An Abridged Timeline: The Infamous Life of T. Charles Kobella and his Notorious Polski Hotel: Part 3

Posted on October 27, 2021 by stevenspointhistorian

BAR BRAWL?! BUSTED!

Note that this work is incomplete.The timelines we write are meant to be fluid and changing. That is one of the reasons they are described as abridged. Not only do we not include all the details in them, but there is always more to find, and always more to write. Overtime more sources are found, more stories are heard, and more tips are followed until a full article is ready to be written.

The Brawlers by EJ Pfiffner located in Whiting Place, painted circa 1946. Post card from Pfiffner Family Collection

Thus far Kobella’s Polski Hotel does not disappoint and certainly lives up to its description as a “disorderly house!” Enjoy this next selection from our timeline as Charles Kobella and his sordid hotel infamy continues!.

January 1910 Wojik & Glisiczynski applied for a liquor license and was approved, stating that “it was their purpose to run a clean, orderly saloon business,” and would be run entirely separate form the Kobella Hotel.

Feb 1910, Paulina Werhowski sues for $500 in personal injuries, saying she slipped and fell on an alleged ice covered sidewalk in front of Kobella’s

Mar 1910, Augusta Kobella, taken to the Northern Asylum, second commitment, “She has been suffering from epilepsy and on Sunday when examined by Drs Walters and Rogers, was very violent. It required the service of three attendants to take her to the asylum,” obviously against her will.

By James E. Heg, compiler of the 1885 Wisconsin Blue Book(Life time: 1980) – Original publication: 1885 Wisconsin Blue Book. Immediate source: Page 160, of the 1885 edition of the Wisconsin Blue Book., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33529091

1910 Census lists Augusta Kobella as Musgusta Kabele, 40, an inmate at Oshkosh, Winnebego, Wisconsin. Charles is listed as Tharles Kobiela 46, hotel keeper of a mortgaged property. John,18, and Frank, 15, are listed as well as three boarders, one being named JF Fake, along with 28 year old servant Mary Lipinkski

May 4, 1910 FIGHT! Kobella Polski Hotel, fourth Ward Joint Raided at 1am! Someone called the police to report a “rough house going on” at “one of the most obscene places in the city.” “A place of character run by Kobela, where young women are harbored until a late hour, for the purpose of gaining patronage through the presence of these people should be put out of business at once.” Kobela fined $34.25 or “sixty days in jail at hard labor.” Wojik & Glisiczynski declared they had “no further interest in the place,” taking their license with them and once again leaving Kobella without one, shutting him down. Kobella assured the mayor he wouldn’t try to open the place as a saloon again. Uh huh. Sure.

May 11, 1910 Kobella’s raided AGAIN! Kobella, a woman, and two men were arrested around midnight at the hotel, the same night another “joint” was raided on the south side which was said to be “equally as bad and for a long time has been a stench in the nostrils of the respectable people of the south side.” Kobella was charged with “maintaining a house of ill fame.”

May 18, 1910 Kobella produces bail of $1,000, a whopping $31,087.16 today. The newspaper reports that he will be defended by Sicklesteel & Pfiffner, who also did not come cheap.

June 1910 Joseph and Martha Kobella Mattice, who had been living in Milwaukee, applied, and were granted a liquor license for 245 N Second Street with conditions that, “he must conduct the place better than most any other saloon in the city, must keep sober himself and allow no nonsense of any kind in his saloon; [and that] he must at once discard any music boxes or other musical instruments that he might have…” The fact that Mattice was a Spanish War Vet helped his cause considerably. Kobella himself was reported to have been ordered out of the city.

Aug 1910, Kobella Found Insane! Drs C Von Nuepert and FA Walters diagnosed him as suffering from chronic alcoholism. Committed to the Northern Asylum in Oshkosh.

Dec 1910 Kobella “paroled” from the asylum

Feb 1911 Anna Mattice, mother of Joseph Mattice, petitioned the Common council to revoke the license of Charles Kobella, but likely in her son’s name. The council moved that “Mr. Kobella and Mattice be summoned to appear,” but the chief of police said the place had already been closed.

Feb 1911 Augusta Kobella paroled from asylum. She returns home to the Polski Hotel.

April 1911, Scandal! Joseph and Martha Mattice divorce!

SPDJ April 17, 1911

Nov 1911 Martha Kobella Mattice, Charles and Augusta’s only living daughter, dies at the age of 25 after a lengthy illness, leaving behind her husband and a 1.5 year old daughter. Martha is buried at St. Peter’s Cemetery along with her siblings, Rosa, 6 months, and Peter, 1 year.

