When Elmer Titus came to the Northwoods of Wisconsin in the autumn of 1920, he had few possessions, yet in his heart was a deep yearning for a new way of life.

He suffered a war injured bum knee, and he drove into the area with his bride Sylvia at his side in a 1914 Model T. Not much jangled in his pockets, but this WWI veteran didn’t let that dim his entrepreneurial spirit and lust for adventure. His wife Sylvia was a willing partner in this journey, despite the fact this Iowa farm girl had never traveled out of her home state. Elmer also worked the farm fields and the pair were to make a mark on the Harshaw/Tomahawk communities that is still felt to this day.

A New Adventure

In September of 1920 the couple set out and their intent was to secure 40-acres in Tomahawk through the Veteran’s Homestead Act. 

Born on April 5, 1891, Elmer began his military career in 1916. After training he was soon promoted to Artillery Stable Sergeant at Camp Cody in Deming, New Mexico. As a farm boy, Elmer was an excellent rider, and knew how to take care of horses as his family used these animals to work their Iowa homestead. At one point in his military career Elmer commanded a stable of more than 100 horses and mules that supported the military in a variety of ways. Not only were these animals used as mounts for soldiers, they also played a critical component in military operations including transporting supplies, cannons and in ammunition caissons.

It was one of these mounts that injured Elmer’s knee after rearing up and falling on him and this injury was part of the reason he moved to the Northwoods. After the war Elmer became a police officer in Muscatine and walking his beat night after night only aggravated this injury prompting him to take advantage of his veteran status and the federal government’s land offer in this area.

A Man of Vision

Elmer was a man of vision and realized there would soon be more motorized vehicles on the roads in the years ahead. His plan was to establish a gas and repair station in a part of the country that was just opening up to increased tourist travel as the logging era was coming to its final end.

It took the couple three weeks and two days to make the trip from Iowa, camping along the way at night and spending a lot of time repairing the Model T as the roads were mostly sand, rough gravel and quagmires of mud.

By the end of October the couple had built themselves a one room log cabin off Swamp Lake Road. Elmer fashioned the motor of their Model T into a sawmill to cut the logs they harvested from their property and they gathered moss and mud from a nearby swamp to chink between the wood. Elmer even constructed their furniture from birch logs including a dining set and their bed.

Elmer received a $50 compensation check as a veteran every month which he picked up in Tomahawk where the couple bought groceries and other necessities. Elmer subsidized this simple lifestyle with hunting and fishing as game was plentiful and the many lakes and rivers were teeming with fish. 

Successful Entrepreneurs

It wasn’t long before the couple realized their dream and became successful entrepreneurs opening the first gas station and repair shop in this vicinity. Elmer actually built three garages in the area before settling on the final location on Hwy. 51 and K when the state’s road system was finalized, making this route the same one used today.

They named this station The Mid-Way Garage because it’s rural location was about 20 miles away between the communities of Tomahawk, Minocqua and Rhinelander.

Elmer and Sylvia became an important cog in the early years of this area’s growth. Sylvia pumped gas and kept meticulous books for the business while Elmer became a much sought after machine mechanic and hunting and fishing guide. He designed and manufactured from scratch tractors that were used in the building of Hwy. 51 and even designed and manufactured a snow machine that was powered with an airplane propellor. 

Elmer becomes a Lawman

At one point Elmer became an Oneida County deputy sheriff. Since at the time the Mid-Way Garage was the only stop between civilization and the wild North country, it wasn’t unusual for other lawmen, bootleggers and even fleeing desperadoes to gas up. On one occasion Elmer was involved with the failed capture of John Dillinger and his gang at Little Bohemia Lodge, which is 40 miles north in Manitowish Waters. 

Melvin Purvis with the FBI and his men, flew into Rhinelander to ambush the gangsters, and made their way to the Mid-Way Garage to fuel their cars. Purvis and Elmer struck up a conversation and Purvis made a bet with Elmer making claim he had the faster pistol draw. Elmer had the last laugh and won that bet and Purvis was so impressed he recruited him and other community members to serve as “perimeter security” for the attack. As history proves Dillinger got away yet the story adds another colorful layer to Northwood’s lore.

