Celebrate Superior goods

By Maria Lockwood mlockwood @superiortelegram.com

A new display at the Douglas County Historical Society shines a spotlight on Superior’s manufacturing past. The list of items made in Superior spans the years 1890 to 1998, and includes everything from coal briquettes and wooden chairs to candy, butter and books. There’s even a mystery the nonprofit hopes to unravel. When creating the display, board member Valerie Burke included only businesses that the historical society had artifacts from, so visitors could see tangible slices of history. The display includes the following.

Northern Brewing Co., 1890-1967

Kinkert Brewing was founded by John Klinkert and Louis Rueping in 1890. Located at 702 N. Eighth St., the business had five buildings and went through 35 tons of ice a day, producing four kinds of beer.

In 1898, Klinkert Brewing became Northern Brewing Co. At one time, it outsold all other brands of beer in Superior. Besides northern Wisconsin, Northern beer was sold in the Milwaukee area.

At some point, there was a bad batch of beer produced, and it was returned to the company in truckloads. Northern lost many major accounts due to this, and the business was bought by Cold Spring Brewing Company of Minnesota in 1967. Cold Spring shut down by 1995.

From fridge to museum piece: The can of beer on display once belonged to Leonard Lundry, the great uncle of DCHS Business Manager Jon Winter.

It was still in a refrigerator until about 1970, where Lundry’s widow Adeline had kept it. Winter, who had started collecting beer cans as a hobby, noticed the can one day while visiting and asked if he could have it for his collection. She agreed on one condition, that he promised never to open it.

Webster Manufacturing Co., 1892-1937

The Webster Manufacturing Co. started in 1892 and was located in south Superior around North 57th Street and two blocks west of Tower Avenue. The plant covered 15 acres and had four buildings, including a drying plant. The company moved to the area from Menasha, Wisconsin, because of the available lumber in the Superior area.

In 1899, Webster produced 3,000 chairs a day and employed 300 people. By 1915, the company offered 900 different styles of chairs.

Within 10 years, Web- ster started producing other kinds of furniture. In 1932, Webster made 7,000 chairs for the Republican National Convention held in Minneapolis.

During the Depression, Webster closed in 1932. The business reopened briefly in 1935 and closed for good in 1937.

Fun fact: Some of the Webster buildings were used for a few years in the 1950s by Cornwell-

Superior Corporation to produce furniture cabinets for televisions and radios.

Russell Creamery, 1898-1982

Started around 1898, Russell Creamery was originally located at 612 Tower Ave. The business, started by Charles Russell and Newell Russell with L.G. Nevin, produced pasteurized milk, cream, butter, cheese and eggs. The business had relocated to 1021 Tower Ave. by 1904.

Russell Creamery built a two-story building at 1623 Broadway St. for

Guenard’s Candy Store, 1904-1984

It started with popcorn.

Harry Guenard opened a popcorn store, the Corn Crib, on Tower Avenue in 1904. About 10 years later, the building was razed and a new one built at 1421 Tower Ave. It became Guenard’s Old Fashioned Corn Crib, which served lunch and had an ice cream parlor. It also sold cigars and tobacco.

In the early 1930s, the business was downsized to just a candy store and moved to 1113½ Tower Ave. for a year before settling two blocks away at 1328 Tower Ave.

The store sold 45 varieties of candy, caramel apples, mints and popcorn. At its peak, Guenard’s used 10,000 pounds of raw chocolate per year and 200 pounds of sugar a week.

Harry’s son Ed worked at his father’s store starting at the age of 10, and eventually bought the business from his father. Ed’s sister Bernice also helped run the store. In 1984, they retired, and the business closed.

The popcorn, however, lives on. The Guenard’s popcorn machine is now housed at the Elk’s Lodge in Superior. The Douglas County Historical Society creates a close approximation of the candy shop’s secret recipe — dry popped white popcorn with plenty of real butter — for special events.

Fun fact: Harry Guenard was a chair maker at The Webster Manufacturing Co. before he started his popcorn store.

