Oconto County WIGenWeb Project
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OCONTO COUNTY
Wisconsin

SURING SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCAL HISTORY
1979
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.EARLY SURING SETTLERS AND BUSINESSES
With the coming of the railroad, Suring boomed and homes and business places went up. .1896
Anton Arveson, father of Arlene McDermid, stocked the vacant store building and ran it as a general store.
Suring's first hotel was built by Abe Fredenberg, a Menominee Indian. This building is now the popular "Boarding House Supper Club."
August Giese built a hardware store, which is now the Union Hardware Company.
John Dieck built the present Lasch tavern, calling it the Assembly. He sold the place to Chris Daniels in 1900.
Arthur Cato, Suring's photographer, arrived in the spring. He lived at the foot of Suring Hill. This house was recently moved to Hayes and is the home of Curtis Strehlow. Mr. Cato's greatest source of income came from photographing the scenes in and around the lumber camps but he did engage in the portrait line, as is evident when anyone looks at an old photo of the early settlers. His son, W.A. Cato was a mason and placed the first concrete side walks in the village.
Simon Wandel, Suring's first blacksmith, had a shop on Main Street about where the present Stengel store warehouse now stands.
1897
Henry Johnson of Hayes and Louis Rollman established the first warehatfse and grain elevator along the track.
Michael Groninger and family arrived from Cecil area and built a large hotel. (The Opera House was not added until 1909.) This building is owned by John Berg now.
Anton Arveson erected a larger store building which also housed Suring's first post office. This building is owned by Ed Fercy at the present time.
Issac Serier, Suring's first depot agent, arrived in town. He and his wife had to rent rooms in the Groninger Hotel until suitable housing could be found.
1898
The present Pape Meat Market was built by. Home and Greene. Later that same year, Julius Hann bought the butcher shop and enlarged it.
Herman Groninger, son of Mike Groninger. distinguished himself as being the first village barber when he set up a chair in the bar room of the hotel where he shaved his customers and cut their hair.
Christ Nelson, formerly of Logan, opened a new shoe store near Anton Arveson's store.
William Meles opened a livery stable.
1899
Harry Serier purchased two lots and built a store and a home. In March of 1940, this store building was sold to Earl Whiting. It is now operated by Morris Whiting and George Schenk.
ABOUT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
Herschel Cooley had a small building on the corner now occupied by the Suring State Bank. He sold clothing, boots, hats and canes.
Levi Scott's livery stable stood behind the present Ehlinger garage.
Frank Stackpole erected the present Home Town Restaurant. One part of the building was used as his barbershop and the larger part served as a general store.
Many of the homes and business places in the area were built by the team of James Alien and G. W. Krueger at this time.
O.A. Raisler had a furniture store and a hardware business on the present Farmer Store site.
1900
William Zingler purchased the Cooley buildin site) and opened up a furniture store.
John Dieck purchased the hardware stock and building of O.A. Raisler and established himself as Suring's Hardware man, remaining in this line of business until 1917. The building is still standing today, but had been moved and is part of the Detert building.
J.J. Johnson opened 'The Klondike Saloon".
The present Wickman tavern was built by Abe Fredenberg, and it was named "The Atheran Hotel".
1901
W.J. Thielke came to the village and set up a general merchantile business in the Frank Stackpole building.
Jimmy Johnson and Nels Nelson erected a large building, two stories high, near the site of the present Farmer's Store. The upstairs of the building was known as Liberty Hall. The ground floor space was rented out to different businessmen.
1902
Miss Clara Gerndt started a millinery business in the present Bob Henkel home, next door to Bob's Mobil.
The Suring Elevator was built by Public Subscription and was considered another step toward making Suring a great agricultural center.
1904
John U. Johnson and Anton Jorgenson erected a farm machinery store just west of August Giese's Hardware Store. Along with farm implements, they also fixed harnesses. These two buildings were later combined and is now the Union Hardware store.
Frank Stackpole, Suring's barber, built a brick home for his family behind his place of business. Clifford Suring owns the house today.
R.F. Zuehlke came to Suring from Hayes and built a saloon on Main Street. The former Zuehlke business is "Dick and Toni's" today.
H.P. Sorenson started a blacksmith business. His shop was located on the present Ehlinger Garage car lot. The building was torn down in 1945 and a bowling alley was erected on the site, which has since burned.
The Methodist church was built, and also the Suring School.
H.B. Smith of Oconto Falls erected a barbershop on the east side of Harry Sener's warehouse. Smith stayed only briefly and sold the building to Frank Scott who converted it into a jewelry store. The building is still standing out at the Walter Mittag farm.
1904
The Suring Hospital was built by Dr. Jules Conard. 1905-1910
The year of 1905 brought the Wisconsin Pail Company to Suring. Later, in 1907, a box factory set up shop in the building and manufactured cheese boxes,
The Gus Abrams family moved to Suring in 1906 and opened a restaurant on Main Street. Levi Scott later owned the business and in 1910, Dr. Dougherty moved in.
A. Dionne of Lena came to Suring in 1907 and made pickle contracts with the many farmers in the area. Allert and McGuire erected a pickle factory along the railroad side track in 1908.
In 1909 E.F. Buss converted the Johnson and Jorgenson store into a general store. The store was in the Buss family until 1952, when it became part of Union Hardware.
On January 30. 1908, six buildings on the south side of Suring's Main Street were destroyed by fire.
A telephone exchange building was erected in the fall of 1908. It is now Jim's Barber Shop.
The present Stengel Store and its warehouse were both built in 1908. The warehouse was built by Levi Scott who operated a small general store business. He sold it to his son-in-iaw. R.M. Stengel in 1913. The present Stengel store was built by Nels Nelson.