History of the Jews of Wisconsin’s Small Communities: The Freedom to Succeed Jews survive and thrive in the Badger State By Andrew Muchin Jews from small communities have played a significant, but little known, role in the history of Wisconsin, a state rightly proud of its immigrant settlers. Jews have contributed to Wisconsin society as business people, farmers, teachers and students, scientists, professionals and public servants. They have found a welcoming home in the Badger State. Wisconsin Jewish history began in 1793, when a fur trader came to the tiny settlement of Green Bay. Jacob Franks built a fur trading outpost and established business and personal relationships with Native Americans. In 1797, he brought his Jewish-born nephew, John Lawe, to help him. Franks built the first saw mill and first grist mill in Wisconsin - in 1809 near what is now De Pere. Following the War of 1812, Franks returned to Montreal, leaving his Native American wife and their children under Lawe's care. Lawe remained in Green Bay with his own part-Native American wife and their children, expanding his fur business south to the Lake Winnebago area and Milwaukee. He was appointed a Brown County judge and was elected to the 1836 territorial legislature. The only known born-Jew in Wisconsin for most of three decades, Lawe identified as a Christian and helped to establish Christian institutions in Green Bay. ______________________ Wisconsin Jewish history began in 1793, when a fur trader came to the tiny settlement of Green Bay. ______________________ Only one other reference to Jews in the early 1800s has been found: a Brown County history book's report that Native Americans robbed and killed "a Jew peddler" near Kaukauna in 1820 as he traveled on foot. These earliest pioneers have no known direct relationship to Wisconsin's estimated 26,000 Jews. Today's Wisconsin Jewry originated to a great extent in the two waves of Jewish immigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries. German, Hungarian and Alsatian Jews arrived in Wisconsin beginning in the 1840s, establishing communities in Milwaukee, Madison, Schleisingerville (now Slinger), La Crosse and, in 1872, Appleton. Jews in smaller numbers lived in towns throughout the state. These newcomers quickly gained prominence: Baruch Schleisinger Weil, who established Schleisingerville, served in the state legislature intermittently from 1852-1880. A farmer living miles from the nearest Jewish community, Milwaukee, Weil brought Jewish teachers to his home by ox team to instruct his children. Lyon Silverman operated a store and tavern in Mequon in about 1845. He was elected a Democratic state senator in the early 1850s. Merchant Edward Poznanski arrived in Chippewa Falls in the 1850s and served two terms as mayor. John M. Levy was a founder of La Crosse in the 1840s. He built several important buildings there, hosted the town’s first Jewish religious services and served as mayor. Joseph Mann, a manufacturer with his brothers in Two Rivers, was elected mayor in 1866. Merchant Alexander Billstein was elected mayor of Neenah in 1875. Businessman David Hammel was a state representative from 1876-77 and mayor of Appleton from 1900-03 and 1906-7. His nephew, Leopold Hammel, served in the legislature in 1885 and 1887. Michael Newald was elected mayor of Fort Howard, now part of Green Bay, in 1879. In Grand Rapids, now Wisconsin Rapids, Joseph Cohen was elected mayor of in 1912. Larger numbers of Jews began to settle throughout Wisconsin in the 1880s and 1890s during the mass migration from Russia and Eastern Europe. In addition to Milwaukee and Madison, Jews settled in places of economic opportunity, while creating and perpetuating Jewish life. ______________________ Today's Wisconsin Jewry originated to a great extent in the two waves of Jewish immigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries. ______________________ In some cases, they set down roots in towns they discovered while peddling house wares through the countryside. The young immigrant peddler Solomon Levitan was attracted to the friendliness of the predominantly Swiss town of New Glarus. In the early 1880s, he opened a successful general store there, later expanding to Blanchardville. He served as justice of the peace. Wanting greater educational and Jewish opportunities for his three children, the yeshiva (Jewish school) -educated Levitan moved to Madison in about 1905, where he opened a store and became involved in banking - and Progressive politics. The former peddler and longtime friend of Senator Robert "Fighting Bob" LaFollette served as state treasurer from 1922-32 and from 1936-38. Other Jews moved into small towns to open branches of a family's grocery or dry-goods store. For instance, the Chaimson family operated department stores in towns, including Menomonie and Rice Lake. By this time, the Hammels and affiliated cousins and in-laws had expanded the Appleton-based family horse-trading business to a