[solemn violin] In 1844, a wealthy Boston merchant named Amos A. Lawrence acquired nearly 5,000 acres of land in northeast Wisconsin.
As a long-time philanthropist, Lawrence decided to encourage development in the area in an unusual way: by establishing a university in the wilderness.
– Antoinette Powell: Amos A. Lawrence decided to establish university with the donation of $10,000 and land, and the provision that the Methodist Church come up with another $10,000 to establish the university.
Amos A. Lawrence wanted his new university to be tied to a religious organization because he felt that they had the discipline and the morality to improve not only the students who went to this place, but also the community.
[rushing water] - Land agents recommended a site south of Lawrence's land by the Grand Chute, with its many water power sites and no settlers.
– Antoinette Powell: So it was kind of a clean slate, and it could draw the New Englanders.
It could draw the people from New York.
Could draw the Protestants.
And it would be a perfect place, a beautiful place to establish this university.
The river was a draw.
The beauty of the area was a draw.
The city, the river, and the university inextricably linked.
- Wisconsin's territorial legislature approved the charter for the university in 1847-- one year before Wisconsin became a state.
– Antoinette Powell: Once it was established that Lawrence University was going to be here, the growth was exponential.
Within four or five years, people were moving in.
Buildings were going up.
It was becoming a city.
– Harlan Kiesow: As the area became settled, Morgan Martin, who was a Wisconsin territorial delegate and businessman, had the idea of constructing a transportation system along the Fox River.
– Dustin Mack: So, the improvements included straightening and taming the river.
By taking out the rapids using the series of locks and dams, the hope was that they could replicate the success of the Erie Canal, that they would be able to create the same sort of river traffic that would connect the Great Lakes through the Fox River, and eventually, over to the Mississippi, and out to New Orleans.
[hammering stone] - Harlan Kiesow: After Wisconsin became a state, the Fox River Project became the first internal improvement project for the state.
Work started in about 1852, and by 1856, it was completed enough that the Aquila steamship could make a round trip between the Mississippi River and Green Bay.
[rushing river] - The massive project included the construction of 17 hand-operated locks, four of them in Appleton.
Bigger boats could now travel the Fox River, and the dams could also capture the power of the river for industry.
Words spread of the promise of both the river project and the university.
– Antoinette Powell: In 1853, the village of Appleton was created, combining the three villages of Lawsburg, Appleton, and Grand Chute.
Lawsburg was on the east.
Established by George Lawe.
In the center was Appleton, established by John Mead.
And then, on the west, was Grand Chute, around the Grand Chute, the waterfall.
And then, in 1857, it was incorporated as a city.
– Dustin Mack: To make it more inviting for the railroads to come through here, Appleton was incorporated as a city.
And it worked because the railroad did come through, and Appleton became a hub.
– Antoinette Powell: Water travel was superseded [train whistle] by the railroads pretty quickly after this happened.
And so, water travel wasn't exactly the way to get around as people thought it was going to be.
- The coming of the railroads meant that the Fox would be used mostly for shipping bulk freight, but the power captured by the dams would fuel the city's industries.
– Dustin Mack: Some of the early industries along the river were sawmills, grist mills, and woolen mills.
[horse-drawn wagon] Wheat farming was also a very important aspect of Appleton's early economy.
The Fox River provided power for grist mills so the wheat could be ground up.
And then, the Fox River was a transportation system.
And so, the wheat could be grown here, it could be ground, and then shipped out.
- In 1853, the Richmond Paper Mill, the Fox Valley's first, began grinding up cotton rags and straw to make wrapping paper for local markets.
And away from the river, College Avenue developed as the major road in Appleton.
– Dustin Mack: College Avenue leads people to the college.
It leads people to downtown.
And so, it was the first place that people came to where businesses set up.
It's essentially Main Street for Appleton.
And then, the community expanded beyond that as it grew, including into the Third Ward and beyond.
[gentle guitar] - Antoinette Powell: The area of Appleton that's now known as the Old Third Ward is around the Grand Chute.
And this was the area where industry was building up.
It became industrialized pretty quickly, so the people who moved there weren't necessarily drawn by the beauty of the river, but by the opportunity of the river.
[rushing river] Industrialists built their homes on the bluffs overlooking the river.
So, they were overlooking their businesses.
So, you had the working class, you had the mill workers, and then, you had the industrialists living in the Old Third Ward.
- The city of Appleton continued to expand around the river, and the growing Lawrence campus, whose own growth would continue to help shape the future and character of the city.
[upbeat instrumental]
Passport
Follow Us