David P. Mapes was the primary promoter and “wheeler and dealer” in starting what
would become Ripon, Wisconsin. Coming west to Racine and starting a hotel, he
surveyed the territory looking for a town or village to build. His first choice of land
which included Silver Creek was not available as it was owned by John Scott Horner.
Instead in 1845 he purchased several hundred acres on the eastern edge of what is
now Ripon and section farmed there for four years.
By 1849 he had made a deal with to develop Horner’s ¼ section of land. Mapes was
required to plat the village and in return he would receive every other lot for
development. He was also required to build a hotel and run it for one year, as well as
build a grist mill. Horner retained naming rights for the village and major streets.
Ripon was on the main trail to the North, and Mapes would catch travelers on their way
through and “interview them.” If he saw potential he would promote his venture; if not,
he would send them on their way. Early settlers in Ripon included the Pedrick family
including four sons, E.L. Northrup, and the Asa Hill family.
Mapes also saw the need for education as one way to attract desirable citizens. By
late 1850 he helped to organize, along with other Ripon citizens, the Lyceum of Ripon.
This higher education institution would become Brockway College, and later Ripon
College. The college was built at the highest point in the area to be visible to all
travelers. Mapes was the Lyceum’s first president.
Newspapers would become another important asset to the growing village. The Ripon
Herald began in 1853 with Mapes’ son Addison as editor with a Democratic bias.
Mapes also realized that building a railroad extension to connect Ripon to Horicon and
Milwaukee was essential for growth. As no financing was available for such a risky
venture, Mapes and others used the tactic of that period of convincing farmers to
mortgage their farms to persuade the rail companies to build. Mapes mortgaged his own
farm, as well. These actions convinced the Ripon & Horicon Railroad to build and be in
operation by December 1856. Mapes’ grand plan was to connect Ripon with the
pineries north via Ripon. Railroad track for the Ripon & Wolf River was laid as far as
Omro by 1859, but there all news of the project ends. It was eventually completed
around 1868.
Mapes was a Democrat, and by 1861 he was on what was considered “the wrong side
of the war.” After an incident involving his son Timothy’s newspaper, it appears Mapes
traveled away from Ripon into the Territory of Minnesota and Iowa as a trade
representative for Milwaukee Businessmen. By the late 1860s he was, along with other
Ripon businessmen, developing what is now Winneconne, Wisconsin.
Besides being a Democrat, Mapes was married three times and had children by all
three wives. He had two children by his third wife when he was in his 60s. He published
the book History of the City of Ripon in 1873 when he was 75 years old. He was poor at
that time and needed subscriptions to pay the publication costs. Mapes always seemed
to put development before his own well-being and so never accumulated much personal
wealth. He outlived his third wife and died at the age of 91 in Winneconne.
