Around the Corner with John McGivern

(pleasant music) I'm in Waukesha County on the corner of Genesee and Milwaukee. This is Delafield! (upbeat music) We're in downtown Delafield. We're in front of the Hawks Inn and the Delafield History Center, which I think is great. Finally after all these years, John we're in front of a history center. We finally did it after all these years. I love that. It's good. Let's talk about Delafield. How did this place get started? It began, John, with a road and a river back in 1838 which is 10 years before Wisconsin became a state. A territorial road came through right here, and between Milwaukee and Madison, and this was a very convenient stopping point for stagecoaches. So at least three hotels went up including this one, built by Nelson Hawks built back in 1846. Very early. That's the road. The river was the Bark which flows out of Lake Nagawicka just a little bit east of us, and that was dammed back in 1844 to drive a sawmill so people had another reason to settle here. One of the early owners was a guy named Charles Delafield, so the town was named for him. And he and nearly all his neighbors were Yankee Protestants from back East. So did they build a lot of churches? Just a few. (laughing) One of the first and one of the prettiest still was Saint John Chrysostom built back in 1853 and still active. The parish school became, in time, Saint John's Military Academy right next door. So today it's Saint John's Northwestern Military Academy. Its got a 110 acre campus. It really dominates the north side of Delafield. Just up the road, Lake Nashotah, another Episcopalian group, began something called Nashotah House back in 1842, and that became a nationally important seminary for training Episcopal priests in the high church tradition, and they still do it. -

John

So it sounds like they had a lot going on? They did, John, but it was mainly a quiet, farm town until 1907, when the interurban railroad came through from Milwaukee right here, right in front of Hawks Inn. And that brought crowds of people out to Waukesha County and Lake Country. You got Nagawicka, Nashotah, the Nemahbins, and some came to lakeside resorts, others to their own cottages. -

John

Are they still coming out? -

John G

They are, but more and more of them have been staying, and for a long time. You have Highway 30, in the 1920's kind of replaced, the old early roads. So people came out in two lane black top. Then Interstate 94 opened in the early 1960's and that made it really easy to commute back to town. So Delafield incorporates back in 1959 with 2000 people. The population doubles in 20 years and it's still growing. -

John

And what did that do to downtown? It created a new one. Right where 94 crosses Highway 83 and left the old one here to kind of languish, and that changed when Robert Lang moved his very successful greeting card company here, and attracted other businesses. So he began to buy downtown buildings back in 1988 and replaced a lot of them with red brick colonials. Look like something out of Williamsburg. -

John

They do. So some old landmarks like this one were preserved, but they were surrounded by buildings that were designed to look a century older. So here you have Hawks Inn, a hotel, built back in 1846, and right behind it is Lang's Delafield Hotel built in 2006 designed to look colonial. -

John

That's really funny. -

John G

So it created some controversy, but Bob Lang gave downtown Delafield an identity. And these businesses are giving downtown Delafield customers. -

John

Population? -

John G

About 7200. -

John

And let's call it location? -

John G

Location. (chuckling) Delafield is about 30 miles west of Milwaukee, and the city covers around 10 square miles between I 94 and Highway 16, pretty much surrounding Lake Nagawicka. It's a beautiful area. It really is. People love this town. They do. Are you biking here? Yeah. The Interurban now is the Lake Country Bike Trail. That's perfect. It really is. Were you on it or are you going on it? -

John G

I've been. -

John

You've been. Good. Thanks John. -

John G

See you John. There's two Delafield's in my mind. It's downtown Delafield with all those cute buildings, and this Delafield. Right off the highway, 94 and 83. Where in this Delafield there is everything. Delafield. (upbeat music) When it starts out the wire is round, it ends up looking like a trapezoid. So it's flattening the wire and making it so that you can shape it to the determined size that we want. We produce about 100 million of these snap rings a year right here for the automotive industry for all the drive shafts. General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, Nissan and all the after market as well. -

