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The eccentric inventor born in 1870 lived in Winona most of his life, in a home at 1217 W. Fourth St. built with bricks from an Alma, Wis., brickyard. He soon made a name for himself by building a marine engine and racing hall that set a speed record on the Mississippi River, and later a factory machine for turning sewn gloves inside out. In 1914, Wilkie opened a machine repair shop at 208 W. Third St.
Julius Wilkie and his wife, Ellen Leighton, had three sons — Leighton, Robert and James — and around 1926 when Julius retired, the sons moved his Wilkie Machine Works business to Minneapolis. Julius died in 1932.
Leighton Wilkie quickly emerged as Julius’ protege, developing a new metal manufacturing process in 1927 and renaming the business Continental Machine Specialties Co. In 1933, he developed the metal band saw, which he named the DoALL, a name he later gave to the company. Robert took charge of research and development the following year.
The brothers were loosely connected to Winona until the DoALL Company moved to Des Plaines, Ill., sometime in the 1930s or 1940s. It seemed then that the Wilkie name was destined to vanish into the annals of Winona history.
Then the James P. Pearson came along.
In 1956, the Winona County Historical Society bought the wood-hulled steamboat after the Moline Consumers Co. replaced it with a modern diesel tow. At $2,500, it was a steal. But the group faced steep costs of renovating the 58-year-old boat and mounting it in Levee Park.
Leighton Wilkie heard of the project and agreed to donate. In exchange, the Pearson — equipped with a new second-story museum deck — was rechristened the Julius Wilkie.
Over the next 20 or so years, Leighton, along with his brothers Robert and James, donated an estimated $75,000 in cash and historical items to the museum, including a working calliope, an old steam engine, and papers, plans and drawings from steamboat inventor Robert Fulton.
Leighton was also deeply interested in the Wilkie’s condition and future. When the historical society received a $20,000 grant in 1980 to restore the boat to its original condition, Wilkie wrote an irate letter describing the Pearson as a “very ugly unromantic steamboat” and threatened, if the project continued, to cut off funding and take back the items the Wilkies had donated over the years.
It never happened.
The boat burned in the early morning hours of March 12, 1981, and Leighton agreed in November to offer a $200,000 challenge grant to help build a replica. As the boat was being rebuilt, Wilkie family members were treated as high society when they occasionally visited Winona to check on its progress, treated to dinners and featured in newspaper articles. When the building was dedicated in April 1982, its exterior finished but construction continuing, Leighton stood on the building’s steps with relatives and celebrated the replica steamboat.
The Wilkies then disappeared from Winona.
Leighton was contacted in 1988 to help save the boat from financial struggles but declined to continue his support. He died in 1993 at age 93, and his wife, Adele, died in 2002 at her home in Santa Barbara, Calif. Leighton’s son Michael Wilkie now runs the DoALL Corp. and has been the only Wilkie even peripherally connected to the building in recent years. He did not respond to interview requests.
Julius’ grandson Leighton, who lives in Alma, Wis., is the closest Wilkie by geography and hasn’t followed the building’s struggles in recent years. He said that on a request this year from Mayor Jerry Miller, he contacted each of the grandchildren (his father, James, and uncle Robert have both died), but said none were interested in contributing money toward the building.
Still, he travels through Winona frequently and checks in on the Wilkie.
“I’ve seen the deterioration of it, and it’s sad,” Leighton said. “It certainly is an embarrassment to everyone whose name is on the boat.”
Winona lover wrote on Aug 30, 2006 12:26 PM: