| Notes |
- 1930 Federal Census of Minocqua, Oneida County, Wisconsin (10 Apr 1830)
Burt O. Bassett 50 M WI MA CT Head Operator Ford Garage
Daisy M. 47 F MN NH WI Wife
Edward J. 24 M WI WI MN Son Operating Filling Station
Dorthea M. 10 F WI WI MN Daughter
Francis H. 23 M WI WI MN Son Aviator Aviation
Marian E. 23 F WI WI MN DauL
(Burt, married at 25 & 22) (Francis, married 22 & 22)
(Living at 40 Oneida St.)
History of Lincoln, Oneida and Vilas Counties, Wiscons
(1924)
Burt O. Bassett, a prominent citizen of Minocqua, was born at DeSoto,
Vernon County, Wis., Oct. 21, 1879, son of Edward and Anna (Marx) Bassett. The
father, born at Taunton, Mass., and the mother, a native of Bridgeport, Conn.,
came west in their youth and were married in Vernon County, this sta
1877, remaining there until 1897. They then removed to Monroe County and
settled on a farm near Tomah, where the father is still living; the mother
passed away there in September, 1906. Six children were born to these parents:
Burt O., subject of this sketch; Hattie M., now Mrs. Wesley Hunt, of Tomah;
Louis, who died in 1905; Ella M., who is Mrs. Fred Cain and lives in Mexico;
Clarence, of Minocqua; and Lol, living at Tomah, the wife of Richard Williams.
Burt O. Bassett attended school in Vernon County and remained at home until he
was 18 years old. He then came to Minocqua, and this village has ever since
been his home. On first coming here he worked in the woods as a scaler until
1901, when he entered the mill of the Waykey-Bissell Lumber Co. as a setter,
remaining for one year. He then followed various occupations until 1908, in
which year he established a livery and sales stable. In 1914 he took over the
Ford agency, and two years later he sold his other interests in order to be
able to devote his entire attention to the automobile business. He built a
garage in 1918, the building being 50x150 feet in dimensions, constructed of
brick and concrete blocks, and being the first fireproof building erected in
Minocqua. He carries a complete line of accessories and his business is so
extensive that he employs 15 men during the summer months. Mr. Bassett is a
thoroughly capable business man, and he has promoted some of the largest
interests of Minocuqa. He was one of the organizers of the Security State Bank,
and is a stockholder and director in this institution. He also helped to
organize the Minocqua Co-operative Creamery, and is one of the directors in
this enterprise. He owns a 160-acre farm in the town of Minocqua kno
Riverview Farm, on which he has erected a fine set of buildings and which is
now operated as a sheep ranch, and with R.C. Wassenburger he owns 4 1/2 miles
of very desirable lake frontage. He erected a 7-room house, modern throughout,
in Minocqua in 1911, and in this he and his family now make their home. Mr.
Bassett was married at Minocqua, Oct. 17, 1904, to Daisy Mae Annis, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Annis, of which parents the mother is now deceased and
the father is residing in Oneida County. Three children have been born to Mr.
and Mrs. Bassett, as follows: Edward J., born Aug. 3, 1905, now bookkeeper for
his father; Francis, born March 9, 1907, who is attending high school at
Minocuqa, and Dorothea Mae, born Nov. 16, 1919. The family belong to the
Methodist church, and are highly respected in the community, a respect well-
merited in view of Mr. Bassett's fine record of service to the welfare and
future of Minocqua.
From EARLY TIMES, By Daniel D. Scrobell
Minocqua Times, August 12, 1909
BASSETT BUYS LIVERY STABLE
B.O. Bassett purchased the Geo. M. Cator livery stable and stageline
yesterday. Mr. and Mrs. Cator expect to leave shortly for Chicago where they
will visit a short time before deciding on where they will locate and m
decide to return to their farm at this place.
Burt O. Bassett arrived in this area in 1898, when he work
logging crew as a scaler. In 1901, he went to work in the Brooks & Ross Lumber
Co. sawmill at Arbor Vitae. He took over the management of the Schlitz Opera
House in Minocqua in the summer of 1905, and then in 1909, he purchased his
livery business.
