Montello High School - Granite Hilltopper Yearbook (Montello, WI)

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[ own V V' , ° AvA v v f vc y U I-ronard. grocer: McDonald, lumber dealer; Norton, planing mill; Ward. jeweler; William , furniture dealer and undertaker; Steven , manager of a flour mill owned by the Montello Milling Company; Chit- tenden. farm implements. There was also a large woolen mill. In 1862, the Montello EXPRESS, whose first edi- tor and publisher was Dr. S. A. Pease, moved into our town from Oxford, where it had been known as the Marquette TRIBUNE. Seventeen years later it was produced by Bissell and Cogan. who boasted that their paper had no patent insides and outsides, but was printed entirely at home in a steam-powered office It was only in recent years that the Montello EXPRESS became the Montello TRIBUNE. The possibilities of one of our town's most colorful aspects, the once unsightly pile of granite in the cen- ter of its business heart, were not thought of until 1879. when Claude King, a newspaperman of Chi- cago, began the movement which ha since resulted in establishing the reputation of the community throughout the nation. For a time in the 1880 . it was joined with the granite company at Berlin, and at that time from 80 to 100 men were employed and the firm in Mon- tello did an annual business of $85,000 to $100,000 in quarrying, manufacturing, and handling the stone. And now the churches were built: the Methodist in 1865, the Catholic in 1876, and the first Lutheran in 1878. Moreover. 1879 saw the first graduating class from the Montello High School - four young people: L. S. Pease. Sarah Cogan. Mamie Perkins, and Charles Kelsey were the products of this first at- tempt to offer secondary education. Seven time county residents voted on changing the county seat, a hot issue in local elections always. With the construction of the first county court house in Montello in 1864. the problems were settled. Ever since 1866. our town had had high hopes of a rail- road. and they were real ixed in 1882 when the Mon- tello Branch of the Wisconsin Central Ijne. from Packwaukee. a booming railroad town in those days, was completed and put in operation. Montello then became the terminus of a spur of this road, a railroad line running through the center of the state, north and south, to Milwaukee, and on to Chicago. Connections with the outside world were being made, and the residents of the little community were reach- ing. not only toward the fast approaching turn of the century, the 1900 s. but reaching also to touch the magic world outside, in order that they might, as loyal sons and daughters of their little Hill River, bring part of that magic back to take root in their home soil. I)i n ami Paul at Freitag s l.(r.A. Montello State Bank Staff

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I)r. R. . Inman 11 a U Las Islwna Monldlo. llir seal of justice of Marquette County, is located on the Wisconsin Central Line, on f oth sides of Montello River or Creek, which furnishes good waterpower, and at the foot of Buffalo Lake, a beautiful stretch of water extending nine miles west from the illage and affording the town one of the most delightful locations in central Wisconsin. Montello has an extensive brick yard, a planing mill and sash and door factory, two large lumber yards. one grist mill and one feed mill, an immense granite quarry where stone for monuments, building purposes, paving, and macadam is quarried in great quantities, four dry goods and general stores, two wagon and carriage shops, blacksmith shops, tailor and shoes shops, bakery, meat market, and a large list in various lines of business and trade. That was our town in 1890. as described in an old historical volume. Portrait and Biographical Album of Green Lake’. Marquette, and Waushara C ounties. There is more to its colorful past than just this picture, however. Long before the first white man visited what is now Montello (even before the coming of the Winne- bago and Sauk Indian tribes), our region was inhab- ited by a race of men whose only record lies recorded in the hundreds of mounds they built, many of them still to be seen close to town along the shores of Buffalo Lake. Later, our little city was the site of an Indian village, not too far from the famous |M rtage between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers and the spot also where Father Marquette did much missionary work. One of its early names. Mill River, was probably derived from the juxtaposition of the high granite outcropping the river at this point. At any rate, when our first white settlers. Jason Daniels and the Dartt brothers located permanently here in June of 1849. Jesse Dartt got his claim registered first, and it in- cluded most of what is now our present city. He also bec ame Montello s first postmaster in 1850. There was a Methodist church here in 1848, with services conducted by Isaac Smith, in addition to the work of the Cathol ic missionaries who came in about the same time. It was at this time also that the name Montello came into being when the settlers got to- gether and voted in Riley Dartt's suggestion for Montello. which he -reported was of Greek origin and meant mountain or hill ’ and water. Rec ords tell us the first dam. with a 14-foot drop was built then on the Montello River and also a pole bridge across this river where the present new bridge on the bank comer stands. Business places began to be erected, and the first big general store was operated by Phillips and Giddings, while our town's first real hotel was run by E. K. Smith, who was succeeded S, V v yys $Jssv £ . • Our Pi V A V 0 • 6. v '4 ■O' -1 ■fy a (i '4 'A S 4 . V r v. 'fj Or ». a r % ✓ ‘S’. 'a 'V ft Tt, V

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OUR TOWN HALL The 161 students who are attending M.H.S. this year are working in building units erected in IQ28 (the main (wilding) and IW (gymnasium and agriculture shops). TKeir town hall meetings are spread over twelve classrooms and six other centers used lor study, luncheon, library, activity purposes. These high school citizens are offered courses of study emphasizing college preparatory, commercial, vocational agriculture, and homemaking work. Their school is an accredited institution in the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges. OUR TOWNS L. A. Kiqer Principal Math OUR EXECUTIVE BOARD Varied indeed are the community occupations of the members of the M.H.S. Board of Education. Mr. Henry Orienti, director of the (ward, is head man at Montello Products ( ompany. The c lerk. Mr. Herbert O. Scharenherg. is busy the year round at popular White Like Beach Resort, while Mr. William Bartlett, (ward treasurer, has full time work as one of Marquette County's famem. Our treasurer is also a graduate of the school on whose board he now serves. Aclive in chuc h work, city and county service groups such as Chandler of Commerce. Rotary Club. Boy Scouts, these busy men also find time for such group social activities as league bowling, trap shooting, folk dancing.