impact on the community is but a distant memory? Thanks must also be given to the Alexandria-Monroe Public Library for agreeing to prominently hang the painting at the top of the stairwell. The Cook family thanks you.
Nancy Draper, “Cook Family,” email (Alexandria, Madison, Indiana, United States), to Emmie Lou Sternitzky, 23 Mar 2001. ↩︎
Sharon Cook, “more from Alexandria,” email to Susan Sternitzky Fassbender, 29 April 2016. ↩︎
“Alexandria-Monroe Township Historical Society portrait hung in Alexandria-Monroe Public Library,” Jenny Corbett, Editor, T he Alexandria Times-Tribune, 3 May 2023; digital images, (alexandriatimes-tribune.com : accessed 2 Jul 2024), a CherryRoad Media Newspaper. ↩︎
CarolAnne Prentice Chepurny, “Jennie Cook,” email, to Susan Sternitzky Fassbender, 9 Jul 2018. ↩︎
“Bold Thieves Break into The Cook Home,” The Times-Tribune, 10 Jan 1925, p. 1, col. 7; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 May 2016). ↩︎
“Life Insurance Policy $25,000 to Mrs. Cook,” The Times-Tribune, 21 Feb 1928, p. 1, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 May 2016). ↩︎
“Cook Portrait is Given to Armory,” TheDaily Northwestern, 25 Sep 1931, Friday Evening, p. 16, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 20 Jun 2016). ↩︎
“Historic Cook portrait stolen,” Neenah-Menasha Edition of The Post-Crescent, 26 Aug 1982, Thursday, p. 1, col. 1 and p. 3, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 9 Jul 2024). ↩︎
I am fascinated by news that informs the day’s newspaper reader that my ancestor has picked up a new car. Today, I learned that on 23 Apr 1911, Anton H. Tapper, Sr. picked up a brand new Speedwell motor car. It is described as being: “a 50-horse-power 7-passenger, 4-door touring car and is certainly one of the finest cars in Hammond. It is painted a light green and a darker green trimming, and is upholstered in a beautiful mixed green leather.”1 The 7-passenger Tourer rested on a 132-inch wheelbase.
State of the art 113 years ago
According to the US Inflation Calculator (https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/), which only goes back to 1913, a $2900.00 car would today cost $91,491.19.
The Speedwell Motor Car Company was founded in 1907 by Pierce D. Schenck, producing cars from 1907 to 1914. The factory was located in Dayton, Ohio, home of the Wright Brothers, and by 1910, Schenck had increased his production space to include nine buildings. In 1910, the market for Speedwell cars was not yet large enough to need all of the buildings; he leased some of this space to the Wright Brothers while their manufacturing buildings were being completed. The Speedwell was the first car to offer hidden door hinges and a horn built under the hood.
Known as the Brass Era of American automobile manufacturing, cars built between 1896 and 1915 used brass fittings for features such as lights and radiators. Although not the model Anton purchased, the brass is evident on this renovated 1911 Speedwell.
“Gets New Speedwell,” The Lake County Times, 24 Apr 1911, Monday, p. 5, col. 1; digital images, GenealogyBank (www.genealogybank.com : accessed 17 Apr 2024), Newspaper Collection. ↩︎
In 1925, at the age of 16, my grandfather, Robert H. (Bob) Sternitzky, graduated from Wausau High School, Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.
An all-around athlete, Bob “Butts” played football and basketball and was on the swim team during his high school career. He also participated in events sponsored by the local YMCA.
1925 Wahiscan. Bob is in the back row, 1st from left
Swimming
This team photo, dated 1924, was published in the 1925 Wahiscan. It was common to publish spring sports in the following year’s book. The high school swim team was a new addition to the sports program at the high school. The team was coached by Kurt Fox, the “boys’ secretary of the Wausau Y. M. C. A.” Young Men’s Christian Association.” The first interscholastic high school swim meet in the state of Wisconsin was held Friday, May 16, 1924, in Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, at the Y. M. C. A. pool. The evening events began at 7:30 p.m.: Diving, the 40-yard/Free Style, the 40-yard Backstroke, the Four-Man Relay, the Plunge for Distance, and the Breast Stroke.
Bob participated in the 40-yard Back Stroke, the Plunge for Distance, and the Four Men Relay. The Four Men Relay is a race “eight times around the tank, each man swimming twice around tank.”1
“The 100 yard relay race was the most exciting event of the evening when Eau Claire slightly outdistanced their opponents and in a flashy swim [Fred] Hilyer went ahead to the finish line a half-stroke ahead of his opponent. The 40 yard backstroke was another event filled with thrilling amazement when Sherman Olson remained a half head behind Sternitzky at the finish line when the two raced almost even on the last lap.”2 Bob’s winning time was 37 seconds.
Bob stood 5’8″
The evening ended with Wausau being awarded 31 1/2 points to Eau Claire’s 29 1/2 points. Wausau took home second in Diving, first in the 40-yard Free Style, first and third in the 40-yard Backstroke, first and third in the Four-Man Relay, second in the Plunge for Distance, and second in the breaststroke.
The second and final meet was held the following week, on Saturday, May 24th, at Wausau’s Y. M. C. A. pool. More than 100 students were there to witness the first home interscholastic aquatic meet. Bob again competed in the 40-yard Backstroke, the Plunge for Distance, and the Four Men Relay. The 40-yard Backstroke was his strongest event, as he easily took first place with a time of 33 4-5 seconds. While it was not reported how he did in the Plunge for Distance, the Four Men Relay team took first with a time of “one minute flat.” The “Local Swimmers Repeat Victory Over Eau Claire. Aquatic Meet in Y Pool is Won by Score off 36 to 25 Saturday Night.”3
Football
The schedule for the 1924 Football Season included eight games. It was a highly anticipated season as the team had participated in the newly inaugurated spring football training “previous to the summer vacation. It was thought in some quarters that this would lead to a general improvement in play.” Bob was one of only five returning players.
His yearbook entry reads: “Robert ‘Butts’ Sternitzky played the whole season at half-back. Until the introduction of the ‘huddle system of signals,’ ‘Butts’ called the plays. Sternitzky could plunge and many of his passes to team-mates resulted in good gains. This is Sternitzky’s last year.”
1924. Bob is in the 3rd row, second from right
The season roster:
vs Tomahawk 14-7
vs Marshfield 7-7
vs Stevens Point 7-7 “Butts Sternitzky scored the lone touchdown on a plunge through the line after a sensational fifteen yard sprint by Kieffer to the enemy’s four yard line. The men in line played a fine contest, opening many holes for the backs, while the ends and tackles were down the field fast on the punts”
vs Eau Claire 15-7
vs Rhinelander 14-7
vs Antigo 0-0
vs Merrill 7-0 Homecoming
The season’s final game was the championship game against Shawano High School. The 2:15 p.m. game was a home game played at Recreation Park in Wausau. In preparation for this game, Coach Ewers moved some players around, one of them being Bob. “He [Coach Ewers] will start Archie at right end instead of Swan, and Stone will begin at left half instead of Sternitzky. The latter is an aggressive player, but not as speedy as Stone…”4 Although favored to win, the team lost the game 20-0.
1925 Wahiscan
Basketball
The basketball season started immediately following the football season and spanned the first and second semesters. During this time, a school career was counted in semesters; eight semesters concluded your high school career. Two members of the 1924 team completed their eight semesters at the end of 1924, so they were ineligible to finish the season; these players were Ralph Patterson and Bob’s brother, Arthur. The yearbook states: “The players deserve more than passing mention for their splendid playing during the season…Robert Sternitzky showed up well when he was given the opportunity. Had Ralph Patterson and Arthur Sternitzky stayed with the team throughout the year, the outcome might have been different.”
1924 Wahiscan
On Friday, December 12, 1924, Wausau defeated Tomahawk High School in the first conference basketball game at the Y. M. C. A. The final score was 24-21. Bob, a left guard, scored 4 points during the game. The newspaper reported: “Sternitzky was the only Wausau player to attempt shots from the floor. He registered two, both in the second quarter for the only points made by his team in that period.”5
Hexalthon Meet
In early March Bob participated in a national Hexathlon meet held at the Wausau Y. M. C. A., where over 200 young men participated. “The boys’ hexathlon meet starts this week and continues throughout the month. There are five divisions, according to weight, 80, 95, 110 and 125 pounds and over.”6 In a hexathlon meet [a Greek word, hexa = 6, athlon = contest] there are traditionally six different track and field contests: 75m hurdles, long jump, javelin, high jump, shot put, and 800 meters. Lampert Ruffing (any relation to the Calumet County Ruffings?) took first place in five of the six events. In May the honor ribbons were awarded, and the newspaper reported that he had taken “fifth in the unlimited class.”7
Bob was awarded the “coveted” “W” for his participation in Swimming, Football, and Basketball. His older brother Arthur also received a “W” in Basketball.8
Arthur Sternitzky graduated from Wausau High School on June 4, 1925. Bob was just one credit shy of graduating and completed this credit during summer school. While attending summer school, he worked as a house painter.
