For the first time in almost two decades, the doors of the Fairwater schoolhouse were open to the public October 7th. Commemorating the building’s ninetieth birthday, the event celebrated the start of the society’s project to restore the old village landmark.

Confirming the interest in preserving the village’s 153-year history, nearly two hundred guests and past and present residents made their way through snow flurries to view exhibits in the Civic Center, tour former classrooms, and talk history over cider. Children from 5 to 85 lined up to ring the old school bell.

For many, the tour of the old school was the highlight of the afternoon. Years of dust and and water damage were cleaned up. Windows were uncovered for the event, letting sunlight into the former classrooms for the first time in a decade. And the former intermediate level classroom was fitted out again as a classroom with furnishings donated by the Markesan School District. Chairs and desks—some of them dating to the 1930s—filled the room along with globes and school books.

The society announced during the afternoon’s ceremony that Jerry Stellmacher has donated the materials and labor needed to repair windows and the last of the roofing leaks. Jim Navis has volunteered to remove the deteriorating north chimney until the society can have it reconstructed.

Society members assembled exhibits of Fairwater area photographs, documents, and memorabilia for the open house. The displays ranged from a collection of class photos dating from the opening of the old school in 1910 to an exhibit honoring Fairwater’s veterans that included the World War II servicemen’s plaque that once hung in the narthex of the old Lutheran church.

The surprise of the day was a display of stained glass windows donated by Lowell Laper from the former Fairwater Free Baptist church. The windows were part of an exhibit devoted to the history of the church, founded in 1850 and discontinued in the early 1940s. The exhibit included a copy of the church’s handwritten journal spanning its 90-year history. The original journal, now part of the society’s collections, was donated by Loma Klossner, whose parents, Walter and Mae Knapp, and grandparents, Uriah and Judith Johnson, were longtime church members.

Other exhibits included photographs of Daehn’s Opera House, Jess Laper’s water wheel, Fairwater streets dating to the turn of the century, and Captain William Plocker’s 1848 stagecoach inn. Genealogies and property abstracts, a reproduction of the Fairwater Register from 1903, and materials related to Civil War Medal of Honor winner James Pond were also on display.

For dozens of former residents, the open house was their first look at the Civic Center in many years. As they viewed the society’s exhibits, many remarked at how gracefully the now 59-year-old WPA project has aged.

With the open house, the society raised nearly $2300 through donations and the sale of postcards, CDs of historical photographs, and baked goods. The funds will user to cover the cost of roofing repairs begun earlier in the summer.

The target date for completion of the restoration project is the schoolhouse’s centennial in 2010. Installation of heating and electrical systems and repairs to staircases and ceilings will be a priority for the coming year.

George Carter was the oldest son of Jacob Carter, one of Metomen’s original settlers and first postmaster of the Fairwater area post office. On April 23, 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, Carter enlisted in the 4th Wisconsin Cavalry at the age of 22. He was wounded at the battle of Port Hudson while leading an assault. Following the war, Carter was an unsuccessful candidate for congress and was appointed warden of the Waupun State Prison in the 1880's. Carter was an intimate of one of Booth's rescuers, O. H. LaGrange, and was a close observer of the Booth affair. This paper was first read before the Ripon Historical Society on April 16, 1902. It was condensed and published in the Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1902, pp. 161-172. The following transcript is excerpted from the Proceedings.

George Carter (courtesy Kevin Dier-Zimmel)

     The historical episode familiarly known as "The Booth War" though characterized by a development of fanaticism, was nevertheless, one of the manifestations of the aroused spirit of resistance to the aggressions of the slave power, which prevailed in this country at that time. The spirit became manifest in the Northern states in the years immediately following the enactment of the fugitive slave law, in 1850. It gained force on the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854, and was materially intensified by the Dred Scott decision in 1857.

     It was claimed that the fugitive slave law required every citizen of the United States either to become a slave-catcher at the call of the owner, or to suffer penalties for failure to respond; and that the repeal of the compromise act, followed by the construction given to the Constitution in the Dred Scott decision, made slavery national instead of local, and enabled the slave holder to carry his slaves, like other chattels, under the protection of the Constitution and the laws, into every territory in the Union. By logical sequence, it was apprehended that only one further step was wanting, to establish negro slavery permanently throughout the United States.

     Sherman M. Booth was one of the editors of The Free Democrat in Milwaukee. He was an abolitionist of the Garrison and Phillips type, and had the courage of his convictions, but was as impolitic and unpractical as John Brown himself.

