*The town of Little Wolf is a six-mile square in the county of Waupaca. These days, it's much more common to hear people refer to it as a township, possibly to avoid confusion with a small city or large village, which is what many people usually think of when they hear the word town. This text will use the phrase "township of Little Wolf" to refer to the six-mile square of Waupaca County, and "village of Little Wolf" to refer to the settlement that grew up at the southern edge of the township.
On maps and in photographs, the Little Wolf River is easily the most immediately eye-catching feature of the township named after it. Farmland makes a patchwork of the countryside, trees grow in windbreaks between the fields or cluster in wooded lots, but the river's meandering path stands out as it swings across the landscape in a broadly-curved reverse-S, cutting the township almost exactly in half from north to south.
The village of Little Wolf straddled the river on the southern border of the township. Settled by William Goldberg in 1848, who was joined by George E. and J.P. More in 1849, and James and Peter Meikeljohn in 1850, the village was at first known as Centerville and, after Jack Brickley built the first bridge across the river in 1858, it was also known as Brickley Bridge. The village adopted the name Little Wolf when A.P. Jones established the village's post office in January, 1859.
The village grew fairly quickly in just ten years. Goldberg and the Mores built a sawmill there in 1849. Andrew Van Adestine fired up a smithy, Dan Smith and A.P. Jones opened groceries, and Jack Brickley bridged the river. Although Peter Meikeljohn set aside a room in his house for the village's first teacher, Miss Fortner, to use as a class room in 1853, the village raised a school house in 1857, the same year that Meikeljohn opened a grist mill on the southwest bank of the river. A two-story hotel, also operated by the Meikeljohns, stood near the grist mill.
Little Wolf never grew much bigger, though, and probably began to decline in the 1870's, after another lumbermill was built upriver in 1871, and the railroad was routed through Manawa in 1873. Until recently, the hotel was all that remained standing, but today only the foundations of the grist mill remain to show that the village ever existed.
The city of Manawa grew up south of the sawmill built on the Little Wolf river in 1871 by J.M. and Harley Rounds and Robert Pugmire. The river was bridged in three places here by the 1880's, making Manawa a focus of all traffic through the township. The timbered bridge at the sawmill was replaced with a steel truss bridge in 1902. About a mile downstream, the railroad crossed the river on a plate girder bridge. And barely a half-mile below the railroad trestle, the lower bridge, originally built of lumber, was replaced by a three-arch stone bridge in 1902.
The city was cradled in the lower crook of the reverse-S made by the river, and was platted – the streets of the city laid out – in three distinct parts. A northern part in sixteen blocks was drawn just south of the sawmill, and became the centeral business district through most of the town's life. A central sliver of just barely eight blocks, a mix of businesses and residences, lay on the south side of the railroad. And to the south, a square of twenty blocks was laid out around the river crossing about a half-mile below the railroad. Although this was the largest part of Manawa to be platted, and appeared to be laid out as the civic center of the city, complete a town square, it fell into decline, and only in more modern times has begun to grow again.
For a short time after the post office opened in 1872, under the postmaster Elbert Scott, the city was known as Elberton. The name Manawa was formally adopted in 1874. According to local folklore, "Manawa" means "Long Bow," and was the name of a Native American who was killed in a duel near the clower river crossing.
Manawa was only very sparsely settled before 1871. Before that, most people who lived in the township clustered in the village of Little Wolf.
first sawmill in Little Wolf township built in Centerville by George and J.P. More and Goldberg & Co. [Wegener]
Rev. Elder Baxter delivered Methodist sermons in Peter Meikeljohn home in Little Wolf [Wegener]
February 11: Stanley homestead established 1.5 miles s/e of Manawa; Elizur Stanley, wife Susan, son Milton [Wegener]
government survey of Little Wolf township begun by Samuel Perrin [Wegener]
School conducted in Little Wolf house of Peter Meiklejohn [Wegener]
Royalton township separated from Little Wolf township [Wegener]
first mention of Waupaca/Mukwa county seat trouble [Wegener]
Ryan family homestead set up three miles east of Manawa; Ann Brodrick Ryan, son Mark Ryan, wife, and uncle Pat Ryan [Wegener]
James Meiklejohn opens grist mill at Little Wolf [Wegener]
School erected at Little Wolf [Wegener]
Union township separated from Little Wolf township [Wegener]
A.P. Jones established post office in Little Wolf, on mail route between Green Bay and Plover; post office adopted name of Little Wolf over Centerville [Wegener]
"Little Red School House" built in Lower Manawa [Wegener]
Dupont township separated from Little Wolf township [Wegener]
J.M. Rounds Lumber Company saw mill built [Wegener]
Green Bay & Minnesota Railway came to Manawa [Wegener]
First railroad depot built [Wegener]
March 11: St. Paul's Lutheran church congregation organized [Wegener]
W.H. Hatten and James Meikeljohn took on business of J.M. Rounds Lumber Company [Wegener]
January 7: Vol 1 No 1 of The Manawa Print, K.W. Shipman, editor [Wegener]
J.M. Rounds Lumber Company became Little Wolf Lumber Company [Wegener]
May: Begin construction of Sacred Heart church [Wegener]
October: Complete construction of Sacred Heart church [Wegener]
April 18: First issue of The Manawa Advocate; Will M. Barnum and C.D. McFarland, publishers [Wegener]
November 1: Begin demolition of J.M. Rounds saw mill. [Wegener]
April: Complete building of Little Wolf Lumber Company saw mill. [Wegener]
January 12: First railroad depot destroyed by fire [Wegener]
February: Second railroad depot built [Wegener]
fire destroys saw mill at Little Wolf [Wegener]
So far, William Goldberg is something of a cipher. He apparently settled in Little Wolf, where he opened a saw mill with George and J.P. More. There is no mention of him afterward, however. He doesn't appear in the 1855 census, or any census after; however, the households of Wood and Cimbal count 6 and 7 men each.
Wakefield referred to him as William Goldsberry.
Opened a grocery at Little Wolf. 1859: Established a post office in Little Wolf, on the postal route between Green Bay and Plover.
1855: appointed to represent Little Wolf township to Waupaca [Wegener]
settled in Little Wolf 1850 [Wegener]
settled in Little Wolf 1850 [Wegener]
settled in Little Wolf 1849 [Wegener]
settled in Little Wolf 1849 [Wegener]
Opened a grocery in Little Wolf.
Arrived Little Wolf township as infant Feb 1856. Organized Manawa High School, member of school board. Helped organize first cooperative creamery in Little Wolf township. Treasurer of Little Wolf township. Member of Waupaca County board in several capacities.
1855: appointed to represent Little Wolf township to Mukwa, then recognized by Little Wolf as county seat [Wegener]
opened smithy in Little Wolf [Wegener]
Page maintained by Dave Okonski :: last update 22 May 2004