Watch for Part 4 coming soon!

Read Part 1 here , Read Part 2 here

An Abridged Timeline: The Infamous Life of T. Charles Kobella and his Notorious Polski Hotel: , Part 1

Posted on October 5, 2021 by stevenspointhistorian

Blasphemy & Bicycles

Stevens Point lost an interesting landmark this past month, a building that is said to have quite the sordid past. The Belke Manufacturing Company building was razed recently, and rumors have been floating around about its history beyond the lumber company for many years. But none that told much of the story behind the building, or maybe we should say the story ‘inside’ the building.

The Belke Manufacturer Company building circa 2018, Courtesy of Tammy and Chris Larson

Just as our work on Amelia Berg began with Wendell Nelson, so does on our research on the history of Kobella’s Polish Hotel. We are grateful to him, as always, for his work before us and hope we are able to expound on his considerable research overtime. We only wish we had the opportunity to speak with him about this notorious Stevens Point building, and so many others, before he passed. Alas, we pick up, hopefully near where he left off.

Please enjoy the beginning of our research on the infamous T. Charles Kobella and the history of his notorious disorderly house, The Polski Hotel.

Theophilus Charles Kobella was born in Poland around 1864 and arrived in the states with his family in 1882. He likely came to the Portage County with his parents, John and Rosalie Kobella shortly after arrival. According to genealogy records, by 1887 he had found a wife. Charles married Augusta (Augustina) Hintz/Hinca, on a cold day in January at a small Catholic church in Polonia, when he was 23 and she just 17. Together they had at least six children, three who survived to adulthood, Martha, born 6 months after the wedding, John, and Frank. Rose and Peter didn’t survive infancy. At some point after marrying, the Kobella family moved to 203 Portage Street (today 701 Portage Street) and began their, at first seemingly normal, but later, quite infamous and often difficult twenty years in Stevens Point.

The area circa 1896. Historic Stevens Point Collection

June 1894 first known Stevens Point Daily Journal entry, Chas Kobella, 28, reported as fireman. He was hurt and bruised after being dragged by a team of horses while on the job. Kobella attempted to claim damages of $78.30, ($2,490.73 today) but it was rejected and disallowed by the Finance and Claims Committee.

1895-96 City Directory, ‘Kobila’ Charles, fire dept No 1, 203 Portage. He does not appear in previous editions

St Peters Church, before the fire. 1876-1896, PCHS Archives

October 1896, And so it begins… Kobella remained a member of the fire dept likely until he was arrested for stealing $20 ($636.20 today) in beer and wine from St Peter’s Church during a horrible fire on October 18, 1896. The original church building and adjacent properties were a total loss and a crushing blow to the Polish community. Kobella and the other gentleman involved pleaded not guilty and posted $100 bail each, the witness eventually dropped the suit, but the damage to his reputation was already done.

Feb 1897 Kobella builds a “gun and bicycle repair shop on North Second Street” with plans to open May 1. Bicycles were extremely poplar at the end of the decade due to the invention of the Safety bike with chain. Over 150 bicycle manufactures existed across the nation at the time so a bicycle repair shop would not have been a bad business venture. “He is now engaged in erecting a two story frame building 18×26 feet, just north of the slough. The upper story is to be finished off for living rooms.”

June 1897 Ad for bicycle repair appears in SPDJ, Hans Nielson, in the basement of 245 N Second Street

Nov 1897 Kobella family is living in a one story house at the corner of Portage and West Street, there was a small fire that began in the cellar of the property which was reported in the papers

701 Portage Street today. West Street can be seen to the right, which has been a dirt alley like road for decades. Clipped from Google Images 2021, circa 2019

Dec 1897, uh oh, Little Martha ‘Kobiela’ is first on the list for tardy first graders in the Fourth Ward, but manages to be “promoted to Second Grade, in June of 1898.

1900 City Directory, ‘Kobela’ T. Charles, bicycle repair, res 245 N 2^nd‘

1900 Census lists, Charles, 34, Gusta 30, Martha 12, John, 9, Frank 5, Peter 1, and servant Katie Worzela 17, notes that Gusta has birthed 6 children and only 4 are living. Peter died young and does not appear in 1905 records, nor the 1910 census.

April 1900 Ad in SPDJ for ‘Kobela & Raizner’ Bicycles, Hardware, Musical Instruments, 121 S Second Street, where The Cabin bar is located today.

May 1900, Kobella wheel stolen by woman who said she was going to Plover, but went to Mosinee and did not return it!

