Wool Mill in Wisconsin
JB Courtney Woolen Mills, Appleton Wisconsin
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- Wisconsin
- Textile Mill

The birth of the woolen industry in Wisconsin is closely linked to the spread of sheep farming in the state. According to Cultural Resource Management, sheep farming in Wisconsin preceded the development of a mature livestock agriculture, grazing on pastureland not devoted to wheat. Providing both raw materials for the ubiquitous spinning wheel and a cheap source of meat, sheep (driven in from southern Illinois and the Ohio Valley) complemented the cash-crop economy and spread with settlement throughout the territorial period. Early concentrations of sheep were found in the southeast counties, where pastureland was most plentiful and settlers from the British Isles and Vermont were most prominent.
Between 1845 and 1850, Wisconsin's sheep population exploded, climbing from 30,000 to over 125,000. The increase, which included large numbers of purebred sheep, continued throughout the 1850s as wheat farmers supplemented their incomes with wool and mutton. Sheep raising spread with the establishment of new settlements to the north and west of the southeastern concentrations.
The Civil War was a "watershed" in Wisconsin sheep production and, therefore, in the wool processing industry. In response to the shortage of Southern cotton and the great demand for woolen army blankets and uniforms, the population of Wisconsin sheep increased sharply. Sheep farming required little capital investment and their rapid rate of reproduction, combined with the non-perishability of wool, made sheep operations very profitable.
By 1864, Wisconsin growers placed four million pounds of wool on sale. Most of this material was being shipped to out-of-state markets for processing. Sheep production increased three-fold by the decade's end (to over one million head in 1870), reaching a peak in the traditional southeastern district, but spreading northward so that Outagamie and Manitowoc counties (whose early settlers included many British immigrants and Yankees) both supported more than 10,000 head in 1870. Responding to the extensive amounts of wool being shipped eastward, Wisconsin businessmen began to erect local woolen mills to process the fiber, particularly in the southeast, southcentral, and southwest counties.
The availability of cheap water power was a major factor in producing the concentration of woolen mills in the city of Appleton, which was located on the northern edge of the sheep-raising belt in the state.
Originally founded in association with Lawrence University, Appleton was first platted in 1848, and was incorporated as a village in 1853. During this period of rapid growth, many investors, primarily easterners recognized the importance of the community's location on the Fox River to its industrial development. Dropping 170 feet from Lake Winnebago to Green Bay, and controlled by a series of dams and associated locks constructed in the 1850s by Morgan L. Martin's Fox-Wisconsin Improvement Company, the Fox River provided sufficient and consistent power for the support of numerous industries. By the 1880s, several canals had been constructed in the flatlands along the river at Appleton. The availability of this cheap power source began in 1856, plus access to the major markets and sources of raw materials provided by the arrival of the railroads, the Chicago and Northwestern in 1861 and the Milwaukee and Northern, via Manitowoc and the Lake Michigan shore, in 1872, promoted the growth of several key industries in the area. Although paper milling, which began in the 1870s, ultimately became dominant in the Fox River Valley, woolen mills also occupied a place of importance, as did lumber and flour milling in the nineteenth century. Almost all of these early operations were powered by water.
The first woolen mill in the community was the Appleton Woolen Factory, which was completed in January 1862. Originally owned by George W. Spaulding and J.W. Hutchinson, the company went through several reorganizations over the years and has been known by the name of Appleton Woolen Mills since 1880.
The original plant, on South Island, was destroyed by fire in 1863, and its replacement was also destroyed by fire in 1881. The company, in a new structure, expanded in 1888 and again in 1902, buying the Reesburg Woolen Mills. The current plant, located at 2100 North Ballard Road, was constructed in the 1970s. The original plant is no longer extant.
The Kelley Knitting Company was founded in 1880 on the Appleton Water Power Block by William H. Kelley, his wife Louise, and his brother. Nathan. The Kelley family erected a 30 X 60-foot three-story structure with a water wheel on the site for the purpose of wool carding and yarn spinning. The mill was purchased by Stephen Olson in August 1885; he operated the plant as the Northside Woolen Mills until April 1889, when it was acquired by Adolph and Augusta Spiering. Spiering also spun and dyed yarns in a building located one block to the west, but retained the Northside Woolens name.
