Hello Forest County Residents!
I am the new archivist for the Crandon Public Library and Forest County Historical Society. This summer I will be working on organizing and cataloging all the archival information for these two institutions. Some of the items that I am working with include: photographs, postcards, letters, government records, local organization’s meeting records, books, and pamphlets. If anyone has any items they would like to donate to enrich the historical collection of Forest County feel free to visit me at the Crandon Public Library I will make sure your items are preserved for future generations to learn from and enjoy!
Every week I am going to post something about a unique or interesting item I find in the archival collection. This week I organized the Assessment Rolls for the city of Crandon dating from 1909-1976. The collection contains information on the real estate assessment and tax roll as well as personal tax roll, bank stock, occupational assessment and a summary of real estate and personal properties for the city of City and adjoining villages.
Since it is my first week I am going to give you two fun facts!
- In 1909 only one person, Dr. Decker, owned an automobile in the entire city and the car’s estimated value was $250.00.
- In 1921 the city government started assessing occupational taxes and would have certain categories for occupations that paid taxes on their livelihood. Throughout the 1940’s the books recorded occupational taxes for the category of “Domestic Mink Farmer” and “Bee Keeper”. How many mink farmers were living in Crandon Wisconsin that they had to create a whole category for it! How times have changed!