Robert Howie

<b>Robert Howie</b> (1830-1913) came to Tomah in 1858 from County Ayshire Scotland and homesteaded land. <b>Howie</b> worked with Robert Gillett and C C Miller surveying the Tomah Area. He was Tomah's first Rural Mail Carrier. His interest in agriculture and horses motivated him to donate land for the fairgrounds in 1881. He helped develop the fairgrounds by constructing exhibition buildings and hauling in clay with horse teams for a racetrack. Howie, his sons Robert Jr. and Wallace, and nephew Irvine Strozinsky raced horses on the racetrack and down Tomah's Superior Avenue. He insisted the street to be 100 feet wide to allow harness racing. Howie and his wife Agnes (1855-1942) had eleven children. <br><br> <center>Plaque by:<br> Tomah Historical Society,<br> Howie and Strozinsky Families</center>