A Standard History of Waupaca County, Wisconsin. An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with Particular Attention to the Modern Era in the Commercial, Industrial, Educational, Civic and Social Development.

              HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY 253
ing—and the raw material for a great variety of such manufacturing is also close at hand. It is found in all the woods suitable for hubs and spokes, staves and headings, pails, chairs, woodenware, paper pulp, etc. (conditions now somewhat changed—Editor), with clay for brick and tiles, corn and potatoes for starch, and, in short, a host of other forms for enterprises of this sort, as would be readily apparent to anyone interested. While it is perhaps true that an interior town like this, with as yet but one railroad, cannot hope to become a manufacturing city in the common acceptation of the term, in recounting these advantages, and in the expectation of seeing some of them improved, Waupaca cannot be charged with fixing her aspirations too high.''
Industrial and Commercial Waupaca Today
The Waupaca of today is the center of a large trade and industry in many directions. Its retail stores are large and well stocked. Its whole¬ sale dealings and manufacture of lumber are represented by the Central Lumber Company and A. G. Nelsoii & Company.
The Central Lumber Company, which is founded on the business established by C. H. Allen, Jardine & Chamberlain, Hambleton & Shearer and Shearer & Jeffers, was organized and incorporated in 1902, with J. E. Morgan as president and P. A. Fuller, secretary and treas¬ urer. The plant at Waupaca comprises several large lumber sheds, a modern brick planing mill and a carpenter shop, fifty by a hundred feet, which runs by water power. The manufactured articles include wdndow frames, cabinets, desks, sash, doors and interior finish. The company also operates saw, shingle, lath and planing mills in several places out¬ side of Waupaca.   J. C. AlcCall is the local manager.
The original plant of A. G. Nelson & Company was on the west side of the river. In the latter part of the Civil war Alessrs. S. R. Sherwin and George W. Taggart built a small sawmill which was gradually transformed into a planing mill. In 1871 A. G. Nelson, a young Swedish carpenter and business man, arrived in Waupaca and went to work in Jardine's Eagle Planing Mills. In a couple of years he associated him¬ self with his brother, J. P. Nelson, and Ole Olson, and in 1873 purchased the old Sherwin-Taggart Planing Mill of C. H. Ritz. They operated it until the plant was burned July 14, 1877. Within three months the mill was rebuilt and in operation under the ownership of J. P. & A. G. Nelson. The firm remained thus until Charles Churchill purchased the one-half interest of J. P. Nelson, when it became A. G. Nelson & Company. This was in the spring of 1888, and in the followdng year a larger planing mill was erected on the eastern side of the river, where the yard room