The livery he purchased was located on Milwaukee Avenue, just west of
what is now the Polecat & Lace restaurant (lot 19, Block 7). It was in the
barn that A.O. Dorwin built in the fall of 1900. Jake Morey started a livery
stable there in the spring of 1901, he sold it to George Cator in the spring
of 1909, and Cator sold to Bassett only five months later.
In the spring of 1910, Bassett purchased the George Abraham blacksmith
shop on Oneida Street, where Helterhoff's Minocqua Mocs and Easy Street
Sportswear shops are now (Lots 5 & 6, Block 7). That same spring, he added
onto that building and moved his livery stable business to the larger
quarters. In 1911, he expanded his business into automobiles, by using them in
his livery and by becoming a Ford dealer.
Burt and his wife, Daisy Mae, had three children - Edward, Francis,
and Dorothea. In 1921, Burt purchased the former John A. Mercer farm,
consisting of 120 acres on the east side of the Tomahawk River, about a mile
west of Curtis and Mable lakes (E1/2 SW1/4 and SE1/4 NW1/4 of Sec. 7, T39N,
R6E). Bassett called it the "Riverview Farm." In the fall of 1935, his son
Francis started Minocqua's first greenhouse business in an 18 x 33 foot
greenhouse that was heated with a hot water system. Francis had been a
transport pilot but retired from that profession after being critically
injured in an airplane crash. Francis operated the greenhouse until the
1950's. It is still in operation as "Benjamin's Greenery - West
From EARLY TIMES, By Daniel D. Scrobell
Minocqua Times, August 8, 1912
AMERICAN LIVERY AUTOMOBILE
The American Livery now has a five-passenger touring car to handle the
trade with. People desiring to make a trip to resorts or to any of the lakes
in the Minocqua locality or tributaries will do well by calling up the
American Livery. Rates reasonable. - B.B. Bassett, Minocqua, Wi
Burt Bassett became involved in the livery business in 1909 when he
purchased the George M. Cator livery. About that same time, he also purchased
the George Abraham blacksmith shop on Oneida Street, where Helterhoff's
Minocqua Mocs and East Street Sportswear shops are now (Lots 5 & 6, Block 7).
In the spring of 1910, he doubled the size of that building and moved h
American Livery stable into it.
The summer of 1911 was especially warm, causing Bassett's stable of 40
horses to become heat-exhausted by the end of July. He was about to make a
trip to Ashland to pick us some fresh horses when a travelling man suggested
to Bassett than an automobile could be used on many of his short hauls,
particularly between Minocqua and Woodruff. So instead of heading for Ashland,
Bassett took the train to Wausau where he purchased a Ford touring car from
the Ford dealer there. The Wausau dealer had the agency for the entire north
half of the state at that time.
There is some doubt about the year when Bassett purchased his first
automobile. The announcement quoted above is the very first reference in the
Minocqua Times to Bassett using an auto in his livery business, and the
announcement implies that the auto was just recently acquired. However, later
historical accounts of the event (such as the May 22, 1931, article
commemorating Bassett's 20th anniversary as a Ford dealer) state that Bassett
brought his first Ford to town in 1911. It certainly is puzzling that there is
no mention whatsoever in the Times during 1911 about such a noteworthy event,
if that is when it occurred. On the other hand, except for Bassett's ad, there
is no article in 1912, either, describing the first appearance of his
automobile in Minocqua. Therefore, the absence of such an article in 1911 is
not very good evidence that it did not occur then.
While the lack of coverage about this epochal development in Minocqua's
history makes confirmation impossible, it is probable that Bassett remembered
correctly 1911 as the year he bought his first automobile.
Getting Bassett's first automobile to Minocqua was not nearly so easy
as driving from Wausau is today. The day after purchasing the car, Bassett and
the Wausau dealer loaded the car with extra tires, tubes, patches, gasoline,
oil, and the necessary tools, and departed for Minocqua early in the morning.
