Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1899-07-26
RACINE'S NOTABLES.
Dryer. Dodge, WinsIow. Fish,
Lyon. Dooiittle. Cooper,
Jonas, McWynn.
4 yERITABLE CRADLE OF GENIUS.

Annuaiiy-No Postoffice in city of 49,
600 peopie Does as Much Business.
Racine, Wis, July 25.-Racine has
been the cradle of an immense amount
OF ability and genius. perhaps no city
more so. Judge C. e. Dwyer went
from Rtcjne Judges Dodge and Wins
low Of the supreme bench. ex-Chief
Justice Lyon. John n. Fish, the Mil
waukee jurist, j. V. Quarles practiced
here and his partner, Spense. United
States Senator Doolittle lived and died
here-a big. honest, brave Democrat
and Baptist. 1t is the home, too of
Congressman Cooper, who with Bah
cock is the veteran of the Wisconsin
delegation, both on the threshold of
their fourth term.
Politics Forgotten in Making Judges.
Judge ]. B. Winslow's father was the
the old days, and the Judge was a class
mate in Racine college of Ex-Governor
Merriam of Minnesota, now at the
head of the census.
The circuit judge is F. M. Fish. a
son of the Milwaukee lawyer. He was
appointed by Governor Peck, a Repub-
lican appointed by a Democrat, and
Judge Dodge's appointment to the SUI
preme court reversed the conditions
and continued the courtesy. This APP
pointment is rightly credited to Ra-
cine, though Mr.. Dodge moved to Mil
waukee a year or two before his pro-
motion. He was first assistant attor-
ney general under President Cleveland
and won high rank at the Racine bar.
He is a bachelor and possessed of a
good deal of business sagaeity. There
is an addition" to Racine bearing mis-
name, which he plotted and it has
proved very profitable.
Racine,s Famous Ccngressmen.
Congressman Cooper, whose work
on rivers and harbors has made him
conspicuous in Washington, is a hard
working lawyer between sessions. He
is a bachelor of well past 40 and makes
his home at the hotel. His father was
a physician in Burlington, not Ear
away. His sister. a widow, conducts
with success a banking business in
that place, succeeding her husband.
Mr.. Cooper, the son, has worked his
way up to a position of rank. He
made his early fame as district attor-
ney and state senator. Of fine pres
ence and of dignity-presumably. not
an acute politician. but one whose
abilities the district is proud of and
by force of which he is continued term
after term. Mr.. Cooper has had his
share of trouble over the postofIices.
n his home paper, the Racine Jour
mol 1ad him n rnItuh l,fo fac +:.0o
but the latter meritoriously accepts
the logic of events and now seemingly
gives hin loyal support.
A Postofice of Beauty.
And, by the way, the Racine post
office and federal building is one of
the most beautiful constructions in the
state. 1t is on the order of the city
halls in the smaller French cities. al
most cathedral-like in outlines. 1t
is pitched close to the lake, and with
its well kept lawns is suggestive of
what we dream but rarely see in mu-
nicipal architecture. 1t cost about
$50, 900.
But Racine deserves Il fine postofice.
Its net receipts are $16O, 600 a yea
larger than any five cities outside of
Milwaukee, in the state.
Judge Belden is county or probate
judge and when chosen he was but %
years old. said to be the Youngest Off
cial holding the Office. His grand
father held the office before him. and
the young man being in the office had
attained close familiarity with all de-
tail.
John G. McWynn is another name
held in reverence in Racine. He was
identified with the schools here; went
to the army from here, and conducted
his famous academy from 1874 to 1882,
during which he had 100 pupils, among
them nearly all of the notables of the
younger generation.
Carl Jonas, who died not long ago,
was editor of Slavic" and representa-
tive of the Bohemians the country
over. He vas consul abroad and a
nan of scholarly habits. Clarence
Synder was postmaster of Racine and
as member of the board of control
'father" of the Green Bay reforma-
tory. Hardness, the Salt Lake jurist.
formerly circuit judge in Wisconsin,
came out of Racine. The older resi-
dents remember the Widow Upham
with a family of little children. She
was very poor but very brave and one
of her boys became governor of the
state. Henry Willard lived in Racine
and conducted a newspaper in the days
before the war.
Pretty Scenes on the Lake.
The city is planted on the lake and
is beautiful. walked past Monument
square (where an S., 900 soldiers mon
ument by citizen subscription in 1883,
lends dignity down Main street. south
ward. 1t runs parallel to the lake.
Through a frame of greenery l saw a
tWo-masted sailing vessel making it's
way to Chicago, her sails full, careen-
ing under the breeze, with "a bone il
her teeth" a romantic and restful
spectacle. The lake as seen at Racine
is as grand as the ocean.
Racine boasts but one park, this
street girts it. 1t, too, looks out on
the inland sea. Racine is short on
parks. A growing city should have
more. The strip between the hotel
and the lake could be worked into a
pleasure park that would soon be IA
nous for beauty
Then, too, when Main street leaves
the business section and takes on the
character OF the finest residence street,
1t should bear a name less suggestive
of commerce. For it is a noble reach
of magnificent homes, substantial,
massive. homelike homes. owned large
ly by the old families associated with
the big manufacturing concerns, their
sons and daughters, for sons-in-law
and intermarriage have been active
factors in the making of Racine and
the leading families form honorable
social dynasties, of whom it must be
said that a love for work, character
Inherited, no less than great wealth.
Some of the homes cost $4,000 and
more, and the Erskine home cost $780,
900.
j. T.. Case the Man, Plant and the Horse.
Perhaps Racine suggests to the
country over the name of j.. |. Case
more han any other. He was a plain,
sensible man who built up from small
beginnings. He was a mechanic as a
young nan. and came from the east
with a horsepower tnreshing machine,
with which he did work Tor the farm
ers, Rochester, in the western part of
the county, being his first home. He
started a small factory in Racine,
boarding his employees. That was in
the forties. Now the concern makes
3 500 machines each year, sending
some to South Africa, and employees
/ 200 men. 1t sends out from twenty
five to fifty carloads daily. An outfit
costs the purchaser from $500 to $500.
Mr.. Case loved a good horse. but like
Robert Bonner, horses never demon
allied him. ''Jay-Eye-See" is still in