08/01/2026
🌲🌲TOMAHAWK 1886-2026 : 140 years young🌲🌲
{Let’s continue – as a city grows and looks for recreation}
Tomahawk: Gateway to the North: Tourism and Recreation
Even before the city was fully established, the community looked for ways to relax and enjoy themselves outside of the saloons. In the 1890s, spectators swarmed to the park within the city limits, referred to as the Hogs Back, to watch Wm. Bradley arrive with his unique ‘boat train’. The coming of this colorful assemblage of six train cars with a bevy of Bradley’s friends aboard was a highly anticipated event. Even before being purchased by the city, the area was heavily used for year-round recreational purposes; swimming, boating, camping, skiing, hiking and tobogganing. Visitors to the city were given rides through the park to enjoy the pines and the water. Camping was popular and encouraged at the time of acquisition (1910) and the park, now known as Bradley Park, was thrown open to tourists in the summer of 1922. Visitors arrived in droves with their campers to set up camp at one of two sites – in the midst of the timber or near Mirror Lake. Facilities were planned and developed to accommodate the interest of both visitors and area residents. A swimming beach was developed which included changing facilities and docks. Private individuals leased water frontage and built boat houses offering boat and canoe rentals. The steep hills of the hogs back, offered perfect areas to construct a ski-jump, bob-sled and toboggan runs; a warming shelter was added to offer a degree of comfort during winter outings. A two-story wooden bandstand was erected and soon became a popular destination for celebrations and meetings as well as for the Chautauqua held each summer. Works Project Administration (WPA), part of Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1935, added a stone and log shelter as well as a separate restroom building with running water and electricity. Footbridges were built in the 1940s along with kitchen accommodation and stone barbeques. Use of the park probably reached its peak between the 1930s and 1950s, but as America’s recreational trends and travel patterns changed, traditional uses of the park also changed. As interest in the park declined at that time, so did the maintenance of the facilities. As vandalism increased, facilities deteriorated and had to be removed. Years of heavy, unrestricted use by automobiles and camping vehicles compacted the soil and placed the health of many of the century’s old pines in danger. Steps to preserve the trees were taken and vehicles were restricted to roadways and parking lots. In 1976 the Park Board voted to prohibit overnight camping, with the same vote occurring the next year due to a pine bark beetle infestation; then in 1978 the board voted to prohibit overnight camping indefinitely. Today, the park is as popular as ever, frequently used for hiking, biking, class reunions, celebrations and bicycle racing events. It remains a popular destination for photo buffs, hikers, bikers, boaters, fishermen, snowmobilers, and ATV enthusiasts. Bradley Park really is Tomahawk’s best known secret.
In 1900, Maccabee Hall, often referred to as the Opera House, was used for meetings, graduations, pros, church bazaars and community celebrations. The stage was used for plays and musicals. Popular orchestras provided live musical entertainment for events and the annual fireman’s balls. Another popular spot was McBrides Dance Hall.
Organized baseball came to Tomahawk in 1899, when a baseball field and grandstand were built o Rodgers Island for the newly formed Tomahawk Cubs. The team quickly amassed an enthusiastic following, and Tomahawk soon became the “ultimate baseball town.” In 1924, the new ball field, Pride Park, was built at the east end of Washington Avenue with a grandstand that held 2,000 fans. Professional and semi-professional clubs took their turns through the years, with the Cubs winning Wisconsin Valley championships in 1936 and 1937 and again in 1948 and 1949. It’s fair to say that baseball still has an enthusiastic following.