     On the fifteenth day of March, 1854, Booth was arrested on a charge of having aided the escape from C. C. Cotton, deputy United States marshal, of one Joshua Glover, alleged to be a fugitive slave whom the marshal had had in jail in the city of Milwaukee. Booth was held at bail in the sum of $2,000 by United States commissioner, Winfield Smith, but obtained a writ of habeas corpus from the supreme court of Wisconsin, and the case was argued before Associate-Justice A. D. Smith. Byron Paine, afterwards a justice of the same court, defended Booth. The writ of arrest was held to be irregular and was dismissed, and Booth was discharged from custody. The opinion of Judge Smith not only declared the writ irregular, but contained an elaborate and vigorous denial of the constitutionality of the fugitive slave act. At the rehearing before the full bench, during the July term, the decision of Judge Smith was unanimously affirmed. Chief Justice Whiton, who wrote the opinion, concurred with Smith that the act was unconstitutional; and Justice Crawford, in a separate opinion, concurred with both, that the writ upon which Booth was arrested, was defective and void, and all agreed that the prisoner must be discharged. Booth was re-arrested, however, convicted in the United States court on the original charge, and sentenced to thirty days imprisonment, and to be held until he paid a fine of $1,000.

     The excitement throughout the state was intense, and a large subscription was immediately secured to pay the legal expenses of another trial. The second appeal to the supreme court of Wisconsin, resulted in a re-grant of the writ of habeas corpus, and Booth was set free in February, 1855. The case was then referred to the United States supreme court, where a conflict of jurisdiction occurred. It was argued before the latter court in December, 1858, and March 1, 1860, Booth was re-arrested and confined in the United States custom house in Milwaukee.

     Prominent speakers and newspapers throughout the northern states, were setting forth the doctrine, that it was a religious and patriotic duty to resist to the bitter end, the unjust and unlawful demands of the slave oligarchy, and by precept and example, to make slave catching in free states so odious that no man who had respect for the opinions of his fellow citizens would be found to engage in it.

     So, considering the influences of the pulpit, the press, and the forum at that time, it was not unnatural that some courageous young patriots should have come to the front in Ripon and elsewhere in Wisconsin, to dare to enforce the doctrine of freedom so generally and so eloquently proclaimed.

     The excitement in the state over the continued imprisonment of Booth was becoming intense.

     The Ripon Times in its issue of July 6, 1860, called upon the people of the rural districts to do something to aid Booth to secure his liberty, closing with the words: "We have had speeches enough, we want money and muscle."

     On the fourth of July posters were placarded about the streets of Milwaukee calling "Freemen to the Courthouse at 2 o'clock. Booth will address the people from his window in the jail." A large crowd assembled. O. H. LaGrange of Ripon, mounted the stone wall under the jail window, and stated that Mr. Booth was not permitted to make the address, but that the manuscript had been conveyed to him, and he would read it to the people. The address was an able and inspiring appeal for the cause in which Booth claimed to be suffering martyrdom, and it elicited great applause. It was followed by an eloquent address by La Grange. Referring to the encroachments of the slave power in recent years, he said: "There is one more decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in reserve, giving the master power to hold his chattels in every state of our Union. If this fails to awaken us, the spirit of our fathers has departed from our government, the torpor of death has fastened upon our body politic, and the crack of doom could not break our slumbers."

     August 1, 1860, Booth was rescued from the jail, carried out of the city in a carriage previously engaged, to a station on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, where he took passage for Waupun. The Milwaukee Sentinel, and other Milwaukee newspapers, told the story of the rescue, which was published in the Ripon Times August 3, 1860, substantially as follows:

Shortly after noon ten men walked up to the Courthouse steps and one of them presented the jailer a card of admission to see Booth. While the jailer was inspecting the card he was seized, his keys taken, the door unlocked and Booth, being in readiness, took a carriage and was driven out of the city. The jailer was thrust inside and the key turned on him. It was all done quietly and without alarm. Mr. Booth took the train to Waupun where he became the guest of Hans C. Heg, the warden of the state prison.

     The Milwaukee News stated that Professor Daniels and O. H. LaGrange were the leaders of the rescuing party. A reward of $100 was offered for the capture of the prisoner.

     Booth arrived in Ripon Saturday evening, August 4, accompanied by an escort from Waupun. It having been announced that he would speak in the city hall that evening, it was crowded to overflowing. William Starr presided at the meeting. Soon after Booth had commenced, Frank D. McCarty of Fond du Lac, United States deputy marshal, with two assistants, entered from a door by the outside stairway, and stepping on the platform upon the side nearest the door, announced to Booth that he had a warrant for his arrest and that he was his prisoner. At the same time he stepped forward and laid hands on Booth to arrest him. His assistants also attempted to grapple the prisoner. In this, however, they were disappointed, for they were thrust aside by stalwart young men who were close at hand, and McCarty was himself collared and hustled off the stage out of the door where he came in, and tumbled down stairs in a very unceremonious manner. It must be conceded that the proceeding was somewhat disrespectful to the marshal and liable to be construed as against the peace and dignity of the United States of America. From the foot of the stairs the deputy marshal made good time to the Mapes House which was the headquarters of his force. An angry crowd shouted, "Hang him," "Shoot him, "Kill him," and uttered other loud and emphatic language of the same import.

     Order being restored in the hall, A. E. Bovay offered a resolution which was adopted with enthusiasm, to the effect that Booth should not be arrested by United States marshals in Ripon.

     August 17, La Grange published a letter thanking the deputy marshal and his assistants from Ripon, Messrs. Wentworth, Stollard, and others, for their somewhat unseasonable call at his home on Green Lake prairie the previous evening, expressing his regret at not being there to give them a fitting reception. He had heard of their intended visit, he said, and had invited a few friends to be present at the merrymaking, but had arrived home too late to meet his guests; he would be glad to see them at their convenience.

