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Alonzo Horton: the Man

 

Taken from New London Buyers' Guide/Hortonville Centennial, August 16, 1994. Posted with permission from the Press-Star, New London/Hortonville, Wisconsin.)

By Denise Morack

The village of Hortonville dates its origin from the earliest settlement of the Township of Hortonia.

Alonzo HortonBoth were named for the same man, Alonzo E. Horton. Not all the facts concerning Horton's early life are known, but what is known establishes him as one of the bold and adventurous breed that developed the West in the Mid 1880's.

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History of Hortonville

"The Village of Hortonville was founded by Alonzo E. Horton in 1848 when he purchased land from the Governor of Wisconsin, which is now the Township of Hortonia and the Village of Hortonville. The land cost him seventy cents an acre! Later, in 1855, he traveled to California and there founded the City of San Diego. In his old age, Mr. Horton returned to Hortonville for a visit and was surprised to see how the Village had prospered. Alonzo Horton was born in 1813 and died at the age of 96 years." (Village Directory and Commemorative History June 1976)

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Alonzo Horton: Census Information

1850 Grand Chute, Brown County, WI
Alonzo E. Horton, 36, male, Merchant, personal worth $2000, b CT
Matilda N. Horton, 21, female, b PA
Benjamin Needham, 15 male, clerk, b PA, in school

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Catholic Church built in 1861

(Taken from New London Buyers' Guide/Hortonville Centennial, August 16, 1994. Posted with permission from the Press-Star, New London/Hortonville, Wisconsin.)

Catholic families in Hortonville were visited by Oshkosh or Appleton priests and mass was held in private homes until 1861.

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Commercial Club - a history of community service

(Taken from New London Buyers' Guide/Hortonville Centennial, August 16, 1994. Posted with permission from the Press-Star, New London/Hortonville, Wisconsin.)

Proceeds from the summer Hortonville Homecoming each year support community projects sponsored by the Commercial club.

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Community Baptist Church dates back to earliest Hortonville

(Taken from New London Buyers' Guide/Hortonville Centennial, August 16, 1994. Posted with permission from the Press-Star, New London/Hortonville, Wisconsin.)

The earliest history of the Community Baptist Church can be traced back, practically, to the time of the first settlements in the village. Matthew McComb one of the founders of the Church, bought the first lumber sawed at the saw mill built in 1849 of what is now Mill and Bath Streets, and made a roof for his cabin in the woods.

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History of Hortonville, the Centennial City

(Taken from New London Buyers' Guide/Hortonville Centennial, August 16, 1994. Posted with permission from the Press-Star, New London/Hortonville, Wisconsin.)

By Leona Mech

In 1852, William W. Briggs, a lumberman, came from Maine, and went into the lumbering business when he arrived in Hortonville. It took $50 to start house-keeping and his remaining $100 went into his business, when along with David Briggs and H. B. Sanborn, they secured the unsold portion of the village plat, and the saw mills.

Briggs, with Ira Hersey and Sanborn, built the first grist mill at Hortonville, thus adding to the comfort of settlers.

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