From logging town to modern-day rural city

The construction of the Wisconsin Central Railway began in 1871 with designs to build tracks that would span the 250 miles from Menasha to Ashland. The contract for this construction was held by the Phillips and Colby Construction Co. which then subcontracted it ut to other companies. In early 1872, the project had reached north of Stevens Point and by September of that year, the work had reached Section 53, the current location of the city of Colby. For two years, the main camp for the construction crew was located here, but in 1873, the work was finished and those working on the rail moved onwards.

While the rail lines continued their journey north, many people remained behind, and thus many farms, businesses and public works sprouted up. Over the last century and a half, the people and their work has evolved and so too as the look of the landscape. What was once miles of forest now plays home to acres of fields. Where dirt roads and wooden churches once lay, now one will find paved blacktop and brick buildings that have lasted the test of time.

A Burgeoning Pioneer Town

The village of Colby, named after one of the son of the president of the railroad company that built the track around which the village had congregated itself, quickly started adding the many amenities and services that such new communities needed. Five years after its official inauguration, the city had a number of dry goods and general stores and saloons. N.P. Peterson and Karl Holtzhausen ran some of the town’s first blacksmiths and the Ferguson brothers and Richard B. Salter operated nearby lumber mills.

The city also had its own millners, butchers, jewelers, lawyers, optometrists, dentists, veterinarians, doctors and druggists by 1900.

Dairy farms and their accompanying industries grew in number, from various cheese factories to the Colby Cheese Box Company, which opened a factory in 1896.

In addition to merchants and production industries, communications were important to any growing community at the time. The Colby Post Office was opened in 1873 and Ira Graves served as its first postmaster before G.W. Ghoca took over the duties in a more official capacity. The Shafer Brothers owned a printing office, out of which they ran the

newspaper. In 1888, the first telephone line was installed and by 1903 the Colby Telephone Co. Exchange had reached 38 working lines.

Public services like a local government, a fire department and schools were also deemed necessary with a growing population. The public hall and accompanying library consisting of 57 books written in German were built in 1879.

Andrew Flaig served as the city’s first mayor after Colby was officially incorporated in 1891. At the time of its incorporation, Colby was the smallest city that had a city government in Wisconsin, thus earning itself the nickname “Midget City,” a moniker that many local businesses utilized in their own names.

Fires were far too common with many of the buildings at the time being made largely from wood and, after some particularly dangerous blazes threatened the village, it was decided something should be done. In 1885, N.P. Peterson collected money from citizens to fund a pump that could be mounted on a horse-drawn wagon, along with the accompanying tanks of water. By the turn of the century, a more organized force of volunteers had been formed.

A primary school was constructed for the cost of $450 in the 1870s and its first Colby history

teacher was Ruth Smith. The Colby Free High School was organized in 1885, largely through the work of its first principal, Professor John Sims. In 1888, the high school had its first class graduate, a class comprised of five students. One year later, the city had its first high school building constructed.

The religious needs of its citizens also needed to be met, and as such, a number of churches were built to cater to the various denominations in the area. A United Methodist church was built in 1883, with Reverend Arthur Chalfant serving as its first resident pastor. The town’s first Lutheran church was constructed in 1884. A group from the Zion Lutheran congregation split and formed a new group, building a new church in 1892. The Catholic St. Killian’s was organized in 1885 and then built a new building in 1889 before adding the city’s first Catholic school in 1894.

The city continued to evolve as the century turned over. Businesses changed hands as the next generation began to take over. New churches and municipal buildings were built, the new brick structures reflective of the more permanent nature of both the institutions they housed and the city itself. Colby, it seemed, was here to last, the surrounding dairy agriculture having become prosperous enough to endure the shift away from logging.

