Hello, my name is Charles Upham and I am 21 years old. The lack of good transportation really presented a major problem for me when I brought 600 dollars worth of merchandise to Shawano to start my general store in1858. There were no wagon roads, only an Indian trail from New London. I walked the thirty two miles from New London on foot and my little stock of merchandise, consisting of a few groceries, provisions, and a very small supply of dry goods came by river on a barge from New London. One of the main reasons I chose Shawano was its strategic position on the Wolf River making it a natural supply point for the logging industry which was beginning to become a booming industry. This was a wise decision for me as I built up a series of businesses second to none in the 

entire northern Wisconsin area. My first store was a small building built by Orlin Andrews with 288 sq. feet of floor space, at 701 South Main Street where a small settlement of people were locating.

 

Following this business, it was the site of the Wright Broiler Company office, Krueger and Lueck Furniture, and currently