Editing Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin (section)

==History==
===Establishment===
The [[Menominee]] claimed the big rapids in the forest prior to European settlement, with [[Ojibwe]] and [[Ho-Chunk]] lands nearby.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tribal Lands Map|url=https://wisconsinfirstnations.org/map/|publisher=Wisconsin First Nations|access-date=June 20, 2024}}</ref> They called the place "Ah-dah-wah-gam" meaning "Two-sided Rapids" because the rapids were split by a large chunk of rock.<ref name=Jones>{{cite book|last=Jones|first=George O.|title=History of Wood CountyWisconsin|year=1923|publisher=H. C. Cooper Jr. & Co.|location=Minneapolis – Winona|url=http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/wch&CISOPTR=39243&REC=2|author2=Norman S. McVean|display-authors=etal}}</ref>{{rp|page=126}} In 1836, the Menominee ceded this land, along with more land to the east, to the U.S. in the [[Treaty of the Cedars]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kellogg|first=Louise Phelps|title=The Menominee Treaty at the Cedars, 1836|journal=Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters|date=1931|volume=XXVI|url=https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A2XKL2FBIYE2W28E/pages/AMMYLVROU2BXT686?view=one|access-date=June 20, 2024}}</ref> This particular land cession was a strip spanning three miles on either side of the Wisconsin River, starting at [[Point Basse]] and reaching {{convert|48|mi}} upstream to Big Bull Falls – the future site of [[Wausau, Wisconsin|Wausau]]. The U.S. negotiators pressed the Menominee for this strip before the surrounding lands because it held prime pine timber and was within easy reach of the river.<ref>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Alice|title=The History of Wisconsin - From Exploration to Statehood|date=1985|publisher=State Historical Society of Wisconsin|location=Madison|isbn=0-87020-122-0|page=145}}</ref> 

In 1832, [[Daniel Whitney (entrepreneur)|Daniel Whitney]] had built a sawmill {{convert|10|mi}} downstream, across from modern [[Nekoosa, Wisconsin|Nekoosa]].<ref name=Pioneers>{{cite book|last=Rosholt|first=Malcolm|title=Pioneers of the Pinery|date=1979|publisher=Rosholt House|url=https://content.mpl.org/digital/collection/mcml/id/4863/rec/4|access-date=June 21, 2024}}</ref>{{rp|pages=14-15}} Whitney's operation demonstrated the feasibility of rafting lumber to markets downstream. When the treaty of 1836 made the strip along the Wisconsin River available, lumbermen rushed in exploring for mill sites,<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|page=56}} and by 1839 (when Wisconsin was still a [[Wisconsin Territory|territory]]) two water-powered sawmills were running at the future Wisconsin Rapids, when a surveyor described the site as a "succession of rapids & chutes called the Grand Rapids", with two "extensive lumbering establishments thereon owned by Bloomer, Chamberlain, Adams, Strong, Hill & others, now in operation."<ref name=Pioneers/>{{rp|page=32}}

The first house in Rapids was a small log cabin built by H. McCutcheon, a cook for Strong and Bloomer's mill. The second came soon after when Nelson Strong built a frame house for himself with boards sawed at his mill - the first frame house in Rapids, built in 1838. Rapids' first church services were conducted by visiting Catholic priests in 1837. In 1842 a Methodist missionary J.S. Hurlburt began ministering too, visiting homes by foot or horseback.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|page=127}} He also started a primary school in a log cabin in the early 1840s.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|page=159}} The first hotel came in 1843 and the first blacksmith shop in 1844. A post office named Grand Rapids opened in 1845, with mail carried in once a week.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|page=127}} Pioneer J.L. Cotey later wrote an account of the early sawmill town as it stood in 1846. He described a community of "130 males and 17 females," with businesses along a slough crossed by a temporary slab bridge, frame homes and log houses and barns, picturesque pine trees, a sawmill with two up-and-down saws, boarding houses and saloons for the workers at the mills, and a stopping place for loggers headed upstream. Across the river on the west side was another sawmill, three frame houses for the men who worked in the sawmill, two shingle shanties, and a block house. At that time supplies were hauled overland to Rapids by ox and wagon from [[Galena, Illinois|Galena]], which took three weeks.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|pages=128-131}} (The Jones reference gives Cotey's full account.)

