Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1917-06-12
AFTER FIFTY YEARS
Changes Wrought in Half a Century
Are Certainly Marvellous.

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John G. Gebhart on Wednesday OF
last week, June 6, rounded out fifty
years of citizenship in this community
this last word being used advisedly
for the reason that there was no city
here at the time of his arrival, mere
ly small collection of buildings, two
or three stores and four saw mills.
Mr.. Gebhart did not arrive here as
does the ordinary traveller of today,
by rail or auto, for the railroad had
not then reached any nearer Wau-
sau than Berlin, from which place all
supplies used here were hauled by
teams, and from which place travellers
came either by stage or on foot The
stage coach which left Berlin early in
the morning, was drawn by four
horse team, made three changes be-
tween Berlin and Stevens Point, where
they arrived at night, a distance of
about 60 miles. On the following day
the trip was made from Stevens Point
to Wausau with a change of teams at
Knowlton.
The principal part of the city then
was along Grand avenue, Forest street,
lower Jackson, First to Washington,
the island and with a few scattered
buildings as far north as Mcclellan
and as far east as Fifth street.
In those fifty years of residence in
Wausau, Mr.. Gebhart has seen changes
brought to pass that the widest flights
OF imagination could not have ap-
preached. He has witnessed the
growth and development not alone of
the city, but of the surrounding coun-
try, brought about so gradually that
it is only when one glances back for
half century and has a mental pic
ture of conditions at that time for
background, that he can appreciate
what has occurred in this time. By
comparison, the most wonderful tales
VA fSiiO al avian AN1SAto cil
and vapid, and the mere fact that so
much has occurred in such short
space of time, in but portion of the
life of single man, the jump from a
little numbering community, far away
in the wilderness of the North, with
the stage road and the river as the
only highways over which to carry its
commerce, with no railroads, no tele-
graph, no telephones, to a city of 90
600 people, make us pause when we
think of what the possibilities of the
next fifty years may be, and to pre-
dict that Wausau will have a, popula-
tion in excess of $4,000 in twenty-five
years from now is not after all so
preposterous.
There never was a time when the
outlook for Wausau and Marathon
county was as bright, as full of prom
Use, as at the present time,' said Mr.
Gebhart to the Pilot man. There have
always been some croakers here who
never could see how the town was go
ing to grow, who could figure it out
almost to the year when it was to be-
gin to decay and go backward, but
their prophecies have come to naught,
and SO today when l hear men Ques-
tioning what is going to keep this COM
munity growing, simply wonder why
some will be so pessimistic, so short
sighted. The growth and development
of Wausau and Marathon county has
always been substantial and natural
1t has not been forced in any way.
Our location and other natural ad-
.vantages have given us peculiar ad-
vantages that have aided us, and our
citizens as rule have always stood
solidly together for the good of the
community. 1 can see no reason why
Wausau should not continue to grow
and expand and eventually become
one of the greatest distributing, manu-
featuring and commercial centers in
the State, possessing as IL does so
many natural advantages and being
surrounded as it is on all sides by
what is destined to be the greatest
agricultural and dairying section of
the United States. By the past alone
may we judge of the future. and GER
tainly if anyone applies this rule, he
need have no misgivings as to the out
look for Wausau."
During his long residence in Wau-
sau, Mr.. Gebhart has occupied prom
inent place in the commercial, civic
and political life of the city and coun-
ty, and has many times been honored
bility by his fellow citizens.