- SKWOR MEAT MARKET
Skwor's Meat Market, 326 East Main Street, in Mishicot, Manitowoc County,
Wisconsin, dates back to 1879 when Adolf Grim deeded the building to Louis
Levenhagan. This was the original meat market, much the same as it is now,
more than 116 years later. In 1894, Levenhagan deeded the market to Joseph
Skwor. Joseph and his wife, Rose, working together, built the business. Rose
helped where needed. A petite but strong woman, she could carry a quarter of
beef on her shoulder to where it would be trimmed into special cuts of meat.
The story, passed down from Joseph Skwor, tells how Joseph actually walked
several head of cattle from Mishicot to the Stockyards in Chicago and walked
back to Mishicot, in order to get his meat business started. He butchered all
sorts of animals and processed them into cuts of meat and sausages which he
sold at retail. He established quite a big business by shipping truckloads of
veal to Chicago.
Joseph and Rose continued in business until their two sons, Charles and Hugo,
joined in the business. It then became known as Jos. Skwor and Sons Meats.
When Joseph semi-retired, Charles and Hugo entered into a partnership, and a new
sign over the door said "Skwor Bros. Meat Market. In 1939, Charles moved to
Milwaukee and sold his half of the business to Hugo. It then became Skwor Meat
Market. Paul, son of Hugo, helped him, along with hired help. They bought
livestock, butchered, retailed meat, made ring bologna, liver sausage, blood
sausage, summer sausage, sultz, weiners, and bratwurst from Bohemian and Polish
recipes handed down in the family. They cured and smoked their own hams and
bacon. Joseph would walk down to the market every day to help. His home was
about two blocks away. People would stand in line waiting for "Joe" to wait on
them, as he would frequently forget the latest price and charge them for meats
at the old, lower price.
Joseph, Charles and Hugo could converse in Polish and Bohemian with the early
settlers. In the earlier days, sawdust and wood shavings were used to cover the
floor where the customers stood, to keep the floor clean and for fragrance. When
mothers brought their young children into the meat shop, Joseph and Hugo would
give them a cooked and smoked weiner to eat.
Before electrical refrigeration was invented, Skwor Meats used large chunks of ice
to cool the meat and keep it from spoiling. Hugo invented a gasolene engine-powered
saw which would cut ice from the nearby West Twin river, when it was frozen the
thickest, usually between the holidays of Christmas and the New Year. The blocks
were about 18" x 30" x 24" deep, and several men helped load them into a truck bed
to be hauled to the ice house located near the market. Here they were covered with
sawdust to keep them from melting. They cut enough ice for their own needs for a
whole year, as well as selling it to customers for their ice boxes. After electric
refrigerators were available, the ice business was no longer needed.
Hugo built insulated containers which fit onto a pick-up truck, and with blocks of
ice to keep the meat cool, both Hugo and Charles traveled regular routes throughout
the county to bring their meat products to the farmers. Summer was usually a very
busy time for the farmers, and they appreciated having their meat brought to them.
As children, during the summer vacation, we liked to go along with our Dads to keep
them company during the 5-hour trip.
In the Spring, the "Mishicot" river would flood -- ice dams caused the water to
rise over the banks onto Main Street, running through the building, filling the
basement of the Meat Market. Everything was shut down to prevent a fire or
explosion until the water subsided. Since that time, a dam has been built to
regulate the level of the water. I can remember seeing Dad lead the livestock
out of the holding pens to higher ground.
Hugo gradually taught Paul the business, and when Hugo retired, he sold the meat
market to Paul and LaVerne Skwor.
Paul made many improvements in the building and areas of meat processing. He
built a new smokehouse, and people from many miles away would come to buy Skwor's
Ho-Made Sausages. Skwors had their own spice recipe, developed over the years.
It was never written down. As "kids" we would stop after school to watch Dad and
Grandpa make sausages and weiners. After the meat was ground and the spices added,
it was stuffed into natural animal casings, twisted and tied, and loaded onto carts
on which were hung rows of the raw products. When the cart was full, they were
pushed to another room and lowered into a huge boiler of boiling water. When they
had cooked to about the right time, my sister and I remember Grandpa Joseph fishing
a sausage out, holding it up to his ear and squeezing it. If it sounded "like a
bullfrog", he would toss it back to cook some more. Since 1959, meat of USDA
quality was purchased in quarters from nearby meat packing houses in Green Bay and
Milwaukee. Slaughtering was no longer done at Mishicot. At the end of each day,
the wooden chopping blocks were scraped and salted, and the saws and knives
sharpened, cleaned and put away, ready for the next day's business.
In 1961, Hugo retired and his son, Paul Skwor, carried on the same recipe and
homemade style of sausage-making. Paul's brother, Peter Skwor, also learned the
meat business and helped Paul occasionally. Peter's son, James, attended meat
processing school, also learning the trade. Paul's son, Edward, during his summer
breaks from studies at the University of Wisconsin, also helped in the business.
Edward earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering, and then worked for the 3M Company,
Minneapolis, MN.
They cured and smoked their own hams, sausages and bacon. While the smokehouse was
being used, Paul got little sleep, because the fire had to be checked every fifteen
minutes. Smoking was done the old fashioned way, using sweet maple wood. Paul
could smell if the fire was too hot or too low from three rooms away. Water was
kept handy, and some was poured in to keep the humidity just right. Smoking of
hams usually took three days. Summer sausage, bacon, weiners and bologna were
smoked once a week, and were always all sold out before the next batch was made.
Paul operated the business until November 23, 1984, when he suddenly passed away
of a heart attack. The business was carried on by David and Laverne, Paul's son
and widow. Laverne, fondly known as Susie, worked with David in the market,
waiting on customers and tying weiners and sausages. They operated the business
for six years, until September 1991, just three years shy of Skwor Meats 100th
anniversary. Many new government regulations were being enforced, and the town
of Mishicot had become more of a tourist area, causing it to be extremely difficult
for a profitable business. The "Mom and Pop" businesses were being squeezed out
by large-scale stores mainly in shopping centers, a trend all over the country.
The Skwor Meats history, written by
Victoria Skwor Kellner and Lois Skwor Vawter, 1998.
|
Jindra and Chaloupka Families
1866 - 1949 (82 years)
