On July 19 and 20, the Tomahawk Historical Society held its second TomaWalk - a two-day guided tour of Tomahawk's historic downtown. Our Tomahawk Branch is located right in the area where the walk was and we had an opportunity to catch two of the fashionable ladies who strolled the streets as part of the walk, pictured to the right. Later, we learned about the history of our building.

According to the Society's President Dixie Zastrow, our staffing building has a ton of history behind it. Well, how about that! She explained our building was built in the late 1880s. We always knew our building was historic, but never knew how old it exactly was. At one point, it was the Wangard General Store, but it's best remembered as the L'Abbe building. The L'Abbe family owned the building where they had their insurance agency for many years.

The TomaWalk

Now, the Walk is something interesting in itself. It was held for the first time two years ago and Dixie plans to bring in back in the future. The Walk gives history buffs an opportunity to learn about the historic downtown area. Three Society Members gave the tour and narrated the history of the buildings and businesses through the years. Locals chimed in sharing stories about Tomahawk.

Unique to the tour, attendees met a man who resembled the city's founder, Wm. H. Bradley. The character told stories of the original Wm. H. Bradley's influence on the development of this city. A retired fireman spoke of the devastating 1929 downtown area fire. It began in the beautiful Mitchell Hotel and destroyed a total of 19 buildings. Surprisingly enough, it occurred in the midst of a terrible blizzard and freezing temperatures.

Also as part of the tour, two ladies who portrayed employees of the old Tomahawk Drug Store displayed dishes and other items from the store. A young boy took on the role of a shoe-shine entrepreneur from years past. The first wooden boat produced by the Tomahawk Boat Mfg. Co. in the 1940s was on display. The local efforts during WWI were recalled, and Korean war hero, Sgt. Einar Ingman, Medal of Honor recipient was acknowledged. The story of a long-time taxicab operator was told, and two Tomahawk historians were on hand to share their memories.

The Tomahawk area is full of history! And I want to thank Dixie and the Society for sharing it with us. We look forward to the next TomaWalk. Here are some additional photos Dixie provided us with to post.