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Elderon, Township of

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Author:
Mary Moltzan

Location:
T. 27 N. - R. 10 E.

Formallized:
December 22, 1887

Background:

Population: 1905-691, 2000-567 plus Village of Elderon 189.

The township originally included Range 10 East of both Townships 26 and 27, before Franzen Township was created in 1901. Winnebago Indians originally populated the area. Settlers arrived in the 1800s and early 1900s. Some came from southern Wisconsin, some from the Eastern states, and some from northern Europe. The northwest part of Elderon Township was settled mainly by Polish people from Bevent, Pike Lake and the Hatley areas. Early lumbermen traveled up the Plover River from Stevens Point and started lumber camps and sawmills as early as the 1840s. The eastern half of the township developed around the Ingersoll sawmill and the Calvin Day farm. Henry Sherry's railroad connected the sawmill settlement and a pre-Elderon settlement in the southeastern part of the township. As Elderon began being settled, homesteaders filed claims to areas, traveling with their families and household goods by means of ox- drawn vehicles through trails in the woods. A number of native Americans became well known among the settlers, helping on the farms and in the logging woods or playing on baseball teams.

First Public Official:
Ira S. Ingersoll

Biography:

In the 1895 plat of Elderon Township, many of the northern and eastern sections were owned by Ira Ingersol. He built a sawmill and settlement in the middle of Sect. 2. He sold the mill and properties in 1889 and did not appear to live in the area after 1890.

Post Office Established:
1. Elderon, June 13, 1888; 2. Fertilia, Dec. 3, 1900

First Postmaster:
1. Calvin Day, Elderon; 2. Joseph Taylor, Fertilia

About The Post Office:

1. Elderon P.O. located in Section 26.

2. Fertilia P. O. located in Section 35. Discontinued May 14, 1904.

See Village of Elderon

Railroad:

See Village of Elderon.

Churches:

See Village of Elderon.

Schools:

In the earliest years, it would appear there were two schools in the larger Elderon Township.

1. District 1 in the south on the Day Farm.

2. District 2 in the north at Ingersoll.

Later more schools were added:

3. District 3 in the northeast of the current Franzen Township, called the Franzen School or Getchall School.

4. Bruhn School in Section 13.

5. Ackerman or Elderon Hill School in Section 25.

6. Bungalow School in the southeast 1/4, Section 22.

7. Sinski School in Section 6.

In 1880, the Calvin Day's built a room over their living room for a school. The floor, desks and seats were made of hand sawed lumber. Heat came through the cracks from the room below. Edward Day at 19 became the first teacher, having attended school in Waupaca.

On July 7, 1884, a meeting was held at the Day home  to form the first school district, District Number 1.  It was voted to hold six months of school at a new school east of the Day farm.  In 1891, there was a need for a new school in the southeastern part of the township. A small, one room school was built in Section 25.  In 1912, after Elderon village had developed and student numbers increased, the Ackerman School was abandoned and a new two-story brick and veneer school was built on the southeast corner of Hwy. 153 and Hwy. 49.  In about 1920, a top floor was added for two years of high school.  On May 20, 1948, the first Elderon School District was consolidated with the Wittenberg School District.

Business:

See Village of Elderon

Industry:

See Village of Elderon

Farming:

Potato,corn, grain, and dairy farming replaced lumbering during the early part of the 20th Century. The area's early farmers were a mil of Native Americans and immigrants from Germania, Scandinavia, Poland, and Scotland.

Stories:

The first Sunday school in this area was held at the Calvin Day home, having been started by a traveling minister and named Elderon Sunday School. This was the first use of the word, Elderon. According to the story, Mrs. Calvin Day asked the unnamed minister to name their Sunday school and he coined the name, Elderon, after the elderberry bushes growing along the stream near the Day home where they held Sunday school. The name has stuck, being used for both the village and township.

Around the late 1880s, one of the Day children became seriously ill. Home remedies did not help, so they decided they needed a doctor. No doctor was nearer than Wausau (a goodly distance) , so Mr. Day drove his team and lumber wagon to Norrie where he caught the train for Wausau. He returned with Dr. Sauerherring, a young physician. The child was found to have typhoid fever, but finally recovered. Miraculously, none of the rest of the family contracted the disease.

See Village of Elderon