John B. Courtney, a veteran of the Massachusetts textile industry, purchased the factory in 1904. Courtney had become a "boss spinner" at the nearby Appleton Woolen Mill in 1895. The mill subsequently passed to Courtney's sons Giles and Daniel, then to Giles' sons James and Kenneth in 1942. Kenneth Courtney became the sole owner in 1973. His son Thomas was the operator of the plant in 1992, which continued to be known as the J.B. Courtney Woolen Mills; Tom Courtney was in the process of purchasing the property in 1992 and became the fourth generation of the family to own the building on its original site.
R.E. Zwicker, a German immigrant, founded the Zwicker Knitting Mills on West Wisconsin Avenue in 1906. The company moved to 122 North Richmond Street in 1910, then to its present location at 410 North Richmond in 1919. The current factory, which employed 1400 persons in the 1990s, was constructed in the 1950s and enlarged later.
These three operations comprised the last survivors of a much larger woolen industry in Appleton. The firms that are no longer in existence include: The Superior Knitting Company which was founded in 1938 by F.J. Butcher, who was also associated with the Appleton Mills. The firm specialized in lumbermen's stock; The Fox River Knitting Company, which was organized in the former Victoria Flour and Feed Mill adjacent to the Courtney Mill in 1900. It also manufactured lumbermen's mittens and socks. Its founders were John Steinborg, William Butcher, and David Nottage. The company subsequently relocated to the former Zwicker Mill on Wisconsin Avenue; The Weber Knitting Mills were started in 1919 in the former Zwicker Mill at 122 North Richmond by Joseph and John Weber; The Steinborg Knitting Mills were founded in 1925 by John Steinborg and others; The Appleton Knitting Company was established c. 1900 near the John Street Bridge, but became the Appleton Rug Works in 1907; The Crescent Knitting Mills operated fifty knitting machines in its plant at the intersection of Oneida and Washington streets; and finally, a Mrs. Elizabeth Koehn was reported in 1906 to have a carding business in her home on North Richmond. None of these operations are extant today.
Wisconsin woolen mills numbered fifteen in 1859, nineteen in 1865, and fifty-four in 1871. In that year, 1,620,000 pounds of wool were converted into cloth and yarn - nearly one-half of all the wool that was produced in the state. However, wool production in Wisconsin began to decline as early as 1880 because of the increased profitability of dairy and hog operations in the state. Further, the decline in wool prices led to greater emphasis on mutton rather than wool production in areas where sheep were still common. This in turn forced the Wisconsin woolen industry to become dependent upon imported wool. Today, wool clothing has been largely replaced by synthetic fibers, but woolen blankets have increased in popularity since the 1973 oil embargo. Many of Wisconsin's woolen mills now primarily produce yarn, or woolen batts for custom quilts and blankets.
Building Description
The main structure, Building A, is a three-story, gable-roofed building of post-and-beam construction. The building, constructed in 1880, is a stylistic utilitarian in design, although of a vernacular style characteristic of mid-nineteenth-century industrial buildings in America, especially in New England. The 30 X 75 foot mill is oriented approximately in a north-south fashion with the north end butted against the original north bank of the river; a 10 X 20 X 10 foot ell-shaped, one-and-a-half story office wing is attached to the northeast corner at the second-floor level.
The present foundation of the mill consists of a single story of concrete block masonry laid upon a concrete footing and floor slab. This foundation, constructed in 1927, replaced the original wooden ground story, which was probably constructed on stone pillars over the river. The office wing has a random rubble masonry foundation enclosing the boiler room, which dates from c. 1884.
The exterior covering of the mill is primarily asbestos shingles over wooden planking. The north end of the building, including the office wing, is covered with rough-faced concrete block. The roof consists of asphalt shingles over open-spaced wood planks.
As originally constructed, the long (east and west) sides of the mill building had five evenly-spaced windows (double-hung type, nine over nine) on each of the three floors, plus one window (double-hung type, six over six) on the upper two floors at the north end of the building. Following 1927 alterations, the number of windows on the lower story has been reduced to three evenly spaced casement-type windows on the east wall and to a single casement-type window on the west wall (the northernmost two have been blocked up). The east wall also has steel double doors adjacent to the office wing.
Most of the upper-story windows remain, but many have been modified. The east wall also has two windows at the extreme north end in the 1927 addition. These windows, one on each of the second and third floors, are of the double-hung, six-over-six type. Due to the embankment, no window was ever installed on the first floor.
