The Rise and Fall of My Home Town

Barnum

by

Ella (Goldie ) Barnum

 

 

 

There were no plotted villages between Petersburg and Wauzeka before the making of the railroad in 1892. However portions of the Kickapoo Valley in and around Haney Valley were among the earliest settled by farmers and woodsmen.

 

Barnum Road

 

 

Two Post Offices had been established in 1862 for the convenience of the early settlers; one at Haney Valley, three miles north of the present day Barnum, and one at North Star almost one mile south. The Post Office at Haney Valley was discontinued December 6, 1867; North Star was transferred to Barnum when that village was plotted October 6, 1892. The Barnum Office was closed October 1, 1955. Mail is delivered from the Gays Mills Post Office by rural carrier.

 

House of Edward Seth Barnum

(The Barnum House of today)

 

 

In 1891; a saw mill was put in three miles below Haney Valley by Platt A. Lathrop, and a grocery store by Cash W. Lathrop. A cheese factory and creamery was also built at this time. The creamery was owned by an association of thirty-five farmers and valued at $3500.00. 

 

Upper Steet

 
This area was plotted in 1892 and named Barnum for Edward Seth Barnum, a prosperous farmer who settled on the west side of the Kickapoo River at this point in 1855. The farm is still owned by the Barnum family-unbroken ownership for one hundred and fourteen years.

 

Barnum Bridge over the Kickapoo River

going over to the farm

 

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows was organized in November 1894. This society built a two story lodge hall which was also used a church and Sunday School. The Methodists built a house of worship a few years after this date. The building is still standing but is not used.

 

Methodist Church

 

Some of the industries that maintain the peak of the population of 50 were; 2 hotels, 2 stores, a hardware store, ice cream parlor, cream buying station, cheese factory, creamery, saw mill, pickle station, depot, stockyards, meat market, 2 rural routes, Post Office, pool hall, saloon, 4 ice houses, blacksmith, livery stable, and State Graded School System.

 

 

In Barnum over looking the hill

the road to the Barnum Farm

 

The virgin forests covered the many rugged hills and filled the valleys. The hills with high cliffs and rocky lodges; the valleys, each with its own stream of cold pure water, contributed greatly to the avocation of the early settler. Each man was primarily a farmer, but of necessity, he was also a woodsman, hunter and fisherman.

 

 

Lower Street

 

Long ranks of cordwood, basswood bolts, ties, logs and rough lumber filled the yards at the railroad siding. In season, barrels of live turtles, and boxes of frozen rabbits were stacked on the depot platform waiting to be shipped out. Fur buyers called to purchase the harvest of the hunter and trapper. Ginseng and slippery elm bark were also a source of income. A few hardy souls reaped the 50 cent bounty from rattlesnake hunting. Ironically, the great asset of the forest which contributed so much to the growth of Barnum, also, contributed to its rapid ending. 

 

 

Haney Valley on the Kickapoo River

 

 

 
The timber became depleted, people move away, fires destroyed homes that were never rebuilt. Business places closed; finally, in 1939 the railroad pulled out, the mail routes and Post office were consolidated with service from the Post Office in Gays Mills.

 

Winter in Barnum

 

In the winter of 1968 and 69 the population of Barnum consisted of 11 people. The rise and fall of Barnum completed a full cycle in 80 years