A History of Osceola Wisconsin

by John G. Schillberg

Every community must have an economic base, a reason for being. When any village or city loses its main businesses and its customers it is bound to decline and maybe become a ghost town.

Osceola has been fortunate in its location, and the local environment, in its early days it had a good landing near the upper limit of navigation on the St. Croix River. This was the important transportation artery at that time. Osceola had a waterfall that soon became the source of power for sawing wood and grinding grain. These assets led to the building of mills and the building of steamboats here. Also there was good level land for farming. These natural assets attracted far-sighted men that could see the possibilities to be found here. Many times throughout the years men and women have been able to seize the changing possibilities that have presented themselves here. Ice has been harvested here, rough fish have been shipped from here, bottled water shipped, beer has been brewed, grain shipped, and people earned income from farm animals and milk.

Bridges have been built to reach our market across the river in Minnesota. Then with the coming of the railroad, river transportation withered and died but was replaced by railroad jobs. All the goods and services that a growing community needs then came by railroad. Also the railroad provided quick and easy access to the Twin Cities and all other places. We cannot over estimate the importance of the railroad because any town not served was then at a great disadvantage.

Agriculture has been a major contributor to Osceola's growth. The farm products shipped from here were a major source of the community's income. To farm, it is necessary to have a local source of fuel, machinery, repairs, many kinds of supplies, somewhere to get grain ground, also food, clothing, medical care, schools, churches and many other services. The early farmers raised grain and potatoes for shipment. This later was replaced largely by animal and milk production. Now it is shifting back to grain, mostly corn and soybeans. Now the major source of income is from factory jobs in our Industrial Park and like jobs in the surrounding area.

Recreation and tourism are now becoming more important. We are fortunate to have the beautiful St. Croix River and several fine lakes in the area. The coming of the excursion, Osceola and the St. Croix Valley Rail Road should make a big difference. The river landing with its boating and canoeing and the Brookside Campground bring many visitors to our community.

We are now experiencing another change, we are becoming a bedroom community, an outer suburb of the Twin Cities. Many of our citizens commute to work elsewhere and spend some of their money in our community.

We are now experiencing a house building boom and expansions to our schools.

Osceola was founded in 1843 and was then known as LeRoy, Crawford County Wisconsin Territory which included a large part of Northern Minnesota. In every community there are certain outstanding citizens who make major contributions to their areas growth. The Knapps with their steamboat building, building the early water powered mills, the Geiger Brewery, the founders of Bethania Mineral Springs and the ice company.

Later we had the Zorn Auto, Buick and Chevrolet dealer and the Spitzer Ford dealer. Each had garages on Main Street. Other long established businesses were McCarty Implement which later became Green Implement, the Osceola Mercantile owned by the Koch and Dehmer families, and several hardware stores including Hillskotters, Cliff Nelson and now Bill Chantelois. There have been many grocery stores and other kinds of businesses including a movie theater, a tailor, a watch repairman, a shoe and harness repairman and a blacksmith.

The Corey's, especially Ralph Corey, were instrumental in founding the Corey feed Mill. They brought their steam-thrashing engine to town to grind grain where the Coast-to-Coast parking lot is now. Later they converted to electric power. Ralph Corey sold out to the Midland Co-op that continued to operate for many years. The livery stable and later the McCarty Implement business was where the old Super Value lot is.

Then we cannot overlook the boost that O.C.Wyman gave to the community. He was the principle owner of a large wholesale business in the cities and he chose to buy some 1000 acres of land in and to the north east of Osceola for his country estate. He built Bolderwall, now the Aveda Spa building, the barn on the Schillberg property, and several other buildings now gone. He was responsible for the Soo Line station building being constructed by knowing the right people.

L.O.Simenstad and his son John have been responsible for the hospital and medical facility in Osceola. Dr. L.O. Simenstad is also responsible for Highway 243 being included in both the Minnesota and Wisconsin's state highway systems, and the establishment of the Osceola Airport.

Trailer homes, airplanes, fire engines, Polaris Snowmobiles and all terrain vehicles, electric wiring, and microwave oven parts have or are now being produced in Osceola. Tom Warth started Classic Motorbooks in Minneapolis and moved it here to Osceola where it has grown to an international business. The businesses in our Industrial park now employ 1700 people.

Viebrock, Verhasselt, Cloutier, Steffen, and other homebuilders are active in and around our community. There have been the developments of the RoBo Village Trailer park and the Smith addition south of County "M", Buck Ridge with more coming.

The Schillbergs purchased a part of the Wyman estate at a bargain price in 1939 and operated a dairy farm there for forty-three years. During this time they developed the Brookside Campground and four sub-divisions of building lots. The Schillbergs had the land surveyed, engineered, plotted and had water and sewer systems installed. They also had the streets blacktopped and the last development included curb and gutter. All this was required in exchange for the right to sell the lots and hook up to the Village's sewer and water system. So the village had no expense for the construction of the streets beyond 8th avenue except Geiger Street and the elementary school property. Now the Catholic Church, the Middle School, some 84 homes and the Brookside Campground are on property originally owned and developed by the Schillbergs. Likewise the Viebrock additions, the Smith addition and the Robo trailer village have met similar requirements.

The Osceola Women's Club has been active in developing the local library, recycling, tree planting, house numbering, and the community fund drive and a scholarship.

The Osceola Historical Society is active in many projects including main street renewal, it's historic house, and recently the purchase and renewal of the railroad station. The society along with the Minnesota Transportation Museum and the Wisconsin Central Railroad have incorporated the Osceola and the St. Croix Valley Railroad to operate passenger excursion trains on Saturdays and Sundays all summer from our railroad station. This is the first time a non-profit voluntary organization has operated trains on a commercial railroad track and following all I.C.C. rules and requirements. John Schillberg has been a volunteer historian and car attendant on these trains Thursdays and most weekends all summer long for the past five years.

The Osceola Business Association is active in village promotions, development and festivals. The Industrial Park board has been successful in developing the park and bringing good sound businesses to our community. All these businesses and activities are responsible for Osceola's growth, and the economic present and future prosperity.

Osceola is a growing town that has proved that it is capable of adjusting to changing conditions and preparing for the future. We have a fine group of people here, able to work together for our communities good. Our village population has grown from the 600's in 1940 to over 2000 residents living within the village limits now and probably another 1000 in our immediate trade area. We have several active churches of different denominations here. Osceola is all this and only one hour driving time from the Twin Cities.

All this has happened since the first settlers came 150 years ago. We are still an active growing community.