The south end of the building, facing the Fox River, has three evenly-spaced casement windows on the lower level (the middle one replaces a former door), and two double-hung type windows on the upper two levels. Both second-floor windows are twelve over twelve originals. The third-floor windows are also original. The attic level has two smaller (double-hung, six over six) original windows.
Windows in the office wing and north wall of the building all date from 1927 and are of the double-hung, six-over-six type. All windows and doors in this area have concrete lintels, and the windows also have concrete sills.
Due to the embankment that marks the original shoreline of the river, the first floor is accessible at the north end only by means of a steel door in the south wall of the office wing. This door leads to the boiler room. An earlier window in this wall was bricked up at an unknown date. This south wall has one window on each of the second and third floors.
The east wall of the office wing is dominated by the cream brick chimney which contrasts sharply with the limestone foundation wall and rock-faced concrete walls. This wall has one large and one small (one over one) window on each of the second and third floors.
The north wall of the office wing has a single window on each of the two floors; the west wall of the wing has no windows, but has a door, the main customer entrance, on the second floor.
The north wall of the main building has a central steel double door for material movement in the center of the second (ground-level) floor. There is one window to the right of the door. The third floor has two symmetrically-placed windows, while the attic level has a single centered window.
The entire exterior of the building is without ornamentation or embellishment.
The interior of the building is largely unchanged since its construction The post-and-beam framing system, complete with wooden pegs (trunnels) in the mortised joints, is readily visible throughout. Several posts have been replaced by cast-iron columns. Utilization of the interior is also much the same as it has been over the 111-year history of the structure.
The first floor is used for washing the wool, and includes storage and mechanical spaces.
The second floor contains two carding machines, unchanged since 1920. The north end of the floor houses the office, which is being restored and which contains original wooden pulley wheels and other historic items on display, and the rack room (wool batt storage).
The third floor formerly housed a spinning jenny for yarn manufacture. This machinery was removed when the activity became uneconomical, and today the main floor area is used mainly for spreading out the washed wool to dry. The north end is also used for rack storage. The flooring on this level is replacement material, the original flooring having absorbed an excess amount of lanolin (oil) from the wool.
The attic level is also used occasionally for wool drying.
Personnel access from the first to the third levels is accomplished by means of an enclosed stairway constructed along the inside of the west wall. Access to the attic is via a vertical ladder at the north end. The movement of materials between floors is possible using a hoist that passes through the lower floors at the south end of the building.
Although all traces of the original water power generation system were removed not later than 1927, the original vertical passageway for the drive shaft may still be seen in the northeast corner of the mill building, and the original cast iron pulley frames are still in use, adapted to electric power. As noted above, at least one of the large wooden pulleys has been preserved for display.
The second building on the site is a small 16 X 20 ft. two-story wood frame structure used since its construction between 1901 and 1911 as a wool warehouse. This building originally straddled the water power canal, but now rests upon a concrete slab foundation (slowly sinking into the filled ground) approximately upon its original location.
The exterior of the building is covered with asbestos shingles, while the roof has asphalt shingles. Wall openings are limited. The south wall has a doorway in the southeast corner of the first floor, a window to the left of center of the first floor, and a window in the center of the second floor. This window is of the double-hung type, six panes over six; all other windows have been boarded up. The east wall has no openings. The north wall has one window in the center of the first-floor level. The west wall also has a single window, installed slightly to the right of center on the first-floor level.
The interior of the wool warehouse consists of a single room on each floor. A stairway rises along the inside of the north and west walls. A cream brick chimney is located at the center of the south wall, but no longer functions or extends through the roof. Like the main mill building, the wool warehouse lacks exterior and interior ornamentation.
