Friends on the Road; Portrait of Janesville

On July 14th 1835 John Inman and William Holmes left Milwaukee in search of the lush Rock River Valley. They heard glowing descriptions of the area and were not disappointed. A combination of forest and prairie spring fed creek the river and countless wildflowers. Janesville Wisconsin grew around the big rock on the river where in mint Judge Holmes returned with their families four months later to settle the river will provide for milling and it would become a crossing with traffic between the lead mining communities to the west and the port cities on Lake Michigan to the east and the land speculation has played a prominent role in Janesville. Early settlers recognizing the river's value. Henry F. Janes arrived in January of 1836 and settled on the east bank of the river where the Hayes block company now stood and remain in the marquis street. His cabin became a popular headquarters and. He had large then converting it to a tavern.

The settlement was named after Mr. James the next year and he was appointed postmaster prompting him to nail a cigar box to the end of the bar in his tavern. Like. Mayo. By early in the 1850s Janesville was booming and it became the third largest city in Wisconsin at the time. There were economic changes in the Civil War but the city remained on a prosperous plateau another growth spurt developed after World War 1 when General Motors among others arrived making Janesville one of the state's leading agricultural industrial centers. And in the last 30 years the population has doubled to reach roughly 50000. Businesses have

prospered and Jayne's billions now earned the highest per capita income in the state. One result of this steady growth is one of the largest collections of 19th century architecture maintained anywhere in Wisconsin. In fact a few years ago Janesville decided against a federal housing and urban redevelopment plan and fund of 4 million dollars in order to maintain the character of the city through its architecture and. They centerpiece of Janesville is the mid 19th century Tallman house with its furnishings ranging from a few and pericope pieces of the late 1840s up to mid Victorian. Marine forts and is the assistant director of the Rock County Historical Society. And has been working on the Talbot house and family history. They represented the. Class of individuals who. Were able to come westward from New England. And New York at the time that our country was being developed in the course of westward

expansion. And in the early 1850s Jamesville was a community that was just beginning a large growth period. In Mr Tom and was able to buy many acres many thousands of acres of land in the. Southern Wisconsin region. And then he moved his family here because he knew that the value of this land would increase as other farmers and settlers continued to move into the area. Continually pushing the frontier westward and he made quite a fortune from buying this land and reselling it at a profit. Most of his fortune went into building this house so he was definitely of the class of people who. Were experiencing. Wealth opportunities in the 19th century. For the Historical Society this must be the pride of the county. What are some of the. There aspects to this house that you think are most interesting. I think. The. Scale of living particularly when we consider that although Janesville is undergoing a growth spurt at the time this house was built the still was considered to be out in the

boondocks Milwaukee was not nearly as large as it as it is today nor was Chicago Janesville was larger than Madison. In fact it was the second largest city in the state. And. It was quite. Something to have a house of the steel built in this particular. Region at that time. Tolman boasted that it was one of the largest and most elaborate houses in the upper Midwest. It had running water for example caress and. He was able to have other modern facilities modern for this time and place such as an indoor toilet facility a speaking tube facility that allowed the family to talk to their servants in the basement kitchen. The Bell System gas chandelier is and wall lights and so on. What of those things is your favorite aspect. I like the toilet. It was quite an advance to not have to go a half mile out behind the house. Can you give us a sketch of some of the room.

The floor plan is somewhat typical for this a Tahlia night style of house in that it has a very formal parlor which was used only on special occasions. It has a sitting room that serviced. The. Neighborhood callers who would pay social visits to the Tolman ladies during the daytime. We are in the. Back parlor which was the family's informal room where game playing was done and. General. Coziness relaxation a very formal dining room. For their many course meals and then a rear dining and tea room where they had their less formal meal in the evening. And then of course there are the the main chambers guest chamber and. Large chambers for the family members as well as the servants rooms. Have you been able to uncover in your research on the time of house any what you might call myths about the house. Yes we have. Done some research in the past 12 months that. Indicates to us that a story that

existed about this house for over 20 years perhaps is founded on myth rather than fact. And that story was that the house was supposedly a station on the Underground Railroad before the Civil War. What we have found out is that Tolman. Used his house in Rome New York where they lived before coming to Janesville as a station before the Civil War he was an ardent abolitionist and we have documented ways in which he helped aid the. Abolitionist cause. But we think that he probably did not use this house in that manner although for at least 30 years people in the community here believe that Mr. Martin says the purpose of the Tom and house restoration is to present a social history of that period. The house is not heated and so it is open for tours only during the summer months. Many of the tours are given by the curator Ruth Hughes of the Rock County Historical Society. That's where you came out and about five years later he brought his family and built a house that was in 1855 now but