Aug 1900 Kobella charged with assault, first known recorded incident. A drunk man had caused some issues in Kobella & Raizner’s bike shop on S Second Street. The man swore in front of Kobella’s wife and young daughter, as well as a female patron. Kobella asked him to leave several times eventually throwing him out by the shoulders. The man claimed he was kicked in the stomach, but no one could corroborate the story. Kobella pleaded not guilty, and the case was dismissed.

Sept 1900 Jas. Pusdrowski paid a $50 fine for a Sept 15th assault on Charles Kobella

Sept 23, 1900, Kobella placed ad in SPDJ that he “has removed [his business] from Bishop’s block to 233 N Second Street, first building north of the Slough bridge.” This is the only time this address is used.

Oct 1901, Another wheel stolen from Kobella, 245 N Second Street. He placed ad with a description of the bike hoping for its return.

Mar 1902, Kobella opens a bicycle livery and repair shop on Clark Street at the rear of Strong’s barber shop with Cychoz, likely John Cychoz, Clark Street near Third

Nov 1902 Kobella begins an addition to his building on N Second Street

1903-04 City Directory, Kobela T. Charles (T. C Kobela & Co) bicycle repairs, 247 N 2^nd, Leon Kobela listed as barkeep at same residence.

Aug 1903, Kobella announces that he will “embark in the hotel business and will cater especially to the Polish trade.” He had the “old Ciecholinski blacksmith shop moved from Portage Street” to the back of his building near the incline of the Slough to become a hotel stable.

Kobella’s new hotel at 245-247 N Second Street was soon to become a popular address, some would say, for all the wrong reasons…

Note: Kobella is spelled a variety of ways, we chose to use this spelling for uniformity as it is most commonly used in records and in both Augusta’s and Charles’ obituaries.

Watch for Part 2 coming soon!

Stevens Point’s Lost Carnegie Library: The Final Chapter

Posted on August 21, 2021 by stevenspointhistorian

Courtesy of the Portage County Library, circa 1950/60s

By the early 1960s complaints about overcrowding at the library dominated public discussion. The rotunda once a lovely sight, now called a “bothersome frill” was filled with stacks of bound magazines only reachable through a padlocked gate and the winding old staircase. “Originally, there was an opening in the first-floor ceiling and from the main desk you could look up into the dome. Later the opening was sealed,” and the beautiful special ordered green art glass was covered. Everywhere “book stacks standing where book stacks aren’t supposed to be.” Library officials declared that “the brick structure has outlived its usefulness as a library.”

Photos from the Stevens Point Daily Journal, January 24, 1964 showing how crowded the library had become. Stark difference than the 1914 photos posted in Part 4

Complaints of odd angles and no space for growth tabled talk about expanding the original structure. There was a preference to sell the old building and build a new modern library, but funding remained an issue. Then at the end of 1963, Charles M. White died and left $140,000 to the city. His intention was that it be used for a “project or building that will be beneficial” to the people of Stevens Point. Almost immediately it was decided that money would go towards the building of a new modern public library leaving the fate of the Carnegie Library in the hands of whoever purchased the building and land.

In April of 1966 construction began on the new Charles M White library at the corner of Church and Clark Streets, a historic corner where the city’s first church was built in 1853. It was also, ironically, next to where the high school burned in 1892 when the library lost half of its original collection. The new library would be built in the Brutalism style, a steep contrast to the Neo-Classical Revival styling of its Carnegie Library sibling just down the road.

At the end of December 1967, Stevens Points Free Public Carnegie Library closed its heavy ornate doors and prepared for the move. Once again, the immense collection of books moved to a new home just down the block and once again, they found a new home on new shelving leaving the dusty old worn varnished shelves behind to meet their fate.

The Beginning of the End, Circa 1968, Photo courtesy of Cathy Scipior Duggan

The building was sold to the First National Bank and sat empty for a few years. Then in April of 1969, the bank decided to demolish the building citing worries about vandalism. With that quick decision, one of the most important beautiful buildings to ever grace Stevens Point met its end nearly 65 years to the day of when Dr. Southwick received official word from Andrew Carnegie’s secretary. Nothing would be built on the land again, and today the site is covered in concrete and blacktop.