     August 24, the deputy marshals abandoned Ripon as a hunting ground and returned to Fond du Lac. Booth had kept himself in retirement, and very few knew of his whereabouts, though most of the time he was in Ripon under the protection of armed guards. Toward the last of August he went to the home of Armine Pickett (now Pickett's Station) where on the 27, another attempt was made by Marshal McCarty to arrest him. But finding his posse largely out-numbered by determined farmers and neighbors, armed with shotguns and such other firearms as could be procured, the siege was raised, and the attempt to arrest Booth abandoned.

     The writer after the War of Secession, lived next door to Mr. McCarty in the city of Fond du Lac, and found in him a genial gentleman, a good neighbor, and a kind friend. We had conversations about the trying time of 1860, and easily agreed that Ripon was too hot a place in those days, for serving process under the Fugitive Slave act.

     Soon after the incident of August 27, La Grange published a letter in the Ripon Times, stating that he had concluded to spend a season in retirement to consider the question of submitting to arrest on the charge of having aided Booth to escape. The writer, who had known LaGrange intimately for several years while pursuing studies at Brockway, now Ripon college, and at the State University, had been in the harvest fields since the arrival of Booth in Ripon, up to this time. The time had come, however, when the personal friends of La Grange felt it their duty to rally to the defense of his person, and the cause which he represented; we, therefore, spent several days and evenings with him preparing to enlist and organize an army of defense. Probably no man now living knew La Grange from his eighteenth year to the time of our going to war together in April, 1861, better than the writer. A considerable part of that time we had roomed together while in school. No one can bear surer testimony to his exalted patriotism, the purity of his motives, the uprightness of his mind, the correctness of his habits, and his devotion to the duty of ultimately extinguishing slavery in the United States by lawful means if possible, but by war if so it must be.

Interest in the society’s October open house has generated numerous contributions to its historical collections and gifts to its project to restore the Fairwater school. The restoration fund has received gifts from the Badger Mining Corporation, Cheryl Loechelt, Lutheran Brotherhood, Rachel (Frei) Mueller, Margaret Ries, Hazel Schuster, Rachel (Fairbanks) Sweitzer, Kathryn Whitford, and Zion Lutheran Church.

Among the items donated to the society’s collections are four stained glass windows from Fairwater’s Free Baptist church, a gift from Lowell Laper. The windows, on display during the open house, are from the new Baptist church, constructed in 1904 as a replacement for the Baptists’ original 1856 building and demolished in the early 1940s.

Also on display during the open house was the property abstract for the Anna Lenz property. Donated by Winton and Cirena Lenz, the abstract documents the development of properties along the west side of the Main Street hill as well as properties once owned by Fairwater Civil War veteran Henry Pangburn and his wife.

Zion Lutheran Church has donated the World War II servicemen’s plaque that hung in the narthex of the old church. The plaque was a cornerstone of the military display during the open house.

Robert Zabel has donated the abstract for the Louis Frei property on Main Street. The abstract documents the sale of the former Free Baptist church property at the corner of Church and Main streets to Albert Bonesteel and its subsequent sale as two housing lots.

Otto Redecker has donated a mechanical seeder and several single-tree yokes to the society’s agricultural equipment collection.

Bob, Kathy, and David Schuster have donated thirteen books to the society’s collection of textbooks for its classroom restoration project. Included is a 1907 McGuffey Speller, a 1908 Noah Webster Speller, the 1924 Journeys in Distant Lands geography text, the 1885 A Primary History of the United States, and five readers from the Alice and Jerry series used in the Fairwater school during the 1940s and 1950s. The Schuster family has also donated two books to the society’s children’s collection, the 1911 Tom Swift and his Wireless Message and a 1924 catalog distributed by Berlin’s Haney Magic Company.

Roy and Barbara Berndt have also donated books for the classroom collection, including the Alice and Jerry reader, Down the River Road, an 1878 grade school speller, the 1905 Frye’s Geography, and the 1930 Elson Basic Readers primer. The Berndts have also donated the 1905 New Ideas for American Boys and the 1913 Stories of Useful Inventions to the children’s collection and the 1901 Green Lake County Plat Book and the 1893 Fond du Lac County Plat Book to the society’s reference collection.

In addition, the Berndts have donated the Daehn family organ, World War I service items from Percy Berndt, and items from the Bonnell sisters. Roy Berndt has also contributed a cream separator to the agricultural collection.

Loma Klossner has donated her grandfather Uriah Johnson’s journal, and Joan McDougal has donated her mother Ruby Johnson Swartzlow’s autobiography.

Capping the society’s efforts to prevent further deterioration of the schoolhouse, Jerry Stellmacher has donated materials and labor to repair the roof over the primary level classroom and repair windows in the building’s other classrooms. Jim Navis, who replaced the west half of the roof and the bell tower roof this summer, has donated the labor to remove the deteriorating north chimney. The original Chicago bricks have been saved.