Bottkolville

Bottkolville. . , Because permission to emigrate from their home in Euren, Germany, had repeatedly been denied, the family of Michael Bottkol fled to France in the spring of 1856. , Arriving in Kewaunee that summer, the family spent their remaining money for essential supplies and hired a guide to take them on foot through the forested wilderness to their new home, 160 acres which they had purchase for $1 per acre 15 miles to the northwest. , The Bottkol family faced many of the challenges other early pioneers encountered in our newly formed country. , The area where they settled became known as Bottkolville, later renamed Euren. Here the three Bottkol brothers, who had little formal education, began a business enterprise in 1871 that eventually included a stream powered sawmill, planing mill, gristmill, grain elevator, store, and cheese factory, employing as many as 40 men. They later expanded their business enterprises to Brussles and Menominee, Michigan. , A devastating fire on Friday the 13th of July 1894 destroyed the mills and several other buildings that they owned in Euren. , Dr. Edward Kerscher, another legendary resident of the community, who married Helen Bottkol, returned to the community of Euren where he was born and raised to practice medicine. Assisting a country doctor by driving his buggy and even assisting in setting bones whetted his interest in medicine. Eventually Dr. Kerscher delivered over 5,000 babies, the last when he was 88 years old.