Glenwood, August 1876 from Mr. Lathrop’s House

As promised, here is the first photo in the series of Glenwood Photographs taken in 1876 by N.J. Trenham.

This photograph is titled “View from Mr. Lathrop’s.” Most of the buildings in this photo will be featured individually in coming weeks.

Mr. Lathrop’s home was located on lot 8 of block 28 – on the north side 2nd Ave between 1st and 2nd Streets SW. Just east of the bandshell in the City Park.

The dirt road in the picture leading into the village is roughly where 1st Avenue SW runs today. The Peacock house stands where Minnewaska Meats is today and the Fremad Association buildings stands…where the Fremad Association building stands today. Of course, today’s Fremad is a newer, larger version. This wooden one was moved to the east in 1893 to make room for the current building. The current building is wood with a brick facade. Actually – it has its second brick facade now. More on this in a future post.

Plat map of Glenwood.

In the back of the picture you can see Bartke Hall. That eventually became the Glenwood Hotel and stood where Palmer Creations (formerly Glacial Printing) stands today. The Thorson house stood where the Bickle House stands today.

There is some mystery concerning which Mr. Lathrop owned the house. We will see a photograph of the house itself in the coming weeks, but I will tell you about the Lathrops here.

According to G.C. Torguson, in a county history project he completed in 1942, A.W. (Alfred William) Lathrop, A.C. (Alfred Croft) Lathrop and Kirk J. Kinney platted out the village of Glenwood in 1866.  Torguson claimed that A.W and A.C. Lathrop were brothers. But according to Lathrop genealogy books, A.W. was actually a nephew to A.C.

The Village of Glenwood was platted by “Lathrop and Kinney.” Lathrop & Kinney were listed in the tax records as the early owners of most of the land. Kinney is most certainly Kirk J. Kinney. But which Mr. Lathrop? Real Estate Records point to A.W. (Alfred William) Lathrop as the original owner of most of the land and a partner with Kirk J. Kinney.

The best I can determine from the files is that Ebenezer, Alfred C. and Emery S. Lathrop were brothers, all of whom lived in Glenwood. Emery (E.S.) was a miller, Ebenezer (E.) a judge, and Alfred (A.C.) a Methodist minister. All three owned land in Glenwood in their own names.

Alfred W. Lathrop was the son of Ebenezer and was also a lawyer and judge in the Benson area. He is credited with platting out the town of Appleton. According to J.G. Whittemore’s notes on this photograph from 1940 and several other photo labels, the home in question belonged to A.W. Lathrop. According to the county tax records, the land on which this house was built belonged to E. Lathrop – or Ebenezer (father of A.W.) and was sold to A.C. Lathrop in 1876. So, it is definitely a view from a Mr. Lathrop’s house, but which Lathrop is not as clear.

A.W. Lathrop and his family appeared in both Glenwood and in Chippewa County – Benson Township in the 1870 census.  By 1875, they were firmly established in Appelton in Swift County. So – it appears that while A.W. was responsible for platting the town, he moved on to other areas rather quickly.

The three elder Lathrops remained in the community longer and all may have been involved in the platting, ownership and basic creation of the Village of Glenwood.