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- Skwor Meat Market
Skwor's Meat Market, 326 East Main Street, in Mishicot was established by Joseph Skwor. 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, wieners, 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 gasoline 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. Skwor's 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 wieners. 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, wieners 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 wieners 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.
Manitowoc Herald Times
1961 June 23
Mr. and Mrs. Hugo Skwor, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Skwor and children, Edward, Sherry, and David, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Skwor attended the double birthday celebration for Jeffery and Danny Kellner sons of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Kellner of Two Rivers. Other guests were Mr. and Mrs. Hilbert Schumacher and Robert Garceau of Two Rivers. Mrs. Kellner is the former Victoria Skwor.
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Jindra and Chaloupka Families
1896 - 1967 (70 years)