it took two years to build that house. And when you see all the things you said. The construction of it you realize why it took that long. In this room is the fact is the formal power where a lot of politicians like Stephen Douglas and Lincoln came here and sat in this room and you looked out there and saw the fireplace burning and ask if they couldn't go and sit by that far. Course he probably was used to a fireplace now this little sofa was original with a time once that was sent back and given back to us over to the side is the. Bust of mark a return. From the opera fast than about the chandelier. Well that's the fanciest one in the house and now those are all metal in the stilling look like one. And notice the middle of fairies up above with their liking lines. Then the piano is an interesting piece and that has a sharper.

Keyboard than most pianos it was stored in the house for many years. Now that the little stew all has a back to it now that's very unusual and it almost looks like. A liar meant musical instrument. Are these pieces original to the top and sadly. No they weren't and they were at one time green and we had them re-upholstered to match this carpeting which is is quite unusual. If I were to have visited the Tolman's would I be having tea in that room. I'm fraid not. Probably you and I have to have tea over in the sitting room and that's where the friends and neighbors would come. Well the first things are just as fine in this room it seems for all of these belong to the Commons. And oh there was this little. Here's a chair that came in when they first moved in here and then the banjo clock. Also came in at that time in 1857. All this furniture in here

belong to the Tong ones and. This was one of their little favorites the sort of fisherman pick the picture over the mantel was done in 1848 by one of the Thompson women and. That is done in Gross Pointe not quite by the point. And it says on there Jacob blessing the sons of Joseph Olivia de Havilland was quite a Travis was quite a gal. Oh I got that one of the say the fireplace. Well that's one of our prettier ones it has the squirrels in it. And. They're chewing on that you see in that. In the leaf design that I do and I would probably have tea in this room but we aren't quite up to the minister and the politicians that drank tea in the other room. Not Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. No. Now this is the dining room correct. That's correct. I think they only

had their dinners in this room and they had their lunches in their teas out in the. Back. Dining room. And much of this furniture. Well at least the chairs in here the mirror and quite a few things on the table are. Things that belong to the top ones besides the clock over here on this. Butler's chest. And that dates to 1810 and all that's a real nice piece. You mentioned a mirror and that's also original to the tolerance. This is one of those flattering ones and people enjoy that immensely. Anything else that you think is a favorite of yours here. In the dining room. Well I think the little pieces up on the top shelf there are not a lot of lovely little goblets and then there are the three faces. Oh even the salt tips are the three face pattern.

And that many of the you know well the cake dish has done too. We always keep our cake and eat the interest in architecture in Janesville ranges from an abandoned log cabin to a modern industrial complex. A new guide rock out of historic sites and buildings includes 3000 buildings 750 of them in Janesville itself. Nancy Douglas architectural surveyor spoke with us about how the culture is reflected in the architectural styles. It's an interesting mix it's consistent. It's a lot of what I think we call middle class houses people moving in building and a lot of it is what you might call perhaps 1850s not for Nakheel or as an every day style but sometimes their work fine lentils window coverings and so on elements of the Italianate style which is the probably the finest example is the tall and house right here. And then of course later styles there

are a few maybe five or so in the city of the mansard roof Second Empire for instance a building that's now an apartment house is on the court courthouse square once. Built by Mr. Wheelock who is a cracker emergent and it's a nice place to live in though there were other styles that built especially up the hill from the courthouse in The Queen Anne style or the late become of the college picturesque styles are so mixed with with many elements of the past that they're they're very kind of three dimensional and almost bombastic you know with tourists and and angles and really beautiful woodwork and so on. So there's a lot of that too as the town grew. I just wondered about. Why it is that Janesville has been able to avoid becoming architecturally bankrupt when development it seems like in so many other towns are. New shopping centers and. New houses new apartment complexes but there's really. A maintenance of the older

buildings here. Yeah well actually I think for one thing Janesville has been a fairly conservative community and of course through the Depression so on there wasn't much building anyway. There are some good contemporary building No. But for instance like the city hall by for taking a guess but it has nicely blended with the existing sites and actually the kind of motel row and franchise restaurants without by the plastic aout Highway 26. Let's go back to discuss more of how the architecture is reflected. In the culture is reflected through the architecture. What other things have you discovered in the survey you mention that in Jayne's alone there were seven hundred fifty. Different sites and. We have some neighborhoods that are. Being thought of as historical neighborhoods and that you're going to maintain them just through historical zoning I think really and truly people are were interested in that there's recently a preservation taskforce that has started in the county and some of the people in it are