It was clear early on that the businessmen and residents alike had a deep concern for the continued prosperity of the city and surrounding areas. Once the logging and lumber industry started to decline, they looked to other ways in which to promote the area. In 1912, the Association of Commerce was organized to secure new industry and business opportunities and to promote the growth of the city. As the Leader reported, “Tomahawk’s many resources and advantages will be made known; word pictures sound good, but the real thing is better.” To bring additional visitors to the area, the Tomahawk Club was organized in 1913 as a compliment to the Association of Commerce, with a robust advertising campaign to ensure more summer visitors than any other season. The club has plans to improve the delightful surroundings and make motor boating, fishing and splendid camping grounds still more inviting to summer visitors. In 1919, the two clubs were combined to form the Tomahawk Civic and Commercial Club, the forerunner to the Tomahawk Regional Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, the Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees) was formally organized in 1936 to provide fundraising and additional support. In 1944, the Tomahawk Civic and Commercial Club’s name was changed to Tomahawk Chamber of Commerce and again in 1947 becoming the Tomahawk Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Prohibition (1920-1933) closed many saloons, and while bootlegging was not uncommon in the area, many former saloon owners began looking at the tourist trade. The first ‘fishing resort’ was established by Albert Kahn in May 1918, followed by Wurster’s Edgewood, the Shady Rest, Matt Nick’s Silver Birch, Daigle’s Road Lake resort, and Bill Theiler’s Resort to name a few. Within a few years the area was honeycombed with resorts, housekeeping cabins, and private cottages available to rent. Tomahawk was becoming a booming tourist paradise, especially favored by residents of Chicago and its suburbs, many spending the entire summer to escape the city’s heat.
With the booming tourist trade, resort owners agreed that more advertising and information was needed to get into the hands of potential visitors. In 1927, the owners agree to furnish materials and erect a substantial building on the site of Mitchell Hotel Park, this building would become the Information Booth operated by the Chamber of Commerce. Visitors would stop by the booth for information on area activities, obtain fishing licenses and directions to lodging and dining establishments. The original Information Booth suffered significant damage in 1929 when the Mitchell Hotel burned; it was rebuilt, with an addition added later; In 1986, facing demolition, it was moved to Washington Park where it now serves as one of the Historical Society's museums.
One of the main features used by the Chamber to assist vacationers and to inform them was the Fun Map. Although there is no known record of when the first Fun Map was created, it is believed to have been in the late 1930s/1940. The factual little fold out booklet/map provides data about resorts, housekeeping cottages, and what each may offer to the tourist, Tomahawk industries and where to find overnight accommodations. There is also information about the Wisconsin River and where to catch your favorite fish. The map itself contains an area of 875 square miles of ‘glorious summer vacation land. All the roads and highways are clearly marked, along with rivers, streams, fire towers, lakes, and dams. The map is sectioned off and keyed to ensure accuracy.
According to an article published in the Leader July 4, 1957, the first Fun Map editions were simple in comparison to the present booklets. It contained fewer pictures and only major highways and lakes were noted, making it harder to explain directions to tourists. The first really detailed Fun Map was published in 1948. It was compiled by Mrs. Arlette Oelhafen (Chamber secretary) and resort owners, with the assistance of the State Conservation Department which did the drawing of the map. In 1948, 25,000 copies were printed, both for use in the Information Booth as well as distribution at a Chicago sports show. 50,000 copies were published in 1954 and by 1956/57, the number had increased to 70,000. While the Fun Map may no longer exist in the manner which it did, the Tomahawk Chamber of Commerce still publishes an annual expansive booklet filled with year-round events, lodging information, dining establishments and recreational activities, and yes, a very detailed map of the greater Tomahawk area!
Today, Tomahawk’s reputation as the “Gateway to the North” still rings true and tourism remains a major industry. Area naturalist, John Bates suggests why in this short essay:
‘Slanting North’ – “A hunger lingers in all of us to live in the natural world. We need to watch eagles take flight from high pines, to hear the wild sounds of cranes from secluded marshes, to smell pungent balsam needles in the dense woodland, to breathe clean sharp air that flares the nostrils. Our affinity for the natural world is why we fill our homes with plants, keep dogs and cats as members of our family, and escape the urban world to rural landscapes as often as possible. It is an innate force within us that draws us upnorth. While the Northwoods can be pointed to on a map, it is also a state of mind.”
[Sources: Tomahawk Leader published articles; "The Magic City, Tomahawk's Colorful History, written by Elaine Kahn and Irene Barrabas as a special to the Wausau Daily Herald, March 29, 1998; Bradley Park: Pride of Tomahawk, by Robin L. Comeau, 2021] Images courtesy of the Leader Archives.
