A Brief History of Tigerton Main Street, Inc.

 

In 1993, Tigerton’s bid to become a Wisconsin Main Street Community was accepted.  Governor Tommy Thompson paid a visit to Tigerton in January of 1994 to welcome our community into the program.   He gave a very wonderful speech to a large crowd at our old tiny high school gym, encouraging us to work hard so that we could fulfill our dreams of making our community a better place.  Most people left our the gym that day with a feeling that we could make a difference in our community, as well as being honored by the presence of our governor here in OUR community.

 

A lot has changed in Tigerton since that day when the governor paid us a visit.  Tigerton Main Street, Inc., continues to work hard to achieve our goals of making Tigerton a better place.  There have been a lot of changes that have occurred in this small town over the years, many of them positive and some not so positive.  Overall, we continue looking forward with a positive attitude, knowing that if we continue to work hard and together, we can and will make Tigerton a better commUNITY!

 

In 1994, Kelly Collins was named our first Main Street Manager.  Peggy Miller was the Main Street President.  The TIMBR (Tigerton’s Incredible Mountain Bike Race) was run for the first time.  The annual Village Cleanup began in the spring of 1994.  That still continues every year.

 

In 1995, Randy Berndt became our second Main Street Manager and Peggy Miller continued to serve as president.  The Tigerton News and Views Newsletter was started, as well as Friday Night Cash Night, Saturday morning Farmers’ Market, and the Friday evening summer “Hot Summer Nights” musical entertainment at the Gazebo Park.  All of these programs have continued throughout the years, with the exception of the postponement“Hot Summer Nights” in 2007 due to road construction in our downtown area.

 

Brian Derus was named Main Street Manager in 1996.  Peggy Miller continued to serve as Main Street President.

 

Barb Spiegel was named president for 1997, and later in that year, Ken Sambs became Main Street president.

 

The Adopt-A-Street Light program was started in 1998 and the fund raising campaign for the project began. Eighteen new decorative streetlights were installed in the spring of 1999.  Virginia Kauffman became Main Street Manager and Russ Kostrzak was named president.  The historical column “Another Piece of Tigerton History”, written by Russ Kostrzak, was started.  Main Street also held a street dance featuring “Elvis” and Arly Bork to dedicate the new streetlights.

 

The year 2000 brought the Main Street “Spirit” award to Tigerton.  The fundraising was completed and the Veterans’ Park Veterans’ Memorial was built.  Six more new streetlights were installed along Cedar (Main) Street.

 

The kiosk at the Embarrass River Travel Center was completed in early 2001.  The Veterans’ Memorial was also dedicated on Memorial Day.

 

In 2002, nine more new streetlights were added in our downtown area.  Tigerton Main Street bought and placed two concrete tigers in front of the “Welcome to Tigerton” signs, which had been purchased and installed by the Tigerton Advancement Association.  New benches and planters were built and installed along Cedar Street in downtown Tigerton.

 

Tigerton Main Street, Inc. purchased the 1905 Village Hall in 2003.  Flags and poles were added on the new streetlights.  The first annual Tigerton Main Street 4th of July Block Party was held to raise funds for the restoration of the 1905 Village Hall.  In August, a new roof was put on the 1905 Village Hall and the new bell tower was put up.  Tigerton hosted the State Main Street quarterly meeting.

 

The 4th of July Kiddie Parade was started in 2004.  The limited edition commemorative stoneware sale to raise money for the 1905 Village Hall also began.  Tigerton Main Street had a float in several area parades.

 

Tigerton Main Street received a $167,000 grant from the Jeffris Foundation and a $162,610 grant and loan from the USDA - Rural Development toward the restoration of the 1905 Village Hall in 2005.  Other large grants or donations for the building restoration came from the Ralph and Helene Schroeder Foundation-$5,000, Stockbridge-Munsee Community-$10,000, the National Trust for Historic Preservation-$5,000, The Home Depot-$3,000,and Central Wisconsin Electric Coop Operation Roundup -$2,500.  (For a complete listing of all donors to the project, click on this donor link). Main Street also held a tractor and mountain bike raffle to raise funds for the restoration.  The new “Tigerton” signs were purchased and installed at the Community Center.

 

In 2006, Kathy Robbins was named Main Street President.   Main Street also received an additional grant of $38,600 from Rural Development, as well as other donations from Central Wisconsin Electric Coop-$1,500. Fisher-Ruckle Service-$2,700, First National Bank in Tigerton-$5,000, Tigerton Advancement Association-$5,000, and WPS Resources Foundation-$2,500.  Work on the restoration of the 1905 Village Hall began in July with the exterior brick restoration.  In September, work began on the interior restoration.

 

Work was completed on the 1905 Village Hall restoration project in February of 2007.  On March 10th, the first event is held in the building.  It is the annual Volunteer Recognition Banquet.  The building was dedicated on July 4th along with the annual 4th of July Block Party.  Plans have been drawn up for Tigerton Main Street’s next restoration project-the Tigerton American Legion building.  Several businesses in our downtown area have undergoing major repairs and restorations.  The main street through downtown Tigerton (Spaulding/Cedar Street) was rebuilt with new decorative sidewalks and crosswalks.  The bridge was also replaced and three more new streetlights were added on the new bridge.  

 

In 2008, new street signs and decorative garbage receptacles were added in the downtown area.  The Gazebo Park in the heart of downtown was also completely redone as part of Thrivent Financials National Join Hands Day in May.  Tigerton Main Street also received several prestigious awards at the 20th annual Wisconsin Main Street Awards, including the “20 Year Volunteer Award”.  This was quite an honor for the smallest Main Street Community in the state.

 

Tigerton Main Street held their first annual “Winterfest” in January of 2009 at the Embarrass River ATV Park.  The event featured horse-drawn sleigh rides through the park, as well as many other snow filled activities for kids young and old.  A soup contest was held in the evening at the 1905 Village Hall so that everyone could go and warm up after a fun day in the snow.  The event could not have gone any better, as temperatures were fairly nice and a light snow fell throughout the entire day. 

 

Virginia Kauffman was recognized and received an award from the Wisconsin Main Street for serving as Tigerton Main Street Manager for 10 years in April of 2009.  The 1919 High School building was totally remodeled and portions of the middle and high School buildings were also renovated in 2009.  The 1919 High School building now houses a fitness center which is open to the public, School District offices and meeting room, handicapped accessible restrooms, an elevator as well as class rooms for the school.   The remodeling in the rest of the buildings resulted in a much needed daycare center as well as a larger commons and better organized classroom space.  It was great to see another historic building from Tigerton’s past coming back to life to help revitalize our downtown area.  In addition, Gwidt Pharmacy closed its doors in Tigerton, but on a good note, a new grocery store opened in Tigerton in August after Ron’s had closed in December of 2008.