By GENE KEMMETER
Special to The Gazette

Stevens Point and the rest of Portage County experienced a season without a Christmas celebration in 1918. The city and the surrounding area were in the throes of a flu epidemic that forced the cancelation of public gatherings and Christmas pageants.

World War I was still raging in Europe in early October 1918. But another menace was raging on the United States’ home front – a disease known as the Spanish influenza, the deadliest influenza in the world’s history. The influenza or flu is estimated to have infected 500 million victims (about one-third of the world’s population) and killed between 20 million and 50 million people, including some 675,000 in the U.S.

The deaths were puzzling because of the violent symptoms. Patients might have nosebleeds or bleeding that did not come from violent wounds. Some coughed so violently that autopsies showed they had torn abdominal muscles or rib cartilage. Others writhed in delirium or agony with headaches behind their eyes. Some were vomiting. The skin of others turned colors, darkening their complexion.

Medical testing was in its infancy, and few medical scientists were available to study the fast-spreading illness to find its cause. But medical scientists anticipated the potential of an epidemic of some sort, and the U.S. formed the National Research Council to direct all war-related scientific work in medicine. After all, almost every major war had coincided with a major disease.

The first hint of a health outbreak occurred in the fall of 1917 as men were being called to serve in the U.S., and many of them were coming down with measles. Some of them were dying after developing complications from pneumonia. Since influenza causes pneumonia, pneumonia was the primary killer in many cases, and often was listed as the cause of death.

The flu was first detected in January 1918 in the U.S., Europe and parts of Asia, and quickly spread around the world, including to residents in the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. The first wave of the outbreak occurred in the spring, with a second wave in September.

Unlike most flu outbreaks that disproportionately impact juveniles, elderly or already weakened patients, the Spanish flu predominately targeted healthy young adults. The influenza was even more deadly against soldiers than the war, claiming more victims than battlefield actions did.

The outbreak was so extreme that life expectancy in the U.S. from 1917 to 1918 fell nearly 12 years, to 36.6 years for men and 42.2 years for women because of the high death rates for persons between the ages of 20 and 40 years.

The second wave impacted Portage County, as did other diseases. Rosholt Schools had closed Sept. 18, 1918, for two weeks for a scarlet fever epidemic that resulted in four new cases, although no deaths were reported. Such outbreaks were common in those days, but usually remained only localized.

Schools in Stevens Point reported on Oct. 10, 1918, that all children with colds would be sent home from school because of the grippe, an old term for influenza, recalling that the city had been stricken with a grippe epidemic from 1888 to 1890. Berlin, Wis., had experienced 50 new cases of the flu in one day, while Camp Grant, Ill., a WWI Army training center, had recorded 130 deaths from the flu in one day and 1,000 deaths between Sept. 23 and Oct. 1.

The situation in Stevens Point had reached epidemic proportions by Friday, Oct. 11, 1918, when the Stevens Point Board of Health prohibited all public assemblies in the city until further notice as the best way to fight the Spanish influenza.

That meant closing all schools, including the State Normal School (now the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point) and Stevens Point Business College. The decree also covered the closing of theaters, pool halls, lodges, dance halls, churches, Sunday schools, church suppers, rummage sales, community singing, athletic games, banquets and social affairs.

The order excluded taverns because they were subject to the authority of the Common Council which acted three days later to include them. The “saloonmen” told a Stevens Point Daily Journal reporter Oct. 11 they were ready to close if the order was made general to include them. The order also forbade stores from accepting any returned goods under threat of closing the stores, as well as sending any goods out on approval in order to stop the spread of the infection.

The Board of Health reached its closure decision after learning that on Thursday, Oct. 10, there were 29 new cases of the influenza. Doctors said they were treating more than 100 cases in the last week.

The front page of the Oct. 11 edition of the Journal also included reports of the many cases of influenza infecting entire families in the towns of Almond and Belmont. The operator of the store in Blaine in that area, Martin Skeel, 36, died following a short illness with the influenza. Schools outside Stevens Point also began closing when more students and teachers became ill.

Cases of the flu continued to increase, and five deaths attributed to the flu reported Oct. 21 caused the Board of Health to order strict enforcement of the anti-spitting ordinance.

Two days later, the city continued to make health rules more strict, with all soda fountains permanently closed and all stores, shops, saloons and other business places closed from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. People were encouraged to shop in the morning so stores wouldn’t be congested in the afternoon; peddlers were prohibited from selling meat on the Public Square; and children were instructed to stay in their own yards and avoid contact with other children since school was not in session.

Football season was in session, but games were cancelled. Stevens Point Normal School football team battled Oshkosh Normal School at the Fairgrounds (now Goerke Park), but all spectators were banned from the game that Stevens Point won behind closed doors.

On Nov. 5, the Board of Health reported 533 cases of the flu treated from Oct. 1-31 and 83 from Nov. 1-4, about 20 cases daily, with 28 cases of pneumonia and 13 deaths. The closings of public facilities remained in effect.

News of a preliminary armistice for the war was reported Nov. 8, and citizens spontaneously formed a peace parade, which alarmed local doctors who warned about the consequences of the flu spreading because 36 new cases had been reported after the parade.

When the final armistice was signed Nov. 11, the Daily Journal reported the following day that the parade held for the end of WWI was one of the biggest in the city. Local officials also announced that only 11 new cases of flu had been reported in the last three days, bringing the number of cases to 700 in the days since schools were closed, so some restrictions were being reduced and schools reopened.

Two days later, however, the flu began spreading again, with 63 new cases in the two days, and Wausau and Grand Rapids (Wisconsin Rapids) had closed their schools again.

By the end of November, the situation was worsening, and 20 new cases were reported at the Normal School, where the John Francis Sims cottage was turned into a hospital to treat flu victims.

Rural schools remained closed and the Normal School announced Dec. 3 that it would close Dec. 4 to Jan. 5 as 413 cases of flu were reported there between Nov. 26 and Dec. 3.

The citywide quarantine was strengthened after that report, with orders that all families must remain in their homes, theaters would have to require patrons to wear masks, and no more than 10 people could be in a store at one time.

After briefly reopening, Stevens Point schools were closed again Dec. 5 until Dec. 30 because of poor attendance and ill teachers, and the school district elected to extend the school year until June 27, 1919. Churches were allowed to remain open but only to hold short public services.

On Dec. 6, the Board of Health decided to set up an emergency hospital in the Lincoln School building, staffed by the sisters from St. Michael’s Hospital and one from Marshfield hospital. On Dec. 11, 1918, there were still 22 patients in the emergency hospital but patients were transferred to St. Michael’s because the emergency hospital had to close Dec. 27 to allow the school to be cleaned so it could reopen in January.

One day passed without a single case of the flu reported on Dec. 18, and authorities attributed the reduction to the success of the strict quarantine that cut cases to two or less (five cases in four days) after 100 to 200 per day two weeks prior.

Although all Christmas program were banned, only 23 houses in the city were still on quarantine by Dec. 21, so movie theaters were allowed to stop using masks. After Dec. 30, things began returning to normal, as lodges were allowed to hold meetings, but public gatherings were still prohibited until January.

When the influenza finally cleared, a final number of deaths attributed to the flu was never compiled because of the confusion over the cause of death, just as it was around the world. Causes of death were spread among grippe, pneumonia and others.

Visitors to cemeteries today may notice that quite a few people died during 1918. More than likely, those deaths were due to the Spanish Influenza.