The business of this ramshackle wilderness outpost was lumber. In the 6-mile strip along the river, lumberjacks working from winter logging camps felled the prized pine trees. They limbed the trees and cut them into 12 to 18-foot logs, then skidded the logs with oxen and horses to rivers and stream banks where they were stored until spring. During spring floods the [[Log driving|logs were driven]] downstream,<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|page=47-48}} and, if all went well, captured in [[Log boom|booms]] of the sawmills at Grand Rapids. The sawmills pulled the logs in and sawed them into boards.<ref>{{cite web|last=Cleveland|first=A.J.|title=Bird's Eye View of the City of Grand Rapids, Wood Co. Wis 1874|url=https://www.mcmillanlibrary.org/birds-eye-view-city-grand-rapids-wood-co-wis-1874|website=McMillan Public Library|access-date=June 23, 2024|date=1874}}</ref> Some of the boards went into drying piles for local use, but the majority were destined for distant markets like [[Portage, Wisconsin|Portage]], [[Dubuque]], and [[St. Louis]]. These were stacked along the river, then bound into 16 by 16-foot "cribs" of boards. When the river was running well (generally spring) six or seven of these cribs were joined into a "rapids piece" - a 100-foot long, flexible raft suited to running the rocky rapids of the upper Wisconsin River. Of those rapids, Grand Rapids was one of the most dangerous. Before today's placid, flat reservoir, the river surged through a series of rapids a mile long, and rafts had to run when the water was high. In early years that passage was aided by [[wing dam]]s to focus the current; in later years dams across the river provided chutes for the rafts to plunge down, with spectators watching from the bank. The rafts that succeeded in passing the rapids regrouped at Point Basse and joined three of the rapids-piece rafts side by side into a "Wisconsin raft" for the rest of the Wisconsin River, which was less turbulent. Then at the Mississippi the Wisconsin rafts were joined into huge "Mississippi rafts" for the final leg to Dubuque or St. Louis.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Glover|first=W.H.|title=Lumber Rafting on the Wisconsin River|journal=Wisconsin Magazine of History|date=December 1941|volume=25|issue=2|pages=155–170|url=https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/wmh/id/13224/rec/331|access-date=June 22, 2024}}</ref>

In 1848 another treaty with Indians opened most of northern Wisconsin to loggers and settlers, which allowed access to much more timber outside the three-mile strip along the river.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|page=56}}  In 1856 Grand Rapids became the county seat of the new Wood County when it was split out of [[Portage County, Wisconsin|Portage County]].<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|page=133}} The town was growing. A promotional booklet in 1857 reported Grand Rapids' population at about 1,000. It reported eight sawmills from Grand Rapids down to Point Basse, plus six steam-powered mills - all producing 19 million board feet of lumber per year, plus around 42 million shingles. Rapids consisted of 187 buildings including homes and a Catholic church, two public schools, a drug store, five general stores, six variety stores, five taverns (probably meaning inns), two saloons, two lawyers, three blacksmiths, two carpenter shops, two shoe shops, a wagonmakers' shop, two tailors, a cabinet maker, a bakery, two lawyers and two doctors.<ref name=Engel>{{cite book|last=Engel|first=Dave|title=River City Memoirs|date=1985|publisher=South Wood County Historical Society|url=http://www.swch-museum.com/publications/works-by-dave-engel/river-city-memoirs-1983/|access-date=June 24, 2024}}</ref>{{rp|page=15}} In 1857 the first newspaper began publication - the ''Wood County Reporter''.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|page=149}} Mrs. Clarice Arpin later gave her impression of the town when she arrived about 1859: "a rough lumbering town, filled with lumberjacks who engaged in many drunken brawls, and Indians, who when they had an over-supply of firewater yelled and danced in the middle of the streets."<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|page=136}}

The first plat of part of the Rapids had been made in 1847, with others following.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|pages=132-133}} Growth slowed during the [[American Civil War]], when some of the workers left to fight in the [[Union Army]]. A bad flood in 1864 and a fire in the business district in 1865 were other setbacks.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|page=134,141}} In 1869 Grand Rapids incorporated as a city. Its first order of business was to require a license to sell liquor. Shortly after, city officials were elected, including Dr. G.F. Witter to "doctor city poor for the sum of $75 per year." A ban on selling liquor on Sunday was passed, and a ban on running hogs loose in the city.<ref name=Engel/>{{rp|page=16}}

