Northeim
Gallery
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Northeim North Pier Site Plan
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Northeim South Pier Site Plan
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1872 Map of Northeim, Newton Township, from "Map of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin" by E. M. Harney.
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1878 Map of Northeim, Newton Township, from "An Illustrated Historical Atlas of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin" by G. V. Nash.
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1874 German language newspaper advertisement for Grand Ball at Northeim from 16 April 1874 issue of "Der Nord-Westen"
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Possible former general store at Northeim, December 2024
 
Details
Attraction
Location
Body of Water: Lake Michigan
Trail Name: Mid Lake Michigan
Nearest Address: 8638 Northeim Ln
Nearest City: Newton
County: Manitowoc
Zip Code: 53063
Latitude: N 43° 59.525'
Longitude: W -87° 41.680'
Attraction
Features
Open to public?: No
Mooring buoy?: No
Mooring buoy in place?: No
Snorkelable?: Yes
Dive guide?: No
Trails sign?: No
National Register?: No
Attraction
Description
The former port of Northeim is located about 7.5 miles south of Manitowoc in southern Manitowoc County. Northeim – also known as Mann’s Landing and Nordheim – began as a small settlement of farmers and millers. Brothers Frederick, Carl, August, and Franz Dumke from Prussia were some of the first European immigrants to purchase land in the area in the early 1850s. Polish immigrants later arrived and settled in Northeim as well.

Northeim had two commercial piers, which were built between the late 1850s and early 1860s. The southern pier was referred to as Pier Newton or Bode’s Pier and was built by the company of Otto & Bode in 1864 or earlier and was referred to as Bode’s Pier as early as 1866. While little is known about Mr. Otto, Bode was a Prussian immigrant who previously lived in Centerville, Wisconsin, another of Manitowoc’s vanished ghost ports. Bode later partnered with Jacob Matthaus, a German immigrant, on management of the pier. Bode moved to Sheboygan in 1875, not long after the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railway (later the Chicago & North Western Railway) arrived in the area in 1873. The closest train station was established at Newton (or Newton Station), about 1.5 miles due east of Northeim. Matthaus took over operations of the southern pier, which soon became known as Matthaus’ Pier.

The northern pier at Northeim was constructed by Austrian immigrant Solomon Mann in 1865 or earlier and quickly took on the names of Mann’s Pier, Mann’s Landing, and Seven Mile Pier. Mann was a fixture in Northeim for over a decade. He operated the pier and an associated general store and shipped out loads of timber products and brick. But in 1880, Mann sold out to Matthaus and moved to Milwaukee. Mann later moved to Kansas, where he died in 1893. In 1884, Matthaus in turn sold his land and business interests in Northeim to local social organizer August Ziglinski, surrendered his postmaster status to tavern and hotel owner John D. Cichy, and moved to Kiel.

The piers in Northeim were the economic drivers and social core of the community. Numerous dances and picnics held at the piers brought different ethnicities of the community together. An 1874 “Grand Ball,” advertised in a German-language newspaper by resident August Ziglinski, included a cordial invitation to the public to attend the ball at “Mann’s and Bode’s Pier on the Lake Road” to partake of the “best arrangements, brilliant music, and good food and drinks.” Not to be outdone, the Pulaski Guards – captained by Polish immigrant, organist, and music teacher Anthony Mallek – held a grand picnic in Northeim for both local and Manitowoc residents in August 1876. The event included free transportation to Northeim for residents of Manitowoc, which had a substantial Polish community, as well as a grand dress parade and drill, entertainment by Weinschenk’s Band, and unlimited refreshments for all attendees. In September 1876, August Ziglinski held a Grand Harvest Ball and then a “Fastnachtsball,” or Mardi Gras Ball, in January 1877. In later years, Ziglinksi, who was known as “Big August,” ran Matthaus’s old general store and attached tavern, which functioned as a central gathering place of Northeim.

By the early 1900s, it appears there was little timber left in the area and shipping via the lake had probably ceased. Both an 1893 and a 1903 map of Northeim do not depict any piers at Northeim. Early 1920s maps of Northeim do not label any businesses or institutions other than the public school. Even St. Casimir’s, the once bustling Polish Catholic church in Northeim that residents had rebuilt in 1881 after a tragic fire, was abandoned by the 1920s. The once thriving pier community of Northeim had become just another rural Wisconsin crossroads, although one with a fascinating, dynamic history that had once centered upon and benefited from its proximity to Lake Michigan.
 
Map
 
Nearby
Attractions (1)
Northeim
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