Around the Corner with John McGivern | Program | Marshfield

[@aspin_]

I love this city, it’s so beautiful and small and perfect

[@keithmeacham9922]

The story of how Dr. Karl W. Doege came to be the driving force for the Marshfield Clinic was repeated by a colleague, Dr. G. Stanley. Custer, as told to him by Dr. Doege. Dr. Doege was taking a Soo Line Passenger Train to his home to see his parents in Thorp, Wisconsin. Dr. Doege engaged in conversation with the Conductor of the passenger train (Back in the day, Passenger Train Conductors were like your Hairdresser---they knew everything going on in the territory they traversed) about the feasibility of opening a private practice with an eye on opening a Clinic. The Conductor suggested to Dr. Doege that the next Station (Marshfield) was constantly in need of doctors, and it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get off at Marshfield and walk to St. John's Catholic Church and float the idea of a Clinic to Father John Eisen there. Dr. Doege followed the Conductor's advice, de-trained at Marshfield, walked to St. John's and talked with Fr. Eisen about his idea for a Clinic that would consult/practice on staff at St. Joseph's Hospital (Now a part of the Marshfield Clinic Health Care System). Fr. Eisen was, by reports, very enthusiastic about the idea of a Clinic operated in conjunction with the Hospital. Dr. Doege opened his own practice in 1915, and as the program mentions, Dr. Doege approached six other doctors with his Clinic idea. From there, they opened their first offices on the second floor of a building located on the corner of East 3rd Street and South Central Avenue in 1916. In 1922, they moved in to their first building built for the Clinic on the Corner of West Seventh Street and South Central Avenue (this building still exists, but is so gutted out for other purposes that it has lost its Historical Significance). So, as you can see, even the Clinic owes its existence to the Railroad, even as tenuous as the connection may seem.

[@angelbonilla4243]

Oh, what a cool small city full of character. Good doc. I am from Jersey.

[@keithmeacham9922]

"Marshfield Furniture" used to be "Modern Sleep Products". In between, they were "Modern Of Marshfield" for a number of years. As Modern Sleep, they moved their Operation in to the former Wisconsin Buttertub Company in 1955.. They were there until 1974. Mall Furniture started out in the buildings currently occupied by Marshfield Furniture (the former Blum Brothers Box Company), and MoM and Mall Furniture swapped buildings in 1974, with MoM moving westwards on West 9th Street in to the former Blum Brothers buildings, where they remain today as Marshfield Furniture. Mall Furniture still occupies the former Wisconsin Buttertub Company to this day.

[@kwwkjock]

Nice job!

[@keithmeacham9922]

As is always the case, there is another line of thinking about how Marshfield got it's name, another Railroad connection, if you will. Wisconsin Central (of 1871) had its financial root in the Eastern Seaboard, and that "Marshfield" was named after Marshfield, Massachusetts. I don't know how true that really is. Like many things, it depends on what you want to believe. The tale of John Marsh makes sense.

[@keithmeacham9922]

Weinbrenner Shoe Company sits on the land once occupied by Upham Furniture & Lumber Company. Upham "donated" the land to the City of Marshfield (complete with his remaining factory buildings, some of which were falling down by 1935) in 1925 when he divested his remaining holdings. The City sat with this land and lured Weinbrenner to Marshfield for two reasons: 1. To repurpose the Upham Factory property, and, 2: Bring jobs to Marshfield during the Great Depression.

[@kwwkjock]

Hartford, WI has something very similar

[@isaucecamm6246]

Yoo do a documentary on Boozeman production!!!!

[@smartcomputer2094]

They talking about Marshfield or mashalaw in the corner to coming

[@sjklahn]

Boo to the shoe.

