[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Bootlegging ] [ Sweet & Sour Cabbage Soup ] [ Wheat Bread ] [ Mundelbread ] [ Corn Crusted Cheese ]

NEWSFLASH - FOR SALE!!

A once in a lifetime opportunity exists to acquire this unique, beautiful and historic property.  The untimely death of one of the proprietors, reluctantly forces need for immediate sale.  Please see contact information below if you might be interested.

Reprinted from Park Falls Herald, Thursday July 10, 2003

Thursday July 10, 2003

General store at Springstead Historic District reopens; activities planned to reflect dig findings

SPRINGSTEAD – Springstead Historic District is launching a new program in which the public will have an opportunity to participate in archeological digs on the property.

The general store is open seasonably from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, with some new craft items, antiques and a variety of other items.  Tours will be conducted for donations.

Among uses of proceeds will be continued restoration of the historic property, including the restoration of the old French-Canadian cabin built in the late 1800’s, and to help continue alternative education programs that have been instrumental in new discoveries about the history of the site.  College historians along with their students will also be able to participate.

Stanley said archeological digs by alternative education students at Butternut and Glidden Schools, combined with his own research of the manufacture of bootleg liquor during the prohibition era, have made it obvious that there was a large scale bootleg operation at the old town during the 1920’s.  Stanley also is certain, due to documentation he has found that John Dillinger visited Springstead during his travels in northern Wisconsin and also stooped after his famous shootout on April 22, 1934 at Little Bohemia.  The Springstead bootleg liquor-making operation had many Chicago connections.

Stanley said he is hoping members of the public will be interested in the unraveling history of the old town to both become involved in some supervised archeological work themselves and help continue the alternative education program at the Springstead Historic District.

Entertainment again will be in store on a more regular basis next summer and fall for visitors to the district, in the form both bluegrass and country jam sessions that have been popular in the past and at least two jam sessions of a different kind.

Stanley said that because of the apparent Chicago connection in the bootleg operation uncovered by the archeological excavation, he plans to include a couple of “Chicago blues” sessions in keeping with “a whole theme” intended to create an aura taking the town “back to January of 1920”.

Beginning Spring 2004, a new group from Mercer High School along with alternative education instructor Erin Bailey, and Daniel Stanley owner/restoration specialist will restore the award winning “oldest building in the county”.

Stanley, noted that the archeological excavations so far has uncovered tools and the structure used for cooking of the alcohol, as well as secret passages that obviously has a function in the operation. 

He said what he would have to show the visiting public are vaults used for storage of the alcohol as well as the remains of the old cooking structure, which, along with his research and ongoing reconstruction will provide a “factual, highly researched and documented history.”

“One of our goals is to reconstruct the entire alcohol cooking operation,” he said.   

The Springstead Historic District is located on Stone Lake, at the end of Stone Lake Road off Hwy. 182 about 20 miles east of Park Falls.  It is 13 miles west of Manitowish and 32 miles northwest of Minocqua.  

More information about the general store, the archeological digs, the tours, the jam sessions or any other matter involving the historic district can be obtained by calling 715-583-9955.  Information also can be obtained by writing the Springstead Historic District, 3880 W. Stone