very interested in restoring their own homes. Other people maybe 30 or 40 years ago cabbage is again in Parkersburg Parkers and lanes have have boarded up houses that people think you know Don't they were sometimes just filled with trash and so on and people were just like you a nice house and building them up but I think maybe now there's more conscious effort for people to get together and try to preserve neighborhoods like the Tallman house neighborhood which has some really nice houses. Why. Well for some of these people like a kind of continuity of life they like some roots in the past. Plus the interest in the future is if you get something all plastic and torn down and rebuilt. You don't have an environment that is livable. It's kind of fun to to get that you know fresh air where there is some in Janesville that's pretty fresh and and know that. I go you know 100 125 years ago. It's people who are living in some of these places and enjoying them and we're kind of keeping them going too. It's something nice to hand to our

children. The people working to preserve Janesville is architectural wealth sometimes don't know what the best thing is to do says Everett Scott who has organized a preservation task force. The task force has established a library and provides encouragement and expert advice and they have been developing the historical zoning concept for certain neighborhoods across the river in downtown Janesville lies the largest industry and a General Motors assembly division plant it employs nearly 6000 consistently gets the top quality ranking among the car manufacturers assembly lines and paid 73 million in wages in 1974. Whatever problems with the congestion and pollution other industrial centers experienced there are few complaints and many compliments of this plan. Wayne wood is moving from the assembly line to the assembly chamber as a result of his recent election to the forty eighth district seat of the state legislature.

He explains the happy coexistence between the plant in the city. I think if there is an explanation just a realization that. Each of us have a white community and the end of the bond. You're either alone is far enough. Many services may be recreational building but there. Are many. He recognizes the benefits from the payroll and backed up by doing a stable economy. So the. Idea that the coexistence of you know the. Beach party recognizing their responsibility and fulfilled it. How has the city government which I assume. You think. You've been on the city. Well from a financial standpoint to versus. Them. Like a nominee benefit. Along. Property taxes go up on the payroll. Rights job for the people. In the thing. And is something we have a

standard of living that. Fairly constant. We haven't demanded any screams for. From the community. Other than what's been my. Voice and Ivana's by state and federal government cars various pollution controls. You know in terms of people who work here at the plant. Who are the largest employer in Zanesville the Unionists. Are saying well how to wreck the economy. That is a meaningless position. In terms of. Working in a factory as. Well. I. Don't really like that thought of me walking out and ruining the economy because we are the economy in every room somebody is ourselves. I think he means. Very reasonable. And her attitude in. Economic requests.

Down. We also recognize the responsibility to maintain good relations and. The benefits are very good and the quality of the work is regulars at saying. Well I'm I'm saying that. We are not radical or rather conservative. For the community and union members. I mean. I could never. Fight. But. Want to start fighting with. And that's worth more. Than A. Right. Wing. Plant here is going to sit. The best. I think in the country is in a. Town the best in General Motors and of course we think the best in the country. How would you rate the quality of life in Jane's eyes a very ambiguous question I realize. What are your thoughts. Generally I was like. Well I think. Gina lived a very fine quality of life. We don't have the problem that many larger communities have. We had. Basically a stable economy and that's one of the reasons. We have may outlets recreation all.

Of this. For the energy. We provided for them. And. We have a number of large metropolitan areas within a short driving distance from Gainesville which. Means that we don't really have to go out and. Invest. A lot of money in those type of facilities so we're going to need water salt to lower tax rate and better communicate. And we are sort of going to enjoy those by. A short drive. We were talking earlier. Living with. Him here. Right. Relationship between. Plant. And. City government. Has it been a matter of deciding you know we have to have a plan. And. Plan. We have to be in the city. And so we're going to. Do the things that we have to accomplish. To make this work. Has it been that kind of a conscious. Working together in the well of being there. Understanding set relationship. Model. I don't really been conscious but it would probably work for that around.