John

And it's a family business? -

John B

My business is a family business. My dad started as a distributor of snap rings. We go through about 3/4 of a million pounds of wire a year. And then I kindda went off on my own and did some manufacturing and..., So I designed a lot of this stuff. I designed these racks, and then that took off. It's a totally different world in here. And it allowed me the opportunity to branch out and do what I wanted which was make some candy. It wasn't the generation before you, it was the generation before them that introduced you to these? So it was always grandma, right? Exactly. It was Aunt Agnes who had these. Absolutely. It was like I need em. I need em. That's exactly right. Yeah I remember very vividly growing up and always had the candy raisins. -

John

Do you have any idea how it became candy raisins? -

John B

The only thing I can think of is the little wrinkle on the top of it. -

John

How long was it between the time they stopped making it to the time you brought it back? -

John B

They closed the factory fall of '08 and then I brought it back in 2014. So you're talking six years ish. It was a lot-- -

John

People like I missed it -

John B

Oh my god. I kind of just went after it and said I gotta bring it back. -

John

In this building which we're talking about those rings and the candy here. How many people are here everyday? -

John B

About 30 people. 30 people? You're my trainer okay? Okay. Good. -

John B

It's a different deal for sure. You'd never expect to see rings and candy made in the same building. -

John

No. -

John B

Isn't that funny? -

John

Yeah. -

John B

Do you get paid by the candy raisin or by the hour? How did you show up in Delafield? When was that? In 1987, '88 because I had originally started a business. I was in the calendar business. I had offices over in Highway 83 and they were building a new gas station, and I just saw the advance of urban sprawl. I like small towns. I just wanted to rebuild the downtown. And then it just started to evolve from here. Then when the recession came, then I started to sell everything. These 19 buildings. I've sold every single one. This was the first one right here which is still my office. And this year I started-- Here's where I started. the calendar company again. -

John

Did you? -

Bob

Yeah. And there's where-- -

John

And there you are. -

Bob

There we are now. And I've been working on designing the calendar. I wrote that novel that I showed you too, and most importantly my Lincoln collection. -

John

We should talk about that. It's a Lincoln collection of what? -

Bob

From what we know it is the largest collection of Abraham Lincoln. It's painted in his cabinet room. -

John

Period paintings. -

Bob

Yeah there's about 15 of them. -

Bob

The significance of the collection, and the four days within the collection changed America forever. The four days. -

Bob

And the first one is the Emancipation Proclamation. The second day within this collection is the Battle at Gettysburg. And then you have March 9th, the day that Abraham Lincoln made General Grant the Commander of the Army of the Potomac. And then the fourth day is a day when Lee surrendered. And it's right here in Delafield. I love that fact that this could be a place, like people could come see this. -

Bob

My original goal 20 years ago was to build his house in Springfield but build it here. That's my concept of the Lincoln Museum. Ideas and visions are an evolving process. -

John

Sure. -

Amy

Believe it or not this building is actually not that old. It was built in 07 by Bob Lang. -

John

And you couldn't get a better location? -

Amy

Yes. I'm on the corner in the heart of downtown Delafield. -

John

It's a beautiful place. -

Amy

Thank you. -

John

Let's talk about what's in here. Is it all about clothes? We have women's fashion, jewelry, accessories, gifts and home goods. A number of the lines that I carry are actually locally made in Wisconsin. Milwaukee Candle Company, they're all soy candles and hand poured. They're inspired by Milwaukee which is kind of fun. -

John

So this is Bradford Beach (On a Good day). Mmhmm. Yep. Yep. That's it. It smells like summer. Nice and fresh. That's what that smells like. Why do you think it's important to maintain a relationship with local? -

Amy

Well this was a big dream of mine and now I have the opportunity to give back to other people who are trying to chase their dreams. -

John

That's so good. Who's your customer? Who shows up? A lot of regulars? -

Amy

A lot of regulars. Yes. We do have a lot of travelers. People come in from Chicago as well, but my customer she is typically probably an empty nester. She likes to go shopping with her girlfriends and kind of explore the town on weekends. -