Centralia, a somewhat separate community on the west side of the river, had been developing too. George Kline Sr. had built a sawmill there around 1839. By 1855 Centralia had two sawmills, a [[gristmill]], a general store, a tavern, and houses and shacks.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|page=138}} In the 1850s a ferry carried people across the river between Centralia and Grand Rapids. In the 1860s a wooden bridge was added across the river.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|pages=137,143}} A "town of Centralia" was formalized in 1856, perhaps to avoid annexation by Grand Rapids. In 1874 Centralia was incorporated as a city.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|page=140}}

===Late 19th century===
The railroad boom burst upon Rapids in the 1870s. In 1870 the nearest railroad was at [[New Lisbon, Wisconsin|New Lisbon]], with mail carried from there daily by evening stage. In 1872 the [[Green Bay and Lake Pepin Railroad]] reached Rapids itself, heading west. In 1873 the Wisconsin Valley Railway arrived from [[Tomah, Wisconsin|Tomah]]. The Port Edwards, Centralia & Northern was built by local interests in 1890, and the [[Chicago and North Western Transportation Company|Chicago & Northwestern]] line to Marshfield in 1901.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|page=135}}

With the arrival of the railroads, the transport of lumber from the area began to shift from the unpredictable and dangerous river to more reliable railcars, which could carry the lumber in more directions than downstream. The last rafts of lumber passed through in 1888, from the sawmill at [[Biron, Wisconsin|Biron]] heading downriver for St. Louis.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|page=52}}

In June of 1880 an unusually high flood of the river forced many businesses to evacuate their stock to higher ground, and in some cases tie buildings down with ropes. Nevertheless, several buildings were swept into the river and one hardware store partner drowned while trying to save his goods.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|pages=142-143}} By that year Grand Rapids had 1,367 people and Centralia 800. As pine timber ran out in the vicinity of Grand Rapids, manufacturers took root in Centralia. Around 1880, the big ones were Robb's machine shops, Mackinnon & Griffith's [[Wheel#Hub|hub and spoke]] factory, Wharton Brothers' [[planing mill]], Haertel's chair factory, Bremmer's machine shop and [[foundry]], a flouring mill, Moore's wagon works, and Lyon Bros. [[Wood shingle|shingle]] works. In 1887 the first [[Pulp (paper)|pulp]] mill was built, which would develop into Centralia Pulp and Paper.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|pages=140-141}}

Paper-making was a big new industry for Rapids. Paper had been made over in the Fox River valley for decades, but not on the Wisconsin River.<ref>{{cite web |title=Paper Industry in Wisconsin|url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS2055|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|access-date=June 27, 2024}}</ref> Around 1885 some of the mills at Rapids - formerly sawmills and gristmills - began converting to pulp-grinding and paper-making.<ref>{{cite web|last=Taylor|first=Tom|title=Chronological Sketch - Part 2, 1883-1924|url=https://www.mcmillanlibrary.org/chronological-sketch-0|publisher=McMillan Memorial Library|access-date=June 27, 2024}}</ref> By 1902, after many acquisitions, J.D. Witter and Nels Johnson had organized the many mills and water rights under one corporation - [[Consolidated Papers, Inc.|Consolidated Water Power Company]].<ref name=Consolidation>{{cite book|last=Engel|first=Dave|title=The Age of Paper - Consolidation of the Water Power at Wisconsin Rapids 1886-1904|date=1986|isbn=0-910122-89-X|pages=46–66|publisher=South Wood County Historical Corporation |url=http://www.swch-museum.com/publications/works-by-dave-engel/age-of-paper-1986/|access-date=June 28, 2024}}</ref> They decided to focus their resources on paper-making. The founders both died shortly after, leaving Witter's son-in-law George Mead to manage the new enterprise. The main plant began with 14 pulp-grinders and two [[papermaking]] machines, producing 50 tons of paper per day.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|pages=153-155}}

[[File:John_B_Arpin_House_in_Wisconsin_Rapids.jpg|thumb|John B. Arpin house, 1890]]
Other diversification of the industrial base away from lumber occurred from 1880 to 1920, including the Grand Rapids Brick Company, the Grand Rapids Foundry Co., Wisconsin Ice Machine Co., Prentiss-Wabers Stove Co., Oberback Brothers furniture company, Badger Box & Lumber, Grand Rapids Brewing, Samson Canning, Citizens Factory Company (a pickling [[Farmers' co-op|co-op]]), Blommer Ice Cream, and Chambers [[Creamery]]. These last four resulted from farmers settling in the surrounding cut-over lands, which were also transitioning from the logging era.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|pages=151-156}}