The plant really. Came here by happenstance. With. Something. Back. I mean many many years ago on a business. And. They don't want to. Recognize. It. And not be clamoring for you. To use it. I could have had something. Good work record and relationship between Boy Lawyer and then everybody benefits. Even going. To move up to the assembly line down which is under way here at the North picnic area will have to ask. Ted Simons exactly what this station does. And check the steering wheel column linkage an oddball screws not so hold together. On the throttle linkage which. Was. Used in a cellar at your car with. The quality at this plant is number

one in the country why I believe it has a lot to do with. Idea that the people who work here on the They've got to maintain quality in order to keep their standards up and have an income of Uganda on how good the plants operate is the weather. God. Will let you go. The. Line here takes 18 hours to be completed and one car then is built in 18 hours because you can see there are cars going through all the time. Arnold Schmitz your job is to do what basically is tight down the heater holes and a spare tire plus. A few other minor things and you change positions with Nelson there every couple of hours to our right. To make the job more interesting. I think it takes the monotony out of. Doing the same job all day long. They're part of the plan here. General Motors to make it an interesting job when that way I think this is kind of worked out between the workers or. Just. The change offer because without the heavy job with a spare

tire there are jobs. At the top of the plant management lets you do that. Oh yeah you know they. Don't interfere with the work being done a lot of the work is done. You know everyone. Looks at their situation at some time their job. Their home their town. How would you evaluate. Your situation here at General Motors and in Jamesville. I feel content here. I. I think I make enough money for. Live a good life. Would you say that. The pay is good. And that. You know in other ways it's kind of ideal in the sense that there's not a lot of congestion or pollution in Janesville. I would say to pare the pay as. Area you can. For a family of three or four you can look pretty comfortable. You have a family I have a wife and one child one on the way and. You know plan to stay here for a while. I would say I'd probably work a 30 years to retirement.

Parks become increasingly important when a community achieves a pride in itself and Jamesville has over 1000 acres of parkland ranking it in the top 3 percent of the country in a way Janesville has grown like much of industrialized north america. But its parks and recreational programs have remained remarkably fresh. Pat Dawson has given his aggressive leadership to the recreation department in the past and gives us his thoughts on what there is to do in Janesville. Well if I were going to say and then what is there to do I would say what would you like to do. Because there's something here to do regardless of what you want to do as far as an outside activity is concerned if you're injured in athletics. There are dozens of things you can do in tennis and golf and football and softball and baseball and anything you want inside there is swimming they're swimming on and they're. Is art a public art. There is crafts there is a senior citizen center that's extremely active.

We also have a kind of unique arrangement between the school board and the recreation of Potter park system that I would explain that this is true and I think a very good relationship because the program the program the activity is charged the school board therefore you can call on all resources the school board in the way of supervision in the way of equipment to run programs. And you don't have to compete with an organized city which is charge of the responsibility of maintenance and the actual parking areas. So if you want to use public buildings and pro for program purposes you have the resource. The school board at your command just move in and you don't have to clear with the city or clear with the school board. You have the joint jurisdiction there in the US and the thing is all laid out for you and I think it makes for a very healthy religion. Do people retire here. Will this is very true. Janesville for will

since its inception has been known as a privileged community and so far that is a good family town. Cleaning town always has been. People like to live here. They're raised here they go to school here and they retire here Jindal has a very high incidence of retired people. There are almost 5000 retired people that's better than 10 percent of the population and then will are retired they have a very very active senior citizen center here and they have 16 retired people's clubs that are very active in the city of Djinns and all of these most 5000 retired people there are approximately 3000 a little better about 30 100 who are very active and various organize retired activities. I wonder if we could ask you to look back for a minute about some of the changes that

you've seen in shells fell from their work. Jan still has grown almost three fold since I got here. Its area has increased almost three fold in the number of people moving about that he preached about that we have seen the philosophy of the town gradually tend and change over into a Labor dominated town with shoes. We're not going to argue with you that's good or bad but down through all these years the Martin thing I would point out that. Is constant. Is the fact that all our public offices are occupied by people who are very interested in Jans. I've been here since 1929 and I have not heard one single breath of scandal about any public official who has something to say in this day and you know none of the genes go 15 years. How do you like it.

Or like it fine. Here I want to be here again why. Because I think James was a fine down in. Flames. I know that we've got plenty of stores to shop an. Opportunity. I know this is my job here when. I think it's fine. I think it's a good time to live a. Life. Well we don't have. And send out too much violence lives around us. What are the dos and don'ts in it is. Just it is that. They are setting. It Off. Mm mm. Mm. Mm. This program was made possible in part by a special grant from the friends of channel 21.