Manitowoc County’s pioneer farmer, Hiram McAllister, arrived in 1837 and left a lasting legacy

Hiram McAllister was born on June 20, 1808, in Vermont, son of Francis W. McAllister and Nancy Elkins. He was the third oldest of 13 children.

On May 1, 1837, he left Waddington, New York, on the St. Lawrence River with 15 others to work in James L. Thayer’s lumbering and sawmill business, upriver from Jacob Conroe’s mill at Manitowoc Rapids.

During the financial panic of 1837, Thayer’s mill went bankrupt and all the settlers left, except McAllister and Pliny Pierce, who were given land for their compensation. During the 1840s and 1850s, McAllister ran a tavern and operated grist and saw mills on the Branch River, an area that became known as McAllister Mills or Branch Mills, later changed to Lenaville, now Branch.

While many of the early settlers grew a small garden for vegetables and potatoes, Hiram was the first to farm intensively. In 1838, his crop of oats was taken to Green Bay, a distance of about 45 miles, to be ground into flour. Over time, McAllister’s farm on Plank Road, west of the Green Bay Road, at Four Corners (present-day intersection of Menasha Avenue and North Rapids Road) became the “finest developed in the county.” For this reason, he is considered the pioneer farmer of Manitowoc County.

In 1839, Hiram married Caroline Shay of Vermont. Their two sons, Alexander and Philip, died early. Alex was 8; Philip, 18. A daughter, Sabine, lived to adulthood. Caroline, at age 32, died of an injury received after being tipped from a horse-drawn sleigh on New Year’s Day in 1849. Hiram’s second wife was Harriet Burnet of  New York State.

McAllister’s name is synonymous with the early board of commissioners (forerunner of the county board of supervisors). He oversaw elections, laid out roads to Thayersville and to Sheboygan Falls, and served on the first grand jury in the county.

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In 1849, McAllister sold a small parcel of land at Four Corners for the construction of a schoolhouse, later named McAllister School in his honor.

During the 1850s and 1860s, McAllister promoted many internal improvements including the Manitowoc & Mississippi Railroad, Manitowoc & Menasha Plank Road and the Manitowoc harbor. He invested in the schooner Jessie Phillips, built for the Buffalo grain trade, as well as a grain elevator with a capacity of 60,000 bushels at a dock in the village of Manitowoc.

Hiram was active in the Manitowoc County Agricultural Association, which held the first county fair on Washington Square (today’s Washington Park in Manitowoc) in 1859. He served as president in 1865 and was often a judge of horses, mules, cattle, sheep, hogs, poultry and farm implements at the annual fair. In 1872, his horse and cattle received second-place premium awards, while his entry of “six apples of any kind” placed first at the fair.

In 1873, “Uncle Hi” sold his 178-acre farm to John Landreth, who later sold it to August Eberhardt. The farm was later operated by Henry Eberhardt, followed by the Agon Haupt family.

By 1875, Hiram and Harriet McAllister moved to Manitowoc, where Harriet died five years later.

On Sept. 3, 1886, while visiting his brother Marcus in St. Lawrence County, New York, Hiram McAllister died at the age of 78. He is buried in the McAllister family plot at Branch Evergreen Cemetery.

Hiram McAllister’s legacy remains very much alive in the county. In 1998, his two-story, frame Greek Revival-style farmhouse, built around 1850, was donated by Agon Haupt’s children, Richard, Don and Evelyn (Mrs. Elmer Carstens), and moved to Pinecrest Historical Village. After extensive renovation, the McAllister House Welcome Center opened in 2013. The historic building features a main-floor exhibit gallery, admissions, gift shop, library research room and public restrooms. Manitowoc County Historical Society administrative offices are on the second floor.

Bob Fay is a historian and former executive director of the Manitowoc County Historical Society.

This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Manitowoc County's pioneer farmer was Hiram McAllister