Open to All, yet forever lost to time
Mike Dominowki photo, UWSP / PCHS Archives

Mostly memories and photos remain, but you can still imagine a bit what it would have been like to walk through the enormous beautiful ornate brass doors of the original entrance. The doors and lamp posts were thoughtfully salvaged by those who realized their importance. Saved by local historian John Anderson and stored in the basement of the Old Main Building at the University, the doors safely sat and collected dust for a few decades. The lamp posts continued to be used and were moved to the front of the new Charles M White Library. Later, the lamp post silhouette was incorporated into the library logo. When the third and present library was built in 1992, the brass doors were dusted off and finally brought out of storage and given a new home. The lamp posts were reunited with the doors over a decade later completing a “new” library entrance and once again, “Open to All.”

The entrance to the Pinery Room meeting space, specifically designed to hold the doors, gave the library a beautiful grand entrance once again. Unfortunately, the transom that hangs above the doors is not original and it is a fabricated replicate based on the door design. Today the original hangs in the home of a private citizen, and at the time was not available for public display. The replica is slightly different than the first transom, but one would not know without seeing the original. Regardless of the differences, the current transom beautifully helps to complete the imagery of literally walking through the doors of another time. You can almost smell the books and hear the creaky floors.

The Original Carnegie Library Transom, Photo courtesy of David Schwerbel

The Stevens Point Carnegie Library is a more than a memory from the past, it was more than a building to many, it was an ideal, open to all, that brought a community together and gave its citizens a beautiful place to grow and learn. Locals today fondly reminisce about the smell of ancient books, the sound of the creaking wood floors and the dark varnished wood. Many do not remember the Carnegie Library, nor know it even existed at all. With only stories and artifacts to share, it is important to keep the memory alive of this lost nearly forgotten building of historic Stevens Point.

The only other known remnant of the library is the top of one the interior columns which is used as a display table base today at the current Portage County Library building. UWSP /PCHS Archives .

Photo Courtesy of Diane Casselberry of the Portage County Library

We would like to extend our gratitude to Diane Casselberry, Linda Kappel, Bruce Barnes, and the late Wendell Nelson for their gift of information and photos while we worked on this piece about Stevens Point’s Lost Carnegie Library. Without their contribution this article could not have been possible.

Read Part 1 here / Read part 2 here Read Part 3 here / Read Part 4 here/ Read Part 5 here

Framed postcard and souvenir spoon displayed in the Portage County Library, photo courtesy of Diane Casselberry

Circa 1953, photo source unknown at time of publishing

Post card with view from Clark Street looking west towards Strongs Avenue, circa 1908,
UWSP/ PCHS Archives

This early post card image shows a good example of the original doors and transom before the Weeks donation. Pre 1910, UWSP PCHS Archives

Post card looking north on Strongs Avenue towards Clark Street, circa 1910,
Historic Stevens Point Collection

Circa 1914, Wisconsin Historical Society

Note the lamp posts and the car parked at the right, Circa 1920, UWSP PCHS Arcives

Stevens Point Daily Journal, April 30, 1969

Sources used over the entirety of this piece:
Stevens Point Daily Journal
The Portage County Gazette
Wendell Nelson Papers
Portage County Library Archives
Wisconsin Historical Society Archives
UWSP / PCHS Archives
Sandborn Fire Insurance Maps

Stevens Point’s Lost Carnegie Library: Part 2

Posted on April 11, 2021 by stevenspointhistorian

Libraries were not typically free to use anywhere in the United States, let alone the world, during the 19^th and early 20^th century. Many, such as the Stevens Point’s library, had yearly or monthly fees, fees which some just could not afford. Philanthropist and steel mogul, Andrew Carnegie, believed in free self-education to a high enough degree that he made it a point to create a foundation. Starting in 1881, thousands of Carnegie Libraries were built across the United States. A community just need write and request the donation, but it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. The people would have to come up with their own funding as well. Carnegie required that each city who received library funding guarantee an annual contribution of support consisting of 10% of the original donation before they would be considered.

By January 1902 a few Stevens Point community members had written to Carnegie in hopes of being gifted the funds for a new library building. One of those people was the city physician, Dr. Frank Southwick. Civic minded Southwick had come to Stevens Point from Maine in 1889 and was best known for helping to eradicate diphtheria among the city’s children through immunization. He had managed to gain the attention of Carnegie when others had not, and he had managed to receive a reply stating that consideration would be given to the matter.

Stevens Point Daily Journal April 4, 1902

Shortly after it was announced by local media that Mr. Carnegie wanted to know “how much the city will guarantee,” in support of the library. Specifically, he wanted to know the amount of yearly taxes paid that went currently in support of the library and how much will be guaranteed annually if the building is obtained. At the time, the city had $925 in the annual library tax fund and would need to raise $575 more yearly to support a request of $15,000 from Carnegie, an amount previously suggested.

