Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1911-06-20
good, old-fashioned balls at the old Fall

good, old-fashioned balls at the old Fall
| City house.
Perhaps one of the most popular
| of these events occurred on the 26th
| day of December, 1871, when the we'd
| ding ball celebrating the marriage of
Miss Florence Bradford and Edward
| NlcollS, of WauSau, was held at this
| hotel. Mr.. Nicolls and his bride were
married at WauSau on that day and
| came down to the old Fall City house
| to celebrate the occasion with one of
the popular wedding balls which, by
the way, has lost none of its attrac-
| tiyeneSS as the years have passed. And
| with them came host of the then
| young people of WauSau, and among
were the following: Capt. j L. Leahy,
| ID. Gray, Ben. T.. Single, Mat. De
| Coursey. K. Ii. Johnson Misses Josie
| Bradford, Martha Mitchell, Mary Sim
| gle, now Mrs. K. E. Parcher,) Alice
| Single, now Mrs. Albert b. FitZer,l
Josie Single, now Mrs. Baldwin,
and Mr. and Mrs. w. S. Arm
strong, AID the Misses Julia, Maggie
| and Susie Lamoreux, the latter who
is now Mrs, B. t. Single, and Miss
Letitia Single, NOW Mrs. @. +. Dun
| barr A merry evening was spent on
| that occasion, we are told by those
| present, and was followed by one of
| those delightful suppers Mrs. Blair
so we'll knew how to prepare on short
notice, and which III nc small measure
added TO the popularity of the hos
telry. Those were the times when
the light fantastic was tripped to the
strains of the Arkansas Traveller"
"Old Dan Tucker" "Fisher's Horn
pipe" the Virginia Reeln and the
money MuSk.' The young folks of
today think they are some pumpkins
when it comes to dancing. but just
start one of those old tunes as only
Chauncey Poor OF Mike Rousseau
knew how to play them, and watch
the old folks get the itch in their feet.
1t didn't require weeks advertising
to get crowd together either. All
that was necessary was TO pass the
word around and three or four loads
| of people were always ready to come
from Wausau or Stevens Point and
Mrs. Blair held the latch string
open to them. And what pleasure
there is in recalling the pleasant in
cidents of pinery days. They are
relics of the past. But like the men,
DRY of the old Fall City house they
will live forever in the hearts of those
who enjoyed them.
In the old stage coach days and
days of teaming, before the railroad
was built, we are told that the Fall
City house was the most popular of
the many road houses on the old
south line road, and many humorous
and interesting events are chronicled
in the history of the place, which, in
no small way is part of the early
history of the valley. In the fall
of 1874 the railroad was completed as
far as Knowlton and train service was
opened up south of that place. To
commemorate this event an excursion
was planned from Knowlton to Grand
Rapids and several loads of people
from WauSau went on it. 1t was late
in the evening when the train re-
turned to Knowlton and the long
drive of some twenty miles was still
ahead of the WauSau people, but
ride of that distance wasn't any par
ticular hardship in those days. One
of the teams in the party was span
of high-lifed, Skittish colts, whose
owner was somewhat Skeptical about
driving them home in the dark. But
r. III. Johnson, who was member of
the party, was considered something
of a hOrSeman and he offered to eX-
change teams for the return trip.
Everything went nicely until they
reached Bull Junior creek, when the
team got the better of Mr.. Johnson and
dumped the occupants into the road,
and went on their way alone. There was
only one recourse left them, and that
was to fall upon the hospitality of Mrs.
Blair, and though the hour was late,
as usual they found the latch string
out. The trip was completed next
morning without further incident,
but it is chronicled that Johnson lost
some of his prestige as horseman
and never was trusted with anything
but common team after that.
In 1882, year after the death of
Mrs. Blair, the property was sold to
jeff Douville, who conducted the bus
mess until the time of his death.
Some changes were made by Mr.. Dou-
vile, the old original building having
been moved back toward the river,
and connected with the main part in
front by the building of a larger and
more commodiouS dining room and
kitchen, but the building still stands
mostly as it was in the early days.
Mr.. Douville died in October, 1888,
and after his death the business was
conducted by his wife, who died in
February, 1906, since which time,
until about year ago the hotel was
managed by their children, Glen and
May. Under the management of the
Douvilles the hotel lost none of its
early day prestige, excepting that
teaming and stage travel had long
since been abandoned, but the river
men and lumbermen still continued
to make it their headquarters. In
March, last year, the property came
into possession of the Wausau Sui
phate Fibre Co. 1t is utilized now as
a tenement house. But all things
come to an end, and so has the old
familiar Fall City house barn, that
has sheltered the lumbermen's and
travellers teams for nearly four score
years, and soon the old hotel, 100, will
have outlived its usefulness. The
barn is thing of the past as far as
its historical value as land mark is
concerned, but the material that was
in it will fill many more years of use
fulness as it will go into a large,
modern farm barn that is being
erected on Arden Paronto's farm; all
but one OF those old fashioned, old
time stub shot plank. This Clyde
Blair purloined from the pile the
other day and sneaked home with it.
He is going to preserve it as memen-
TO of his early day recollections, and
\ ..-t.& o..I