[@8635Dreamer]

I wholeheartedly agree that Marshfield is a beautiful city, but that is in part because they know how to "hide" the ugly. Marshfield Clinic is the best medical care that you can receive anywhere in the middle of the state, along with their "silent partner", St. Joseph's Hospital The biggest problem that Marshfield has is that in lies withing the borders of Wood County. It has been some time now, but Wood County and that Garbage Bin of a County Seat, Wisconsin Rapids, were featured on one of those investigative news shows like 20/20, 60 Minutes, etc., for the county being the MOST CORRUPT COUNTY in the U.S. and Wisconsin Rapids being the Most Corrupt City per capita in the U.S. as well. And they a but a mere 25-30 minute drive right down the road from Marshfield !! And in Marshfield, the residents there won't hesitate for a second before they throw Rapids under the bus. They like to make off like they are superior to Rapids in every way, Marshfield likes to think of itself as more of a White Collar community, due in large part to the Marshfield Clinic and St. Joseph's Hospital, whom if they the entire economy would fold up and die. And Rapids the Blue Collar town known for its' paper mills and the Lincoln High School Red Raiders Wrestlers, whom have won the state championships more times that I believe any other city has. On each of the three main roads leading into Rapids, each one has a totally different population for the city, yet right nearby each of those sign is a billboard with UP TO DATE numbers of times and years in which the wrestling team won the State title ???? Now believe it or not, the first major connection between these two cities corrupt ways of "conducting business", lies is a simple combination of the mill in Rapids ( which was once "Consolidated Paper, then Storo Enso and now something else ) and the Marshfield Clinic. For starters, they both pay very well, much higher that almost any other job than a person with no experience could ever expect. Right out of Lincoln High School in Rapids I watched fellow students either go straight into full time employment there at hourly rates that most 40 and 50 year old career employees at other companies would die for !! And that is not even counting the Full Benefits packages and insurance. The ONLY thing that you had to do was have the "right name" or have been a star football or wrestling. OR, have a relative that woks or worked their, or was a "star" athlete over at L.H.S.. You should see the gymnasium at there school, it rivals University facilities. You can play FOUR full court basketball game at the same time !! Their weight room, which is off of yet another full court basketball count NOT counted with the others, was all state-of-the-art and HUGH when the school first opened in 1980. In Marshfield the same exact "unofficial policy" of hiring people who had the "right name" ( relatives who currently or have recently been employed by MFC. Marshfield is equally as corrupt as Rapids, they just have more money to throw around and give the crap-hole a better face lift. Another thing that doesn't hurt Marshfield at all, is that the Jail in in the Wood County, County Seat in Wisconsin Rapids. They do have a cute little"baby station" in Marshfield where they park the squad cars, and do their own finger printing and take their own booking photos. They are capable of housing something like 2 or 3 "guests" for a few hours while waiting for bail/bond to be paid and possible overnight, one night only, if absolutely necessary. So if you get arrested in Marshfield they first take you to their little jail and book you, they then cuff and shackle you up to get into the squad car which will now transfer you to the Wood County Jail in Rapids, a good ( and very uncomfortable with handcuffs on ) 45 minute drive, where you will be booked, printed, photographed, etc., all over again !! ( yes, I DID once get arrested for a "little driving issue" and went through this ridiculous process. It is now here in Rapids where you get your initial appearance in court and your bond amount and type is set. It can be "on your own recognizance", "signature bond" or a "cash bail" amount. There are NO Bail Bondsmen in WI., so if it is a bond amount higher than you can afford and you may not be going to trial anytime very soon, they may very well transfer you to Waupaca, WI. to the Waupaca County Jail. They have this little game going on in corrupt little central Wisconsin, where each county will transfer inmates to other counties because they are at capacity, then immediately accept inmates from yet another county !?!? There is some kind of loophole where you get more money for housing out of county inmates, than inmates from your own county. Now Marshfield and Rapids literally DO hate each other. Rapids thinks of Marshfield as the uppity snobby, "better than you" city, while Marshfield looks down on Rapids for it's lack of educated and professional people and high drug crime rate. But that is almost too funny, because Rapids has the jail, so the "drug crimes" get attributed to Rapids, not Marshfield. And the best part of the two way hatred, where Marshfield comes out way on top, is what happens to the jail inmates in Rapids, whether it be bonding out or being released after serving their sentence. They get released into the streets of Wisconsin Rapids, as there is NO TRANSPORTATION BACK TO MARSHFIELD, not even if you get arrested and the DA decides to drop the charges, OR you win in court, OR you lose in court and serve you time, because whether your sentence is served in Wood Co., Waupaca Co. or ANY OTHER COUNTY, You will be brought back to Wood Co. to be released in Rapids !! There have been inmates who served there time elsewhere and were transferred back to Rapids for their release, literally driving right through the city where they lived !! "Marshfield Wisconsin, go their on vacation, leave their on probation", sad but TRUE !! OH there some really nice people in MF, as well as some very nice places to work, but they have as big a drug problem, if not bigger than they do in Wisconsin Rapids. And although they have their huge Marshfield Clinic who honestly DO provide World Class medicine, if You truly do want to experience some "culture", simply drive up highway 39 about 30 minutes to Steven's Point, WI., which besides having a large and well respected university, UWSP, they are split with Wausau, WI., for being the cultural "go tos" in central wisconsin. Yes, Marshfield in "pretty" at first, if you are a "couple of days tourist", but any longer than that, or as a new resident, it will get old really quickly !! If it weren't for Marshfield being located almost directly in the center of the state ( I believe that actual geographical center is a little town real close called Pittsville, which YES, lives up to its' name ), where it became a central distribution hum for most of the central region of Wisconsin, along with the Marshfield Clinic, which literally brings in patients from all over the world and Wisconsin Rapids being located right on the Wisconsin River and having numerous paper plants, neither of these towns would have even become anymore than crappy little towns with nothing to see or do in them. Oh, that "upper class", snobbery, in Marshfield, well, it also comes with its' own "tough acting" biker gang/club, cause they sure ain't tough to this veteran, the "BBC", Brothers By Choice. They market themselves as all being tough-assed leather wearing Harley Davidson riding veterans Personally, I think that they are more of a LGBT motorcycle club trying to stay closeted and "butch up" a little on their bikes. So long as you can avoid the local PD, which WILL fine you for J-walking, rolling stops, etc.. and literally lie their crooked little asses off in court. On a personal level though, they are some really nice guys, as to so are the BBC. Only trouble with the BBC is that they over-compensate for their chosen lifestyles by pushing around gullible people !! You can pretty much avoid them by not going to Bey's Bar on Central, as that is the LGBT hot spot for the 30 and over crowd. I forget its' name, as I am married, to a woman, LOL, so I do not patronize these types of bars ( altough I DO NOT have anything against consenting adults doing whatever they decide to consent to do consentingly ). I am NOT EVEN GOING TO TRY to go back into that last line and try to add the proper punctuation !! If you want to check out Marshfield, plan what you are going to do ahead of time. And if ANY of your stops that are back to back are on opposite sides of the train tracks on Central Avenue by Veteran's Highway, make sure you add a good 20 minute buffer time zone, as they are the slowest trains in the world !!!