John

And they love to come, don't they? -

Amy

They do. Yes. See what's new. They always like to find a new treasure whenever they come here. We're just moment from downtown Delafield in a place called Cushing Memorial Park. It's an 8.8 acre park with open spaces and walking and hiking trails and a Civil war memorial. What a beautiful old fieldstone building built in 1907. It was built as a fish hatchery. It's no longer that. Now you know what it is? It's an event space. So you won't find fish. You may find people dancing in there. It's a landmark here in Delafield. Everyone in town calls this the little red church on the hill. It's Saint John Chrysostom. It's the Episcopal church. Do you know what chrysostom means? Okay. It's classic Greek. Chrysostomus which means golden tongue. So Saint John Chrysostom is the patron Saint of preachers. Did you know that? I didn't know that until today either just so you know. The little red church on the hill. We're at Saint John's Northwestern Military Academy. School is not in session now. -

Jack

Yes and no. -

John

Is it summer school? -

Jack

Yes. We either run our summer school which has right now 105 students in it. Rented the facility to someone for camp. -

Counselor

Good job, Warren. -

Jack

But what we're doing here, this is Adventure Camp. Primarily a boarding camp. -

Counselor

Good job, buddy. We have young people who come back year after year. They ultimately will come to school here, many of them. -

John

Talk about a typical school year. -

Jack

The question invariably is well what did your son or your daughter do? What mistake did they make that you're sending them off to a boarding school? And it's military school. Well there's nothing true to that. This is not a place for bad people. We are primarily a college preparatory school. This is the oldest building on campus. Oh it is. There is a very, very clear structure. There is an order, with a rank, and it is a school run by cadets who are managed by adults. Our young people have tremendous leadership opportunities. We're an international student body. We have, last year, 19 states and 18 countries represented on this campus. -

John

That's great. -

Jack

We run about 230 youngsters. The Victory Memorial Chapel recognizes men at this Academy who went off to World War I. Now, it was all boys for 134 years Until today. Until today. You know this is the 21st century, but I will tell you as head of school, what my desire is is when a young person leaves this campus they can honestly look at their parent or look at their community and say I'm a good son. I'm a good daughter. I'm gonna be a good person in my community. And I'm gonna help solve problems in my community and in the world. We're with Pipe Major Brian Donaldson. How are you Sir? I'm very well. Nice to meet you. Pipe Major. Yes. Okay, what does that refer to? Well it's a rank in the British army and it's basically the head honch of the pipes and drums. (pipe music) -

John

What do you do here on campus? -

Brian

Well, I teach the cadets bagpipes. -

John

Are there many schools that have a piping program? -

Brian

No. Not in the States. It's quite unique actually. I would suggest that there's maybe three, perhaps four if there are at all. So we're pretty unique here in the respect that we've got a pipes and drums program. And it's proving to be very, very popular. -

John

And this is going to be a practice for those who are learning, right? I make them. Yes. I basically do it as a hobby now. There are different types of bagpipes all over the world, but I make the Great Highland bagpipe, as I've called, you know, Scottish bagpipes. So that piece of wood becomes, it comes out you see. That's what that is? That's what that is, that's a practice chanter. -

John

Is this out of the same black wood we looked at? Yes. -

John

It is. This is black wood, but this wood here is ebony. -

John

Is it called the Highland bagpipe or the Great Highland bagpipe? -

Brian

The Great Higland bagpipe. -

John

Oh it is. I thought you were just being boisterous. -

Brian

No. No. That is the proper term for it. The Great Highland bagpipe because it's louder and more obnoxious than any other bagpipe, you know. -