They were able to drive to Harshaw on fairly good roads, arriving there about
3:00 in the afternoon. However from Harshaw they had to drive on the C.M. &
St. P. railroad tracks in to Minocqua (now the Bearskin Trail), since there
was no road between those two points. A very astonished Gus Nolan saw them
drive by his Northern Resort on the railroad tracks at 6:00 that evening.
After mastering the operation of his new contraption, Bassett used it
to transport livery passengers to Hazelhurst, Woodruff, Lac Du Flambeau, and
nearby resorts. His first trip with passengers was from the Minocqua train
depot to Mrs. Bishton's resort at Mercer Lake. The trip forewarned the
difficulties that early automobile drivers would encounter in the North woods.
What is now Highway 70 was then just a two-rut lane, and on the way to the
resort Bassett got the car crosswise in the ruts and was unable to move it. He
finally delivered his passengers, but they were two hours late for their
breakfast and probably not too impressed with this new auto liver
By the fall of 1911, Bassett decided that he could sell some Fords in
the Minocqua area. He arranged with the Wausau dealer to take six cars for
delivery the following spring. Most of his business associates thought he was
crazy for undertaking the venture. To a large measure of adventurousnes
because the driver had to contend not only with the mechanical breakdow
which were common to automobiles then, but also with the especially poor roads
in this area. It did take Bassett almost a year to sell those first six Fords,
but he was convinced that his business future was in the automobile business.
The purchasers of these first six automobiles were: Charles Ahlborn,
Jr., of Minocqua; Fred Hewitt, of Woodruff; Frank Melang, of Minocqua; Eugene
Johnson, of Minocqua; Morgan Fuller, of Minocqua; and Dr. T.G. Torpy, then of
Arbor Vitae. The day after Bassett sold the car to Fred Hewitt, who managed
the State Fish Hatchery, Hewitt asked Bassett whether he could return the car.
Hewitt complained that he was unable to sleep that night because all he could
see were wild horses and barbed wire fences. Bassett persuaded him to keep the
car, convincing him that once he learned how to drive it, horses and fences
would no longer be a problem.
When Frank Melang took delivery of his car in the spring of 191
there was no bridge over the thoroughfare to enable him to get the car from
Minocqua to his resort on Mid Lake. Bassett, Frank and Bill Melang, Jim
McFarland and Fred Zentner drove the car through Woodruff to Carroll Lake,
then down the west side of Clear Lake over an old logging road. They had to
clear that road with crosscut saws and axes to get through, and in some places
the five of them had to lift the car up and set it on firmer footing. They
finally did get the car to Melang's resort, and he used it merely to transport
his guests from the Midlake depot on the C.& N.W. Railway to his resort only a
half mile away.
Bassett purchased two or three additional cars for his livery in 1913
and 1914, and in 1914 enlarged his building to house up to 15 cars. By that
time, his business was known as the "American Livery & Garage". In October
1914, he secured his own Ford dealership and began receiving shipments of cars
in February 1915.
In the spring of 1918, Bassett built a new garage on the southwest
corner of Oneida and Chicago streets (Lots 1 & 2, Block 9), which building
continued as the site of the Ford dealership in Minocqua until 1972.
From EARLY TIMES, By Daniel D. Scrobell
Minocqua Times, June 25, 1914
NEW FORD CAR
B.O. Bassett received his new Ford automobile Sunday. Clarence Bassett
accompanied by James McFarland drove the car up Sunday morning. They made the
trip in two hours and twenty minutes from Rhinelander.
From EARLY TIMES, By Daniel D. Scrobell
Minocqua Times, June 24, 1915
THE PASSING OF THE STAGECOACH
The American Livery & Garage has replaced the stage that runs between
Minocqua and Woodruff by a big Pierce Arrow seven-passenger car. The trip can
be made quicker and with much more comfort. The passing of the stage marks
another epoch in the progress of Minocqua.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1879 - 1951 (71 years)