At the joining of the north and south branch of the Oconto River with the Peshtigo branch, a sawmill community struggled for existence in the late 1800s. Enter Mighty Casey, the train used by the Chicago Northwestern to route its Green Bay to Leona line through a community often called Mudville. This is our beloved Suring, incorporated on Jan. 19, 1915.
Unlike the Casey of baseball yore, this Mighty Casey did not strike out. With the promise of modern transportation, enterprising pioneers went to work.
Just to name a few, August Giese built stores and homes; Dr. Julian Conard built a hospital, but passed away in the flu epidemic of 1918; Abe Fredenburg built a hotel and a saloon; Mike Groninger built a hotel and an opera house; and Julius “Joe” Suring became the namesake of the community.
Other forward-looking people built a feed mill, a blacksmith shop, a variety of stores, a livery stable, a couple of additional sawmills, a host of fine homes and a few watering holes.
With thousands of loads of fill to raise the low areas, the village was laid out with an ultrawide main street located on the 45th parallel. No more mudville.
Methodist, Catholic and Lutheran congregations built churches in the village. A school system grew by leaps and bounds from a one-room log school to an expansive modern school system.
Besides serving the logging and lumber industry, the railroad served the rich agricultural community surrounding Suring.
By 1950, Suring was a hub of retail establishments. Saturday night became a business, cultural and social event. The stores all remained open, Professor George Glass provided culture with his community bands, and the dance floor met the social needs.
Shortly thereafter, Memline, a child furniture mill, opened and employed more than 200 at its best. In 1990 this facility moved to Mexico. Diversified moved from Hayes to Suring about this time, and it now employs more than 100 workers.
Yes, the railroad left in the 1980s, but a strong trucking industry serves the community well.
To Suring’s good fortune, the community’s early history has been recorded by historians Bruce Paulson and Russell Wicke. With an additional collection of stories and photos, Rhoda Bartz Ebersol has edited a centennial book “Seasons in Time.”
Having launched the centennial with a Lumberjack Breakfast, the Suring Area Historical Society invites the public to other centennial celebration events: Saturday, March 21, 3-on-3 basketball tournament; Saturday, April 18, centennial evening banquet and entertainment, cocktails at 5 p.m., dinner at 6 p.m. at Red Maple Golf Course; Thursday, April 30, to Saturday, May 2, Friends of the Library rummage sale at How garage; Friday, May 22, and Sept. 4, brat fry at Wichman’s BP; Saturday, July 18, garden walk; Sunday, Aug. 16, Old Fashion Pie & Ice Cream Social, Riverside Park, 1-3 p.m.; and Saturday, Oct. 3, cemetery walk, Pleasant Hill, 1-5 p.m.
The Suring Labor Day weekend celebration also will include centennial events: Saturday, Sept. 5, Suring all-graduation classes reunion and dinner, Red Maple Golf Course; and Monday, Sept. 7, parade with float honoring the families of the founding fathers.
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