With a few local donations, some from members of the building committee, the Library Board and Common Council decided to ask for larger sum. At the end of April 1902, Dr. Southwick received a letter written by Andrew Carnegie’s secretary letting him know that Mr. Carnegie would be donating $20,000, approximately $613,000 today, towards the completion of a free public library building in Stevens Point.

Read Part 1 here / Read part 2 here Read Part 3 here / Read Part 4 here/ Read Part 5 here

This article was published in the Stevens Point City Times / Portage County Gazette February 20, 2021

Stevens Point’s Lost Carnegie Library: Part 1

Posted on March 27, 2021 by stevenspointhistorian

A favorite historic focal point for many small idyllic Wisconsin towns is their Carnegie Library. During the early years of the 20^th century 63 free public libraries were built throughout Wisconsin using funding from Andrew Carnegie. Few remain in use a libraries today, but many have been preserved and are often museums or historical society headquarters. Sadly at least 14 been razed. Locals may not realize that Stevens Point once had its own Carnegie library downtown since the land is now a blacktopped commercial driveway and nothing remains to signify it ever existed. As with several other of Stevens Point’s prominent historic buildings, the public library met the fate of the wrecking ball through poor planning and decision making over 50 years ago.

The history of the public library in Stevens Point reaches as far back as 1853 when the editor of the only newspaper in town at the time, The Wisconsin Pineries, made a call out for a lending library on the front page of the paper. By the late 1860s a Library Association, founded from early reading circles, began to hold dances, dinners, and bake sales to fund the city’s growing need for reading materials. One of the earliest public lending libraries was kept inside the White School which was located on the corner of Arlington Place and Water Street, where the Lincoln Center stands today.

Old White School circa 1908, UWSP Archives

In 1874 the association had raised enough money to rent a room above HD McCulloch’s Drug Store on the corner of Main and 3^rd Streets. This was the first set of rooms devoted solely to the purpose of a public lending library furnished with proper shelving and space for patrons to sit and enjoy the books they could borrow.

However, book borrowing came at a cost. Only those that could afford the $3 yearly fee, could enjoy borrowing privileges. With an average yearly income of around $400 for laborers in the lumber and paper industries in Wisconsin, library membership might not have been a priority, but the need was certainly still there. Later, in 1885, after a free library reading room was set up in a local ice cream shop, the Library Association dropped the fee to more reasonable $1 a year which would be $30.64 today.

As the library collection grew and reading popularity continued, space became limited, and the books were moved to the high school building on corner of Clark and Church Street in 1887. Tragically half of the collection was destroyed when the building caught fire on a cold night in February of 1892. The remainder were salvaged and stored for a bit, before finding new shelves again.

Fannie Carlin appointed as librarian. Feb 23, 1897, Stevens Point Daily Journal

After the fire the collection found its way to new shelving above the popular Taylor’s Drugstore on Strongs Avenue. Well known by locals, the space was eventually acknowledged as the public library and listed in the 1901 city directory as the Public Library with Librarian Catlin at their service. Officially known as the city’s first paid librarian, Miss Frances Catlin, called Fanny, was paid $16 monthly to manage the library. When Fanny left the position in 1898, her sister Molly took her place, and Mrs. Mary Dunegan joined as Assistant Librarian.

Courtesy of the Stevens Point Daily Journal

Miss Catlin and Mrs. Dunegan not only ran the small city library above Taylor’s, but also traveled across Portage County to rural communities setting up “Traveling Libraries” which consisted of small book collections. The pair placed the small collections of books in homes or businesses for a period allowing locals to browse and borrow easily without having to come to Stevens Point to use the main library. Even with the traveling libraries and the new home above the drugstore, Stevens Point still had a great need for a dedicated free public library building.

Taylor’s Drug Store was located in the red building on the right. The library was moved upstairs in 1897.

Read Part 1 here / Read part 2 here Read Part 3 here / Read Part 4 here/ Read Part 5 here

This article ran in the Stevens Point City Times / Portage County Gazette February 14. 2014

Historic Stevens Point

Stevens Point History

Tag Archives: Lost Buildings

An Abridged Timeline: The Infamous Life of T. Charles Kobella and his Notorious Polski Hotel: Part 3

An Abridged Timeline: The Infamous Life of T. Charles Kobella and his Notorious Polski Hotel: , Part 1

Blasphemy & Bicycles

Stevens Point’s Lost Carnegie Library: The Final Chapter

Stevens Point’s Lost Carnegie Library: Part 2

Stevens Point’s Lost Carnegie Library: Part 1

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Blasphemy & Bicycles

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