Argonne

Argonne, Wisconsin

Also known as: North Crandon or VanZile

History

Argonne was first populated by Kentuckians who came to homestead along the Pine River with the Indians. The present town of Argonne was first named VanZile, after Abraham VanZile, who plotted all the land in the area in 1886. In 1887, the Soo Line came into the community and a depot was built. There was one large hotel which the HORDS owned. There was no school right in the community, it was up on Hwy 32. In 1890 there were eight students. Two years later the school was moved to Argonne, and in 1894 the first two-story school was built north of the school which served the community until 1991.

After the name VanZile, came the name of North Crandon (1901). The town was first located 1-1/2 miles east of its present location. The town of North Crandon was moved to its present location because it was impossible for trains to start up with a load of lumber, it being located on quite a steep grade. As more people came north to work in the lumber camps, the town grew until it contained two large hotels, two large grocery stores, one clothing store, a meat market, a post office, a printing shop, two newspapers (The Forest Leaves and Northern Citizen), a large livery stable, a bank, seven saloons, and two doctors, besides other small businesses. The Farmers and Merchants State Bank also found it's home here.

When the town of Crandon was planned they tried to limit the number of saloons in North Crandon to two. They were unsuccessful. The logging men used to come from the logging camps of Mr. Hiles to frequent taverns. If they drank more than their paychecks then the owners of the taverns would send the bills to Mr. Hiles and take the tab out of their upcoming paychecks. This kept many a poor logger broke.

A stage coach carried the mail and passengers between Crandon and North Crandon. The excursion took three to four hours to drive over the rough corduroy roads. At one time the Forest County courthouse was proposed for downtown Argonne. A well-educated resident found a way for Three Lakes township to break away from Forest County and become attached to Oneida County. By doing this he got rid of quite a number of people who would have voted for the courthouse to be in Argonne. He put ads in papers recruiting people to come to North Crandon to live and one person came with smallpox and 85% of the population caught the disease.

The name "Argonne" was chosen in 1921 following the patriotic fervor following World War I. The namesake was the Battle of Argonne in eastern France.

Today, Argonne still prides itself on its rich history and still boasts its small post office. The railroad tracks exist to this day. Argonne Days, an event commemorating Argonne's past is held each summer in Argonne.

- as printed in the Forest County Visitor's Guide

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