John

Louder and more obnoxious. -

Brian

Yeah. It's a mysterious instrument and you know when they get to hear it and see what we do, parade wise and playing wise, they take a liking to it, they take a shining to it. It's very much inspiring, and it's my job to keep the pipers inspired, and take them the extra mile, you know. I'm at Lapham Peak which is the highest point in Waukesha County. It's just over 1200 feet. It's named after Increase Lapham who was a weather scientist. In fact in the mid 1800s, he developed the National Weather Service. This is 45 feet. You can see southeastern Wisconsin. You can see Illinois from here. It's great to be able to see the downtown village of Delafield, but it really puts things in perspective because there is 94 and we are south of 94 and this is still Delafield. So Delafield is more than just the village. The downtown Delafield. It's big. North. East. South. (pleasant music) (laughing) West. -

John

From the front of the building, nobody would know there's a gas station in the back. You're limited to what you can do for signage out here and stuff. So this is what they came up with when they built the building. I think it's perfect. Don't you? Yes. I do. People can fill up their car, come in, grab a snack and they're wow, you have a butcher shop in here? Yeah we do. We have a broccoli bacon loaded potato salad. That's the fire and ice salad. -

John

It's a grocery store, though, as well. Yeah. The concept was always here. We just kind of twirked a little. The meat market used to be leased and now we run all of it together. -

John

All of it. What's prime meats mean? -

Billy

USDA prime is what really separates us from other stores. On top of being just prime, we age it for at least six weeks. It brings a lot of people in. -

John

There's not much you can't find here. -

Jamie

Yeah. -

John

Do you have bakery stuff as well? -

Harold

Yep fresh muffins that we bake everyday. -

Jamie

And then we do a few local. Yeah we bring in some fresh bakery from outside. Periwinkle in Waukesha. -

John

So close. Yep. -

Jamie

Close. -

John

And is this a lunch place? Do people sit down and? -

Jamie

Yeah. We grill out every Thursday. -

Harold

We grill brats, burgers, ribeye steaks, and hot dogs. -

Billy

USDA prime steak burger. It's all stuff we make ourselves. -

John

It's so good. So you make your own bratwurst, right? -

Billy

Many, many different flavors. -

John

It's a big brat though. Yeah. No we don't make them small. You don't make-- (laughs) We don't make them small. It's a half pound each! Almost a half pound, yeah. They're big brats. -

John

This is everyday? -

Harold

Yep. Everyday. 365 days we're open. The deli and the gas station. -

John

I'm gotta go now. I'll see you later. I've gotta finish my work. So I've been to Delafield one time. It's called Wholly Cow. And it, holy cow! It's the best ice cream and custard. I want the Wholly Cow custard, vanilla. Can you do that? Holy cow. So KM it stands for Kettle Moraine. So we're in the Kettle Moraine? We're not. We're in Wales. We're in Wales. Right next to Delafield. A lot of kids from Delafield go to Kettle Moraine and we're talking girls soccer. -

John

Why? Because it was a team that nobody thought was gonna do much last year. And their staff put together this idea that we're gonna play everybody, and we're gonna be in such great shape from the middle of the season on that we're gonna beat teams because of that. -

John

And did they? -

Mike

And they did and it worked. Semi-finals at state they lost to Bayport. Bayport was 24 and 1. Had a great record and they lost in overtime. This program was led by nine seniors and Blair Cruikshank, she's the leading scorer. And she's gonna not go to college next year because she's going to be working out with the US Speed Skating team. Her mom, Bonnie Blair. Her dad also was on the Olympic team as a speed skater. She's just one of many of these Seniors that did a great job with this team. -

John

How big is this school? -

Mike

1500. Division one. And their gonna be good for a while. -

John

We're at Kettle Moraine. It's in Wales, outside of Delafield. Home of the-- -

Mike

Lasers. -

John

We're talking soccer. -

Mike

Thanks John. -

John

Girls soccer. Thanks Mike. -

Mike

You bet. You gotta love a community that tells you where you are, when it was established, and what you can do here. You can do some curling and you can do some hockey. Maybe not today, but you can do it here. And when you're done doing all of that. You can do nothing, but feel welcome doing it of course. We're at the Naga-Waukee War Memorial Golf Course. Naga-waukee. What does it mean? We tell everybody it means land between two lakes. Which it is land between two lakes, but it's a combination of Pewaukee Lake and Lake Nagawicka. -

