The photo for this Retrospect feature was taken of the entrance of the Allen Lumber Company in Templeton 99 years ago. The location is the eastern part of the future incorporated Village of Sussex (1924). The storage building for products in the foreground has the remnants of a Wisconsin State Fair sign showing fair dates for that year, 1911, of Sept. 12-16.
In the background of the photo is a Soo Line box car. In 1886, the track was laid by the Wisconsin Central Railroad only to become the Soo Line as the 20th century arrived. Much later that century, Wisconsin Central again gained control of the line only to later become part of the Canadian National Railroad.
The roadway today is Main Street in Sussex and designated on maps as Highway 74. When this photo was taken, the roadway was surfaced with clay dirt. It must have been a cloud of dust when one of those “new fangled” cars came flying through the railroad/street intersection back in 1911.
Allen’s lumber yard started in the spring of 1886 well before the completion of the Wisconsin Central Railroad which has a traditional first day of Christmas 1886.
Sherry Welton and Co. purchased the property on March 10, 1886. This company consisted of Henry Sherry and his wife, Abbie, George Welton and his wife Helen, and William Paddock and his wife, Ida. The net result was the construction of the Templeton-based Sherry Lumber Yard that would take advantage of the soon-to-be completed rail delivery service. The Sherry Welton Co. saw that a lumber yard with a storage building were erected along with a manager’s home and office building fronting on the north side of Main Street. They also built a general store and later a meat market which they rented out. James Templeton was the first proprietor of the general store/Templeton Post Office which he later leased.
In 1888, further west on the north side of the road which was then called Merrill Street, the Mammoth Spring Hotel was built and today this structure now called Tailgators is the only thing left of this tavern, meat market, general store and lumber yard that once graced the north side of Main Street.
A newspaper clipping from the spring of 1886 in the Wisconsin Free Press reads, “There has been some transfers of real estate here on account of land (east of Sussex) being cut up by the railroad. There is a number of places along the line where parties might be convenienced by buying and selling. Honorable W. Paddock has a large building up for a lumber office (and home) and intends on putting in a spur line to his lumber yard. He has a good and convenient site for his purpose.”
Again in the Wisconsin Free Press on Oct. 22, 1887, is this reference, “Building is going on apace in East Sussex (then the name of Templeton) Honorable William Paddock is doing a heavy business at his (new) lumber yard.”
Unfortunately William Paddock died very suddenly and unexpectedly in early 1891. W. Stanley Young was appointed as the new lumber baron as the Sherry Lumber Company went into receivership on Nov. 17, 1897.
Curtis W. Allen took over the bankrupt lumber yard and called it Allen Lumber Co. It went out of business in 1911 just about the time this photo was taken. Caldwell and Gates Lumber Co. took over until 1926. Fuller Goodman then ran it for 36 years until 1962 when Charles Zimmerman took over and had it until the 21st century when he sold it. It was torn down on Sept. 13, 2004, Zimmerman had run it the longest; for more than 40 years.
Soon afterward, the now-split property had an owner for the back acres rental storage buildings and Seigo’s Japanese Steak House was built.
In the photo, one can see a lone house in the distance. It was built prior to 1891 and was destroyed by the Sussex Fire Department for a practice burn. The land was cleared for the Quad Tech buildings. Historically, the house had one long-term tenant, the Magnusson family which included his wife and five children. Born in Sweden, Magnusson came to Sussex-Templeton with the coming of the North Western Railroad in 1910. He chose to remain here as the village black smith with a shop where the Sussex Inn is today.