Weyauwega is anything but a sleepy little town. At one time, it was on the leading edge of the Wild West. As early as 1843, settlement at Gills Landing on the Wolf River led to the beginning of Weyauwega. The friendly Menominee tribe made settlement easier. Rugged individuals like William Gumaer, Louis Bostedo, Jacob Weed, and Lorenzo and Joseph Post broke ground for a gristmill, sawmills, stores, and streets. The Civil War took the best men away from Weyauwega, many of whom are featured in a recently uncovered pre-Civil War Masonic photograph album. By the 1880s, Main Street stores were being filled with Eastern goods, women were dressed in the latest styles, such as big floppy hats, and William Bauer was making highly prized furniture. It is hard to imagine that it was the edge of civilization when looking through the photographs for this book.