Mining for Gold

Elmer’s sense of wanderlust and adventurous nature eventually led him to become a gold miner, traveling from the Northwoods to the gold fields of Mexico during the winter months. His hope was to mine enough gold to finance expansion on his Mid-Way Garage. Sylvia accompanied Elmer on a few of these excursions and the couple stayed in a camper Elmer built while they panned and dug for ore. 

Parting ways

In a bewildering turn of events Elmer and Sylvia divorced. Sylvia continued to operate and live at the Mid-Way Garage while Elmer moved to Venezuela to seek fortune in the oil industry. There he met Ana Teresa Allen de Perez, married her and bore six children, the youngest being born when he was 70.

Returning to the states with his family after living in Venezuela, Elmer enrolled in the Palmer School of Chiropractic in his 50s and started a new career. He moved to Louisiana and was one of the first practitioners to bring awareness of chiropractic applications to the south and championed to gain licensure in that state. Three years after his passing chiropractors were finally able to get licenses in Louisiana.

Elmer died on Aug. 6, 1971. Sylvia remarried and lived until 1993. She is buried in Union Grove Cemetery in Harshaw.

A new friend

I had the great honor of meeting Elmer’s daughter, Mariana Titus, a few years ago when she visited Harshaw. Our mutual friends Denny and Angie Thompson introduced us and we were immediate comrades.

Mariana, like her father, possessed a colorful personality and was an artist, writer, and traveler. She lived part of the year near the bayous of Louisiana and then traveled to the beaches of California the rest of the year.

As our friendship grew Mariana enthusiastically regaled me with stories about her father and his Mid-Way Garage. Despite Elmer and Sylvia parting ways, they stayed in close contact with each other over the decades, and Mariana came to call the gentle woman Aunt Sylvia. Mariana made frequent visits to the area during her childhood and even lived here for a number of years after she married her husband Richard.

One of her projects Mariana was most excited about at the time of our introduction was writing a biography about Elmer’s life and she would call or text frequently to give me updates on the book’s progress. Then one day she asked me to read it through before she sent it to the publisher and I did. It was an honor, beautifully written and I told her so.

Last year just days before The Midway Miner was to be released, I got word that Mariana had a stroke. A few days later this dear friend was gone but her husband Richard, saw her dream through and The Midway Miner is available on Amazon at https://a.co/d/4EiRh1W.

For anyone interested in Northwoods history The Midway Miner is a great book. It’s filled with old photos of this area and even includes the many letters and postcards that Elmer and Sylvia exchanged with each other over the decades. There’s also more detail about Elmer’s adventures and how life was in the Northwoods in the early years of the 1900s. 

Standing the test of time

I often frequent The Northwoods Store, which is owned today by James Henry and his family. It is the original Mid-Way Garage and this little station has served my community well over the years along with James’s parents Janet and Lamont. While this business has seen its share of changes and owners through the decades, Elmer and Sylvia’s footprint continues to mark this place. 

For me, it’s a sad fact that businesses like these are being edged out by more modern establishments as the Northwoods grows. That this place has stood the test of time is, in a huge way, a phenomenal testimony to Elmer and Sylvia. Their foresight and perseverance back then has carried this station into the modern world and that’s a rare occurrence in this day and age.

One of the best parts about living in my rural community, and a business I’m very grateful for, is The Northwoods Store and the Henry family. In these times it continues to be as convenient as it was that day in 1936 when Elmer flipped the first Open sign at his new Mid-Way Garage.

And I’m also very thankful Mariana wrote about her adventurous father and documented how his influence shaped this area. I fervently wish she could have realized the end result of her hard work in The Midway Miner being published and how writing Elmer’s story also preserves such interesting history of this community.

Sometimes as I’m pumping my gas at The Northwoods Store, I can’t help but imagine what Elmer and Sylvia’s Mid-Way Garage would have been like so long ago. I can envision sitting with Elmer over a bottle of pop and listening to his stories, the aroma of petroleum and oil in the air, while watching those vintage cars rumble by on the newly constructed Hwy. 51. Perhaps Sylvia would come out to pump my gas as the couple’s dogs played at our feet. I’m sure the conversation would turn to the hard times of the day, maybe some neighborhood news or just the next project Elmer had it the works.

Yes indeed, it would have been a real honor to know folks like Elmer and Sylvia Titus.

(Photos for this story were used with permission and credit goes to Sylvia Titus.)