By Wendell Nelson

Bill’s Pizza Shop is probably Stevens Point’s best-known restaurant, and certainly its best-known locally owned one. The business was also 60 years old in 2018, and has a history that is as varied and rich as it is long. Though it has had three owners, and has occupied two different buildings, it has had the same name all of those years, and it has kept the same menu: mostly Italian food, with a specialty of many combinations of flavors of pizza.

Bill’s had its true beginning in Appleton, Wisconsin. That’s where its first owner and namesake, William Podoll, grew up, and where he got his first restaurant experience. His parents, Elmer and Mary Miller Podoll, owned and operated the Melody Supper Club for more than 30 years, according to Elmer’s obituary in the July 5, 1974, Daily Journal, and Bill worked for them there, his obituary in the Daily Journal of November 15, 1994, says.

However, before he came to Stevens Point and founded Bill’s, he operated a pizza shop in Menasha, according to the July 3, 1958, Daily Journal. He didn’t call that restaurant “Bill’s,” but “The Pizza Place,” the same article says. How long he ran The Pizza Place is not clear, but his nine-year service in the National Guard (from 1949 to 1958) probably kept him in or around the Fox Valley until he was discharged.

In any case, in 1958, William Podoll, his wife (the former Mary Jane Boldt), and six-year-old daughter, came to Stevens Point, and on June 30, opened the doors of Bill’s Pizza Shop for the first day’s business. But the business didn’t begin at 1101 Main Street, where most of its younger patrons probably think it has always been located. Instead, it made its debut at 1319 (old number 112) Water Street (and, earlier, Third Street and, before that, South Third Street). That is, it was in a store building on the east side of Water Street, in the middle of the block between Main and Clark streets.

Bill’s Pizza Shop at 1319 (old number 112) Third/Water Street. The business was located here, on the east side of Water Street, between Main and Clark streets,
from 1958 to 1988. This building and the one to the south were destroyed to make room for the third Portage County Public Library building in 1991-1993. (Photo courtesy of Leonard Eiden.)

The building that William Podoll rented—and later bought—for his restaurant was an old one, as might be expected for a structure in the middle of Stevens Point’s business district. And that building was not the first one on the site. According to the 1889-90 Stevens Point city directory, Alexander Ringness’ boot-and-shoe shop stood at “111 South Third st.” That address later became 112 South Third when the city’s address-numbering system was standardized—and, still later, 1319 Water Street, in the 1965 citywide renumbering program. But the point is that a building stood on the site in 1889 and 1890, long before William Podoll came to town.

In fact, a building may have stood on that site much earlier–in the late 1870s, if not before. An early ad for Herman Ringness’ shoe shop was printed in the very first issue of the Portage County Gazette, July 17, 1878. “H.O. RINGNESS, Manufacturer of BOOTS & SHOES. Repairing neatly done. Fine Custom Work a Specialty. Stevens Point, Wisconsin.”

There are two problems with that ad. First, we don’t know for sure if it was the first ad that Herman Ringness ever ran for his shoe shop. The Wisconsin Pinery and The Stevens Point Journal both predated the Gazette, but an intensive search of their issues before 1878 has turned up no Herman Ringness shoe-store ads, though the Journal did run ads for other city shoe-shops.  Second, Ringness’s ad doesn’t tell where his shop was located.

Added to these issues is the further complication that no deeds have surfaced showing any land-purchases by Herman Ringness until 1935, long after his death in 1886, and they involve residual issues from his estate. For that matter, there is not even a deed for Alex Ringness’ purchase or inheritance of his father’s shoe-business property in 1886.

All we have to go on is the information in the father’s and son’s obituaries. Herman’s, in the July 17, 1886, Journal, says “He came to America in 1866, remaining for a few months in Amherst, and then removing to this city where he has since lived. He was a shoemaker by trade, which occupation he followed since boyhood and for the past fifteen years has run a shop of his own.” In other words, Herman must have opened his shoe shop in about 1871. If that shop was always on Third Street, then a building has been on that site since at least then.

For his part, Alex’s obituary (in the August 23, 1939, Daily Journal) says that “His father, an expert shoemaker, established a business on South Third street where Alex Ringness, after completing his education, became a workman and learned the shoemaking trade. After the death of his father, in 1886, Mr. Ringness, the eldest child of the family, carried on his father’s business and continued in the manufacturing line, which included drawing his own patterns and making shoes to fit customers until 1892, when he started to handle factory-made shoes….”

In 1902, Alex Ringness replaced the old wooden building with a one-story brick structure. The Daily Journal of April 14 gave details: “ANOTHER NEW BUILDING.

“Alex Ringness, the Third street shoemaker, has concluded to erect a new business block this summer simultaneously with his neighbor [to the  south: 114 South 3^rd Street, according to the 1903-04 city directory] C.F. Martin & Co. [photography studio]. The building will be 70 x 20 feet, one story in height over a full basement. The building will have an attractive front with plate[-]glass windows. The contract has been let to Frank Abb, who will sub-let the brick work to [William] E. Ule. Mr. Ringness will vacate the present building the first of the week[,] and work on the new building will commence immediately thereafter.” (The original—or at least previous—building was probably destroyed, but may have been moved to somewhere else in the city, and converted to house or barn or shed. For all we know, it may still be standing.)