That summer almost 100 years ago, a family story was born, and was told, and re-told. The first to tell the story to her grandson, Robert D. Sternitzky, was Verna Christine (Christine) Goerling Sternitzky, the mother of Bob. The story was then confirmed with the telling of the story by one of Bob’s high school friends. Robert D. (Bob) told the story to his grandchildren in 2004.
As he told it that day, this is the story: “The summer Bob (Robert H. Sternitzky) graduated from high school in 1925, at the age of 16, he worked as a house painter. He was still living at home. One day, his mother, Christine Goerling Sternitzky, answered the phone, and it was Curly Lambeau, coach of the Green Bay Packers, calling for Bob. Bob was working, so Christine took a message. Curly wanted him to play for the Green Bay Packers. The terms were $1.00 a minute for every minute played; Bob would buy his own shoes and insurance and pay for gas from Wausau to Green Bay. Curly was interested in Bob because, when playing high school football, he could throw the “old punkin” (this was the old heavy pigskin ball) 50 yards. He hurt his back playing football in high school, so he didn’t accept Curly’s offer.”
Instead of becoming a Green Bay Packer, Bob took the position of “office boy” at Marathon Corporation in Rothschild, Marathon, Wisconsin. “In 1928 he entered the firm’s accounting department cost section…He was named supervisor of the standard cost department of the firm in 1938.” “When [the] Marathon Corporation main office was shitted to Menasha in 1945, Mr. Sternitzky moved here with his family. From 1947 until several weeks ago he was manager of the manufacturing accounting department at the firm’s Menasha office.”9
In the late 1940s or early 1950s, Bob had his portrait taken by the Fabian Bachrach studio. Louis Fabian Bachrach, Jr. is the photographer best known for his portrait of Senator John F. Kennedy. His photo of Kennedy was used as the official photograph after Kennedy was elected President in 1960. I cannot tell if the photo was taken by Fabian Bachrach himself or by his studio, but I did find evidence of other Marathon Corp. executive’s photos being attributed to Fabian Bachrach. Did they travel to Massachusetts to be photographed? Did a representative of the company travel to Wisconsin at the request of Marathon? We may never know.
I never knew my grandfather; he passed away from a heart attack on 14 Feb 1952 at the age of 43. This strong man, this amazing athlete, had developed a heart condition, “coronary sclerosis and angina,” that failed “to respond under medical care.” His doctor wrote on 14 Jan 1952: “I feel it is imperative you be required to take a leave of absence from your present employment at Marathon Corporation. This leave of absence should be a period of at least three months.”10 He died in Long Beach, California, while he and my grandmother, Anola, were visiting her brother, Neal Cook. His body returned to Wisconsin via railway car, arriving in Wausau on February 19th, where he was met at the station by his father and his son. He was buried in Restlawn Memorial Park, Wausau.
Sources:
“Local Swimmers Repeat Victory Over Eau Claire,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 20 May 1924, Monday Evening, p. 8, col. 5; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Local High Tank Men Lost First Meet to Wausau,” The Eau Claire Leader, 17 May 1924, Saturday Morning, p. 2, col. 6; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Local Swimmers Repeat Victory Over Eau Claire,” Monday Evening, p. 8, col. 5. ↩︎
“Favor Wausau to Win Game and the Title,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 22 Nov 1924, Saturday Evening, p. 1, col. 7; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Wausau High Defeats Tomahawk at Basket Ball, 24-21,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 12 Dec 1924, Saturday Evening, p. 11, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Sport Chatter,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 03 Mar 1925, Tuesday Evening, p. 11, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Sport Chatter,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 13 May 1925, Wednesday Evening, p. 5, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Students Given Merit Emblems for School Work,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 23 May 1924, Friday Evening, p. 3, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“R. Sternitzky Rites Thursday,” Obituary, Twin Cities News-Record, 18 Feb 1952, Monday, p. 3, col. 6; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 8 Oct 2018). ↩︎
Letter, 14 Jan 1952, from David M. Regan, M.D. to Robert H. Sternitzky; Sternitzky Family Memorabilia; privately held by Susan Sternitzky Fassbender. Robert H. and Anola J. Sternitzky Family Archives, 1950. ↩︎
My grandfather, Roland John Tapper, was born in Hammond, Lake, Indiana, on August 1, 1909, to Anton H. Tapper and Louise L. Normann. He was their fourth child and third son.
Anton H. Tapper was a serial entrepreneur with many business interests, but he concentrated most of his time and energy on real estate and, later, banking. Grandpa, like his siblings, worked in the family business.
Shortly after 11:00 a.m. on 3 October 1968, two men armed with guns entered the Calumet Federal Savings and Loan Association. Roland, the president, was in the building along with the teller, Mildred Hill, and his son, Roland Tapper Jr., treasurer.