Advances in technology brought forth new opportunities for the town’s infrastructure as well as different avenues for business. The Colby Electric Light and Water plant was built in 1902, a new city well was drilled in 1906 and wooden sidewalks were replaced with cement counterparts in 1921. Sewer and water treatment systems were added in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Colby State Bank, which opened in 1900, stood as the community’s first stable financial institution. Security State Bank followed two decades later, setting up shop in 1920. Harmony Co-op, a business venture formed by six farmers in which they would purchase large quantities of livestock feed and then resell it other area farmers, started in 1915 and continued to be an influential entity in the community for the century that would follow. The Badger Theatre was built in 1928 and was used for both plays and movies.

Highway 13 was constructed during this time, opening the city to greater travel via automobiles. The town’s first gas station was opened in 1923 along the highway.

The effects of the Great Depression and World War II could be seen throughout the nation, and Colby was no different. While some thrived in the changing conditions, others began to fade away.

Passenger and freight traffic along the railway began to slow in the 1950s and ‘60s, eventually leading to the closure of the Station 51 depot. In 1972, the depot building was moved with plans to use it as a museum, a purpose that it still serves to this day.

While the depot was no longer in service, others still made use of the railway. E.W Lewis built a plant in 1951 in Colby along the line that produced corrugated boxes, a business that would eventually become the Packaging Corporation of America.

Meanwhile, the city also saw expansions to its schools and other public service buildings. A new building housing the city hall and library was built in 1952 and schools saw many rapid add-ons made necessary by absorbing the Unity school District in 1954 and the Dorchester schools in 1964. By the early ‘70s, enrollment had expanded to over 600 students, nearly 10 times the number that had attended at the turn of the century.

Many of the local organizations were formed during this time period. The original Colby Lions club was formed in 1939, but was reorganized in 1952 and 1963. The first meeting of V.F.W. Post No. 2227 was held in 1945. The local Girl Scouts troop was formed in 1952, while the original Boys Scouts organization was created in the early 1920s, but it needed to be remade in 1950.

Into A New Millennia

Over its last 50 years, Colby’s population has continued to grow, going from 1,178 during the 1970 census to 1,945 residents in 2020. While the city itself has seen an overall increase in population, the school district’s enrollment dropped to nearly half of its 1970s totals, with the most recent 2023 total measuring just above 300 students.

Many of the local mainstays, both in the private and public sectors, saw consolidation or changes, reflections of industries shifting to urban areas and increased cooperation between the city and the neighboring municipalities of Abbotsford, Dorchester and Unity. The city created a joint police force with Abbotsford in 1969 and combined its fire department with those of Abbotsford and Dorchester to form the Central Fire & EMS District in 2017. Harmony Co-op combined with Central Wisconsin Cooperative to form ProVision Partners in 2015, though their operations remain in Colby. The PCA plant shut down in Colby history

Continued from page 3

2018 after moving to a new facility in Marshfield. Local banks have given way to larger, multi-branch entities like Nicolet Bank, Forward Bank and RCU.

Despite the many changes, there are many that still provide the same or similar services to their community that their counterparts supplied near its inception. St. Mary’s, Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, and First United Church of Christ provide religious services for Colby parishioners. Loos Machine & Automation, whose origins reach back to 1902, continues to manufacture processing machinery and businesses like Smith Brothers Meats and Ray’s Market provide the community with similar services as the butchers of old. The city still has its fair share of bars, gas stations, and places to eat and just outside lay the dairy farms that have long been a backbone of the community. Baumgartner’s Lumber & Materials is even reminiscent of the city’s earliest industry.

Many things have evolved over the past 150 years, but the work ethic, family values, and sense of community that Colby was built on still remain. It is on those principles that those living there now will continue to carry on into its future, whatever it may look like.

THEN

PROTECTING THE COMMUNITY -The firefighters of Colby have had long history of serving their community, starting in 1885 through the present.

WARRIORS OF THE GRIDIRON -The Colby schools have helped sponsor athletics since their earliest days. On the left is a team photo of the CHS football team in 1900, juxtaposed next to the current team on the right.