Markesan, Wisconsin, is my hometown and things are not what they used to be. Many people may not believe it, see it or want to admit it, but Markesan is heading down a road of destruction. I want to get a movement going to challenge the community to step up and make change. This isn’t something that can be done by one person or overnight. It will be a community effort that will take time. I don’t think it can be done…. I KNOW it can be done!
There are some crucial questions we have to ask ourself of our community. I think the first and foremost one is, are we happy and content with the status quo of the community? Also, do you think we have enough to offer for those living in Markesan to be content and enough to offer to bring people to our community!? The answer to those questions, in my opinion, is NO. Our downtown is in disrepair and offers nothing for people to come to our town. The buildings there are owned by an individual who, instead of promoting business to come in, has converted the buildings into substandard apartment complexes, barring any interested businesses from moving in. Some argue that the old buildings are not suitable for todays kind of significant commercial interests, which is half-true. Does that mean we leave the gem of our city in disrepair and not try to promote more local shop keepers from potentially renting a space there? We lack other commericial and industrial bases as well.
Contact Mayor Richard Slate of Markesan and tell him you want him to revitalize Markesan and make it the Grand Community it is supposed to be! We don’t want excuses, we want results!
Richard Slate- Mayor of Markesan
MayorSL8@AOL.COM
920-398-3031
I know our city is capable of much more, and its citizens are too! We need to come to terms with the limitations and work around them to get Markesan back to prosperity! Like us on Facebook and post your comments, questions and concerns!
Austin M. Frederick 
Comments on your website caught my attention.
First, since being elected Mayor, Markesan’s population increased 6% (reversing a declining population trend); the equalized property value increased 16% (increasing Markesan’s worth); and the Tax Mill Rate decreased 29% (making it cheaper to live here).
Secondly, If you are referring to me, I have never converted downtown buildings into apartments and worked with the Chamber of Commerce and City Council to successfully bring new businesses into Markesan, as well as help local businesses expand.
We are not back to Markesan’s hey-day as one of the richest towns in America, but still are showing positive signs that Markesan is on a path for a long life and prosperity.
To your first comment; Great! That is good start, but there is much more to do. I think as a mayor you should continue to do things to improve the community. I would think you would want to add more to your legacy than just a few numbers.
To your second comment; No, I wasn’t referring to you, but you seem to be taking offense to it and I don’t why.Once again I applaud your efforts to bring new business into Markesan and expand the ones there, but I say again, more hard work has to be done.
Lastly, I agree with you completely. We are nowhere near the prosperity of the past. I am glad you are looking at the situation with optimism, Mayor Slate, but I am looking at it realistically. Things don’t look good for Markesan. I am not the only one that thinks this either.
I know I’m a few quarts short, but who are you referring to when speaking about the downtown owner?
The “buildings” I am referring to are the vacant ones and those converted into apartments.
Having recently moved to FL, after years in PA and NJ, I hadn’t been in Markesan for years… So last year when visiting family, I spent time walking around Markesan, taking lots of photos… Of the library which we all climbed the steps to as children, to be greeted to Librarian Maude Card… to the grocery stores, pharmacy, old movie theater where my sister sat and sold tickets to the 25 cent movies, to the 5 &10 where we children did our Christmas shopping, to the old Medical Center where Drs Pelton and Cupery worked for may years… and where my great uncle Dr Pfisterer had his medical practice for 25 years, on a federal program to bring physicians to small communities, to my Dad’s old law office where my sister Mary worked as his secretary… Most meaningful was the old brick structure in the middle of town which my Grandfather Hugo Stamm built and operated as a dry good store, and my Dad, after Grandpa’s passing, moved from Milwaukee to change that business into a meat processing business and then turned it into a bowling alley. We lived upstairs in that building… I later took piano lessons from Jean Zuehls in that same apartment… So what I saw made me so so sad… It was a wonderful community which, unfortunately, is so typical of so many communities in our country… I will forever treasure the pictures I took that day and fondly remember my youth in Markesan…
Thank you for your memories of Markesan, Patricia. I found while doing the book about the history of Markesan that it used to be a bustling little community.
Direct Quote from you: “The buildings there are owned by an individual who, instead of promoting business to come in, has converted the buildings into substandard apartment complexes, barring any interested businesses from moving in.”
Again, who are you referring to?
I am simply stating a fact that some persons ( it actually should have said individuals) own the buildings. I never called anyone out by names, but they know who they are.