[@keithmeacham9922]

8635Dreamer: Obviously, you have never lived in Marshfield back in the days where Chicago & North Western came through here. You have never lived until you got stuck for the entirety of a C&NW train coming in to Marshfield with 100+ cars at 10 mph! Or, having the Soo Line BACKING the Train to Nekoosa uphill up the Main Line through town with 100+ Cars and two older diesels screaming to God and everyone that they were going to move that train if it were the last thing they ever did! Canadian National goes through at 35 mph if they don't have to meet another train---and with the amount of traffic they push through Marshfield on a daily basis, they meet here, often. I warned everyone what they were going to be in for when they built Veteran's Parkway (which is too close to the Railroad Tracks as built), but those in power didn't listen. The idea of this program, if you have never watched the previous 8 seasons, is to accentuate the positive, it isn't to give a blow-by-blow, dirty-under-the-fingernails, detailed accounting. Marshfield isn't perfect, but then, neither is any community this program has visited. Any of the things you accuse Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids of is present in ANY community in Wisconsin. That said, I was proud they knew enough to showcase my 108-year-old Girlfriend in the opening sequence. Had it not been for the Railroad, there would be no Marshfield, or, for that matter, no Marshfield Clinic.

[@aspin_]

I probably woulda read that if it wasn’t 4 pages long