Pushing Mildred from her stool, one of the gunmen began to rummage through two cash drawers. The gunmen then forced the three to a back room, where they were told to lie down. Wallets were taken from the pockets of the Tapper men before the robbers cut the phone lines and fled out the front door.
At the time of The Hammond Times article, Roland Tapper Sr. did not know precisely how much money had been taken in the holdup. He stated that the firm started each morning with $2,200 in cash in the two drawers, but he did not know how many transactions had been made that morning.1
The next day, the paper published a follow-up story stating that the robbers had taken $1,914.00 from the cash drawers and $90.00 from “the bank president,” Roland Tapper. The police were still searching for the robbers, described as being in their mid-twenties. One was short and dark, the other tall with light hair and a southern accent. Both men used foul language. A red 1961 Pontiac was seen parked in an alley near the savings and loan around the time of the holdup. A man who appeared to be in his 40s was sitting behind the wheel. At the time the paper went to print, the police had no leads.
In the article, Roland Sr. stated that the savings and loan had no alarm system, although federal law would soon require them to install one. “Tapper Sr. said he prefers to wait until the federal requirements are spelled out before installing a system.”2
This was the 32nd robbery of an Indiana financial institution in 1968; the FBI 19 “considered solved” to have been solved. The year prior, there were 33 robberies in total.3
Friday, November 8, 1968, the FBI arrested Theodore James Franiak, age 22, and charged him with the robbery of $1,914 from the Calumet Federal Savings and Loan Association. There was no mention of his accomplices.4
The Hammond Times, 24 Dec 1964
At the time of the robbery, Grandpa was 59 years old. Uncle Rollie was 34. Sometime before the robbery, Grandma had given him a 1909 $5.00 Gold piece attached to a money clip for Christmas. It was in his pocket on this day. He was in the habit of carrying most of his cash secured in the money clip in his front pocket. He would put the money clip in his pocket, then a smaller amount of cash closer to the opening. Oh, how I envy the pockets in men’s trousers. So when the gunman searched his pockets while he was lying face down on the ground, he easily discovered the $90.00 that was in his pocket; we can assume he did not search my grandfather’s pocket any deeper, content to take the ready cash, and never imagining that there would be more further inside. Sometime after this, he took the coin off the money clip and gave it to my Grandma for Christmas as a pendant.
I can only imagine my grandmother’s fear when she heard the news that day in 1968. It had only been four years since the last robbery, which occurred on 26 Oct 1964. Grandpa was not at the Savings and Loan at the time of this robbery; his nephew, the firm’s vice-president/secretary, Clarence “Butch” Tapper, was there, as was his son, Roland.
During this armed robbery, a lone gunman, well-dressed and about 45 years old, entered the building and demanded money. Butch gave him $611 from the drawer of the first teller’s cage. The gunman stated, “I know you’ve got more than that,” so he was given $898 from another drawer. He then said to Butch and Uncle Rollie: “Get in the vault or I’ll blow you to bits.” They walked into the “standup vault at the end of the office area, and the gunman slammed the door shut“ before he walked out the front door of the savings and loan. When they heard the door close, Butch and Uncle Rollie were able to open the vault by an inside lever and call the police.5 I found no report that this lone robber had been apprehended.
Roland retired in 1973, remaining as Chairman of the Board until March 1974, at age 64. He had a long career with Calumet Federal Savings and Loan Association. He was elected to the board of directors in 1934, became assistant secretary-treasurer in 1937, secretary-treasurer in 1949, president in 1957, and chairman of the board in 1971. He passed away on 11 Nov 1981, at age 72. His grandson is now the owner of the 1909 $5.00 gold piece.
RESOURCES:
“2 Bandits Rob S&L,” The Hammond Times, 3 Oct 1968, Thursday, p. 1B, col. 1; digital images, NewspaperARCHIVE (www.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 2 Feb 2006). ↩︎
“Police Seek 2 Robbers,” The Hammond Times, 4 Oct 1968, Friday, p. 1B, col. 2; digital images, NewspaperARCHIVE (www.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 28 Apr 2004). ↩︎
“Robbers Get $2,200 Cash in Hammond,” The Palladium-Item and Sun-Telegram, 4 Oct 1968, Friday, p. 27, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com: accessed 1 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Arrest Made,” The Terre Haute Tribune, 9 Nov 1986, Saturday, p. 14, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com: accessed 1 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Bandit Gets $1,509 At Savings-Loan,”The Hammond Times” 26 Oct 1964, Monday, p. 1, col. 6; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com: accessed 31 Mar 2024). ↩︎