Tyomies Society, 1914-1998

the business in 1910. Initially, the creamery was in the basement and half of the first floor; the rest of the building was a hotel.

By 1924, Russell was selling 5,000 bottles of milk a day. In addition to recycling most of the bottles, the company was purchasing 8,000 new bottles a week.

In December 1954, the company merged with Beatrice Foods, which shut down in 1982.

Fun fact: Russell Creamery supplied the butter used by Guenard’s Candy Store for popcorn.

The Tyomies Society moved to Superior in 1914. For 95 years, the society produced a newspaper in Finnish. The paper was critical of American capitalism and encouraged socialism and labor unions.

The society, located in the Agen building at 601-603 Tower Ave., also served as a cultural and social center for the Finnish community. Tyomies published children’s periodicals, books and pamphlets. It also had an active drama group.

Fun fact: The Agen building is now home to the Sweeden Sweets candy store.

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Co-operative Central Exchange, 1917-1963

Founded in 1917, the purpose of Co-operative Central Exchange was to unite with other co-op stores to buy in bulk at lower costs.

They bought a threestory brick building at 1701 Winter St. as their headquarters. Initially, 15 co-ops joined. They had their own branded products under labels such as “Red Star” and “Cooperator’s Best.”

Coffee was a big seller.

In 1927, the cooperative sold 325,000 pounds in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.

The company was associated with the Finnish-American workers’ movement and the Socialist Party of America. In 1931, the company split in two with the hardline

Buildings

From Page H1

Communists forming their own group, which only lasted until 1939. The other half became Central Co-operative Wholesale and moved into the Eiman building on 1901 Winter St. It merged with Midland Co-operatives in 1963 and became part of Land O’ Lakes in 1982. Still there: The 1701 Winter St. building still stands and is part of Charter NEX Films, Inc.

Mac-Dell’s Toothpicks, 1931-?

Exactly where in Superior the can was made is a mystery, one the Douglas County Historical Society hopes to solve with the public’s help.

The U.S. Patent Office granted “Mac-Dell’s Dainty Flavored Picks” of Superior, Wisconsin, the trade number 41,500 in November 1931. The research staff at the historical society has been unable to find an address for the company, however, or any was built in 1892, it was known as the Maryland Block. Early tenants included the Billings Hardware Company, New Era Business College and the Turnbull-CameronDegler Company, which specialized in furnishings and decor for homes.

The building was purchased by the Evening Telegram in 1919, and the paper moved to the site following a threeyear, $75,000 remodeling project. It soon became known as the Telegram Building.

The remodeled building continued to offer retail space — the upper floors included doctors, dentists, attorneys and even a barber shop — but the showpiece was the newspaper. The pressroom rose from the basement to the mezzanine on the North 13th Street side of the building. People on the sidewalk were able to watch the presses running, and often did.

The Telegram Building was the site of the first commercial radio station at the Head of the Lakes, WEBC. The station was founded by Morgan Murphy, son of Telegram founder John T. Murphy, and clue to how long it was in operation. “There must be an interesting story out there somewhere,” according to the display.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the histori- cal society at 715-3928449, email dchs@ douglashistory.org, visit the Douglas County Historical Society website or stop by 1101 John Ave. from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. radio pioneer Walter Bridges. The transmitter was located in the penthouse on the roof, and two antenna towers were added to the roof.

When the Telegram relocated to 1226 Ogden Ave. in 1972, the building was renamed the Badger Building.

From shirts to liquor

The Superior Shirt Company was the first tenant of the building at 1228 Banks Ave., which was also completed in 1892. About 35 employees were hired with hopes of up to 100 in the future, but financial problems caused the business to close in 1894. At its zenith, the company manufactured about 30 dozen shirts per day.

As with the Badger Building, an established business was next to occupy the site. Superior Cycle Co., which began manufacturing bicycles in 1896 at the junction of the Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railroads near North 64th Street, relocated to the 1228 Banks Ave. Building in 1897 and remained there until 1901.

A wholesale liquor company, the I.L. Lamm Company, moved into the building