Modern public services began to take shape around the turn of the century. Fire departments were formalized in Centralia in 1887 and in Rapids the following year. At this time that meant a hook-and-ladder, a chemical fire suppression apparatus, and a steam pumping engine. The T.B. Scott Library was started in 1889 with a donation from one of the city's pioneers. In 1890 John Arpin installed an electric [[dynamo]] in his home - the first electric service in Rapids. In 1894 Mack and Spencer added a generator at their dam which offered electricity to the public. The Wood County Telephone Company was a member-owned cooperative started in 1895.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|pages=145-151}} 

===20th century to present===
In 1900 the cities of Grand Rapids and Centralia merged into one city named Grand Rapids. Prior to the merger, Grand Rapids had a population of 1,702 and Centralia 1,425.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|pages=143-144}} The name of the merged city was changed in 1920 to ''Wisconsin Rapids'', after years of mail and other goods being misdirected to the much better known [[Grand Rapids, Michigan]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The City of Wisconsin Rapids Official Website |url=https://www.wirapids.org/ |access-date=January 23, 2023 |website=City of Wisconsin Rapids |language=en}}</ref> In 1904 a small purpose-built hospital opened, to take over from the previous location over the Otto drug store; it was replaced in 1916 by the first Riverside Hospital - a 30-bed brick facility.<ref name=Engel1/>{{rp|pages=52-53}} Parks along the river began development with Lyon Park in 1909. The same year, a private "street railroad" company was organized, which ran a street car line eight miles from the west side of Rapids down to [[Port Edwards, Wisconsin|Port Edwards]] and [[Nekoosa, Wisconsin|Nekoosa]]. To lure riders, it built a dance pavilion north of Nekoosa. A municipal pool was built in 1913, pushed by John Arpin in response to regular drownings of swimmers in the river.<ref name=Jones/>{{rp|pages=145-151}}

The city added an airport in 1928.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Taylor |first1=T.A. |title=Chronological Sketch - Part 3 (1925-1939) |url=https://www.mcmillanlibrary.org/chronological-sketch-1 |publisher=McMillan Memorial Library |access-date=June 27, 2024}}</ref> During the [[Great Depression]], Consolidated Papers reduced its work week to four days to share existing work across more workers and avoid layoffs. Consolidated also began producing coated papers more efficiently, with their output used to print [[Life (magazine)|Life Magazine]].<ref name=Bruener>{{cite web|last1=Bruener|first1=Alison|last2=Engel|first2=Dave|title=What Next for River City?|url=http://www.swch-museum.com/the-end-of-an-era/|publisher=South Wood County Historical Museum|access-date=June 28, 2024}}</ref>

During [[World War II]], many locals volunteered to fight overseas, and some died. Back in Rapids, people grew [[victory garden]]s, collected scrap metal for the war effort, and rationed coffee and petroleum. Consolidated adapted to manufacture plastic aircraft materials, and Harvard Clothing made coats for the army.<ref name=Engel1>{{cite book|last=Engel|first=Dave|title=River City Memoirs|date=1983|publisher=South Wood County Historical Corp.|location=Wisconsin Rapids|isbn=0-910122-68-7|url=http://www.swch-museum.com/publications/works-by-dave-engel/river-city-memoirs-1983/|access-date=June 27, 2024}}</ref>{{rp|pages=40,56}}

In the 1970s corner groceries were disappearing, replaced by supermarkets. A number of old properties on the west side were torn down and replaced with the new Rapids Mall. The Riverview Expressway was built.<ref name=Engel1/>{{rp|page=41,58}}

In the 1980s, Consolidated was the largest producer of enamel papers in the world and a Fortune 500 company.<ref name=Bruener/> But after those glory years, paper use dropped as TV and computer screens replaced magazines and newspapers. Starting in 2000, Consolidated was bought and then sold by outside companies that eventually filed for bankruptcy, leading to closure of the mill in Rapids in 2020.<ref name=Shuda>{{cite news|last=Shuda|first=Caitlin|title=Shutdown in a Paper Town - Unfolding 126 years of history at Wisconsin Rapids paper mill|url=https://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/in-depth/money/2020/09/22/wisconsin-rapids-paper-mill-unfolding-126-years-history-consolidated-papers-verso/3401093001/|access-date=June 28, 2024|publisher=Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune|date=September 22, 2020}}</ref> Remaining large employers are Riverview Hospital and [[Renaissance Learning]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Wood County Economic Profile 2024 |url=https://www.ncwrpc.org/wood-county-economic-profile-2024/ |publisher=North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission |access-date=June 28, 2024}}</ref>