Colby,
Mayville and Hixon were all authorized by orders of the
county board on the same day - Nov. 12, 1873. They all were
organized and held their first town meetings on the first Tuesday of
April, 1874.
The town of Colby
took its name from the railway station on the Wisconsin Central
Railway, which had been built through that country a short time
before, and the station was named for Gardner L. Colby, father of
Charles L. Colby, who was so long identified with the railway.
Source:
Robert McBride's History of Clark County, WI.
Birthplace of the World Famous Colby Cheese!
At his father's
cheese factory about one mile south and one mile west of here,
Joseph F. Steinwand in 1885 developed a new and unique type of
cheese. He named it for the township in which his father, Ambrose
Steinwand, Sr., had built northern Clark County's first cheese
factory three years before. The town had taken its name from Gardner
Colby, whose company built the Wisconsin Central railroad through
here. Colby is a mild, soft, moist cheese. Its taste became known in
the neighboring areas and an 1898 issue of the "Colby Phonograph"
noted that "A merchant in Phillips gives as one of the 13 reasons
why people should trade with him, that he sells the genuine
Steinwand Colby Cheese." After the turn of the century this area
became one of the great cheese producing centers in the nation and
Colby cheese a favorite in countries the world around.
Source:
Historical Plaque in Colby, WI.
 |
Ambrose Steinwand passed on his cheese making art to
his son, Joseph F. Steinwand, who perfected a
washed-curd process which produced Colby's
characteristically mild, pleasant flavor. His process
replaces whey with water and reduces acidity. It takes
slightly more than a gallon of milk to produce just 1
pound (454g) of cheese. |
Colby, Cheese Champion.
The Town and City which
Wrested the Honors From Herkimer County, New York
Colby is one of the thriving towns on the
line between Clark and Marathon Counties, dividing a
glance between them. It has a. population of about 1,000.
Formerly the Marathon county half was called Hull and there was
a lack of harmony which prevented the best development but a
village organization overcame this defect and now Colby presents
a united front in the line of progress. It Is near the Big Eau
Plaine River one of the Tributaries of the Wisconsin river and
was a station On the old Wisconsin Central, now the Soo Line— in
the early logging days of 1873 and so was a prominent place
before some of the rest of the county was known.
Colby is the Cheese Champion of the world. It was Battling
Nelson who gave that title to one of his rivals In the field of
fisticuffs but that was in derision, while the championship
which ii defended by the city of Colby is an honor and a
profit worthy of the best localities In the world. From Herkimer
county, New York. was wrested not only the quality of output of
flue cheese but the quantity too, and now Colby Cheese Is
demanded by the epicures everywhere.
Colby was named after Gardner Colby of Boston of the
Colby-Philips Construction. Company who built the railroad for
the Wisconsin Central company, of which his son, Charles L.
Colby, was president. R now has an electric light and water
plant representing an investment of $3,000 and which has been In
operation since 1903. There is a good city library.
The present officers are James E. Lyone, mayor; John
Pribnow, treasurer; R. G. Salter, clerk; Joseph Frane, assessor;
H. Reeves, H. A. Krepsky, E. D. Loos, and Ben
Riplinger, aldermen; H. L. Blanchard, postmaster.
One of the main features of the
town Is Uncle Joel Shafer, who came from Beaver Dam to the then
Colby In 1878, or 1788 no one can rightly tell which, and with
hid brother started a paper and tried to organize a new county
embracing part of Clark, Marathon and Taylor counties.
The movement after a sharp clash of Interests subsided and left
the Shafers stranded in Colby where they have run
their paper, The Phonograph, ever since,— until the death
of Sam Shafer a number of years ago,
and now run by’ Joel Shafer.— well known and highly re
spouted throughout the state, the patriarch of newspaper men
in Central Wisconsin and the preceptor of many bright young
journalists who have made their name famous throughout the
world.
|
The Home of Colby Cheese |
It was at this cheese factory that the father of the
present proprietor, A. M. Steinwand, first made the
product which today is known thru out the world.
Mr. Steinwand himself has been in the cheese
business 16 years. He is a director of the Lynn
Mutual Fire Insurance Company and of the Abbotsford
Bank and a member of the firm of Young & Steinwand,
agents for Overland Cars at Abbotsford and Colby.
Source: Granton News, "Clark County
the Heart of Wisconsin" 1915 |