dozen communities. In the first half of the 20th century, many a small Wisconsin burg (town) had a Jewish-owned store on Main Street or a Jewish-owned scrap yard. In those days, according to the late Leonard Loeb, a native of Columbus, Wisconsin, "you could go anywhere in Wisconsin and not eat treif," or non-kosher food. The implication is clear: Jewish families were spread throughout the state and they retained Jewish practices. Some small-town Jewish communities grew large. Approximately 1,000 Jews settled in Sheboygan in the early 20th century. They initially worked in factories and as peddlers and merchants, then branched out into the full range of enterprises. These Jews established three Orthodox congregations, a Workmen's Circle Yiddish library and fraternal organizations for men, women and youth. Sheboygan was such a well-known outpost for Orthodox Jewry through World War II that it was known among American Jews as “Little Jerusalem." Lake Superior Jewry numbered 600, many working as merchants, in the early 1900s. The community founded three synagogues and an active B'nai B'rith lodge. Morrie Arnovich, an all-star outfielder for the 1939 Philadelphia Phillies, was an active member of the Superior Jewish community. Jews were similarly successful in congregation-building, though in smaller numbers, in Antigo, Appleton, Arpin, Ashland, Beloit, Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Hurley, Kenosha, La Crosse, Manitowoc, Marinette, Monroe, Oshkosh, Racine, Stevens Point and Wausau. The synagogues have closed in Arpin, Antigo, Ashland, Fond du Lac, Hurley, Marinette, Monroe, Stevens Point and Superior. Many of the remaining Northern Wisconsin Jews attend synagogue in Duluth, Minnesota and belong to the Chequamegon Bay Havurah, a social and worship group that meets on major Jewish holidays. ______________________ Morrie Arnovich, an all-star outfielder for the 1939 Philadelphia Phillies, was an active member of the Superior Jewish community. ______________________ From 1900 to 1960, Jews also lived in small pockets of eight to ten families in communities as far-flung as Rhinelander, Rice Lake, Beaver Dam and Jefferson. These Jews would gather a minyan (prayer quorum of ten men) for memorial prayers and sometimes for Sabbath worship. But like their brethren who lived as the sole Jewish family in a small town, they trekked to larger communities for High Holy Day services. Rhinelander native Ed Elkon remembers his family visiting Wausau, where the Orthodox congregation had hired a rabbi for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Danni Gendelman (nee Litwin) drove with her family from Menomonie to Eau Claire, where the Jewish community rented worship space in the Knights of Pythias hall. By the 1950s, the one-family Jewish community was on the wane. The younger generation usually sought a larger community, and the parents often followed. Yet the post-World War II baby boom fueled one last surge of growth for Wisconsin's one-synagogue towns. A new generation of religiously liberal Jewish parents bought or built new synagogues from the late 1940s until approximately 1970 in Appleton, Ashland, Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, La Crosse, Manitowoc, Oshkosh, Sheboygan and Waukesha. In many of these towns, the traditional Orthodox practices became less stringent as a new generation gained prominence. Hurley's Jews had long closed their synagogue by then, worshipping across the border in Ironwood, Michigan. Some of the most notable Jews who lived in smaller Wisconsin communities were illusionist Harry Houdini and author Edna Ferber (Appleton), columnists Eppie Lederer, aka Ann Landers, and Pauline Phillips, aka Abigail Van Buren (Eau Claire), comedian Jackie Mason (Sheboygan), Hollywood pioneer Carl Laemmle (Oshkosh) and Senator Russell Feingold (Janesville). Today, Wisconsin's estimated 26,000 Jews include approximately 19,000 in Milwaukee, 5,000 in Madison and less than 2,000 in some 60 other communities. But at the peak of Jewish immigration and settlement, nearly 40,000 Jews lived in more than 200 Wisconsin communities. The future of Wisconsin’s small Jewish communities seems secure (in the near future, at least) in Appleton, Beloit, Eau Claire, Green Bay, Kenosha, La Crosse, Oshkosh and Wausau. Other smaller communities are slowly aging and shrinking. Their stories are being collected by the Wisconsin Jewish Archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison and the Wisconsin Small Jewish Communities History Project, a program of the Wisconsin Society for Jewish Learning, Inc., Milwaukee. Andrew Muchin is director of the Wisconsin Small Jewish Communities History Project. He may be contacted at amuchin@wsjl.org. The Wisconsin Small Jewish Communities History Project is a program of the Wisconsin Society for Jewish Learning. Inc. This website: Copyright © 2006 Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. 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