The water power canal has been completely filled in, there has been substantial filling along the current Fox River shoreline and along the high embankment that marks the original shoreline, and a paved access road to the adjacent Lawrence University tennis courts has been installed.
A review of the Sanborn fire maps reveals that changes on the site of the J.B. Courtney Woolen Mills have been part of a dynamic process since the construction of the original mill building in 1880.
The original construction consisted of the 30 X 60 foot, three-story mill; a single-story irregularly-shaped addition at the northeast corner of the mill, used as a dyeing house and also to house the steam boiler used to heat the buildings; and a free-standing washhouse cantilevered over the edge of the canal.
In 1880, the mill itself was elevated over the Fox River, with only the north end anchored to the embankment. The south end rested on part of a stone quarry, now covered by the river. The building may have been supported by stone columns or by wood pilings; the use of stone for this purpose was standard practice in New England. The ground floor was constructed entirely of wood.
By 1886, the dyeing house vanished and a new boiler room was constructed at the northeast corner of the mill building. Constructed of random rubble masonry with its roof level with the ground at the top of the embankment, the boiler room houses the equipment used to heat the building and provide hot wash water. The similarity of materials and workmanship to that of the foundation of the adjacent Victoria Flour and Feed Mill suggests that both were constructed nearly simultaneously in 1884. The room was originally topped by a 35-foot-high iron smokestack. A small office building straddling the canal was Constructed near the washhouse. Electric lights were used to illuminate the interiors of the buildings.
By 1891, the iron stack was extended to 50 feet, but no other major changes occurred.
Many important changes occurred during the 1891 to 1901 period. The extant wool warehouse was constructed over the canal between the office and wash house. The steam boiler was being used to generate power as well as heat, although the water wheel was also available. The iron smokestack was apparently replaced by the existing cream brick chimney during this period. Also, most of the extant wool carding machinery was installed during this period.
The water wheel was removed in 1904 when the mill was purchased by John Courtney. A water turbine was installed in 1917, but apparently was not successful, as it had been taken out of use by 1924. The sole source of power on site by the latter date was electricity.
Both the mill building and the site underwent major reconstruction in 1927. First, the water power canal was filled in throughout almost its entire length and the office and wash house were demolished. The wool warehouse was placed upon the concrete slab where it stands today.
The mill itself received a significant expansion with a one-and-a-half story office wing being constructed over the boiler room (The boiler was still being used to heat the building, the present boiler in this location, although replaced by a modern hot-water furnace, dates from 1931.). The building was also extended northward across its entire width by 15 feet. This new construction is readily identifiable by its rough-faced concrete block facing. The original north wall was retained without change as an interior partition; the hoist used for external movement of materials may still be seen in the attic.
The major work of reconstruction also involved placing a concrete footing and floor slab under the mill, and replacing the rotting wood walls at the lower level with concrete block masonry. In the process, all visible traces of the water flume and power generation machinery were removed.
The river shoreline has been gradually extended southward by filling. By 1927, it had reached the south end of the building (contributing to the deterioration of the structure). The current shoreline, about ten feet from the building, was established in 1966.
The asbestos shingles that cover the exterior of the mill today were installed in the 1940s. An investigation revealed that the exterior covering in 1927 was red brick-pattern asphalt paper. The horizontal flush wood planking beneath appears to have been painted red; this was probably the original exterior finish.
At least one bibliographic source reports that the original mill was "razed" in 1927. It is clear from an examination of the building that it would be more accurate to say that the mill was "raised" to permit the reconstruction of the first floor. There can be no question that the mill is the original Nineteenth Century structure.

Main building, view looking southeast (1991)

Main building, view looking southwest (1991)

Main building, view looking northwest (1991)

Main building, view looking northeast (1991)

Main building, view looking west with detail of foundation (1991)

Main building, detail of boiler room entry and foundation (1991)

Main building and environs, view looking southeast (1991)

Main building and environs, view looking northwest (1991)

Wool warehouse, view looking northeast (1991)