Less than four months later, the new structure was finished, according to the August 11, 1902, Daily Journal. “IN NEW QUARTERS. Alex Ringness moved into his new shoe store on Third street today, but will be busy for several days arranging stock[,] and will make his opening announcement later. He has an unusually inviting little store and the people will no doubt find it a pleasure to trade [buy shoes] there. He has secured the services of F. J. Kaltenecher, formerly employed in I.S. Hull’s store, to assist him in the salesroom.”

Ringness prospered there over the next 22 years. His ad in the Daily Journal of September 24, 1914, confidently calls him “RINGNESS: The Shoe Man.” And the January 7, 1921, issue announced that his company had been incorporated.

In 1924, Alex Ringness sold his 3^rd Street building, and moved his shoe business to 417 (now 1031) Main Street, a larger building where he expanded his inventory and his sales, according to the January 14 Daily Journal. (It had been occupied by A.M. Young’s shoe store, whose “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS sale” began on November 24, 1923, the November 22 Daily Journal announced.) Ringness ran his shoe business there for 13 more years, and then retired in 1937, his obituary says.

The buyer of Ringness’ Third Street store was the Nigbor Fur Coat Company, various sources tell us. (Michael Nigbor–1873-1948—was the owner. His obituary in the January 19, 1948, Daily Journal says he had worked in tanneries and fur companies in Berlin, Wisconsin, his birthplace, and came to Stevens Point in 1895 to buy into and later own businesses here.)

The April 5, 1924, Daily Journal announced the sale: “THIRD STREET STORE BOUGHT BY M. NIGBOR. Furrier to Open Business in Former Stand of Alex Ringness.

“An important transfer of local business property was concluded this week when M. Nigbor bought the Alex Ringness business block and real estate at 112 South Third street. The building is of brick construction, 20 x 70 feet, while the real estate is 100 feet in depth. “VACATE ONE LOCATION. The new owner is proprietor of the Stevens Point tannery and has been operating two stores uptown, one at 211 public square and the other in the Heffron building at 313 Clark street. He is vacating the latter place and will move his stock of ladies’ fur garments to South Third street within the next week or two, or as soon as repairs and improvements are completed.

“MAY PUT IN VAULT. Although not yet definitely decided upon, Mr. Nigbor may conclude to erect a storage vault in the Ringness building. The store on the public square will be devoted to the display of furs for men and for general repair work.”

In 1928, Nigbors added a second story to the South Third Street building. At the April 10, 1928, meeting of the Stevens Point Common Council (as reported in the Daily Journal of April 24), “Moved by Alderman Rose and seconded the petition from Mr. Nigbor to build a second story on his building at 112 South Third street be granted. Motion carried.”

The July 21, 1928, Daily Journal—after describing the history and widespread operations of the Nigbor Company (over “twelve middle western and western states”) and its sophisticated facilities for making and safely storing and preserving fur garments—detailed the specific operations that were set up on that new second floor.

“WORKSHOP ABOVE. The second floor, used for factory purposes, is a daylight workshop. Removal of the factory from the Public Square, where it was conducted for many years, was accompanied by the addition of a considerable amount of new equipment for improving its work and increasing its capacity. Included is equipment for the scientific cleaning of fur garments, which also provides facilities for restoring any type of fur to its original lustre. Cleaning and remodeling of fur garments are a part of the company’s service and it is now in a better position to handle work of this character than ever before….”

Nigbor’s remained at 112 South Third Street for 16 more years. About six months before it moved away, the Daily Journal of September 23, 1953, announced in a front-page story that the company had bought a rival fur company’s Main Street factory and retail store.

“NIGBOR FIRM BUYS OUT ENTIRE KOSTKA FUR BUSINESS. The entire property of Kostka Furs at 533 Main street has been purchased by the Nigbor Fur Coat Co., according to a formal announcement made today by Ben Nigbor, president of the Nigbor firm….”

On April 26, 1954, the Daily Journal announced that Nigbor’s new Main Street store was ready to open, and the grand opening was set for Friday, July 23, the issue of the 21^st reported.

Meanwhile, Nigbor’s had sold their previous store-building at 112 South Third Street to Joseph and Gertrude Mocadlo. The Daily Journal of November 28, 1955, reported the sale and the new purpose of the building.

“DOWNTOWN BAKERY OUTLET TO OPEN. The new downtown retail outlet of the South Side bakery has scheduled a grand opening for three days starting Thursday [December 1-3], it was announced today by Joseph Mocadlo, proprietor. The new store is located in the former Nigbor Furs building at 112 Water street. Mocadlo, who has operated the bakery at 740 Church street for a number of years, recently purchased the building from Ben E. Nigbor.

“The new shop will be open daily from 7:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. and on Fridays until 9 p.m. There will be no change in the schedule of hours at the South Side shop, Mocadlo said….”

Three years later, that bakery outlet would become the first site of Bill’s Pizza Shop.

Next Week: Bill’s Pizza Shop debuts.