The Watertown news. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1917-1919, 1917-06-22
PETERS SHANTY
WENT OUT WITH
FLOOD IN 1904

The following article concerning
the building which at one time stood
on the south side of Main street
bridge and which was swept out by
the flood in the spring Of 1904, was
written several years ago by the late
Peter Brook for local newspaper,
and may prove Of interest to readers
now:
The shanty was built in the winter
of 1S50-51, Henry Macs having pur-
chased the right to build of the then
owner on the bank, DR.. Edward john
son, for the sum Of $40, the owners on
the bank claiming a superior right on
a non-navigable stream to the middle.
Within a year or two Werner, the bar
Der, had erected long building on the
north side of the bridge, and among
the first tenants were William Buch-
heits bier halle" Joseph Salick's
jewelry store, d. Blumenfeld's Welt
buerger office, etc. At the same time
the new bridge was being constructed
by the Dunn Bros, which was known
N~NA~
most substantial post bridges in Wis
consin Upon the completion of the
shanty it was Immediately occupied by
Henry Macs as a barber shop, and
very nice establishment it was.
Soon after the building was finished
Walter Besley and William Chapel
stepped into the barroom of the Plant
ers hotel and told Mr.. Turner, the
proprietor, that they had bet the
drinks, the loser to pay, inviting Mr..
Turner to drink with them. After the
brandy and sugar had been disposed
of in due form it occurred to Mr..
Turner to inquire what the bet was
about, when he was told that Besley
had bet that Henry's shanty would
fail down stream and Chappell that it
would fall up stream. Now that the
shanty has fallen neither up stream
nor down stream and all the parties to
the bet having long since passed to the
great unknown, the reader will prob
ably conclude that it had better be
called draw.
The writer arrived in Watertown on
the previous July, or the July Of 1850,
and soon moved with his parents onto
a farm on Temples Hill, where both
parents died in about three weeks af-
ter taking possession of the place.
Being thus left an orphan at the age
of fifteen and unable to find employ
ment as "storekeeper," so called by
Germans of that time, l entered the
service Of Henry, the barber, as an
apprentice for a term of three years,
where 1 soon became quite an attrac-
ton, so much so that the Yankee girls
used to come into the shop to see that
handsome Dutch boy" In about two
years after the building had been
opened as a barber shop and bathing
rooms Macs moved the barber shop in
to the basement and put a billiard
table ON the ground floor. This billiard
room became popular resort and the
first night the table was being played
on, O. D. Pease Oater a captain in
the army, and who lost his life at the
battle of Shiloh) and l hung around
until 10 o'clock, when we played our
first game with the mace, having no
confidence that we could hit those
slippery balls with the cue. The bill
liax1 table prospered immensely,
Hiram Harder, Perry Harder, Tom
Smith, Peter Seaburg and Anton
Francel being the crack players of
the town-the writer spending all of
his leisure time when the table was
not occupied, soon could beat the best
of them.
When my time as apprentice was at
an end and Macs wishing to quit the
business, I bought out the establish
ment (such as it was) with a few dol
lars left me by my parents and be-
came a full-fedged tonsorial artist,
but that / ever became an aedpt with
the razor / most emphatically deny.
About this time Macs conceived the
idea of putting bar and restaurant
into the room in the basement where
my shop then was, so l was bundled
,off into an Sx16 room under the plat
form, in front of the building
At this time, or about 1854, S. G..
Roper became associated with Macs,
wnen they branched out into the
wholesale liquor business to a consid-
cradle extent. There being no regular
bartender at first, rule was laid
down taat anyone going into the base
ment must whistle all the time he
was gone aRd failing to do SO it was
taken for grated that he was "whet-
ting his whistle" and compelled to
pay 10 cents Quite an excitement was