This column originally appeared in the March 1, 2023, issue of the Barron News-Shield.
In the News-Shield’s Feb. 8 issue of “The Way It Was” there was mention of the
opening of a new school at Lehigh in 1923.
A day after it was published, a reader called to ask, “Where is Lehigh?” She
recalled her father saying he used to pick berries at Lehigh.
I could answer her right away because I had seen the old schoolhouse. I happened
upon it some years ago during a long bike ride from Rice Lake to the Rusk County
line and back. I frequently pass old schoolhouses on my bike rides. I see at least
one country schoolhouse on most rides, because they’re all over the place. Some
were remodeled into homes and others just stand abandoned, reminders of times
long gone.
Lehigh’s is one of the most distinct. It is the only thing left of a place near the old
Soo Line railroad in the Town of Sumner, east of Canton.
According to local railroad historian John Terrill, when the Minneapolis Sault St.
Marie and Atlantic Railroad was built in 1884 railroad timetables indicate there
was a station between Canton and Weyerhaeuser known as Hawkins, named for
the Marsh P. Hawkins, who was secretary for the railroad at the time. Terrill
believes Hawkins became Lehigh, and the name Hawkins was reused for a station
further east in Rusk County—what is still Hawkins today.
According to the book “Place Names of Wisconsin,” Lehigh was “probably named
by Soo railroad officials from the Lehigh Valley of Lackawanna County,
Pennsylvania… Lehigh is ultimately from a Delaware (Algonquian) word with the
general meaning “branched” or “forked.” The Post Office was established in
December 1890.”
Located on the edge of the Blue Hills, I could see how the Lehigh area might have
reminded the railroad men of the hills of eastern Pennsylvania. Of course, there
could be no rhyme or reason for the name, or it has been long forgotten.
I hung up the phone after the Lehigh inquiry and immediately wondered if the
Lehigh schoolhouse was in fact still there. It had been a few years since I had been
out there.
Then in the next week my worries for the old schoolhouse grew after some local
barns collapsed. I know of at least four old barns in central and northern Barron
County that collapsed in recent weeks.
So I had to go check on the old Lehigh School.
I drove out there a couple of weeks ago on Friday and found it still standing. For a
century-old building with no apparent maintenance for several years or even
decades, it looks pretty good. The school is on private property behind barbed wire
and ‘No Trespassing’ signs. Classes have not been taught there since 1959.
According to the 1976 book “Barron County Schools Past and Present,” Lehigh
was “a Polish community. The school was the center of many of their activities,
and the young people often took part in putting on plays and programs to raise
funds for the Christmas program. Many of the students went on to become
teachers, artists, successful businessmen and farmers.”
There used to be more to Lehigh, including multiple stores, hotels, a couple
sawmills, a blacksmith shop, a telegraph office, even an opera house. There were
several farms within a short distance of the country hamlet.
But Lehigh’s existence has always been an uphill battle. In 1915, the News-Shield
reported that the Soo Line requested that Lehigh’s station be removed and
relocated to Strickland—located less than two miles to the east in Rusk County.
The account read, “It was the contention of the Soo officials that the heavy grade
at Lehigh made it difficult to start and stop trains at that point, and hence their
desire to abandon it entirely.”
But the state railroad commission sided with Lehigh.
A Cameron Review newspaper account at the time stated, “Why are the citizens of
this burg wearing such broad smiles? Because the railroad rate commission has
decided that Lehigh is to have a new depot, said depot to be completed by June
1st. Strickland for several years has been trying to get the depot, so our struggles
were harder than if it had been merely a question of a new depot. But Strickland,
with her beautiful lakes, lost out, and Lehigh, with her rich farming soil, wins, for
which everyone was deeply grateful. Who said Lehigh was not on the map to
stay?”
The depot was built from an old box car body in 1915, according to Emory
Luebke, of the Soo Line Historical Society.
There was also a freight house and an outhouse. The freight house was moved to
Chippewa Falls in the summer of 1932. The depot and outhouse were retired and
sold for $30 in May of 1940—possibly relocated to Cameron.
Also around the year 1915 old Hwy. 14, was built through Lehigh.
The road was certainly a positive for Lehigh area residents, but it was also the
beginning of the end for Lehigh as a town. Like many small country hamlets,
Lehigh faded away as cars made traveling to bigger communities more
convenient and passenger rail service was discontinued.
Now all that’s left of Lehigh is a pretty name and an old schoolhouse.
URColumn #48 030123
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P.S. If you’re ever in search of place name history in Wisconsin, there are two place name books commonly found at libraries. One is “Place Names of Wisconsin” by Edward Callary (2016). The other is “The Romance of Wisconsin Place Names,” of which there are two editions—the first by Robert Gard in 1968 and the second by Jerry Apps in 2015.
“I much prefer “Place Names of Wisconsin” by Edward Callary. The histories are generally more detailed and seem more accurate. Callary also includes more Native American place names in the histories. Lastly, Callary has catalogued more names. Only his book had Lehigh. The Apps book did not. What’s more, Barronett, which is not some lost place—it has its own post office and ZIP Code—is not included in “The Romance of Wisconsin Place Names.” Come on, man, give Barronett some love!
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