John

It's a beautiful course. Is this a private club? Who can play this? -

Tom

This is a strictly public club. Open to all abilities. All people. It was opened in 1968. It continues to be one of the most popular golf courses in Wisconsin. It's becoming one of the premiere destination stops for golf worldwide. We've had people come from England, Australia. We will do approximately 40,000 players for the year. -

John

Do kids come out? Absolutely. We have great junior programs. Parents and kids can play free on many of our golf courses after three o'clock. -

John

Oh really. I had no idea. We encourage that. Yep. Free rentals as well. Okay. So put your hands on there. And what's a good age to start your kid? As soon as they show interest. I mean as young as four or five years old. We have em out here. Oh wait. Hold on. -

Tom

Parents that play golf wanna get their kids involved. You're supposed to look that way-- Because that means they can just keep playing. That's your target right there. There's so many good aspects to the game. The fitness. The family aspect of it. It's fun to be outside. Our summers are relatively short here in Wisconsin. So the more time you can spend outside. -

John

But to spend a couple hours walking this, can you walk this instead of--? -

Tom

You can walk this. It's considered a challenging walk. We have a lot of customers that will ride nine, and walk the back, or ride the back nine. As you can see we're standing on a very hilly part of the golf course right here. So it's a good workout. We're open sunrise to sunset everyday. -

John

And do people come and learn how to golf here? -

Tom

Oh yes. I've had lessons where we've sat out here and nobody hit the ball for half hour. -

John

Really? -

Tom

Sure. I was on the phone with my sister who says I was at a wedding here. So you have some weddings here. You have a restaurant that's open everyday. It's quite an operation. -

Ramona

It is. We have so many things. We have outdoor dining. We have the big terrace. We have a patio. We named it after my father, Jack, because he used to stand out here with his accordion and play for people. -

John

It's such a great story. To see families who have these family companies, you know? Yes. I always remember my grandma and grandpa and they always made us feel so welcome and made our customers feel so welcome. We're a family. We're not super corporate. And we cook all our food fresh. We don't throw it in hot boxes. The chefs are out there cooking your food right before it goes out. -

John

And you came here, what year? -

Ramona

1981. The building was actually built in the early 1900's. Opened in 1905, and it's been a hotel. It was a disco at one point. Different schools. This couldn't be nicer. Do you get a lot of lake traffic? We do. We do. It's a busy lake. It's a fun lake. People from Chicago, Milwaukee. On a Friday night, we have over a 1000 people. -

John

A 1000 people through here in an evening? -

Ramona

In an evening. It's a well oiled machine. We also have our shrimp boil monthly throughout the summer. It's a good time. We boil the shrimp right over on the fire pit, and then bring it up to the buffet for everybody. -

John

What is most popular? -

Mark

We'd say some of our steaks. Our seafood. The walleye pike. -

Ramona

This is our wild caught walleye. Brown butter pecan glaze on top. Wild rice. -

John

Future wise, what are you hoping? -

Mark

That's a big question. Keep going with the times. We added on a wine room. A water feature. Bringing in more sustainable foods and keeping up with the times. As well as keeping like our German heritage and traditional food alive. If you're coming to Delafield, just come a little further to Genesee Depot. You have to experience this property. It's called Ten Chimneys. You will not be disappointed. You can see everything. Right. So yes. This is one of the highest points in Ten Chimneys. -

John

Ten Chimneys. It's because there are 10 chimneys here. -

Randy

That is correct. -

John

The main house. -

Randy

Yeah the main house which has six chimneys. The cottage, we have two. We have the studio. -

