[solemn violin]
In 1844, a wealthy Boston merchant named Amos A. Lawrence
acquired nearly 5,000 acres of land
in northeast Wisconsin.
As a long-time philanthropist,
Lawrence decided to encourage development in the area
in an unusual way:
by establishing a university in the wilderness.
- Antoinette Powell: Amos A. Lawrence
decided to establish university
with the donation of $10,000 and land,
and the provision
that the Methodist Church come up with another $10,000
to establish the university.
Amos A. Lawrence wanted his new university
to be tied to a religious organization
because he felt that they had
the discipline and the morality
to improve
not only the students who went to this place,
but also the community.
[rushing water]
- Land agents recommended a site
south of Lawrence's land
by the Grand Chute,
with its many water power sites
and no settlers.
- Antoinette Powell: So it was kind of a clean slate,
and it could draw the New Englanders.
It could draw the people from New York.
Could draw the Protestants.
And it would be a perfect place,
a beautiful place
to establish this university.
The river was a draw.
The beauty of the area was a draw.
The city, the river, and the university
inextricably linked.
- Wisconsin's territorial legislature
approved the charter for the university in 1847--
one year before Wisconsin became a state.
- Antoinette Powell: Once it was established
that Lawrence University was going to be here,
the growth was exponential.
Within four or five years,
people were moving in.
Buildings were going up.
It was becoming a city.
- Harlan Kiesow: As the area became settled, Morgan Martin,
who was a Wisconsin territorial delegate and businessman,
had the idea of
constructing a transportation system along the Fox River.
- Dustin Mack: So, the improvements
included straightening and taming the river.
By taking out the rapids using the series of locks and dams,
the hope was that they could replicate
the success of the Erie Canal,
that they would be able to create
the same sort of river traffic
that would connect the Great Lakes through the Fox River,
and eventually, over to the Mississippi,
and out to New Orleans.
[hammering stone]
- Harlan Kiesow: After Wisconsin became a state,
the Fox River Project became
the first internal improvement project for the state.
Work started in about 1852, and by 1856,
it was completed enough that the Aquila steamship
could make a round trip
between the Mississippi River and Green Bay.
[rushing river]
- The massive project included
the construction of 17 hand-operated locks,
four of them in Appleton.
Bigger boats could now travel the Fox River,
and the dams could also capture
the power of the river for industry.
Words spread of the promise
of both the river project and the university.
- Antoinette Powell: In 1853,
the village of Appleton was created,
combining the three villages
of Lawsburg, Appleton, and Grand Chute.
Lawsburg was on the east.
Established by George Lawe.
In the center was Appleton, established by John Mead.
And then, on the west, was Grand Chute,
around the Grand Chute, the waterfall.
And then, in 1857, it was incorporated as a city.
- Dustin Mack: To make it more inviting
for the railroads to come through here,
Appleton was incorporated as a city.
And it worked because the railroad did come through,
and Appleton became a hub.
- Antoinette Powell: Water travel was superseded
[train whistle] by the railroads
pretty quickly after this happened.
And so, water travel wasn't exactly the way to get around
as people thought it was going to be.
- The coming of the railroads meant that the Fox
would be used mostly for shipping bulk freight,
but the power captured by the dams
would fuel the city's industries.
- Dustin Mack: Some of the early industries along the river
were sawmills, grist mills, and woolen mills.
[horse-drawn wagon]
Wheat farming was also a very important aspect
of Appleton's early economy.
The Fox River provided power for grist mills
so the wheat could be ground up.
And then, the Fox River was a transportation system.
And so, the wheat could be grown here,
it could be ground, and then shipped out.
- In 1853,
the Richmond Paper Mill, the Fox Valley's first,
began grinding up cotton rags and straw
to make wrapping paper for local markets.
And away from the river, College Avenue developed
as the major road in Appleton.
- Dustin Mack: College Avenue leads people to the college.
It leads people to downtown.
And so, it was the first place
that people came to where businesses set up.
It's essentially Main Street for Appleton.
And then, the community expanded beyond that as it grew,
including into the Third Ward and beyond.
[gentle guitar]
- Antoinette Powell: The area of Appleton
that's now known as the Old Third Ward
is around the Grand Chute.
And this was the area where industry was building up.
It became industrialized pretty quickly,
so the people who moved there
weren't necessarily drawn by the beauty of the river,
but by the opportunity of the river.
[rushing river]
Industrialists built their homes
on the bluffs overlooking the river.
So, they were overlooking their businesses.
So, you had the working class, you had the mill workers,
and then, you had the industrialists
living in the Old Third Ward.
- The city of Appleton continued to expand around the river,
and the growing Lawrence campus,
whose own growth would continue to help shape
the future and character of the city.
[upbeat instrumental]