John

That has one. We have one more. That's right here over the creamery. This is really ground zero for American theater. This is where Alfred and Lynn would spend a lot of time practicing their lines. They would spend time dancing. They loved being on the live stage. They loved an audience. Prior to Alfred and Lynn acting, you would speak. Then I wait til you finish. And then I would speak. And Alfred, they felt that was not natural. And so they started speaking over lines. So I would speak-- And then I was talking because (indistinct) Because that's how people talk. And that felt more natural. Exactly. Exactly. You're very good. (laughing) -

John

And did they ever live here full time? Yes this was Lynn and Alfred's bedroom. They used to spend their winters here, but then when they retired this is where they retired to, Ten Chimneys. The nice thing you about it you had Katherine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier. This is Lynn dying Helen Hayes' hair. Alan Alda loved this space here. He would actually sit in a chair right here. Why don't you sit there? And many other actors would come out here, and they would spend their summers here. Carol Channing said when you're invited to Ten Chimneys it's as if you'd died and gone to heaven. And our Master Teacher, Stephen Mckinley Henderson said, "Coming to Ten Chimneys is like going to heaven "and not having to die." This is where all the tours begin. Also downstairs we have a theater and a studio space. This is the Lynn Fontanne Theater. As you know in New York, there's Lynn Fontanne Theater. We wanted to provide a similar space here. You can press and see one of the Lunt's plays. -

John

I love the fact that you were able to assemble all of these playbills. Yeah. Well you know, people loved the Lunt's. They were all over the country. We really wanna honor the Lunt's in everything we do here at Ten Chimneys. -

John

There's a fellowship program. Lunt Fontanne Fellowship program which is the preeminent program for theater actors with a minimum 20 years of acting experience. The wonderful thing about us is that there is no other program in the country that's like this. This is Maria Luther and she's the owner of this yellow barn that was red for a few years. Wasn't it? Yes it was. And before that it was yellow with a big smile on it. It was. And everyone loved it. It was the smiley barn. It was iconic. Yes. About 17 years ago, a new owner came and they took the smiley off. -

John

And how long have you owned it? I've only owned the barn for a few months. It's a brand new endeavor to put a new toy and candy store in the barn, and to bring back the smiley face. It's a landmark! People from all over Wisconsin, outside of Wisconsin, know this barn because it is right on the highway. Absolutely Dick's is staying. They are a part of the whole fabric of Lake Country and they're staying. -

John

Are you glad it's back? -

Mike

Oh yeah. Absolutely. Your dad started this business? Yep. Dad started business in 1982. -

John

It's kind of an ideal location for fishing, isn't it? -

Mike

Oh absolutely. We have 35 lakes within 15 miles of the store. -

John

And the business is live bait and tackle? Live bait and tackle strictly. Fishing, leaches, nightcrawlers, wax worms, leaf worms, red worms. And then of course we have 15 tanks of minnows. All different species. Different types in the year. We have the largest selection of live bait in the Midwest. -

John

You do. And when this airs it will be the smiley barn again. You've seen it all. Absolutely. Yeah. Coming full circle here. Delafield's not only in Lake Country. It is the heart of Lake Country. You have 30 seconds to tell us why Delafield, Wisconsin is the best place in the world to live, work, and play. And Mayor Kent Attwell you can start right now. Great. Well, John, we love the city of Delafield for its semi-rural environment. Its outstanding schools and its historic downtown where we have lots of great restaurants, shops and four hotels. This all surrounds Lake Nagawicka on the Bark River, where you can swim, kayak, and boat, even ice fish. Right next door is Lapham Peak State Park where you can go cross country skiing and hiking. So the next time you're driving down Highway 94 and you see the yellow smiley barn, Why don't you stop by and visit. Carpe diem. -

John

Thank you. Good job, Mayor. You can do some, um, some... -

Woman

Towing. towing. Ten Chimneys and it's because there are Ten Chimneys here. That is correct. It's gotta-- Not chim-i-neys. Chimneys. Chimneys. You are so... National register of a historic ahhh. It's no longer used as a fish hatch, that's hard. Beautiful fieldstole building. -

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